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Liverpool 3 Manchester City 0 (April 4 2018)



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Report by
Dave Usher
 
 
 

 

Sometimes you just run out of things to say about these kind of nights. Given all the things we've seen in our lifetimes nothing should surprise us anymore, and yet I think all of us will have been shocked to some degree by what happened here. 
 
Not the scoring three goals part, that’s almost par for the course these days. The clean sheet was a big surprise but even that in itself wasn’t exactly unheard of. Any team can ride their luck and keep a clean, especially if the keeper has an inspired day. So yeah, I could have conceivably seen a way how we’d keep them out, even though I would have thought it unlikely. 
 
Keeping a clean sheet without Karius even having to make a save though? Preventing City from having a single attempt on target? There’s no way we could do that. No way anyone could. Yet we did. That was the most impressive and without doubt the most staggering thing about this win.

 

The old adage about a game of two halves sums this one up perfectly. We played two vastly different styles but Klopp got the better of Guardiola with both. The first half was as good a performance as we could possibly have hoped for. In fact it was probably better than we could have hoped for. 
 
I’ll be honest, I thought we’d lose this game. That’s not like me but I had a terrible feeling of impending doom all day and I was worried the constant bragging about how ‘the power of Anfield’ would see us through would end up backfiring on us. 
 
Instead it was the dismissive, sneering words coming from Manchester that backfired on them. Playing at Napoli or in Argentina means nothing. I’m not saying they aren’t hostile atmospheres, far from it. They’re probably more hostile than Anfield actually. What people don’t seem to understand though is that it isn’t about hostility. 
 
We haven’t pulled off all these remarkable European wins against all odds because we shout and scream abuse at the opposition. That’s part of it, but players get that all the time and that alone wouldn’t bother great teams in the way that Anfield has time and time again. If it was just about snarling and being abusive to the opposition then Everton would win the league every year.
 
It’s much more than that, and some of it isn’t even explainable. It’s about history, tradition, belief, you can even call it magic if you like. Anfield on European nights definitely has an impact on the opposition but it’s more about what it does to OUR players. It inspires them to raise their game to a level whereby they feel they can defeat anyone, and often they have. 
 
It’s funny hearing fans of other clubs dismiss it as “waving a few flags and singing YNWA”. They just don’t get it, but then how could they? No other club in England (or for that matter Europe) has this, so how can they know? Their ignorance is understandable, as is their scorn, which is borne out of jealousy. Of course they're sick of hearing about it. Wouldn't you be if it was United or (don't laugh) Chelsea?
 
Other English clubs have had success in Europe, but generally it’s because they’ve been better than the teams they’ve faced. The team has got them results, not the fans. With us it’s a combination of both. We don’t need to have the best team, we just need to be decent and the fans can do the rest to help them over the line. We can pull off results against anybody and because it’s happened so often that it almost becomes a self fulfilling prophecy. 
 
We shouldn’t be able to beat City 3-0 and stop them from even having a shot on target. We shouldn’t have been able to score three in 20 minutes to beat Dortmund, or beat Chelsea or Juventus when we had the likes of Djimi Traore, Igor Biscan and Anthony Le Tallec on the pitch. Yet we did, and that’s only the tip of the iceberg. 
 
I don’t know how much the atmosphere bothered City’s players. I suspect it did to a degree, but that isn’t why we won the game. It was what it did to our lads that won the game. To a man they were brilliant but we got superhuman efforts out of some of them. That’s what Anfield does. 

 

City started the game quite well so it’s not like they showed up and just shat themselves. But Klopp’s tactical approach soon began to pay off.  

 

It was controlled ferocity. The players fed off the incredible atmosphere and the fans cranked it up even more when they saw what they were getting from the players. When City had the ball there was nowhere for them to go. We did to them what teams so often try to do to us, except the difference is when we got the ball we flew at them from all angles and at ridiculous speed. 
 
I’ve said all season that City’s defence is crap, but the problem is nobody (other than us) is prepared to try and exploit that. Teams are so scared of them they won’t attack, so more often than not their dodgy defenders have an easy ride. 
 
