FULL TIME: Liverpool 3-0 Manchester City
And that’s that. Liverpool were determined and impressive, City lacklustre, bordering on dreadful. A much-needed positive Premier League result for Jurgen Klopp’s side, who leap to eighth in the table. But a massive blow for City, whose title hopes are hanging by a thread, and must now look over their shoulder, with Manchester United and West Ham United after their Champions League place. A bad night for City, but they’ll always have Wembley.
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90 min +2: The home fans singing the showtunes. “If I had told you two days ago that in this gameweek Leicester City would draw with West Brom and extend their lead on the other three teams in the top four by a point what would you have said to that?” asks JR in Illinois. “I didn’t think it possible but this season is actually getting crazier.”
90 min +1: There will be three added minutes. Allen, 40 yards out but facing a dropping ball, sends a spectacular, screeching, Alonso-style volley goalwards. It’s only just over the bar, though Hart almost certainly had that covered.
90 min: Corner for City out on the right. Kompany comes up in search of consolation. Navas loops the ball into the box. Lovren, who has been very solid tonight, batters a header clear. Bony comes back at Liverpool, and tries to send a Lallana tribute dribbler into the bottom left from 25 yards. Mignolet isn’t fooled, and gathers with ease.
88 min: Flanagan is fine to continue. Milner is replaced by Ibe. The former City man is given a huge ovation by the Anfield faithful as he departs. It’s richly deserved. He’s been magnificent tonight.
87 min: Kolarov flaps a flailing hand into Flanagan’s fizzog. Accidental, but the young full back will need some treatment. The clock ticks on.
85 min: City’s evening gets worse and worse: Juan Mata has scored what looks like a late winner for Manchester United against Watford. United will be level on points with their city rivals.
84 min: Kompany is all over Benteke as the pair contest a high ball just to the left of the City D. A free kick in a dangerous position. Henderson whips up and over the wall, and towards the top left. Hart’s feet are rooted to the spot. If that’s on target, it’s in, but it sails inches wide of the post.
83 min: So this is shaping up to be a huge night for league leaders Leicester City. City are on their way to defeat here. Meanwhile West Ham United have beaten second-placed Spurs 1-0, while Arsenal have lost 2-1 at home to Swansea City! Dear oh dear. West Ham’s win has put all sorts of pressure on City in fourth, too. Pep’s not going to be happy if his new club end up in the Europa League, is he.
82 min: Kolarov, 40 yards out on the left, mishits a diagonal cross. But for a second, it threatens to dip under the crossbar. In the end, it clears the frame of the goal by some distance, but Mignolet was backtracking nervously for a second there.
79 min: Toure takes a free kick by the halfway line, out on the right. He blooters it high and long. Benteke goes up bravely on the edge of the box, rising Hart’s fist in his chops. Hart connects with the ball instead. Anfield’s fallen a bit quiet again, a general sense that the job here is done. Unless City can find something soon, of course.
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77 min: A chance for Benteke to take up possession and power down the left, but instead he meekly heads the ball nowhere in particular. If ever there’s a player who needs a confidence boosting goal, it’s this chap. “I thought Vincent Kompany said that it was ‘hunting season’?” writes Justin Kavanagh. “Typical City: They’ve obviously bagged their rabbit and are giving up on chasing the fox, having decided to dismount for a breather and get the collective cigar on.”
75 min: Both teams make a change. Kolarov comes on for Clichy, while Firmino makes way for Allen.
73 min: A quiet period on the field, allowing the fans to trade songs about Steven Gerrard, the ability to win league titles, the ability to win major European trophies, etc. “Dammit, a comfortable Liverpool victory is probably the most frustrating result,” writes Matt Dony. “They proved they can outplay City in the first league meeting. Now it just has an air of ‘Why couldn’t you do this a couple of days ago!’ Fourth place isn’t going to happen, this result won’t have a huge impact on Liverpool’s league position, and the chance to win silverware came and went. Sigh.”
