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Barney Ronay on Liverpool's wide weapons
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And with that, I’m done. Thanks for being here, for what turned into an absolute cracker, and potentially a season-defining one. Here’s the match report again. Bye!
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Jürgen Klopp finally turns up. He says he didn’t see the penalty incident and still hasn’t, which is handy. Meanwhile:
We saw in the last 10, 15 minutes, the goal gave City momentum. In that moment, they controlled the game. The other 75 minutes, we controlled the game with our intensity. If that was easy I think a lot more teams would try it. The boys put another incredible shift in. Then you need to score goals in the right moment, and obviously that’s what we did. All three goals were incredible. Then you have to defend with all you have, and that’s what we did. I don’t know a lot of ways to beat City but if we want to do it we need to do it with intensity, forcing them to play our game if you like.
We’re yet to hear from Jürgen Klopp, but here’s a bit of Jordan Henderson:
We knew it was a big game. City are a fantastic team. We knew the importance of the game and wanted to put on a good performance and win the game. There’s still so long to go, so our first mistake would be to look at the gap. For us it’s irrelevant. For us it’s about keep winning, keep the momentum going.
Here’s David Hytner’s match report:
There had been little more than millimetres in it during the previous two meetings of English football’s current powerhouses. Remember John Stones’s goalline clearance for Manchester City at the Etihad last January in his team’s 2-1 Premier League win or when Kyle Walker did the same at the very end of the Community Shield at the beginning of this season? City would squeak to victory that day on penalties. Liverpool authored a different story here, one underpinned by ruthless finishing and which came to be coloured by comfort.
Much more here:
Pep Guardiola discusses the game.
We showed why we are the champions today. The way we played was incredible. I’m so proud of my team, more than ever. I’m so proud, we played so good.
Please ask the referees [about the Alexander-Arnold handball], please don’t ask to me. Asky to Mike Riley, and the guys in the VAR. I would like to talk about my performance, it was so good. The way we played, with the problems we have, in the squad, it was awesome. One of the best performances we have played. We play in the way, the reason why we are back-to-back champions. That is the point.
If in the end Liverpool win, I will be the first to congratulate them, because we cannot deny how good they are. The way they play, how they create their chances, and this personality to play all the time. So yeah, it was good. Their first two shots were two goals, and it is difficult. We lost because they scored three goals and we scored one.
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That was an absolutely cracking match. Full-blooded, high-paced entertainment from first to last, packed with quality; an absolute neutral-thriller. That penalty call was obviously important, and had City scored the first goal everything might have been different, though it wouldn’t have made their defence any less dodgy.
“We know if we keep getting 97 points one year we’re going to win the league,” Robertson adds.
Robertson discusses the game: “It’s a massive win,” he says. “I don’t think we started the best, and I think the first goal was always going to be an important factor then [after half-time] we knew the next goal was crucial.” So, in short, goals help.
Back to that not-penalty, for a moment. “If the ref has to disallow any goal where the ball hits an attacking hand in the build up,” wrrites Richard Beniston, “then presumably (given the little-mentioned Silva handball preceding Alexander-Arnold’s) the right course of action would be to give the penalty against Liverpool, see if City score it and if so then immediately disallow it.” I would love to see this happen.
Pep Guardiola strides across the pitch, heading towards the referee, and Sky’s cameras keep on him as he does it. What will happen when he gets there? Will he start swinging punches? Will he go full hairdryer? Neither: a handshake and an exaggerated thankyou, and he’s off again.
Final score: Liverpool 3-1 Manchester City
90+5 mins: It’s all over! Liverpool are eight points clear at the top, Manchester City are fourth!
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90+3 mins: City chipping balls hopefully into the Liverpool area, Liverpool hacking the ball back out again.
90+1 mins: From the free kick Jesus heads over, though he was offside anyway. We’re into stoppage time, of which there will be about four minutes.
89 mins: Liverpool have completely lost their swagger, but they’ve still got their lead. A blind pass gives the ball back to City, Sterling wins a free kick and then has a bit of a row with Gomez.
