• You may have to login or register before you can post and view our exclusive members only forums.
    To start viewing messages, select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

Man City Post Match Thread

Status
Not open for further replies.
CUWwBkQWEAAAcp5.jpg
 
Credit to Klopp for finding a way of playing all three number 10s (Lallana, Firmino and Coutinho) together.

------------------------------------------------------Firmino

Coutinho <--------------------------------------------300 yards------------------------------------------------->Lallana
 
If we had a good keeper....

I gave Firmino man of the match because he took the piss but I would single out Lallana who was tireless and brilliant and involved in everything, he worked his balls off to give the little Brazilians the time to whip their cocks out and he still got involved in attacks.
I thought he was phenomenal today.
Yep, Lallana was silky as ever on the ball today, some of the silky touches he takes are unnecessary but so brilliant, he wasn't a huge goal threat, but he was superb for us in the final third building up the play.
 
Oh FFS. I thought it was in poor taste he slid along the ground after the mudslide that killed 38 in China last week.

Fantastic game. Excellent performances all around. Love Klopp.
Shame managers dont make a difference eh.
I just got that image from Twitter.
I'm not offended, and he'll probably not get punished. I just think it was estupido
 
Lallana and Coutinho pretty much stayed away from each other in the game, from what I remember. And that's good, cause I still believe that they don't work well together.
Lallana wasn't directly involved in any of the goals. Except maybe the corner at the end.
Ha ha - it doesn't matter how much you slyly try to dig and dig to denigrate Lallana you've got absolutely no chance of succeeding this week.
 
Lllanna has the same issue as most other English players do. Always taking that extra touch.

Played well today
 
Was expecting to lose to today given what happened with Crystal Palace who seemed to highlight the cracks in our team. But it seems that maybe Klopp had the chance to work with the players to get them fine tuned up front. There was quite a few differences this today:-

1) Once in the final third - there were fucking options all over the place, with other players coming into the box.

2) When defending in the second half we actually defended as a team by dissrupting their play (i.e. kicking into row z when required). Clearly the incident that led to their goal was a sudden Rodgers attack in trying to keep the ball and pass out of trouble - good thing Klopp sorted that out at half time.

3) Loved Skrtel's goal - brilliant.
 
Lots of positives: Friminiho is a boss, the whole team played really well,bar a few lapses. Good to see some basic n effective defending skills by Skittles n Lovren in 2nd Half. Benteke shouldn't start for some time. He didn't offer much.
 
1) Once in the final third - there were fucking options all over the place, with other players coming into the box.

This was great. Friminiho, Coutinho, Lallana, Can in particular. The rest of them were pretty damn good as well.
 
Lots of positives: Friminiho is a boss, the whole team played really well,bar a few lapses. Good to see some basic n effective defending skills by Skittles n Lovren in 2nd Half. Benteke shouldn't start for some time. He didn't offer much.

What do we do with a 30M+ Striker then ? - he did have an impact - his very presence was responsible for Skrtel scoring that 4th goal for us. I think what Klopp wants is all action type players in all areas of the pitch and unfortunately Benteke is more of a stand still player up front.
 
Lucas suspended against Swansea, perfect opportunity fro Hendo to get a few minutes on the pitch. Unless it's Allen but I have a feeling that Klopp will go Hendo.

Coutinho's injury is a bit worrying, hopefully he'll be back against Swansea.
 
Footy365's 16 Conclusions:

[article]* “If you want to see Liverpool more successful than in the past, than in the last 24 years, you can do your small part, of course,” said Jurgen Klopp on his Liverpool unveiling. “If you want to make me like Jesus and the next day say, ‘He can’t walk on water’, then we have a problem. I dive.”
Klopp was aiming to tone down expectation and impatience but, on the evidence of the first half hour at the Etihad, it has taken him six weeks to perform near miracles. This was a team playing at the very peak of its powers, making expensive opponents look like sloppy amateurs. Liverpool scored three times in 32 minutes, and could have had two more still. Their players buzzed around Manchester City’s penalty area like joyful bees enjoying the first warm day of spring. They revelled in the understanding they shared with their peers.


Klopp has not completed the mission, far from it. But in this 32-minute spell of wonder he offered enough evidence to prove that he was the right choice at the right time. It was stunning to watch, intoxicating for the near-neutral. For a second, you really believed that Liverpool were back.

* Brendan Rodgers was a man who believed in possession as the means to victory. “When you’ve got the ball 65, 70 percent of the time it’s a football death for the other team,” he famously said. “We’re not at that stage yet, but that’s what we’ll get to, it’s death by football.” It became his own managerial suicide note.

Klopp’s own strategy could not be more different. “Now we cannot talk about football philosophy and ball possession, playing like Barcelona, playing like whoever. No. This team needs to create their own style,” he said shortly after arriving in Liverpool. “If you have the ball you have to be creative, but you have to be prepared that if you lose the ball the counter-pressing is very important.