71 min: This is brilliant defending by Toure. Aguero powers down the left, and it looks as though he’ll be breaking clear into the Liverpool box, shooting to score. But a slightly heavy touch allows Toure to step across the striker and take control of the situation. The ball’s hacked clear for a corner, which is dealt with easily enough by the home side. City are getting very frustrated.
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70 min: Poor Lallana, though, more sinned against than sinning, yet so often seems to come off second best. With this in mind, the home fans sing his name by way of support. Meanwhile Origi is replaced by Benteke, who will doubtless have been told to fill his boots. But then Klopp will have told him that ahead of the Exeter games too.
68 min: Adam ‘Scrappy Doo’ Lallana infamously got involved with Yaya Toure at Wembley on Sunday. Probably a bit embarrassing for him to recall how that panned out, even if he was rather harshly fouled. Anyway, now he’s engaged in a row with Navas, the City man having clambered all over his back in the midfield, then taken a couple of toepokes at his legs. For a second, it looks like a mass brawl is about to break out, but everyone calms down quickly enough, Navas is booked, and Lallana isn’t at any point tossed around like a rag doll.
66 min: Iheanacho has a bit of space to run into down the left, but suddenly Flanagan is right up in his grille, snapping in the tackle. He gets the ball back, but the space has gone now, and he can only lift a high one harmlessly into Mignolet’s arms.
64 min: Milner dances into the City box along the inside-left channel, and sends a wild shot over the bar. He may have done a little better there.
63 min: Lallana chases a long ball down the middle. A simple ball for Hart to claim, or at least blooter clear, but he hesitates on the edge of his area, forcing Kompany, inches ahead of Lallana, to clear under pressure with a spectacular bicycle kick. City’s heads have gone right now. They need to snap out of this quickly.
62 min: City are trying their hardest to respond, but passes aren’t sticking in the final third. Lovren and particularly Flanagan are snapping into every challenge. There’s no space for the visitors to work.
60 min: Liverpool are knocking it around for fun right now. Origi romps down the right, then pulls the ball back from a deep position for Firmino, who offloads to Milner. The former City man, level with the right-hand post and 25 yards out, unleashes a fierce rising shot towards the top left. Hart palms over the crossbar. The resulting corner comes to nothing.
GOAL! Liverpool 3-0 Manchester City (Firmino 57)
City sit off Henderson in the middle. Henderson thinks awhile, then rolls a ball down the inside-right channel for Origi. The striker controls, with his back to goal. Lallana immediately picks up possession, dribbles diagonally towards the edge of the City D, then slips Firmino free into the area on the left. Firmino opens his body and powerfully flicks into the top right. Kompany had played him onside, and Hart had no chance. Are City’s title hopes going up in smoke here? Their Champions League place could be in question if they’re not careful.
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55 min: Fernandinho one-twos with Bony down the inside-right channel, then slips a first-time flick towards Silva, breaking into the Liverpool box down the left. The ball is inches away from sticking to Silva’s boot; he’d have been clear on goal. Not quite. But much better from City. Though that’s Fernandinho’s last act of the evening, as he’s replaced by Iheanacho. City are really rolling the dice now.
53 min: Firmino bursts down the right and shuttles the ball forward for Origi. A less callow striker would have battered the ball goalwards as he entered the box, but he offloads to Lallana on the inside. Lallana wasn’t in such a good position, and though he dribbles around awhile, he can’t fashion space for a shot.
52 min: Can powers down the left. Fernando has a chance to clear but miscontrols and gifts the ball back to Can. He feeds Milner, who runs straight into Kompany on the edge of the City box. He claims a free kick, but he’ll not be getting that.
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50 min: A bit better from City, now, as they start to probe and press a little. Aguero nutmegs Flanagan to make off down the left, but he’s soon swarmed in red. Clichy turns up in support, but his low fizzing cross is blocked by Toure.
47 min: Flanagan plays a gorgeous sliderule pass down the right to release Milner into space. The ball’s shuttled forward for Origi, who hammers low into the middle. Hart gets down to get a strong hand to the cross, and nudges it away from the in-rushing Lallana. Zabaleta once again clears. City have yet to come out for this second half.