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87 mins: Salah goes off and Joe Gomez comes on, presumably to shore up the right side of Liverpool’s defence.
86 mins: Chance for another! Angelino crosses from the left, and Walker appears from nowhere to win the header at the far post, but it goes over!
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83 mins: Sterling sidefoots the ball straight into Alexander-Arnold’s hand. No penalty, under any circumstances, but Guardiola loses his rag anyway.
83 mins: There’s anxiety in the air, and Sterling is terrorising Alexander-Arnold down the City left.
81 mins: Incidentally, immediately after the goal Liverpool replaced Firmino with Oxlade-Chamberlain.
80 mins: Nearly another! De Bruyne’s lovely backheeled pass sends Sterling sprinting into the area, but instead of chipping over Alisson and into the net he nudges inside towards Jesus, and it’s intercepted.
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79 mins: Klopp is absolutely furious about the goal, presumably because De Bruyne may have fouled Fabinho in the buid-up. It survives the VAR check, though, and it’s game on! Well, ish.
GOAL! Liverpool 3-1 Manchester City (Bernardo Silva, 79 mins)
Angelino’s low cross deflects to Bernardo Silva, whose low shot clips the inside of the post on its way in!
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78 mins: Angelino ghosts past Alexander-Arnold very nicely, and tees up Gundogan for a shot he’s too demoralised to take. He instead gives it to Sterling, whose shot is blocked.
75 mins: Sterling cuts in from the left, Mane gets a foot in and diverts the ball towards his own goal. It’s certainly not a deliberate back-pass but Alisson decides he can’t pick it up, and instead panics and concedes a corner.
73 mins: Another Alexander-Arnold crossfield pass to Robertson, and Stones has to slide to cut out his his pass to Milner. Liverpool get, and waste, a corner.
71 mins: City make their first change, hauling off Aguero and replacing him with Jesus.
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68 mins: Aguero must score! But he doesn’t even touch it! De Bruyne’s pass is lovely, the Argentinian runs onto it, he sticks out a right foot to turn it in, and ... doesn’t!
67 mins: Now Alexander-Arnold bursts down the left, keeps going into the penalty area, and then goes down. No penalty there either.
66 mins: Sterling goes down in the area. The referee tells him to get up, and books Rodri for arguing. It looks to me like Mane, having been beaten for pace by the England forward, did put a forearm against his back. Goes in the “seen ’em given” column.
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64 mins: This game is cooked. Liverpool are hogging the ball and looking threatening, with Salah visibly desperate for more goals.
63 mins: Fabinho finds himself in a pocket of space. Shooooot! Screams the crowd. His shot is blocked.
61 mins: Jordan Henderson comes off, presumably so he can have more time to endlessly replay that cross and/or backheel flick in his imagination. Milner is on.
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60 mins: Henderson executes a showy backheel flicked pass to Mane.
59 mins: I find De Bruyne’s facial hair extremely unconvincing. Not as unconvincing as the City defence, but not far off.
57 mins: Liverpool are purring now, whenever they have the ball. They like a kitten toying with a half-dead mouse.
54 mins: Sterling cuts in from the left, feints to shoot, feints again, cuts in a bit more, feints to shoot again, eventually decides he should probably actually shoot, and then has a shot that deflects wide.
53 mins: More dodgy defending down the left from City there, mind. Henderson picked up the ball 20 yards from the byline, and just ran in a straight line. Gundogan kept up with him for a while but then gave up, leaving Angelino, who had presumably decided that Gundogan had this under control, behind the play and helpless.
GOAL! Liverpool 3-0 Manchester City (Mane, 51 mins)
Liverpool score a third! It’s a gorgeous Henderson cross, and Mane stoops to head in at the back stick! Bravo gets two hands to it, but can only fumble it in!