In the first half, Liverpool registered just 37.4% possession, and completed 129 fewer passes than Manchester City. They also registered six shots, four of them on target. Where Rodgers believed in quantity, Klopp’s Liverpool are focused on quality. It shows.

It is reminiscent of a quote from Chile coach Jorge Sampaoli, made after his side lost to Uruguay with 73% possession at the weekend.

“One night, I went to a bar, I was with a woman,” Sampaoli said. “We talked all night. We laughed, we flirted, I paid for several drinks of hers.At around 5am, a guy came in, grabbed her by the arm and took her to the bathroom. He made love to her and she left with him. That doesn’t matter, because I had most of the possession on that night.”

Well, quite. Heavy metal football, via a less salubrious analogy.


* Could there be two more different personalities in football management than Manuel Pellegrini and Klopp? One is the relaxed, mild-mannered grandfather who relishes a glass of merlot and some Debussy on the radio. The other is the brash, jokey uncle who wants to take you to Laserquest and playfully punches you that little bit too hard.

Their pre-match interviews epitomised their vast differences. When asked to describe the thinking behind his team selection, Pellegrini went for parodical tedium: “I have picked the best team that I thought would win the game.” Fair.

Klopp, meanwhile, offered a typical japey, close-to-banter-but-not-quite-banter interview. “Hey, that’s football, cool hey? Ha ha ha,” was the sign-off line. There are merits to both styles, but provides extra intrigue to matches between them. Laserquest 4-1 Debussy.


* Of course it is necessary to mention just how bad City defended while Liverpool flourished. This was the 15th Premier League or Champions League match that Eliaquim Mangala and Martin Demichelis have started together. Before Saturday evening, City’s record in those games read: Won 12, Drew 2, Lost 0. That has been blown out of the water.
It was the decision to leave Nicolas Otamendi on the bench that made the least sense, even with Juventus to come in midweek. Vincent Kompany’s absence this season has caused City issues – as the below statistic indicates – so why add to this problem?


Using the pace of Mangala was logical, but having the dancing feet of Coutinho, Firmino and Lallana running around Demichelis became embarrassing during the first period. It was like watching a old dog get worn out just by watching a new litter of puppies at play.

* That was not Pellegrini’s only odd selection decision. Against Manchester United and Sevilla last month, the combination of Fernandinho and Fernando behind Yaya Toure worked brilliantly. Having two defensive bodies protecting the defence gave Toure licence to roam forward without having to constantly be aware of his defensive responsibilities.

The performance against Sevilla was sensational, Pellegrini finally finding a different way to play as City dominated on the counter attack. Quite why the Chilean chose to abandon that strategy against Liverpool only he knows, but it backfired spectacularly. Fernando was overwhelmed in in front of the defence, having to put out multiple fires with one hose.


* The first goal was as a result of abysmal defending on City’s part. Bacary Sagna has been excellent this season, but was robbed in his own half by Coutinho. One Brazilian passed to another, and within five seconds Firmino had crossed into the box. Mangala offered a fine impression of Djimi Traore’s own goal against Burnley for Liverpool in 2005.

Liverpool played their own role in the goal, however. The term Gegenpressing was used continuously during Klopp’s early days at Anfield, but this was real evidence for the manager’s effect on the team:


1) Press high up the pitch on the opposition defenders, forcing a mistake.
2) As soon as the ball is won, have players overlapping to create space and cause panic.
3) Hope that panic ends in mistakes.

Pressing in excelsis.


* “There’s a certain amount of poignancy in this, two French players making mistakes,” said Martin Tyler after first goal, referring to Sagna and Mangala’s errors.

Am I the only one that feels really uncomfortable hearing human tragedy and acts of terrorism contextualised in this way?


* ‘Edwards encourages staff to use his nickname ‘Eddie’, giving a matey feel to the working environment. It is understood Rodgers has another name for him,’ wrote Neil Ashton during his scathing attack on Liverpool’s use of statistics as part of their decision-making in the transfer market. He wasn’t finished there.

‘Edwards fell perfectly into place with FSG’s Moneyball strategy, the statistical model designed to extract maximum value in the transfer market. Clearly, with the club 10th in the league and paying up to three times the going rate for players, it needs refinement.

‘The committee have yet to explain how they came up with the figure of £29million to sign Brazilian forward Roberto Firmino from Hoffenheim, who finished eighth in the Bundesliga last season.’

Shall we talk about Roberto Firmino next then?

The Brazilian was exceptional against City. Klopp’s decision to leave Christian Benteke on the bench was a gamble, but Firmino excelled in a false nine role. He had more shots than any other player on the pitch, and double the number of shots on target. He also played a sublime pass for Coutinho’s goal and won possession eight times. It is this determination that caused Klopp to put faith in him.


As with Memphis Depay at Manchester United, perhaps it’s time to realise just how hard it can be for young players settling in new countries. Given time and support, both are plenty good enough to flourish. And that’s why the committee ‘came up with the figure of £29million’.

* We need clarification on the amount of time afforded within the advantage rule. There was an incident in the second half where Sergio Aguero fouled Milner, with referee Jonathan Moss allowing play to continue when the ball ran to Lallana.