46 min: Liverpool are immediately on the attack down the right. Origi looks to have run the ball out of play, but he hooks it into the centre with a telescopic leg. If anybody had been keeping up, City were in trouble, but Zabaleta is able to trap, turn and clear.
And we're off again!
A huge cheer from the Liverpool fans before a ball’s been kicked: Sterling has been hooked in favour of Bony. The home side then get the ball rolling for the second half, and they’re kicking towards the Kop, which is their preference for what that sort of thing is worth.
Half-time entertainment: This starts with a Manchester City versus Liverpool match, so any old excuse to put the greatest football documentary of all time up. Featuring Malcolm Allison, John Bond, Kenny Dalglish, Peter Swales, Peter Swales’ magnificently brazen scrapeover, and a boardroom ashtray teeming with fags. The second half of tonight’s match promises to be great, so don’t be disappearing off down a YouTube rabbit hole. Have a quick look, but save most of it for later.
HALF TIME: Liverpool 2-0 Manchester City
And that’s that. A strange half. Nothing much happened. Except for the two goals which exploded out of nowhere, that is. Liverpool will be very happy with that, though they’ll surely be wondering why they couldn’t take this league form into the cup final. City meanwhile need a big second half if they’re to keep their title challenge on track. Drama ahoy, one way or another. No flipping!
45 min +1: Silva is upended just outside the Liverpool box on the left, Flanagan the culprit. Silva whips high to the near post. Aguero rises, eight yards out, and powers a header down towards goal. Milner, on the line by the post, chests down and clears. City claim a penalty, but they’re not getting it.
45 min: Aguero bustles into the Liverpool box down the City left. He turns on a sixpence and pulls back towards the onrushing Sterling, who is ready to pull the trigger, but sees the ball whipped off his toe by an excellent sliding hook from Flanagan.
44 min: Clyne sends Firmino into acres down the left. Firmino chips inside and finds Lallana on the penalty spot. But the flag goes up for offside - correctly - and Lallana blazes wildly over the bar anyway.
42 min: “Am I the first to castigate Pelligrini for dropping Sunday’s hero?” asks Lou Roper. Yep! But I guess somebody had to. Hart had no chance for Milner’s strike, but his role in Lallana’s goal was preposterous. The keeper was diving at full stretch, but got nowhere near the corner.
GOAL! Liverpool 2-0 Manchester City (Milner 41)
Once again, Anfield had fallen into quiet contemplation. And once again Liverpool suddenly burst into life when it looked as though there was nothing doing! Lallana somehow digs a ball out on the right, backheeling inside and past two City defenders to release Firmino into space. Firmino strides down the channel before slipping a ball forward for Milner, who bursts into the box and batters a shot off the bottom of the right-hand post and into the net!
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38 min: City respond by winning a corner down the right. Navas and Silva play it short. After knocking it between them, Navas whips to the near post. Lovren hoicks clear. Then another phase of City attack, Navas once again crossing from the right. Sterling can’t get on the end of the dropping ball, and Can combines with the determined looking Lovren to tidy up.
36 min: Liverpool’s tails are up. Milner has a bit of space down the right, and his pitching-wedges a ball into the area for Firmino. The ball’s a little high, and Firmino’s run a little late.
GOAL! Liverpool 1-0 Manchester City (Lallana 34)
It’s not so quiet now! This came from nothing. Liverpool finally get the ball after a long period of City possession. Milner, on the right, clips a ball inside for Lallana, who takes a speculative shot from the best part of 3o yards. He sends a pea-roller towards the bottom right - and somehow Hart allows it to trundle in! That’s a very weird goal. Not that Anfield cares a jot. Off comes that roof!
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33 min: In fact, City have enjoyed nearly 70% possession during the last five minutes. Anfield is pretty quiet as a result.
31 min: Aguero one-twos crisply with Fernandinho down the inside-left channel. Aguero nearly breaks clear into the box, but can’t quite keep control. Silva gets involved, and very nearly nudges the ball through for the striker, but it’s overhit and Mignolet comes off his line to claim. City are beginning to boss possession now, having ridden out Liverpool’s early storm, such as it was.