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48 mins: On Sky, Geoff Shreeves says he was surrounded at half-time by City coaches, demanding to know why they hadn’t been given a penalty. Hopefully they aren’t totally distracted by vengeful frustration, because they could certainly still score a couple of goals here.
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46 mins: They’re off!
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The Premier League has released a statement about the handball incident:
The VAR checked the penalty appeal for handball against Trent Alexander-Arnold and confirmed the on-field decision that it did not meet the considerations for a deliberate handball.
So there you go. Now, on with the game: both sides are back on the field and ready for action.
Sky’s punditry panel of Roy Keane, Graeme Souness, Jose Mourinho and Vincent Kompany all think that Alexander-Arnold handballed and City should have had a penalty.
“If there was no VAR I highly doubt that the hand ball would of been called, nor would the offside against Salah been whistled. In other words, it would still be two-nil,” says Mary Waltz. This is clearly true.
Alexander-Arnold’s left-footed crossfield pass to Robertson in the build-up to Liverpool’s second can also go on the wall, incidentally.
Simon Yates has had a good think about that handball call:
“Coming to this a bit late, but isn’t the TAA handball exactly the situation which we were worrying about when the rules were tweaked?” he writes. “If the ball hits the hand of a member of the attacking side in the move leading to a goal, the goal is now supposed to be disallowed for handball regardless of intent etc. So on that basis you should disallow Fabinho’s goal for TAA’s handball. Even though the handball was in the Liverpool area. But having given handball you then have to give the penalty even though the handball doesn’t meet the criteria for a penalty, where you don’t give it if the arm isn’t in an unnatural position.”
Well this is confusing. I think the Alexander-Arnold handball didn’t happen close enough to the Fabinho shot in either time or space for today’s crack refereeing unit to take it into account.
The VAR team, incidentally, say the arm was not in an unnatural position, and the ball came at him too quickly.
Half time: Liverpool 2-0 Manchester City
45+3 mins: Peeeeep! City were hilariously dominant for 10 minutes or so, yet they somehow still managed to be two down in the 13th, mainly because this back four aren’t much cop at defending. It’s been a lot of fun.
45+2 mins: With four seconds of those two minutes remaining, Aguero has another shot, but it’s weak and easily saved.
45+1 mins: Into first-half stoppage time, of which there’ll be about two minutes.
45 mins: Bravo stops another one! This time it was Salah’s curler from 20 yards, which was neither powerful enough nor precise enough to sneak into the corner.
43 mins: Incidentally we have now been shown a still from the build-up to the Salah goal with the requisite offside-demonstrating blue line, and it’s all good.
Another tight call as John Stones plays Mo Salah on for Liverpool's second
— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) November 10, 2019
📺 Watch live now on Sky Sports PL or follow here: https://t.co/tIbipDtyYB pic.twitter.com/vw1NYoNc8V
42 mins: Aguero is played into the left side of Liverpool’s penalty area, but his shot zips across goal and wide.
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40 mins: Salah is released down the right an tries to skip inside Fernandinho, who takes the ball with a clean sliding challenge. But the Egyptian goes down hurt, and the physio is looking at his foot/ankle area again.
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38 mins: Bravo saves a shot! It’s Firmino’s effort, stuck left-footed straight at him. Alexander-Arnold created the opportunity, after producing a touch to control Alisson’s clearance that was so beautiful I want to frame it and hang it in my bedroom so it’s the first thing I see every morning when I wake up and reminds me of beauty, poetry and the potential of humankind.
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35 mins: Liverpool attack again. Salah runs free on the left this time; his cross towards Wijnaldum is headed to Firmino, who jinks into the area and then shoots high.
34 mins: They win a corner. Robertson takes, and Lovren glances it across goal and wide.
33 mins: Sky’s commentary team is laying into Angelino, as Liverpool attack down the right again.
29 mins: City hit the post! It’s Angelino, who bumbles through the area and has a rubbish shot, which deflects off Van Dijk’s shin and becomes much better, but still doesn’t go in. Corner.