Seriously, Otamendi is just a terrible defender. If he’s not committing fouls he’s getting caught out of position. If he’s not getting caught out of position he’s doing something stupid on the ball (see the third goal for example). Poor old Dejan must look around at the likes of Otamendi and Stones and think “how come they don’t get the stick I do?”. The reason is that they’re top of the league and their mistakes don’t usually prove costly. Except when they play us. 
 
Guardiola is a deep thinker and he outthought himself based on what happened in the game last January. Our forward line understandably scares him so he played a weird formation with a centre back playing as a left back with instructions to never cross the halfway line. Laporte was supposed to nullify the threat of Salah, but that worked out about as well for City as this tweet did: 

 

mancityreport3a.jpg
 

Guardiola left out Sterling, probably because he has generally been abysmal any time he’s returned to Anfield. What he should have done is started Bernardo Silva out there, as in January that lad gave us more problems in 15 minutes than Sterling has in three years. Instead, he brought in an extra midfielder (Gundogan) and gave Andy Robertson the entire left flank to himself. 
 
Robbo ran riot in that first half, and he and Mané were constantly doubling up on Kyle Walker who was just as ineffective in defence as he was going forward. He’s another one I’m not having. I’ve always said he’s shite and I’m not for swaying on that. He’s Glen Johnson with more pace, less skill and a bigger price tag. 
 
He was caught out badly on our first goal. Couple of things to say about that goal. Firstly, I haven’t checked but I reckon we’ve scored more goals from opposition corners than we’ve conceded this season. We’re absolutely lethal when we clear the ball and then everyone just goes flying into the space. 
 
Secondly, there was far too much made of whether Mo was offside or not. He may have been, but you’re literally talking about inches here. Kicking off over borderline decisions like that is silly, especially when if the lino isn’t certain then he’s supposed to give the benefit of the doubt to the attacker anyway. 
 
Instead of complaining about that, City should be asking Walker just what the fuck he was doing. Milner’s ball to Salah started the whole thing off and although there was a bit of luck when the ball ended up breaking to Mo for a simple finish, you make your own luck as they say, and that’s exactly what Firmino did because he didn’t give up after his shot was saved and it was his relentlessness that created the goal. 
 
City had a chance to equalise when Sane was allowed to run unopposed all the way to the edge of the box before dragging a shot just wide. TAA could have closed him down but had he done so Sane could have rolled De Bruyne in on goal. It was difficult for Trent but he did well in what was an almost impossible situation. 
 
Although we had no idea at the time, that was actually the most threat City would pose all night. It wasn’t long before we added a second, and what a fucking strike that was from Ox. Again, Milner was the instigator as it was his crunching tackle that won the ball, but the first touch from Ox was brilliant. He added a second touch to shift it out of his feet and then BANG!! Pick that one out. 
 
At this point the atmosphere and situation they found themselves in was definitely getting to them. They were a disjointed mess at the back and I felt like we’d score every time we attacked them. We added a third when Laporte allowed Salah onto his left foot to deliver an inch perfect cross that Mané headed in superbly. 
 
3-0 after half an hour? Was this really happening? Could we actually end the tie there and then by adding another couple? We went close a couple more times before half time but had to settle for just the three. 
 
No matter, City would have to push on to try and get an away goal so we’d have plenty of chances to hit them on the break in the second half. At least that’s what I thought. Then Mo went off after tweaking his groin. 
 
With him went all of our attacking threat. We offered next to nothing after he went off and the entire second half was backs to the wall stuff. Well it felt like that at the time, but looking back it was all fairly comfortable. 
 
Defensively this was close to the perfect performance. The back four were all fantastic but it was a collective thing where everyone knew where they were supposed to be and what space they needed to close off. 
 
Henderson and Milner were as intelligent as they were combative. Tackle after tackle, interception after interception, it was an absolute masterclass from those two. I’d add Ox to that as well except he was forced into the front three when Mo went off and he was nowhere near as impressive after that. He’s a much better midfielder than he is winger. 
 