29 min: Flanagan plays a loose ball on the halfway line, allowing Silva, Fernandinho and Aguero to tear as a group down the left wing. For a second it looks like Fernandinho, near the byline, has found Silva with a pullback, but Lovren makes a nuisance of himself, allowing Flanagan to get back and retrieve the ball he’d lost. Liverpool were nearly caught out there.
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28 min: Sterling is still getting the bird. He relieves any frustration or irritation he may be feeling by cutting in from the left and taking a short-backlift snapshot towards the top left from 20 yards. It sails harmlessly wide left, and into the Kop.
26 min: Can, 30 yards out and shaping to shoot, spots Flanagan making ground down the right. Can plays an opener down the inside-right channel. If he’d weighted it properly, the full-back was in on goal. He didn’t, though, and Flanagan can’t keep it in play. A bright idea, badly executed.
24 min: After some neat tiki-taka from City, Zabaleta is found tight on the byline to the right of the Liverpool goal. Having watched Mignolet’s near-post antics at Wembley last weekend, he decides to take a shot from an absurd angle. Maybe it was a cross. Mignolet made it look like a shot, anyway, as he parries it out in a mild panic. Liverpool clear. City attack again, though Navas, who from a position down the inside-right channel, wheechs a low diagonal shot wide of the left-hand post.
22 min: Henderson, wide on the right, plays a first-time diagonal pass to Origi on the left. The ball’s taken out of play by a gust of wind. There’s a fair old blow whistling through Anfield. Liverpool come again, but Firmino’s shot from 25 yards is claimed easily by Hart, the ball having been dispatched straight at him.
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19 min: A clever reverse pass down the right wing by Flanagan, and Lallana’s in all sorts of space. But he hesitates, and a corner’s not much of a reward for the position he’d found himself in. He had loads of options in the centre. Liverpool used to have a fanzine called Another Wasted Corner, didn’t they? Well, anyway: that.
17 min: More space for Navas on the right wing. This cross is a little better, with Aguero’s radar beginning to ping hectically on the edge of the six-yard box. But Lovren intercepts before the ball reaches the striker. That was close. The nearest we’ve come to a goal so far, though I can’t stress enough the importance of context.
16 min: Nothing’s quite coming off yet. Navas makes ground down the right, but his low centre is easily battered clear by Lovren. Then Firmino tries to slip Origi clear down the left, but the striker doesn’t read the pass and fails to turn the jets on.
14 min: Liverpool come again, Henderson, Origi and Milner combining down the right. Milner’s cross is overhit, and Firmino, free on the penalty spot, was offside anyway.
13 min: Can chips a cute pass down the inside-left channel with a view to releasing Milner into the area, but he overcooks it, the ball sailing out of play for a goal kick. Liverpool have had quite a lot of the ball, but they’ve not forced Hart into breaking sweat yet.
12 min: A first attack for Sterling down the left. Boo, holler, yell. And he cuts across the front of Flanagan, earning a free kick just to the left of the Liverpool box. City load it. Silva whips it into the mixer. Fernandinho, City’s goalscoring hero at the weekend, gets his head on the ball, 12 yards out, but sends a weak effort miles wide right.
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9 min: Clyne, playing at left-back tonight, with Flanagan on the other side, looks in the mood to attack. A couple of runs down his flank. He’s never quite in control of the first one. The second is without the ball, and if Lallana had spotted him, he’d have been away.
7 min: A lot of faffing around in the midfield. City will be happy enough with this, as it’s quelled Liverpool’s early passion. “It could be worse for ‘Inner Anger’,” opines Grant Tennille. “Just ask Ings or Agger.”
5 min: But not for long. Origi goes tearing down the inside-right channel and is unfairly upended by Otamendi. Henderson’s free kick is once again miserable. Once again, Lallana tries to keep things going on the other flank. His deep cross flies out of play on the right, and there’s nothing a persistent Firmino can do about it.
