Some bad misses by Haaland too.
Prematch vs FIFA City (H) Sunday 16:30
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Think someone's put a filter on that.
He did well when he came on. Agree he mauled the City defence but ffs his decision making was woeful. Shooting from outside the box when we were 3 on1 and not even getting his shot past the defender.... That could have cost us big time but his pace and power had city running scared.
Yea, really good performance in my book and one we needed to see. Very important though that we prove it’s not just one of those where we’ve managed to lift ourselves for a big match and flopped in the next game.
Also you could see Virgil in particular was absolutely desperate to stop Haaland scoring, again probably easier to raise your game against the best but we need the same against Antonio, Awoniyi or whoever else comes next.
Also you could see Virgil in particular was absolutely desperate to stop Haaland scoring, again probably easier to raise your game against the best but we need the same against Antonio, Awoniyi or whoever else comes next.
He runs himself ragged so he will always get opportunities in a set up like today where City had to come out and leave gaps. He butchered a couple of great chances to kill the game late on with some awful decision making
Gomez and Virg were excellent, Gomez played himself into trouble once or twice by being a bit loose in possession but aside from that you really can't ask for much more from your CB pairing. They battled all game and snuffed out the best attacking unit in the league.
Bonus point for Virgil hitting his laser guided diagnol passing game when we needed it, we've missed those out passes from him and Ali alot.
Playing alongside Virgil at CB must be a blessing and a curse. On one hand he can do it all and he's so dominant that he helps keep everybody calm and focused. On the other hand your side of the pitch is going to be attacked relentlessly because nobody wants to attack his side. No wonder his dance partners keep breaking down, they have to do twice as much defending as him.
Bonus point for Virgil hitting his laser guided diagnol passing game when we needed it, we've missed those out passes from him and Ali alot.
Playing alongside Virgil at CB must be a blessing and a curse. On one hand he can do it all and he's so dominant that he helps keep everybody calm and focused. On the other hand your side of the pitch is going to be attacked relentlessly because nobody wants to attack his side. No wonder his dance partners keep breaking down, they have to do twice as much defending as him.
Don't think City were poor, but I thought they were somewhat toothless in attack bar Haaland – with De Bruyne playing at RWF they were missing a little bit of cutting edge compared to having him in midfield playing behind a specialist wing-forward. Also, it was strange how little they attacked through the middle – with 4 world-class CMs lined up against the pair of Thiago and Fabinho (+ Elliott who mostly covered the space on the wing), you would think they would overwhelm us in the middle – instead they kept trying attacking down the wings and to try to feed Haaland at every opportunity and this is where we concentrated most of our attention defensively. Finally, I thought they missed a bit of sharpness and speed in the build-up from the back with the make-shift back 4 and Ake and Akanji not being the best at playing the ball out.
It's tiny margins to be sure and it took a positively heroic performance from all 11 men in red (and the subs) to expose those little deficiencies – but expose them we did and then found a moment to deal them a killer blow. This is why Mo gets paid the big bucks! Overall, games like this once again remind you why you love this game – no one, including our fans, gave us a chance, but the players suddenly were able to find the level of intensity that was missing the whole season and kept their concentration for 98 minutes. Absolutely exhilarating football from start to finish.
Oh, and everyone hail @bluebell!
It's tiny margins to be sure and it took a positively heroic performance from all 11 men in red (and the subs) to expose those little deficiencies – but expose them we did and then found a moment to deal them a killer blow. This is why Mo gets paid the big bucks! Overall, games like this once again remind you why you love this game – no one, including our fans, gave us a chance, but the players suddenly were able to find the level of intensity that was missing the whole season and kept their concentration for 98 minutes. Absolutely exhilarating football from start to finish.
Oh, and everyone hail @bluebell!
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Surprised that many haven't singled out Allison. Handled everything with minimal fuss. Leader at the back and delivered an assist. He now has an assist against United and City. He has either scored or had an assist in each of our last four seasons. One of our all-time greats.
That needs sending to fucking Owen and all the other TV pundits ... and Baldy.
The greatest Liverpool goalkeeper I've seen, and maybe will see for several years.
Maybe not a controlling win but a win in which we created by far the better chances overall.
Good save by Ali but not a worldie - Haaland didn't get hold of it. The goal was rightly disallowed as we all agree (3 reffing errors leading to it with the Fab & Ali fouls and a corner not given at the other end). I believe Salah's shot saved by Ederson, which was a worldie, was not included in the stats as the ref gave a goal kick, small point but maybe worth a mention.
