Manuel Pellegrini criticised Manchester City’s display against Liverpool. City couldn’t cope – they looked really sluggish in the first half. With Vincent Kompany and Nicolas Otamendi not fit and unavailable, Pellegrini had to opt for a less-favored Mangala-Demichelis pairing and the duo looked utterly clueless at times bordering what we might have called comical defending. “The game was not ideal but it was very good”. But while certain individuals are now performing better under his tutelage, Klopp has galvanised Liverpool to be greater than the sum of their parts.
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“There are a lot of things why I took the decisions with the starting XI but there was not one thing”.
Liverpool are eight points behind surprise league leaders Leicester City, but European qualification appears a more likely goal.
But Liverpool reasserted control in the second half and after Hart had thwarted Firmino, Dejan Lovren and substitute Christian Benteke, Skrtel slammed home from an 81st-minute corner to seal City’s heaviest defeat since they moved to the Etihad in 2003. If this is a team that’s looking to build confidence after a slow start to the season, there’s no better way to do it. Yes, there were injuries and some big players missing but he could still have got more out of what was available to him.
“I’m not on a time limit yet, but I hope it’s pretty soon because I’m sick of sitting in the stand and watching!” “We had heads down a bit, but we have to keep the heads up”.
While there were several examples over the weekend of the high pressing that the German tactician adopts, with City put under pressure immediately every time they had possession in defence, there are other instances where it hasn’t worked so well.
Liverpool secured an excellent 4-1 win over City on Saturday, but Klopp was seen shouting at his players at various points despite such a seemingly comfortable win.
Of course, away from home there is more emphasis on the home side to take the game to the visitors, which suited Liverpool on Saturday as they showed their strength on the counter attack.
Liverpool celebrating victory against Manchester City.
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“I am not sure about Liverpool when they are pressed by the opposition and that is going to be the key for me”. If they get into a habit of beating teams they should do, and comfortably, then it could well be a fortress again. The pair were involved in all three goals as Liverpool established a firm hold on the game.