Wijnaldum had difficulty picking up the pace of the game to start with, which was perfectly understandable, but overall he did what we needed him to do and he played his part. 
 
City had a goal disallowed for offside. It was the correct call but it was just as close as the one for our opening goal. Could have gone either way, thankfully it went in our favour. They could have had a penalty too when Robertson collided with Sterling. He definitely caught him and it could have been given, but again, thankfully it wasn’t. 
 
City didn’t deserve any luck really. They were outfought and outthought. To a man our lads were brilliant and Klopp really got it spot on too. I was a little puzzled when he replaced Firmino with Solanke but the way the game was going we definitely needed to change something. Bobby looked shattered and the ball wasn’t sticking so it made sense to bring him off, although I would have gone with Ings because of his energy and ability to chase lost causes. 
 
I suppose the thought with Solanke was he would be able to hold the ball up due to his size, but that never happened as he lost every high ball that was played up to him. He did well to almost create a goal for Mané though when he ran onto a ball in behind and pulled it across for Sadio, but he couldn’t get a clean contact under pressure from a defender. That was the closest we came in the second half. 
 
Not that City came any closer. Their entire game plan seemed to revolve around getting the ball to Sane and hoping he’d skin Alexander-Arnold. He must have received the ball 50 times but not once did he go past Trent, who was incredible. He grew up watching these kind of games and here he is playing in one, and producing the performance of his life. Buzzing for him. 
 
City seemed to have almost total possession in the second half but they couldn’t find a way through. It’s amazing seeing us play like that. It was almost Rafa-like and it’s a big step forward for this team as few thought they had it in them to shut up shop like that. 
 
Klopp was pissed off that we became so focussed on that side of the game that we forgot to play football when we got the ball back. He’s right actually, we were terrible with the ball in the second half and hopefully next time we’re in that situation we’ll do better. 
 
Still, how can you not love defending like that? The two full backs were brilliant, Lovren was rock solid and Van Dijk just strolls through games like the big cool bastard he is. He makes a difference just by being there. He doesn’t even do anything especially eye catching, he just wins every header, makes his clearances and talks everyone else through the game. 
 
It was just a night to be proud of, and not even all that nonsense that happened beforehand changes that. 
 
When I first heard about the City coach getting damaged I was just saddened by it, but on reflection I feel like it’s been blown out of proportion. Guardiola even claimed the coach was ‘destroyed’. Fuck off, you had a window smashed. Who hasn’t been to an away game on a coach and had that happen? It’s happened to me twice. Not saying it’s right, it’s fucking not at all, but let’s keep it in perspective here. 
 
The whole greeting of the coach thing is special, it’s unique to us and it’s one of the great things about these European nights. It has a big impact on the atmosphere generated and it definitely lifts our players. It can also have an effect on the opposition, although I don’t think it did with City. 
 
I was there when the Villarreal coach arrived a couple of years ago and it got similar treatment, although no windows were broken on that occasion. You could tell in the opening 15 or 20 minutes that some of their players were nervous wrecks. I don’t think what happened had a massive impact on City and the dismissive comments from some of their players would back that up. 
 
They didn’t use it as an excuse and De Bruyne even praised it in a roundabout way (good boyhood Red him). It gave others the ammunition to rip into us though and that’s regrettable. I was actually ok with almost all of what went on, but for a window to have been smashed then someone has clearly thrown something fairly heavy and not just an ale can or a smoke canister. That shit needs to stop, because the last thing we want is for the police to stop the fans from greeting the coaches. 
 
The reaction of the City fans to it has been hilarious though. Then again, the reaction of the City fans to everything has been hilarious. What a bunch of fucking losers are. City fans are either old school and so used to being nobodies they have no idea how to act now they’re in the big time, or they’re bandwagon jumping gobshites who have no idea about anything. 
 