4 min: A fast start by Liverpool, with Lallana, Henderson, Can and Flanagan seeing a lot of the ball down the right. Firmino nearly breaks clear down the wing, but his barge into the back of poor Sterling is a clear foul. The pressure’s off City.
2 min: Henderson’s free kick fails to beat Clichy, the first man. Very poor. Lallana tries to restart the attack down the left, and whips into the centre. Can attempts to control. If he manages it, he could have a shot from ten yards. But he doesn’t.
And we're off!
City get the ball rolling, and they’re attacking the Kop in the first half. Sterling is booed on his first touch, and immediately crumped by Flanagan. Fairly, much to the amusement of the home crowd. And the tussle results in a free kick out on the right for Liverpool, and a chance to load the box.
The teams are out! A cracking atmosphere at Anfield. Liverpool in all red, Manchester City, unnecessarily, in second-choice dark blue. It’s an aesthetic delight, if not one for the purists. Raheem Sterling closes his eyes and crosses himself as he crosses the white line. We’ll be off in a minute. “Won’t ‘BR’ please shut up?” cries Lou Roper. “Happily for him, he possesses rose-coloured specs that prevent him from reflecting on his many errors or, indeed, his unsuitability for top-flight management: viz. his (as opposed to the ‘transfer committee’s) ‘marquee signings’, ‘Inner Anger’ Moreno and Joe Allen, make it no further than the bench tonight; only the GBP 33 million wasted on the two of them.” Poor old Brenny. If he’d only positioned a defender or two in his own half against Chelsea that time, a couple of careers could have been a whole lot different. He’ll be back having learned a tactical trick or two from the experience, I’m sure.
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And now here’s Manuel Pellegrini. “It was an important week in three different competitions. We made a big step in the Champions League, and we won the Capital One Cup. And now we want to win the Premier League, in the best way, because we lost the last two games we played. We will try to continue and try to do it, to fight until the end. These three points tonight are very important. This team has a lot of experience, about how to win a title coming from behind. It’s important to reduce the gap.”
Poetry Corner (with William Carlos Williams scholar Ian Copestake, a man clever enough to have written this): “The middle bank of scarves in your pic makes for a poem of sorts with a nice anti-climactic ending:
Sturridge
We are Liverpool
Coutinho
Steven Gerrard.
Coutinho - Firmino
SHANKLY
Lallana.
And now here’s Jurgen Klopp. Was Liverpool’s 4-1 win at the City of Manchester Stadium his team’s best performance this season? After a long pause, and a smack of the lips, he answers. “Yes, I think as a full package it was the best one. Everything came together. We played brilliant and they didn’t play too well to be honest. It was pretty good. But what can we expect after Sunday? We want to strike back. They took something we wanted to have. They won something that we wanted to keep. But the good thing in sports is we can fight. We are experienced enough to know the final was the final, and we have to carry on. But we had nothing to celebrate on Sunday night!” Klopp also points out that Daniel Sturridge is rested, and not injured. “He had a little bit of a calf problem, but that is normal after 120 minutes. He wanted to be in the squad, but I said to him that if he was in the squad, I would want him on the pitch and that doesn’t make too much sense. It was my decision so he can have some recovery and be back for Sunday after a long injury.”
Brendan Rodgers speaks! (We’ll get to the current Liverpool manager in a minute.) “On the pre-game show we get here in India,” begins Prateek Chadha, “they have Brendan Rodgers as a pundit for this game. On being asked whether the ownership will back Klopp on his desire for a major squad overhaul, Rodgers pulls no punches. He bluntly stated that he was replaced because they felt this squad was good enough to qualify for the Champions League and, given that, they are unlikely to agree to an overhaul.” Hmm. Well, that’s either worrying news for Liverpool fans, given the shoddy state their team is in right now, or for Rodgers himself, who’ll have steam pouring from his ears should his successor get a few quid to spend in the summer, and the realisation sinks in that he was sold a line upon being told to pack up his things. Either way, someone’s going to be sitting in a dark room come August hugging their knees and rocking quite a lot.