Lallana was given the time to control the ball, dribble forward and then attempt a poor pass which went to a City player. Five or six seconds had passed since the original incident. As ever, it’s the C-word we’re discussing; where’s the consistency?


* Isn’t it wonderful to see Aguero back? The Argentinean was clearly far from fully fit, but that only dictated that the moments of brilliance would be less frequent in number. We still got one.

As if to follow the tone of the match, City’s hope-giving goal came as a result of defensive mishap. Martin Skrtel’s clearance was poor and easily intercepted. Aguero received the ball 30 yards from goal and, well… did what Aguero does.

One of the (many) joys of watching Aguero is his ability to generate power without noticeably trying to hit the ball too hard. That enables him to add curl onto his shots, regularly starting the ball outside of the far post and nestling it into the corner. He also left Lucas with embarrassing ease. Welcome back, you lovely boy.


* In the 16 Conclusions after Klopp’s first match, I wondered whether there was a risk of Coutinho being turned into an effective worker, thus removing some of his creativity. The early signs is that I was wrong to be concerned, but Klopp deserves credit here.

With Benteke in the team the pressure was on Coutinho to do most of the creative work, but using both of his Brazilians together means that workload is shared. Firmino and Coutinho were excellent in tandem against Chelsea last month. They stepped things up another notch at the Etihad.

Dovetailing together, the two Brazilians look sublime, an obvious understanding already built up between them. Coutinho has eight league goals and assists in 999 minutes this season. Half of those have come in the 259 minutes when Firmino has also been on the field with him.

Firmino himself now has three goals and assists in the Premier League. His two assists have been for Coutinho goals, and his goal came from a Coutinho assist. It’s like a Brazilian symbiosis. Sambaosis?

The only black mark in Liverpool’s book came with Coutinho limping off through injury. The Brazilian was smiling as he walked onto the pitch after the final whistle, and Klopp will hope that it is a tweak rather than pull. It would be an immense shame if such progress was stopped in its tracks.

* Although City were outclassed, two of Pellegrini’s players still deserve praise. The first is Kevin de Bruyne, who continues to impress during his early months back in England.

The Belgian completed 49 passes in Liverpool’s half, nine more than any of his team-mates and 26 more than the subdued Raheem Sterling. He also created four chances, only one fewer than the rest of City’s team combined. If City are to win the title, you suspect De Bruyne will be the key component.


* The other is Joe Hart, who made magnificent saves from Firmino and Benteke to stop things becoming more embarrassing still for Pellegrini.
If there was a moment to epitomise the match, it came when Martin Skrtel had expertly given Liverpool a 4-1 lead. “F**K’S SAKE” came the shout from Hart, audible to those watching on television. Indeed, Joe. Nobody saw this coming.


* A word too for James Milner, who will be happier than most with the victory back on old stamping grounds. This week’s England Ladder expressed its doubts about Milner’s continued importance to Roy Hodgson, but this was a strong rebuttal from the defence council.

Speaking after the game, Klopp said it was Liverpool’s “passion” that pleased him more than any other part of their display. It is Milner who personifies that characteristic most. He made seven tackles, two more than any other player, and also covered the most distance. Plus ca change.

There is no doubt that some of Milner’s creativity has been starved at Liverpool. Nine of his team-mates created a chance against City , but he was not one of them. Yet with Adam Lallana, Firmino and Coutinho ahead of him, that doesn’t have to be Milner’s remit.

Rodgers once infamously remarked that you “you can live without water for many days”. Milner’s the man faithfully carrying it for when you do need a drink.


* City will be down, but clearly not out in this bonkers Premier League season. Yet there should be more questions raised about Pellegrini’s big-game tactics. In 2015, City have lost to Liverpool (twice), Barcelona (twice), Manchester United, Tottenham, Juventus and Arsenal. August’s 3-0 win over Chelsea is the only victory against a top (top, top?) side. Even that has been put into context by Chelsea’s subsequent results.

The accusation is that City’s manager is leaving them too open, assuming his team’s attack can blow teams away. In those eight defeats, City have conceded 21 goals at a rate of 2.6 per match. That’s not the form of champions, domestically or in Europe. Naivety is an unwelcome trait to find in a 62-year-old manager.


* “Remember to update the Leicester report if they are no longer top after the City game finishes,” reminded Sarah Winterburn as she left the office. It didn’t need changing, of course. This Premier League season continues to be utterly captivating through its own lunacy, competition that is alluring in the extreme.

With this victory Liverpool are now eight points from top spot. The realistic hope is to push on for a top four place, but this is the wrong season to place any glass ceilings on your expectations. Leicester are proof that anyone really can beat anyone. Should Liverpool replicate this performance level on a regular basis, only the sky is the limit.


Daniel Storey[/article]
 
Why was it rapey when Brendan was all touchy feely with the players but cool and funny when Klopp does it?

I can't answer that one myself. Maybe Rodgers looks like a pedo?

4btrtxq.gif
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top Bottom