Cancelo cancelled as City capitulate at a white hot Anfield
Liverpool 1 Manchester City 0, 16th October 2022
Liverpool 1 Manchester City 0, 16th October 2022
I have long described today’s two teams as the best two club football teams in the world and whilst Real Madrid have firmly usurped the mighty Reds of Liverpool in that particularly worthless and opinionated bracket, they had to show their very current best today and they did so through an immense “spine” of goalkeeping custodian Alisson Becker, a returning Andy Robertson and an almost faultless display from “Man of the Match” Joe Gomez. Whilst Thiago Alcantara was quiet and arguably overshadowed by incredible midfield displays from Ilkay Gundogan and particularly the mercurial brilliance of Bernardo Silva, Fabinho was his marshalling self again and 19 year old Harvey Elliott played out of his boots (again) linking the lines from midfield into an attack and crucial first line of defence Diogo Jota, as well as match winner Mo Salah who was described at half-time by ex Liverpool Red turned TV pundit Jamie Carragher as being “electric” today. He had to be and backed by a defensive unit who simply had to keep a footballing “clean sheet” as well as keeping a marauding Manchester City out, they did, and on sheer rugged, dogged determination and endeavour alone, deservedly took all 3 points and inflicting City’s first defeat of a long hard season ahead.
Whereas the first half was patterned in a thrust/counter thrust narrative and swamped in elongated stretches of attack versus defence, the second half settled into the expected pattern of Manchester City dominating possession of the ball with Liverpool looking to spring the transitions from midfield into attack and arguably “playing long” and fighting for possession of the second or loose balls. There was a fluidity of both movement and formations in the first half and especially when seen through the lens of Liverpool Red. Skipper James Milner was arguably as much an old style right wing half as opposed to the emergency right back that he really was, and the veteran put in an assuredly excellent display. Jota (who’s injury I desperately hope isn’t serious) floated across the central attacking line, as did the rightly described electric Mo Salah and the minimal goal scoring chances in an absorbing first half fell to the team dominating that particular passage of play. Gundogan drew the game’s first save from Reds goalkeeper Alisson Becker on 15 minutes and after a 10 minute passage of utter ball retention and domination from the visitors. Liverpool dominated the first 5 minutes, roared on by a crowd perfectly, if ironically, summed up post-match by City Manager Pep Guardiola as “This is Anfield!” and whilst the Reds best passages of play (mid half and towards the end of the first 45 minutes) didn’t particularly result in overly obvious goal scoring opportunities, City’s did, and thankfully the big dangerman and goal scoring machine Erling Haaland fluffed his lines on both occasions. The first, an attempted lob as Becker rushed to close the angle was a half chance at best but, when on 40 minutes and following an intense period of City pressure the gangly and skilful Norwegian was gifted a free header 6 yards out he simply should have scored rather than providing the Reds Brazilian goalkeeper with a relatively easy save.
The second half turned into a slugfest mired in controversy, running footballing battles all across the pitch, Jurgen Klopp’s sending off, the discombobulation of his opposite number Pep Guardiola and his knowing gesture to the Anfield crowd after the disallowing of Phil Foden’s perfectly legitimate goal and that goal, an almost replica of the winning goal against City’s neighbours across Manchester all those pre pandemic years ago as Alisson Becker arrowed a perfect kick downfield for Mo Salah to stride clear of an absent defence before slotting past an advancing Ederson in the Manchester City goal. It was so Mo Salah! Never mind the cool finish amid a cacophony of noise inside Liverpool’s famed old stadium. It was the look at his worshippers on The Kop. Chest puffed, did you see that, this is what I do, this is who I am and, beautifully, the cold steely glare of a poker player with the winning hand.