“Just like United, you live in the past” they sung. Yeah good one. If what City have done is the future then you can fucking keep it. Self entitled wankers propped up by a foreign state with a dodgy human rights record. Yeah I want no part of that, I’m fine with being stuck in the past thanks. 
 
I’m taking nothing for granted though and I could envisage a scenario where we go out. It’s unlikely, as I think we’ll score at their place, but it’s definitely possible so we need to be careful. One thing is for sure though, if we do lose to City it will be because of the brilliance of some of their players and their manager, it will be fuck all to do with their support. They can’t say the same. 
 
Star man is Trent but context is the main reason for that. He probably wasn’t better than Milner but when you take into account the pressure he was under after some recent mistakes, and that City spent the entire game feeding Sane because they saw Trent as the weak link, then what he did was fucking remarkable. 
 
He’ll need to be at a similar level next week though as City will throw the kitchen sink at us early on and we’ll need to weather the storm if we’re to progress. One goal at their place should see us through, so it’s vital that Mo’s injury isn’t anything serious. 
 
As for the derby on Saturday, REST EVERYBODY. I don’t want to lose to Everton, but we’ve got a cushion between us and Chelsea and the City game takes priority over everything right now. Besides, Everton are genuinely so bad they might not even beat our second string, and even if they do it will be a hollow victory that they’ll struggle to enjoy. 
 
Treat them with the contempt they deserve, Jurgen, and rest the entire team because we’ve got much bigger fish to fry. 
 
 
Team: Karius; Alexander-Arnold, Lovren, Van Dijk, Robertson; Henderson, Milner, Oxlade-Chamberlain (Moreno); Salah (Wijnaldum), Firmino (Solanke), Mané:


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About time this landed. I am sitting here alone in a hotel bar hitting refresh every minute.

Good report along with memories of my team mates asking the same question .. what the fuck was Walker doing there?

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The players fed off the incredible atmosphere and the fans cranked it up even more when they saw what they were getting from the players.

 

A great, spine-tingling line.  The locus of control sits behind the goal.  Unique.

 

On the coach thing, a mate of mine went to Roma, and the (Italian) bus driver abandoned the bus in shock when an object went through the window and out the other side.  The hole it left looked like a bullet.

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The City players may have experienced a hostile reception and partisan crowds before, but they've never faced a side fired up by receiving tweets off JP as they approach the ground.

 

No wonder they were rocked.

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I’ve just rewatched the first half and didn’t notice st all watching by it in the pub yesterday, but Van Dijk was round the edge of their box in open play 2 or 3 times during the time after our second goal, so much was our dominance.

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Wonder if the City decision to attack the Kop second half played a part? Two close decisions the ref and lino gave our way, post of the Kop

 

I meant to mention that in the report but forgot.

 

That was a stupid decision. In a league game fine, but the last thing they needed was us getting off to a fast start. Big mistake that was.

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Ace stuff.

 

The attempt at describing the Anfield effect was inspired stuff. Its not hostility in its normal form, its just a disregard of whoever the opposition are, because, we.are. LIVERPOOL 

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I spent the whole 90 minutes pacing up and down my living room I couldn't sit down at all. It was an amazing night amazing atmosphere and amazing result, just hope we can finish the job next week.

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Wonder if the City decision to attack the Kop second half played a part? Two close decisions the ref and lino gave our way, post of the Kop

 

Yeah when he won the toss Kompany had a look back at his own fans as if to say should we kick into them first half then went for the old nah, turn them around because they supposedly do not like kicking into the Kop first half. That worked out well. Again.

 

Good report.

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Great night. We were superb. Players, manager and fans in total harmony.

 

We will miss Henderson for the second leg. Even more if Can is out. They will come at us and if we wobble they could be right back in it before we get going. This is not over yet. Like everyone else I think we will score there. But I think we will have a fright before we do, and ultimately we will go through.

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Is that really a thing about giving benefit of doubt to attackers in offside? I always assumed it was a Shearerism as I've never seen it mentioned in the laws.

