man city played liverpool in the league . the game was very important for liverpool's title challenge. while it was equally important for city since they can just steer clear of the pack of chasers . this was no different that the games between city and liverpool . both the managers have opposite idealogies . while klopp likes to sit back and do counter attack . gaurdiola likes to dominate the possession . occasionally he too like to do the counter attack but he needs to get his basics clear while he is doing the counter attacking . football is about all the small things and if you get those small things correct then you have the desired the result and if you do them wrong then you can be left red faced . these are two most techincally best sides in the premier league and both the managers make sure that there players are technically the best . they have several training sessions which are dedicated to the technical aspect of the game . but still i find them to be technically deficient . i think that they need to be straightened out like we do our clothes . the other aspect of the game is the decision making as to what we need to do in that particular situation . here too i thought that both the teams need to take some drill session as to what they need to do after they had analysed the match because there were instances in the game where on thought they made the wrong the choices and had they made the better one then things would be different and the even the outcome would had been different .
both the team started the game with 4-3-3 formation . but there is a difference in which city operate there 4-3-3 . right back cancelo comes into the midfield to play alongside rodri to give cover to the back three plus to move the ball from back to front plus provide an alternative in the midfield so rodri doest gets choked up . this frees gundogan and silva like winger/midfielders and they can join the front three . so basically without the ball man city is 4-3-3 but with the ball they are more of 3-4-3 . both teams like to press but while liverpool like to counter as soon as they win the ball city are more patient with their offense . for liverpool firmino even though he wears the no.9 shirt he more of a midfielder and he tries to release salah and mane behind the back four .
i had heard klopp said that he thought that liverpool played a good game and i think that he is correct . liverpool were the better team in the first half . they were more threatening and when they had the ball they looked good . but the trouble is that if they cant counter and if teams can bring enough players behind the ball or that if the opposition can reduce their tempo speed or make them slow down then they struggle . klopp needs to work on that game where on the teams are sitting back and invite them to open up . what city did good in this game that they just slowed liverpool a bit and it allowed them to bring players behind the ball and it kind of derailed liverpool's offense . although liverpool won most of the long ball that were played by them from back to front . this slowing of pace meant that city were able to press them up and win possession back .
as i had said that city were able to slow liverpool down but liverpool too brought some players forward . since liverpool committed players forward city tried to play a counter attack on liverpool thorugh sterling and foden . when you are playing counter attack then not only your technical ability needs to be good but also your decision making has to be good . you need to realise as to when to throw the pass and whether you can complete the pass and keep the attack going or else in trying to counter you try to play the pass but loose the possession because the opposition will always try to read your intentions and will try to stop you . when city tried to counter attack liverpool i think foden and sterling didnt had that necessary cohesion that is needed for counter which salah and firmino has . the most important thing is that at time it felt that holding on to the ball was the better option than trying to play the pass and continue the counter . i think gaurdiola still needs to take some drills regarding the counter attack because liverpool were not play too high of a line as to leave too much of a space behind the back four that city could exploit . now in the first half i was disappointed by city because even though liverpool were not playing that kind of a high line but there was space and city just couldnt play a ball to release sterling or foden behind the back four . city need to keep adding new arsenal to their attack so that they become more potent .
now city were playing stones in the back four and liverpool were playing fabiniho and henderson in the back four . fabiniho and henderson are both midfielders and they dont have that refining skills to play as centre back and it was evident in the first goal . foden found the space in front of the back four and he passed the ball to sterling . when you play in the back four you cannot be presumptuous . alexander arnold became that . he thought that sterling instead of coming inside would go down the line and in doing so he shifted his weight on the wrong side . because of this when sterling cut inside he couldnt shift his weight and was dribbled past by sterling . the reason i said that fabiniho cant play in the back four because fabiniho needs to realise that alaxander arnold needs his help. if sterling beats him then he should be there to stop sterling . so for that he needed to just get closer to sterling . instead he stayed on his position which allowed sterling time and space on the ball to pick the pass for goal . earlier too when he gave away the penalty he tried to fool the referee by putting his back leg to bring sterling down. henderson's defending in the third and fourth goal was very well seen and i dont need to comment on that .
while henderson and fabiniho were not brilliant i was afraid of stones in the city's and there was moment in the match where on i thought that this was going to cost them . first off if a defender come out of the defense to press somebody then there are two things that need to be done . he shouldnt get beaten in the dribble . secondly he should make sure that the ball is passed back and that he shouldnt just leave the player and back off . stones came out of the defense to close down mane . stone tried to press mane but mane has good ball control and when stones saw that he couldnt get the possession back he back off . this is dangerous because he is giving mane time and space on the ball and that sets off a chain reaction . if there is one free player near the box then the defense does gets stretched because they have to leave their normal zones to close down the player and it creates cracks in the defense and stones still hasnt learnt that trade finely . secondly gaurdiola likes to play out of the back . stones creates jitters . its not that he cannot pass but at times he spents too much time on the ball and has that tendency to play wrong pass . but in this game he got caught just once and didnt had to pay for that .
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