Liverpool 3 Manchester City 1 (Nov 10 2019)

[tlw content 12,273]

 

 

 

Report by

Dave Usher

 

Last year we missed out on the title in large part due to only taking one point against City, so this win was huge. It doesn’t guarantee anything, but what needed to happen happened, and while the rest of the nation bleats about phantom penalties and pro-Liverpool conspiracies, we can just laugh it off and celebrate another great win that puts us eight points clear at the top, and nine clear of City.

 

While Pep Guardiola desperately tried to ensure the narrative was City being screwed by the officials again (he did the same thing when we spanked them in Europe too), the real story of this game was the tactical masterclass by Klopp that allowed us to keep them at arms length for most of the day while completely ripping them to shreds at the other end.

 

Apparently XG showed that City had more ‘expected goals’. Whatever. My eyes told me that every single time we attacked we looked like we’d score. It might not have always led to a clear chance, but it always looked like it could do. 

 

City were dangerous and played some lovely football around the box, but we defended them as well as it’s possible to do while also ensuring we never got pinned back by them and were always able to spring counter attacks.

 

Klopp’s assessment was that you can’t beat City by playing like they do, because they’re the best at playing that way. He’s dead right. They’re sensational at what they do, but what they do at one end does leave them wide open at the other, and we took full advantage of that.

 

It was a strange start to the game as for the first few minutes we just couldn’t get the ball. City got on top of us immediately and forced some early corners. Everything seemed to be going through Bernardo on the right in the early stages, but we were doubling up nicely on both him and Sterling on the opposite side. 

 

City had a lot of the ball but our shape was good, and it soon became clear that any time City didn’t have the ball they were in big trouble. It genuinely felt as though we’d score every single time we attacked. They were wide open and I’m surprised we only scored three to be honest, especially as two of them came so early.

 

And how good were those goals? Just beautiful. City can bleat all they want about the first one, I don’t care. Irrespective of what happened in the box, the way we worked it from back to front so quickly was ruthlessly efficient and a sign of things to come.

 

Sadio had stayed forward in “the half space” as Klopp likes to say, and Robbo sent him clear with a pass out of defence. Mané drove at the defence, waited for support to arrive in the middle and then tried to pick out Bobby. City were scrambling back and managed to intercept it, but Mo closed down so quickly that Gundogan’s clearance went only to Fabinho, who just fucking leathered it in from 25 yards.

 

The keeper had no chance of saving that as it was such a sweet strike. It went like an arrow and when you look at the still photo of it you can see the perfect form of Fabinho. Head down, just striking right through the ball. Glorious. He should do that more often really, shouldn’t he? 

 

Although if he added goals to what he already does then that’s genuinely not fair on the rest of the league and maybe some sort of handicap would need to be introduced. I don’t know, maybe have him carry a dead weight around the field with him or something. After all, that’s what Gerrard had to do for half of the time he played with us.

 

 

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[alles ist gut 3,911]

Top, top Spanish Mr. Bean analysis there.

[Fred Oldfield 24]

Epic report Dave. I’ll say it again - best Reds team I’ve seen - and I had the privilege of seeing them all since we won promotion all those years ago...

[Spy Bee 3,391]

Just scrolled through City's fixtures. They seem to have tricky game after tricky game until about March. We need to be out of sight by then!

[The Midnight Rambler 1,465]

Fully aboard the Usher Twat o’meter.

[Trumo 14,175]

Aguero's record at Anfield is like Rushie's against the Mancs in the 80s. He was amongst the very best in the business during that time but never managed to score against them, even though Liverpool ruled the roost. Curiously, he eventually managed to do so in 3 games in a row under Souness when the Liverpool team were nowhere near being the best side in the country. That said, Aguero's record against us at the Etihad is one reason I almost hope that before the return fixture he picks up one of those bothersome muscle injuries he always picks up each season, because he always scores in that fixture.

[SasaS 2,385]

59 minutes ago, tlw content said:

tactical masterclass by Klopp that allowed us to keep them at arms length for most of the day

Now, I'm not saying that a lot of what we did wasn't deliberate, I just wish someone explained that to my arse during the first 30 minutes.

[Jordy Brouwer 437]

Haven't read it yet but - wow THAT match report is here. Brillliant; early Christmas present. Haven't been looking forward to a match report this much since you know when. Oh, you know. 

[bigal 205]

Great report, what a team which, as you say, should be getting the headlines not Fraudiola

[Lovely Cushioned Header... 1]

Spot on re: Terry Mac goal comparison. Thought the ref was superb.

[Jimmy Hills Chin 1,123]

Great report Dave but to be honest after that game you could have just written 'wibble' and I'd have repped it.

[aws 6,802]

1 hour ago, Fred Oldfield said:

Epic report Dave. I’ll say it again - best Reds team I’ve seen - and I had the privilege of seeing them all since we won promotion all those years ago...

I think they need to show the necessary resilience to win the League but if they do that then I reckon they'll deserve to be rated the best.  

