That was the most complete performance we’ve ever had against City. Granted, it’s also the weakest City team we’ve faced in many a year and they’re in an absolute mess right now, so that can’t be overlooked, but even so, given that magnitude of the game how can you not be absolute buzzing about this?
We’re better than City now. They’ve lost Rodri and that’s killed them, but even with Rodri we’re still much better. Previously when we’ve had the upper hand over them it felt like we had to be 100% flat out to be able to do it. This time we did a lot of it in third gear.
To be able to play in two completely different ways and completely control the game in both is something that stands us in really good stead for the rest of this season. This is oversimplifying it, but you could almost say that the first half was Klopp’s Liverpool and the second was Slot’s.
The reason that’s oversimplifying it is because the first half is also Slot’s Liverpool of course. He wants to play like that, he just doesn’t want to do it all the time. I don’t necessarily think Jurgen’s side did it all the time either but there was always a danger that when we did let the pace drop we could be vulnerable.
That’s probably why I wasn’t completely at ease in the second half. City had the ball, a lot of the ball, and a significant chunk of the game was played in our half. We’ve seen that movie before and it usually ends with them putting the ball in the back of our net.
I always feel that to beat City we need to be the way we were in the first half. Smother them, use the crowd, get in their faces, run, run, run and runs some more until eventually they just can’t withstand it. That’s how we’ve had success against them and when the game slows down and they are able to breathe, it’s often a struggle for us and we have to be almost perfect to keep them out.
And we have been, there have been games where we’ve withstood what they threw at us but often there’d be lots of close calls, great saves and bits of luck here and there along the way. This wasn’t that though was it? Ok, we needed one great save from Kelleher but it was 2-0 at that point and that chance had nothing to do with City playing through us, it was one lapse moment from the otherwise imperious Van Dijk.
So yeah, this was different to what we’ve seen before because we did the high press, in your face run all over you football in the first half and it was incredible. Then in the second we let them have the ball and said “you won’t play through us” and they didn’t. Not once.
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