“Have we had one of those VAR photos yet with zig zag lines confirming Salah onside for the second goal?” wonders Adam. We have not, just a rushed freeze-frame in which Salah looked suspiciously offside-ish to me. I’m sure he was actually onside though, because the only alternative is that everything is broken and rotten and ruined.
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27 mins: City’s defence is bearing gifts. They half-clear the ball straight to Salah, standing all alone on the edge of the area, but then he passes to Firmino and the ball is nicked away.
25 mins: Save! Aguero does some fine work to not only keep the ball in a crowded area but somehow fashion space for a shot, but it’s all for nought because Alisson saves it.
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23 mins: Fabinho trips Gundogan, and somehow gets away without a booking. Just so City fans know where to direct their hate mail, the VAR today is Paul Tierney, with the assistant VAR Constantine Hatzidakis. Also, don’t send hate mail. Play nice.
21 mins: Liverpool threaten again, but Wijnaldum’s ball into the area is cleared for a corner, which it also cleared.
232 - Liverpool have never previously lost any of the 232 @premierleague matches at Anfield when they have lead by 2+ goals, drawing five and winning 227 of those matches. Dusted? #LIVMCI pic.twitter.com/NEFuzM8JsS
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) November 10, 2019
18 mins: Liverpool pass the ball around their defence for a while. “Whether the handball should have led to a penalty or not, if I were a City fan, I’d be furious with Agüero,” says Matt Dony. “Play to the whistle. Always play to the whistle. The ball fell almost to his feet, but he was too busy screaming at the ref and and allowed Van Dijk to simply step away from him. Basics. Inexcusable.”
So far this week Claudio Bravo has faced three shots on target, conceded three goals and been sent off.
— Duncan Alexander (@oilysailor) November 10, 2019
16 mins: The penalty call continues to cause controversy. “This is a distinctly uncharitable theory, but could this last VARce be down to an unwillingness to rule out such a truly stonking hit to call a penalty at the other end?” wonders Matt Richman. “You would fear for Michael Oliver if that was the case.” The way the ball struck Alexander-Arnold was extremely penaltyesque, but I just don’t think you can win a penalty by punching the ball into a defender’s arm, however accidental the attacker’s punch might have been.
14 mins: He was onside! Liverpool are two goals up, and City are attacking beautifully but not defending at all.
GOAL! Liverpool 2-0 Manchester City (Salah, 13 mins)
They’ve only gone and stolen a second! Robertson’s cross is a beauty, and it bounces to Salah, who heads it in! But was he onside?
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11 mins: Bernardo Silva gets another cheap free-kick, just outside Liverpool’s penalty area. This time Aguero nearly gets a touch at the near post, Stones nearly gets one at the far post, but the ball bounces out for a goal kick. City are owning this match, but not the scoreline.
9 mins: Then City win a free-kick on the left - Alexander-Arnold again - from which Sterling heads wide from the corner of the six-yard box!
8 mins: The ball bounced into Alexander-Arnold’s arm off Bernardo Silva’s arm. In those particular circumstances, the two handballs cancel each other out and the referee has to play on. I think that’s right, no?
7 mins: There’s the inevitable VAR delay as the handball decision is checked, but the goal stands!
6 mins: City think they should have had a penalty for handball, after the ball flicked off Alexander-Arnold’s thigh and into his arm. The referee waves play on and Liverpool raid down the left. Mane’s low cross is poked clear, but Fabinho runs onto it, takes a touch and blasts it inside the post from 25 yards!
GOAL! Liverpool 1-0 Manchester City (Fabinho, 6 mins)
Cowabunga! They’ve had a kick now, sure enough!
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5 mins: Stone heads the corner on, but it goes wide. Liverpool really need to keep the ball for 30 seconds ago and hope they start purring.
4 mins: Now the visitors go down the right again, where Bernardo Silva goes shopping at the foulmart and buys a free kick from Robertson. It’s cleared, but City have a corner.
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3 mins: City go down the left this time, where Sterling fouls Alexander-Arnold. Liverpool have literally not kicked the ball yet, so here’s there chance.