The second half was also the introduction of Jordan Henderson as substitute and a more solid and rigid formation to smother and blanket the constant possession Manchester City enjoyed. It was dominated in large parts by the City duo of Ilkay Gundogan and Bernardo Silva, absent the influence of Kevin De Bruyne or Thiago Alcantara and thankfully absent too of the “showdown” between Erling Haaland and Darwin Nunez. The Norwegian wrangled just one goal scoring chance that forced a great sprawling one handed save from Alisson Becker in the Reds goal and substitute Nunez showed the naivety that only time and the verbal chastisements of his Manager will eradicate.
But what wasn’t absent from the second half today was the televisual showdown between the two Managers as they perfectly fit the television narrative of the modern game. Guardiola has a habit of losing his cool on his returns to Anfield (and the “This is Anfield” barb was as biting as it was full of grudging admiration, make NO mistake about that) and his furious tantrums on the touchline were perfectly in keeping with this extraordinary man from Spain and of whom I have immense admiration. His Barcelona teams and of course this present Manchester City one, are works of footballing art. Across the touchline, his German counterpart was best summed up with his usual circular fist swinging motions high in the air, urging his team on (but also the crowd and make no mistake about that either) and today was a roaring “KEEP GOING!”, “KEEP GOING!”. I have no idea when a Liverpool Manager was last sent off and if I had to guess it would be Graeme Souness during his tumultuous years as Boss in the early 1990’s. His righteous anger over the treatment of Mo Salah and the non-decision of a free kick was justifiable but ill advised but also incredibly typical of the man as well as the conductor of his orchestra of fans in the white heat of a desperately needed win.
I utterly despise the VAR (Video Assistant Referee) system with every fibre of my footballing soul. It’s Matrix like intrusion is killing the once “Beautiful Game” in a death of a thousand television replays. But it’s here to stay and it won’t kill the beautiful game exactly, just continue to mould it into a perfectly imperfect morass of meaningless replays for a crowd of tourists rather than football fans, and those special football fans I miss being amongst as they made one hell of a racket today. Phil Foden’s “goal” on 54 minutes should have stood and was incorrectly chalked off (deleted?) after the unwanted intrusion of a man watching the game on a television screen a hundred miles away. So joylessly soulless.
But it was and despite the territory and ball possession enjoyed by Manchester City in the second half Liverpool just shaded the deserving of this most crucial of wins. Deserving or not, City have lost for the first time this season and now find themselves 4 points behind Arsenal in what will become a two horse race for the Premier League title come the resumption after the World Cup in November and December.
On matters Red I’ll close by saying how beautiful it was to hear The Beatles inspired “I’m so glad, that Jurgen is a Red” belted out around that famous old stadium and in an atmosphere rightly described post-match by Gary Neville as an “underdog crowd”. Anfield loves an underdog on occasions such as these, appreciates them when bested by a visiting dog and roars and revels in the atmosphere created when cheering on a somewhat beleaguered and out of sorts and under strength home team. The recent public and political outing of Gary Neville as anything but the “Mancunian Messiah” many believe him to be and putting aside my footballing distaste for his unbelievable football career in the red shirt of Manchester United, he made an incredibly astute point post-match and often does on matters surrounding the beautiful game. This was an underdog crowd and this was Anfield at its current finest, dragging their heroes in Reds over the line and against arguably the finest club football team in the world at this present time.
It sounded like a white hot Anfield of old.
Guardiola discombobulated.
City capitulated.
And the Egyptian King received the acclaim of his acolytes in their joint religious ceremony of sporting success in a cauldron of noise they’re lucky to call home.
Thanks for reading. My Liverpool FC archives contain a wealth of articles past, present and often personal, or you can find the three most recently published articles linked below:
Salah’s six minute hat-trick steals Firmino’s thunder as the Reds rout the Blues
Rangers 1 Liverpool 7, UEFA Champions League, 12th October 2022.medium.com
A tale of two penalties and a whole heap of madness at The Emirates
Arsenal 3 Liverpool 2, 9th October 2022.medium.com
Reds take great leap forward in Europe after easy win in the “Battle of Britain”
Liverpool 2 Rangers 0, UEFA Champions League, 4th October 2022medium.com