AGUERO HAS NEVER SCORED AT ANFIELD . . . AND HE CAN’T DO IT FROM THE BENCH
Title chasers cancel each other out in Anfield stalemate
MFive minutes to go, game tied at 0-0, penalty to Manchester City at Anfield, Sergio Aguero off the field. Up steps Riyad Mahrez. This, one imagines, is what the record signing was bought to do. Define games. Win matches. Those huge moments on which title campaigns turn. That is why City pursued him. That is why Foden was pushed down the pecking order. He’s a kid and everyone knows what City want. Big men, for big occasions.
Experience. The finished article. That is the scale of their ambition.
There seemed to be some discussion with Gabriel Jesus, who had replaced Aguero after 65 unsuccessful minutes. Jesus looked like a man who was up for it. He’s a Brazilian striker. It’s in his DNA to want to be the hero.
Mahrez, however, was firm. He has taken penalties before, he has scored three times for City this season. He is probably the designated taker if Aguero is unavailable, too, blessed from on high. It was his duty to win this match.
Jesus complied, but it was obvious he didn’t like it. Had he known Mahrez’s record as he walked to the spot — five misses in his last eight penalties — he would have liked it even less.
A penny for his thoughts, then, and for Aguero’s, too, as the ball sailed higher and higher into the night sky. Over the bar from Mahrez’s boot, into the crowd, to the mockery of the locals.
Liverpool goalkeeper Alisson was receiving instructions from the sidelines on where Mahrez was going to put it, but the kick rendered all inside information redundant. A butterfly net on a stick couldn’t have interrupted that trajectory.
As consolation, it cannot even be said that Mahrez’s miss meant justice was done. It was a penalty, no doubt. David Silva played Leroy Sane in and Virgil van Dijk mistimed his tackle and brought him down. Liverpool were staring at their first home defeat by Manchester City since 2003. They got away with it even if, overall, a draw was probably the fair result.
Ultimately, a game that promised so much delivered only disappointment.
Both teams will probably settle for this — although City will know they should have won — but neutrals not so much. They tuned in expecting fireworks and found instead two technically proficient teams, doing what technically proficient teams do.
The defences were, the isolated moment aside, exemplary — with Dejan Lovren outstanding for Liverpool, bar one rash tackle. The midfields worked hard but with scant return in a creative sense. As for the forwards, they were largely anonymous.
It says something about Manchester City’s recent record at Anfield that Aguero has never scored here. He should have had a penalty, but little more, and was withdrawn early as City searched for a breakthrough.
For Liverpool, Roberto Firmino’s race was run on 72 minutes, Sadio AYBE Se r g i o Aguero would have scored it. Maybe Phil Foden would have, too. We’ll never know.
Mane struggled to make any impact — as did Daniel Sturridge from the bench — while Mohamed Salah spurned the best chance of the match from open play.
That came with 21 minutes remaining when a long ball from Andrew Robertson was taken delightfully by Salah, allowing him to go wide of his marker but shooting way over.
City had a couple of chances but both fell to Mahrez a minute apart. He missed one and offered up an easy save for Alisson from the other. After so much anticipation, Manchester United’s comeback against Newcastle turned out to be the best entertainment of the weekend. Who would have thought that?
It was April 24, 2010, when Manchester City last got to half-time in a Premier League game without mustering a shot at goal, so this was a collector’s item at least.
They were still a work in progress under Roberto Mancini back then — Nigel de Jong in midfield, Roque Santa Cruz on the bench. To see the Pep Guardiola-era City shut out for 45 minutes was a genuinely surprising opening — as surprising as it was to see Liverpool missing their usual attacking energy and Anfield subdued.
It was as if both managers, knowing the danger of their opponents, had set up to resist. Not that the football wasn’t skilled and at times admirably pacy, more that the defences were a match for it. Jurgen Klopp had relegated Trent Alexander-Arnold to the bench, moved Joe Gomez out to full back and thickened the centre with Lovren — which worked perfectly.
Pep Guardiola had clearly instructed Aymeric Laporte to guard Benjamin Mendy’s flank and he moved quickly to extinguish Liverpool counterattacks. John Stones had a fine game, too. Salah created Liverpool’s only significant chance of the first half, after four minutes, cutting inside on the right but shooting weakly into the side-netting.
There was a blow for the hosts when James Milner went off after 29 minutes, injured with no City man nearby. He was replaced by Naby Keita, who is athletic but hasn’t yet got the midfield smarts of a Premier League veteran in such a tense fixture.
City’s sole opportunity prior to the break was an error from Gomez, after Lovren had headed out a cross from Mendy. Trying to play the ball upfield, he miskicked and sent it back into the area, towards Aguero. Startled, Lovren appeared to foul him, but referee Martin Atkinson waved play on.
For Liverpool, this is now four games without a win and while all have been difficult — Chelsea, Chelsea, Napoli and Manchester City — they will be disappointed after starting with impressive wins against Tottenham and PSG.
Superstitious Manchester City followers, meanwhile, may be interested to hear of a previous missed penalty in the league between these teams. It came in 1967, by Tony Book. The game ended in a draw and City won the title that season.