Pre-match reading. While we wait to hear from the managers, how about we take a stroll down Repressed Memory Lane? Here’s the online version of flicking idly through the programme as you contemplate leaving your seat for a cup of milky tea and a subsequent visit to the special little room. Good old guardian.co.uk archive! Good old internet!
Willy Caballero, put your feet up, sir. Cigar? Brandy? Hey, he deserves it. Manchester City’s Wembley hero is back on the bench, as usual in the league. Joe Hart returns in goal, with big gloves to fill. He’s one of three changes to the City team that started at Wembley on Sunday. Bacary Sagna also steps down, to be replaced by Pablo Zabaleta. Meanwhile Yaya Toure is sulking because nobody ran after him at the end has hurt feelings a sore foot, and his place on the teamsheet has been taken by Jesus Navas.
The vanquished Liverpool meanwhile ring the changes. Five of them. Dejan Lovren replaces the concussed Mamadou Sakho, Kolo Toure comes in for a muscle-tired Lucas, Jon Flanagan is preferred to Alberto Moreno, Adam ‘Scrappy Doo’ Lallana will try to replicate Philippe Coutinho’s twinkle toes, and Divock Origi, so sprightly at Wembley, replaces Daniel Sturridge, who wasn’t.
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Tonight's teams
Liverpool: Mignolet, Clyne, Toure, Lovren, Flanagan, Milner, Can, Henderson, Lallana, Origi, Firmino.
Subs: Benteke, Coutinho, Moreno, Allen, Ibe, Skrtel, Ward.
Manchester City: Hart, Zabaleta, Otamendi, Kompany, Clichy, Fernando, Fernandinho, Jesus Navas, Silva, Sterling, Aguero.
Subs: Sagna, Kolarov, Caballero, Bony, Mangala, Demichelis, Iheanacho.
Referee: Martin Atkinson (W Yorkshire).
Good evening!
If Liverpool aren’t careful, this could turn into a habit. Back in 2012, Kenny Dalglish’s side lost a closely contested FA Cup final to Chelsea. Three days later, their victors turned up on the doorstep for a league game. All those broken dreams, right up in their grille.
And now it’s happening again. Three days after losing the League Cup final, here come Manchester City, shiny new trophy poking out of their backpack. Once more, the fans at Anfield are forced to look at what they could have won.
Chelsea were spanked 4-1 back in 2012. Thing is, the Blues had their feet up on the desk during that match, as they had the small matter of a Champions League final to contest 11 days later. City, however, still harbour hopes of winning the league title: a win tonight will put them within seven points of leaders Leicester City with a game in hand. They’ll have their tails up, and gamefaces on.
There’s also the small matter of Raheem Sterling to consider. The former Liverpool winger made his first major statement in a City shirt at Wembley. Sure, he missed a couple of gilt-edged chances, one which would have gone down in Gordon Smith’s Super Scrapbook of Wembley Howlers had his team not managed to win. But otherwise he was a pest and a menace. There’s a reason Liverpool fans gave him the bird with every touch, and it isn’t because they miss looking at his hairy chops. Expect him to cause more mayhem tonight.
Liverpool will take succour from the fact they terrorised City 4-1 in Manchester earlier this season. Also that they’re looking to make it a hat-trick of consecutive victories in this fixture, Philippe Coutinho having scored the winner in the last two tumultuous stagings. They certainly need a victory, for recent results have pushed Jurgen Klopp’s side into the bottom half of the table. They’ve never finished a season down there since winning promotion under Bill Shankly in 1962.
There are usually plenty of goals in this fixture. The last few games have ended 2-2, 3-0, 1-1, 2-2, 2-2, 3-2 and 2-1. Plenty of fun, though it’s been a little tilted in favour of the hosts: City haven’t won here since Nicolas Anelka scored a last-minute winner in 2003. They’ll be looking to put an end to that run, boosted by events at Wembley. Liverpool meanwhile will be looking for instant revenge. It all suggests yet another mini-classic in the making. It’s Liverpool versus Manchester City! It’s a Super Wednesday! It’s on!
Kick off: 8pm GMT.
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