City’s shining light who gets brighter with every match
TALKING POINTS FROM CUP LOSS AT LIVERPOOL
IT was a shame that Luke Thomas was one of the Leicester City players to miss a penalty because it threatened to eclipse what was another terrific outing for the left-back. These past few games, it has felt like he is at the beginning of a James Justin-style blossoming.
Brendan Rodgers has been reluctant to use him too often for fear of burning out a player who puts his heart and soul into every match, but recent injury problems have forced his hand.
However, Thomas has responded with a very positive run of games.
There was a moment last season, about a third of the way into the campaign, where it all seemed to click for Justin.
He was playing regularly, and then he started playing well regularly. By late autumn, it reached a point where he was visibly improving with every game.
Having had more senior football under his belt, Justin was starting from a higher point than Thomas, but it feels like the 20-year-old Syston lad is now beginning a similar process.
Even when facing Diogo Jota in the second half at Anfield, there was no fear in his display.
He squared up his man without question to go toe-to-toe, often winning the 50-50s or at least halting a dangerous attack.
He moved the ball excellently as well, knowing when to play it short to allow others to progress with it in other parts of the field, but sometimes pinging long passes himself, spotting the runners and dropping the ball at their feet.
He took an elbow to the chops in his battle with Jota too, but it did not lessen his fight and desire.
He is making smart decisions – the interception leading to Youri Tielemans’ second against Newcastle was another recent example – and more than matching the wingers he faces.
He may have missed his spotkick, but he was a shining light for City, and one that is getting brighter by the game.
Another game, another new formation, and again it was born out of injury issues.
With no Harvey Barnes and with Ademola Lookman only just back in training, Rodgers did not have either of his two first-choice wingers available to start.
And so he played a system without them. But instead of going for a 3-4-1-2 to accommodate the lack of wide-men, he opted for a midfield diamond.
And it worked. It has been tried before by Rodgers at City, but as might be suspected, the full-backs are often left with too much to do up against a winger and a man in support.
The last thing City want to be doing right now is welcoming more crosses into their box, given their vulnerability in the air this season.
But it was successful because the diamond’s mid-points, Tielemans and Kiernan DewsburyHall, are very hard workers, who will put in a shift to get back while still possessing the stamina to contribute in attack.
It was an even greater success on the front foot, combining three creative players in Tielemans, Dewsbury-Hall and James Maddison, with a pair of speedy strikers in Patson Daka and Jamie Vardy.
With two frontmen to think about, the Liverpool defenders struggled to keep track of their movements, and even when they did, they struggled to keep pace with them.
The duo are both selfless in their play too, and will set each other up for easier chances, as Daka did for Vardy’s second.
Even Boubakary Soumare, at the base of the diamond and perhaps not needing to shuffle side to side as often, looked more comfortable, showing off some of the powerful runs that City would have wanted lots of when they plucked him from Lille.
And with four central midfielders in there, City did seem to have much more control of the ball, which importantly means less control for the opposition.
They may have stumbled on the formation, but it’s an exciting discovery. It should make another appearance this season, but may not be as soon as Sunday.
Barnes is expected to be out again on Boxing Day, but it might be too open a shape against the might of Manchester City.
The formation did not last the game though. When City switched to a 5-3-2, the Liverpool pressure came, and came strong.
It was not necessarily the case that the system didn’t work, but more the combination of the setup with the personnel helped Liverpool in their comeback.
City had to take Caglar Soyuncu off for Jannik Vestergaard, and changing to a back five did help the Dane.
As the centre point, and with City sitting deeper, he was able to defend the box well, reading crosses to head clear, and blocking shots too.
But without Dewsbury-Hall and Daka ahead of the back five, City did not have the energy they required to make a deep-lying defence work.
Dewsbury-Hall, who produced yet another stand-out performance with some clever, committed play in defence and attack, looked the most lively of City’s four midfielders in the second period, and was the one able to press the hardest. But he was the one who was substituted.
Up front, Daka, always a willing runner, was replaced by Kelechi Iheanacho, who, playing not long after returning to training following a near-fortnight absence, looked rusty and lacked sharpness.
With Vardy struggling with a hamstring issue too, all of a sudden City had an attack and midfield that could be bypassed easily, and so the defence were up against it.
Yes, they were compounded by injuries, and yes, Liverpool, trailing at Anfield, were always going to apply some pressure, but it’s well-established that City are better when they have more energy in the team, and it felt like the wrong players were withdrawn for the shape that City changed to.
Afterwards, Rodgers praised his team’s valiant effort instead of bemoaning a missed opportunity, even though it felt like one.
At kick-off, with Liverpool fielding a handful of youngsters, City were favourites.
The hosts brought on a few of their top-level operators at halftime, but were still missing seven of their best in Alisson, Virgil van Dijk, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Andy Robertson, Fabhino, Mo Salah, and Sadio Mane.
City were missing a similar number of stars by the end, but they had a two-goal advantage with 25 minutes to play.
Against that Liverpool team, they should have been able to see it out.
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