And also a shot flying past the post or bar doesn't count as a shot on target but in reality is closer to a goal than the keeper gathering a shot gently punted at him. Note that City only just edged the shots (even though dominating possession) 16-13.
City had a poor Haaland header, his missed lob and that Ali save to show for all their possession. Defensively we almost totally nullified them with brilliant performances from Gomez, Milner and VvD and even Fabs had a really good game too, constantly picking pockets in front of the back line. Otherwise City really didn't have any real chances.
On the other hand we were a whisper away with Salah, Jota, Nunez, Trent and the 3 on 1 that Nunez fucked up ... off the top of my head. We really did have the better chances but fluffed them and the Xg (from The Athletic) proves this as it was 2.07 vs 0.98 in our favour.
BTW the Xg from the Sporting Life was strongly in our favour and they have an interesting 'fairness rating' for the result!
- Infogol xG: 2.28 - 1.11
- Fairness rating: 92.44
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The question we all need to ponder now is… are @bluebell ‘s awesome anti-jinx powers better saved for “big games” or should he start every pre-mach thread until we lose? From tactical perspective, is he someone who is most effective on the counter, when we are considered underdogs, or equally in all situations?
I kept an extra eye on Joe and VVD, and I have to say outstanding. There were only a few small lapses in concentration/faults. One when Gomez messed up a pass, then when he let Haaland have a yard and a half to make that header behind him. VVD had one moment when he rushed across towards the others were the ball was, like Trent did, but thankfully they couldn't use the vacated space.
Against City that is really fucking good.
Liverpool enjoyed a hugely important victory over Manchester City and the importance of Alisson Becker’s assist for the winning goal was not lost on the back four.
Replays of Mo Salah’s finish showed that James Milner, Joe Gomez, Virgil van Dijk and Andy Robertson all turned to run towards our No.1, after his brilliant kick to the Egyptian King.
It’s not the first time that the Brazilian has proved vital as an attacking outlet for the Reds and his vision and delivery was superb against Pep Guardiola’s side.
Who knows how vital that pass could prove to be but there’s no doubting that it was thoroughly enjoyed by everyone inside Anfield, on a brilliant night.
Replays of Mo Salah’s finish showed that James Milner, Joe Gomez, Virgil van Dijk and Andy Robertson all turned to run towards our No.1, after his brilliant kick to the Egyptian King.
It’s not the first time that the Brazilian has proved vital as an attacking outlet for the Reds and his vision and delivery was superb against Pep Guardiola’s side.
Who knows how vital that pass could prove to be but there’s no doubting that it was thoroughly enjoyed by everyone inside Anfield, on a brilliant night.
Mo's control to trap the ball and his pace afterwards to run clear of the chasing pack have been (rightly) pointed out umpteen times above and elsewhere. What hasn't been mentioned but IMO was equally vital is his strength in possession. The guy's a powerful little bugger and it's practically impossible to knock him off the ball once he's got it under control. That enabled him to roll his marker and get a yard's start on him, which then grew as he outpaced the lot of them before knocking the goal in.
A poor VAR decision? You're trying so hard to be impartial you're gone way off the other way. Haaland fully pulled down Fabinho. It was an extremely obvious foul. City played fairly well, but it was 100% a deserved victory. City made one clear cut chance in the first half, none in the second. We had 3 alone for Mo, one for Jota and two situations where Nunez messed up what would have likely been goals had he made the right pass.
6 shots on target is fair enough but they had one clear cut chance. We had several
I think he meant, if there was a poor VAR decision, they would have taken the lead. Not that he thought it actually was a poor decision.
Mo was superb in in the whole sequence, from the sharp thinking to read Allison's take and dart into the space between Cancelo and the City backline. This forced Cancelo to drop off or risk being taken out by a long pass. That run gives Allison a massive space to hit with his pace. To his control and spin under pressure and then the composure to tuck away the finish under pressure after being denied from a similar position minutes earlier. It was a world class piece of forward play.
De Bruyne was pretty poor for our goal. He let Salah go, then trusted Cancelo would stop him, only then did he start running back.
There was a story a few weeks back about how the coaching team had become exasperated by his inability to follow tactical instructions under pressure. The story is unsubstantiated by anybody at the club, but you can see the point, he sticks out like a sore thumb.
Makes sense. Everyone else on the pitch constantly pressurising the opposition, he'd only been on five minutes and he was walking round like berbatov
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