City rout leaves Klopp craving an Anfield success
IN THE pages of one newspaper yesterday, Manchester City goalkeeper Joe Hart loomed large from an advert. ‘Unbeatable,’ it said. We have known this not to be true for a while. City — many people’s champions-elect — have kept only two clean sheets since the middle of September. If that’s not a concern for manager Manuel Pellegrini, then it should be.
On Saturday at the Etihad, however, we witnessed something that we don’t see very often. City, looking to weld themselves to the top of the Barclays Premier League before Christmas and New Year, were dismantled by Jurgen Klopp’s insatiable Liverpool side.
It was a stunning evening in Manchester, made so by the irresistible nature of Liverpool’s attacking play and by City’s unexpected fallibility.
Afterwards, Pellegrini couldn’t explain it. Asked if this was the worst display of his time in charge, the Chilean said: ‘Yes, it was, absolutely.’
Perhaps it was only right that Pellegrini didn’t say too much. It would only have made things worse ahead of the Champions League game at Juventus on Wednesday.
Liverpool manager Klopp (right), meanwhile, tried to play down the expectation that will inevitably soar after this stellar performance.
‘We have to work, that’s all,’ he said. ‘If somebody asks us if we can go to the top four, then it’s not my problem. I don’t think that way.
‘The money is in the Champions League but I can’t promise it now. It’s hard work to get there.
‘They changed the manager here and that tells you something. It wasn’t because of the weather and it wasn’t a problem with Brendan Rodgers because he is brilliant.
‘But they had to change something. Only two weeks ago, we lost to Crystal Palace. I can’t say that we are good enough but, if you want to write it, you can.’
The foundations for victory were laid in the first half. Liverpool were 3-0 up inside 32 minutes and, as City failed to cope with their relentless energy, it could have been more.
City’s returning hero Sergio Aguero did score before half-time and perhaps the subsequent discussion in the visitors’ dressing room provides the best insight into the challenges that still face Klopp.
Essentially the Liverpool manager admitted that he had to convince his players they were good enough to win a game of this size.
‘If you are stuck in the forest and it’s dark and you are afraid and someone tells you not to be, then it doesn’t work,’ he said.
‘It’s your own mind. Only you can affect that. We need the confidence in ourselves but we cannot switch the lamp on and off.
‘I would love to win a game like this at Anfield. That is the next challenge. We have Swansea coming but I don’t know that much about them yet. We lost to Palace, so we have to find a solution — and we will.’
Having now won at Chelsea and City for the first time in the same season since 2008, Liverpool would appear to be on an upwards trajectory. Much of their improvement has come on the back of the Brazilian partnership of Philippe Coutinho and Roberto Firmino.
We know all about Coutinho — who will have a scan on his hamstring if it is still sore today — but summer signing Firmino has only really come to the fore since injuries thrust him into the team as a makeshift forward at Chelsea last month.
‘It’s tough coming to the Premier League but each game he is getting better and better,’ said Liverpool’s former City midfielder James Milner. ‘He was outstanding, him and Phil combined well.’
Firmino provided Liverpool with an outlet too dextrous and intelligent for a City defence missing key men. Without the injured Vincent Kompany, Pellegrini left arguably his second best defender Nicolas Otamendi on the bench. At half-time, meanwhile, Yaya Toure was dragged off. ‘I don’t want to talk about individual players or decisions,’ was Pellegrini’s contribution to the debate.