[Guest Pistonbroke]

I thought TAA and Robertson were fantastic yesterday and this helped the midfield three to play the way they did. Those two lung busting runs from TAA were something else, I say lung busting, but he was hardly out of breath if I#m honest. It was such a pity that on the first one his pass was slightly behind Bobby who did well to get a shot off. The second one was later in the game and must have given those around him a mental boost, because we were looking pretty leggy at that point. 

[rb14 1,110]

Fab report missus. 

 

"We’ve done it City twice..." - There you go. Told you. Trademark it Usher.

 

"...that bulb headed cunt Kompany" - I got a semi reading that. Top dissing.

 

And I'm only going to say it quietly, coz it's not massively important, but "..."may the best team win" and the best team did win." - erm, better. The better team did win. 

 

Good to see you boys before the match. Chicken & leek stew (with optional pie case), hot chicken wings and a ratatouille ragout thing were the mains, seeing as you asked. It was perhaps a little warm in the Paisley. I've metioned it to the management. Made it feel quite nippy when we were shown to our seats a couple of minutes before kickoff.

 

Palace. Fucking Palace. Please god.

 

 

[Butch 943]

Really enjoyed reading your report dave. The fume about us and var is quite incredible, and it's only us that the media are obsessed with. Fuck them all. 

[Tj hooker 1,852]

Spot on report Dave couldn't put it better myself the only slight difference is I had Fabinho as MOTM but the whole midfield and team for that matter were outstanding. 

[dylstar 1,051]

Cannot stop laughing at this ........

 

[Arnaud 645]

Great report Dave, as usual. Agree especially on Hendo, and Gomez was great while he was around. Great time to be a red, we should just send the kids to Qatar, fuck the cups, focus on the league.

[dave u 6,032]

6 hours ago, Fred Oldfield said:

Epic report Dave. I’ll say it again - best Reds team I’ve seen - and I had the privilege of seeing them all since we won promotion all those years ago...

 

You've seen more than me, but yeah I'm the same. To me this is the best team we've ever had.

[The Guest 1,836]

Couldn’t agree more on the needle between the players.  For me I think it was Barca away last year.  I think the players turned up thinking this will be a great game of football, we are better than them, sharper than them because of the league we play in and they aren’t Real Madrid so they won’t try to shithouse through the game.  They’d probably all watched Barca in the earlier rounds just like we/I had and seen them play like the side that everyone enjoyed over the years.

 

We were then subjected to possibly the biggest shithouse game/tactics I think I’ve ever witnessed.  They were in the face of the referee over every decision, trying to injure our players, rolling around etc it was like a team full of Ramos’.  Messi was an absolute cunt like I don’t think we’ve ever seen outside of a Classico game.

 

I think that day the whole team woke up to it.  These people aren’t your mates and they will take any possible chance to shit on you, injure you or get you sent off unfairly and they did it because they knew we were better than them.  What we seen in the second leg was that the team got angry and it feels like that ever since.  You don’t need to behave like they do but you need to think nasty and get angry about it. 

[Guest Pistonbroke]

We've had some great teams over the years and they've been filled with great players in one way or another. Back in the 70's the game was built on defence and we ground out results by having a few great forwards and wingers. The 80's shifted to a more attacking team and again we played to our strengths. Some would say we were lucky enough to attract the best players from the UK and spent more than most, but we built some great teams and the league was overall a bit stronger imo. However, this team has been breaking records under Klopp that I never thought I'd see again. Klopp is something special and he pushes these lot on despite other clubs in the UK and in Europe spending way more cash than ourselves. You also have to factor in that we attract players from all over the World these days. Hard to say if it's the best team I've witnessed, and being as I was a defender myself I love how we went about things in the 70's and early 80's. I'd put this team on the same level as my favourite ones though, and I'd say they are by far the best attacking team I've seen. I'm just going to enjoy it, because unfortunately nothing lasts forever. 

[skaro 5,232]

I loved the teams from the mid-70s right through to the 87/88 side.

 

That Barnes/Beardsley/Aldo team was awesome in attack - but I actually don't think I've seen a Liverpool team attack more lethally than that Suarez one in 2013/14.

 

I'd go for '76/77 and '78/79 at the moment.

 

But, IF this team wins the League this season, on top of at least one European Cup - and keeps up this phenomenal win/loss ratio... yep, it'll be the best I've seen.

[Butch 943]

Save folks going onto twatter. Enjoy. 

 

[Bad Red Bull 414]

On Mane's goal, Tyler kept saying on watching the slow motion replay that he thought Bravo could be a little bit quicker to get to the ball.

 

Well, duh! The reason he appeared slow was because it's a SLOW MOTION replay, Martin

[Barnesey 283]

Every time this team wins a match, achieves another landmark or takes a further step forward, the stoic in me wonders whether I will come to see this point as the high water mark. So far, we just keep on climbing.

 

Another six months and no one will doubt this is our best ever team.