 

For the linesman though it can only be a best guess that he's giving in that situation, as the only person who could simultaneously look at that ball being played, and also straight along the halfwayline, is Alberto Aquilani.

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Trying to play offside on the halfway line is incredibly dumb and is asking for trouble, so just suck it up City. We're only talking inches anyway and it's not as if Mo went on and scored immediately after he got away, they still had chances to defend that goal. Walker was an abomination for that first goal and for the entire night, that lad is hopeless when he has to defend.

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Anfield, eh? I keep going on about it, because amidst all the talk that football fans have about the specialness of their club, it is the one thing that truly stands out. It doesn't matter your age, colour or creed. Once you walk into Anfield on a European night, you are changed. It's mad. The demographic of the crowd, for good or ill, is so different to Inter in 1965, and yet you can draw a straight line from that night through St-Etienne and Chelsea (2005)  and lots of other points in-between to Wednesday night.

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Is that really a thing about giving benefit of doubt to attackers in offside? I always assumed it was a Shearerism as I've never seen it mentioned in the laws.

 

For the linesman though it can only be a best guess that he's giving in that situation, as the only person who could simultaneously look at that ball being played, and also straight along the halfwayline, is Alberto Aquilani.

 

It definitely used to be a thing, no idea if it still is. Even if its not, level is classed as onside so if there is any doubt a linesman should always lean that way anyway.

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...the only person who could simultaneously look at that ball being played, and also straight along the halfwayline, is Alberto Aquilani.

 

You mean Mesut Ozil. Aquilani sees the end of his own nose.

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Great write up of a great night. I hadn't thought about the City decision for us to attack the Kop in the first half. Interesting point.

 

Hope Mo is fit for next week. Gonna miss Hendo. Midfield gonna be interesting if Can is missing too.

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Unbelievable that Paul has allowed that unjustified dig at Djimi to go without comment. I mean, that sentence would have worked just as well with 'Scott Carson'...

 

Funny you mention Carson.

 

Wasnt it the quarters in 2005, 2 up against Juventus at home and then he let one in and that made the away leg in Turin look very ominous indeed.

 

Makes a 3-0 cushion look a stroll in the park

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Funny you mention Carson.

 

Wasnt it the quarters in 2005, 2 up against Juventus at home and then he let one in and that made the away leg in Turin look very ominous indeed.

 

Makes a 3-0 cushion look a stroll in the park

 

Fortunately they had Zlatan, so we were safe enough

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Return leg will definitely be nervy. No Hendo or Can, so we are going to be very light in midfield. And maybe no Salah too. If we defend as we did at Anfield it shouldn't be a problem though.

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Trying to play offside on the halfway line is incredibly dumb and is asking for trouble, so just suck it up City. We're only talking inches anyway and it's not as if Mo went on and scored immediately after he got away, they still had chances to defend that goal. Walker was an abomination for that first goal and for the entire night, that lad is hopeless when he has to defend.

 

I think it's the angle of Mo's run that gives him the benefit of the doubt. A linesman isn't like the TV cameras, they can't take a snapshot and decide, they go more off movement and what happens over a second or so after the ball's played. Mo runs at a slight angle, whereas the defender is going straight, and a split second after the ball's played there's nothing in it.

 

Kyle Walker is indeed shite.

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Anfield, eh? I keep going on about it, because amidst all the talk that football fans have about the specialness of their club, it is the one thing that truly stands out. It doesn't matter your age, colour or creed. Once you walk into Anfield on a European night, you are changed. It's mad. The demographic of the crowd, for good or ill, is so different to Inter in 1965, and yet you can draw a straight line from that night through St-Etienne and Chelsea (2005) and lots of other points in-between to Wednesday night.

FSG have played a blinder in keeping the club where it should be while still upping capacity.

 

No offence meant to the famous Etihad or Emirates atmospheres with that observation, though.

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If Mo's goal was offside, about a third of City's and half of Spurs' goals this season would fall into the same category.

He was a fraction offside just past the halfway line, given the position of the linesman they rarely get given. It was like it was the immediate action before the goal either.

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