PREMIER LEAGUE CITY LAY DOWN A MARKER
Liverpool are brought back down to earth with a bump as Guardiola’s side run riot
THIS is just one of the reasons Manchester City wanted to win so badly at Chelsea last weekend. They wanted Liverpool here, on their home ground, with the title not yet won.
Not that they had dreams of some great Liverpool collapse. No, they gave up on that long before the suspension of the Premier League season back in March.
But they knew they could win here and, with the season still alive, knew they could make Liverpool wait for their coronation.
They could take Liverpool deeper in to the season than they wanted and that, in its own way, would have meant something. Pride is everything in sport, after all.
Instead City had to settle for this. A guard of honour for the new champions of England and then the administering of a shuddering hiding that Liverpool will take a while longer than they will probably admit to forget.
If that sounds odd then you don’t understand the way that Jurgen Klopp and his Liverpool players think. To lose like this — to be embarrassed like this — with the taste of champagne still in the throat will have been an affront. It should be. Aston Villa are next up, at Anfield on Sunday, and it is hard not to fear for them.
City were brilliant with the ball here. Liverpool carried an early threat and Mo Salah struck a post. Any notion that they didn’t care about this game was dismissed by their early play. This had nothing to do with a title hangover or any such cliché.
No, Liverpool were simply outrecord. played. In defence they were horrible, failing to cope with City’s scything play. Once Pep Guardiola’s side took the lead through a Kevin de Bruyne penalty midway through the first half, they rolled Liverpool over in a way that nobody could have expected.
De Bruyne was the game’s best player and young Phil Foden was not far behind. Foden supplied Raheem Sterling for the second goal and then scored himself from a lovely round the corner De Bruyne pass just before half-time.
City created chances every time they moved forward in the secon half. Liverpool threw in some moments of high comedy just for good measure. Trent Alexander Arnold threw a throw in straight to Gabriel Jesus to play him clear. Then Sadio Mane somehow missed the ball completely unmarked six yards from goal. A few people sniggered but Klopp was not one of them.
At the end of it all City had some of their self-esteem back and Liverpool now have it all on to reach the 101 points mark that would give them a Premier League points The holder of that record? Manchester City.
Liverpool were not short of effort or, seemingly, motivation. Klopp’s team ran hard enough. But they didn’t match City for clinical play in front of goal in the first half and that was the reason they went in two goals down.
Another reason was De Bruyne. Nominally stationed on the left side, the Belgian drifted and darted at will and that made it devilishly hard for Liverpool to track him. De Bruyne remains the best midfield player in the Premier League and was terrific here.
The new champions couldn’t match that kind of elusiveness even though they did stretch City at times.
Liverpool looked dangerous enough when in transition from defence to attack and wide forwards Mane and Salah made life uncomfortable for the City defenders by playing off their shoulders. But when it came to matters in the City penalty area, they were not sharp enough.
Salah actually had two chances to give his team the lead before they eventually fell behind to De Bruyne’s penalty. In only the fourth minute he got beyond the City central defenders to control a Virgil van Dijk pass and volley towards goal. City goalkeeper Ederson dived to his left to parry and was then able to gather a Roberto Firmino follow up that was weakly hit.
That felt like a warning to City. Liverpool were not lacking hunger and they came closer after 20 minutes. Again Salah was the irritant, easing inside on to his left foot from a Firmino pass and striking a low shot that hit the post.
So Liverpool could easily have been ahead but already there had been warnings at the other end. Andrew Robertson had been forced to deny Foden and De Bruyne in quick succession while Jesus had twice broken through only to be called offside.
Eventually the key moment of the half and probably the game arrived just before the drinks break. Sterling took possession of the ball on the far side of the penalty area and was grappled to the ground by Joe Gomez.
The last time the two men had been in such close contact was in a canteen at St Georges Park, an incident that cost Sterling his place in the England team. Here he went down easily but was certainly fouled. De Bruyne rolled in the penalty and the touch paper of the game was lit.
Liverpool continued to play their football. They were not in real trouble yet. But by half-time they were suddenly on the verge of being embarrassed. This is what City can do. Two more punches arrived in the 35th and 45th minutes and suddenly Liverpool were on the floor.
Sterling’s goal came after Jesus fed Foden centrally and with De Bruyne making a decoy run to the right, he played the ball to the far post. Sterling’s first touch gave him space and threw Gomez off balance. The finish was applied with his right foot from ten yards.
Suddenly this game seemed to matter a little bit more. City sniffed blood and their third goal was beautiful, Foden playing a one two with De Bruyne to ease in to space and lift the ball over Alisson.