ANFIELD — Pep Guardiola likened Liverpool’s press to a blood red tsunami with home players “coming for everything” for 20 second-half minutes that left Manchester City on their knees.
“The best team I’ve ever seen in high pressing,” he cooed in his press conference afterwards. But among the Liverpool love-in, were there some warning signs of trouble ahead for all-conquering City?
Previous Anfield slip-ups have felt like aberrations, City blown away by the intensity of the occasion or caught on the counter.
As Jurgen Klopp beamed afterwards, this felt different. Liverpool controlled proceedings by exerting midfield control, almost beating City at their own game with an axis of Alexis Mac Allister and the ultra efficient Wataru Endo dominating key areas.
The alarm bells aren’t exactly clanging for a City team that haven’t lost since 6 December but there will be some cause for concern for Guardiola.
Take Erling Haaland, for example. His brutal brilliance is beyond doubt but he failed to exert any influence on this contest, in stark contrast to opposite number Darwin Nunez. The Uruguyan is undoubtedly eccentric – bewildering at times, still frighteningly raw and a magnet for offside calls – but few could accuse him of ever being anonymous.
Running into Virgil van Dijk in irresistible form, Haaland was shackled effectively here and while he will undoubtedly score crucial goals in the run-in, is it sacrilege to point out that 10 of his 18 goals this season have come when playing teams placed either 12th or below in the league?
By contrast he has a solitary strike against top four opponents, and that was way back in November when Liverpool travelled to the Etihad with plenty of question marks swirling around them. They have rediscovered their mojo since, able to defend robustly as a unit even when injuries have deprived them of so many first choice players.
Usually when Haaland is quiet, Julian Alvarez strides forward, but this time he was poor and that meant City lacked punch until Jeremy Doku’s late introduction. He was one of the few in sky blue to replicate the direct, decisive forward play that Liverpool produced. The winger’s impact was a rare bright spot in the second half.
And what of Phil Foden, man in form and hailed as the best in the Premier League by his manager last week? He was shackled by Joe Gomez and Conor Bradley, those darting diagonals too often seeing him diverting into a cul-de-sac.
The problem for Guardiola is that his side are being squeezed from two sides this season. Liverpool have always been a problem for the Catalan to solve – his obvious admiration for Klopp inspired by the challenge he provides – but Arsenal look to be made of sterner stuff this season. Mikel Arteta has learned from last season’s collapse and they appear to be peaking at the right time, aided by the addition of Declan Rice – a player Guardiola coveted.
It is not the time to show weakness but recently there have been signs. Sunday was a meeting of two of Europe’s best but they also laboured against Brentford and Bournemouth recently. Even a weak Manchester United side managed to lay a glove of them.
There is enough doubt there to give Arsenal hope and convince Liverpool that this is the chance of a lifetime. It is 20 days before City return to Premier League action – with a FA Cup tie and an international break to disrupt momentum – but when they are back it is against Arsenal. A similar performance might just be terminal for their hopes of clinching a historic fourth straight title.
from Football - inews.co.uk https://ift.tt/d8y1eEX
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