2 mins: The entire game so far has been played in the far right corner, as City attack. They pumped the ball up there from kick-off and Liverpool haven’t been able to get rid of it. City now have a corner.
1 min: Peeeeeeep! Manchester City get us going!
All preambles and precursors have been completed. Prepare for kick-off, because it’s coming.
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“Watching NBC buildup which consists entirely of adverts,” writes Ian Copestake, as Anfield prepares for a minute’s silence. “So far I have bought a pick-up truck and a year’s supply of skin cleanser.”
And they’re out! What’s more, hands have been shaken, and anthems are being sung. There will presumably be some kind of Remembrance Sunday ceremony pre-match, so that’s still to come.
1 - Liverpool have only lost one of their last 50 Premier League games (W41 D8 L1), with that loss coming against Man City in January. Man City, however, have won 11 of their last 12 Premier League away games, losing only against Norwich in that run. Commencement. #LIVMCI pic.twitter.com/CVmCfzQc5T
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) November 10, 2019
The players are in the tunnel! Kick-off is approaching at breakneck speed. “I’m in Stansted airport,” says Alan McSherry. “I’m finding it hard to accept there’s no place to watch this match airside? Is it true? If the Guardian says it, I’ll know it’s true.” Thanks for your faith, Alan, but sadly I have no idea whatsoever. I once watched a match at Frankfurt airport, if that helps. Anyone?
Jurgen Klopp talks with Sky:
We’ve played them so often, and it’s always so difficult. But the key moments are, all chances we create we should score with, that would help massively. They will have their moments, 100%. Make sure we start good, stay good and finish good.
And so does Virgil van Dijk:
Well, it’s pretty clear it’s a massive game for both teams. We’re all looking forward to it. We just have to go out there, enjoy it, give everything we’ve got and have no regrets after.
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“I didn’t survive heart surgery this week to watch a damn draw,” writes Hubert O’Hearn. “I feel amazingly, serenely confident in this match. Every intangible points to Liverpool and Pep is doing his thing (thanks Pep!) of sending out a scrambled line-up. Reds have this. Easily.” Admirable confidence there. And congratulations on the survival business.
Mo Salah called for the physio during the pre-match warm-up, to deal with some kind of foot-related issue. I’ve heard nothing of a team change, so he is presumably fine:
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Pep Guardiola has a chat with Sky. He reveals that Rodri is in the team because he seemed fine in training (like, obviously), and that David Silva is on the bench because they didn’t want to put both of them straight into the starting line-up after injury for such a significant game:
Our plan? Try to win the game. Run when you don’t have the ball and play when you have the ball. We’ll try to do that. They’re so strong. We know it. I’ve said many times, after winning back to back Premier Leagues we needed to be pushed as well. They are going to help us for the next two, three, four years, help this club understand the level you have to achieve to be up there as long as possible.
“Surely this fixture can never live up to the hype but if it does ... gawd it would be beautiful,” writes Mary Waltz. Here’s hoping!
Here’s the PA Media take on the line-ups:
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp went with his tried-and-tested big-game line-up for the visit of Manchester City.
That meant four changes from the Champions League win over Genk with Andy Robertson returning at left-back, Jordan Henderson coming back into midfield and Roberto Firmino and Sadio Mane rejoining the forward line.
City made six changes as Claudio Bravo started in goal for the injured Ederson with three of the back four from Wednesday’s Champions League draw against Atalanta altered.
John Stones was picked to partner Fernandinho in the centre of defence with Kyle Walker and Angelino, who was making only his second Premier League start. Rodrigo came into midfield with Sergio Aguero preferred up front to Gabriel Jesus.
Andy Hunter had a chat with Alisson this week. Here’s his interview:
Last season we had a great experience, an almost perfect season. We lost one game and that one game was against City. We know how big this game is for us. We know how big the game is for everyone – for them and for our fans. In the end it is just three more important points but Manchester City have been the best team in the league for the last few years so we need to give everything to win this game. We don’t want to feel how we felt last season. Being second by just one point means we know that we need to give everything in every game if we want to become Premier League champions. We want it and we will try to do it.
Much more here:
So Ederson, as advertised, is missing and Claudio Bravo starts in his place behind a back four of Walker-Stones-Fernandinho-Angelino. Otherwise the teams look entirely surprise-free.
How we’re lining-up at Anfield 💪
— Manchester City (@ManCity) November 10, 2019
Bravo, Walker, Stones, Fernandinho (C), Angelino, Rodrigo, Gundogan, De Bruyne, Bernardo, Sterling, Aguero
Subs | Carson, Jesus, Silva, Mahrez, Cancelo, Otamendi, Foden
⚽️ @haysworldwide
🔵 #LIVMCI #ManCity pic.twitter.com/mucErmvPIw
The teams!
The team news is in, and here are this afternoon’s protagonists:
Liverpool: Alisson, Alexander-Arnold, Lovren, van Dijk, Robertson, Henderson, Fabinho, Wijnaldum, Salah, Firmino, Mane. Subs: Milner, Keita, Gomez, Adrian, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Lallana, Origi.
Man City: Bravo, Walker, Stones, Fernandinho, Jose Angelino, De Bruyne, Rodri, Gundogan, Bernardo Silva, Aguero, Sterling. Subs: Gabriel Jesus, Silva, Mahrez, Joao Cancelo, Otamendi, Carson, Foden.
Referee: Michael Oliver.
And here are Pep Guardiola’s:
I’ve never gone into a game feeling like an outsider or an underdog, thinking I am not going to win. I am not going to take the bus to Liverpool thinking I am going to lose the game. That has never happened in my career. Always I try to believe that, if we do the special things we plan to do, we will have our chance to win.
Much more here:
Here are Barney Ronay’s pre-match thoughts:
There is also something different in the texture of this injury-depleted City team. Guardiola loves midfielders, wants to turn the entire world a shade of midfielder, would ideally simply substitute the word “midfielder” for the word footballer. Three months into the season this team has gone Full Midfielder. Seven City midfielders have scored a league goal. Eight City midfielders have started five league games or more, compared with three career defenders.
Much more here:
Manchester City’s team coach has arrived at Anfield, where it was given a peaceful if not entirely friendly welcome:
.@ManCity bus arrives with a few verbals thrown but nothing else pic.twitter.com/IAWoeWXFEB
— Carl Markham (@carlmarkham) November 10, 2019
I have a lot of pre-match reading for you. Honestly, tell everyone in the room to go away for an hour or so, because you’re going to be too busy staring at your phone/tablet/other device to interact in any meaningful way. First off: Mane-Firmino-Salah or Sterling-Aguero-whoever? That is the question:
Hello world!
And welcome to the first leg of this season’s Premier League title play-off! Both teams will I’m sure be looking forward to a bit of genuine competition, away from the 36 mildly glorified irritant friendlies which occupy the majority of their domestic attentions. Whoever wins this one will carry an advantage into the second leg, scheduled for the weekend of 4 April, though the nine-point deficit City will be lumbered with should they lose, coupled with Liverpool’s ongoing refusal to be beaten by anyone under any circumstances, might make that one immaterial.
While we wait for the teams here’s a little trip down memory lane, at previous matches between these teams at Anfield since Pep Guardiola joined Jürgen Klopp in England:
Last year’s league game ended goalless, thanks to Riyad Mahrez’s late penalty miss:
The teams played at Anfield twice in 2017-18, with the first one ending City’s run of 30 undefeated league games:
And the second going a long way to ending their Champions League chances (it was the first leg, but nobody gives away a 3-0 first-leg advantage, except Barcelona obviously):
And finally, on New Year’s Eve 2016, Liverpool’s win gave them renewed hope of catching the division’s runaway leaders, Chelsea:
And if that’s not enough, have a bit of this:
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