Honours even in the Manchester sunshine
Manchester City 1 Liverpool 1, 25th November 2023.
MANCHESTER CITY 1 (Haaland 27)
LIVERPOOL 1 (Alexander-Arnold 80)
“HIT IT!” screamed your favourite football correspondent in all of the known world, and Liverpudlian superstar Trent Alexander-Arnold did just that after a sublime first touch perfectly set up a pile driver of a right footed half volley that arrowed into the far corner of the Manchester City net leaving their goalkeeping custodian Ederson grasping for thin air. It was no more than the Reds deserved for a much improved second half performance after an insipid first 45 minutes that was anything but the “Super Saturday” Sky TV had relentlessly advertised for weeks ahead of this clash and a game as a whole that never caught fire and anything but a point for either side would have been a travesty of footballing justice.
Trailing 1–0 at half-time to yet another record breaking goal from the otherworldly and freakish goal machine that is Erling Haaland, Liverpool shaded a second half after their hosts more than dominated a first 45 minutes of albeit drab, uneventful football. It was a self-inflicted wound too that saw the Reds trail at half-time with Alisson Becker dying by the sword he lives by as he tried a quick kick up-field for a marauding and running free Mo Salah. He sliced his kick, Nathan Aké snaffled the loose ball, set Haaland free on the edge of the Liverpool penalty area, and the Norwegian did what he freakishly does seemingly every game, hit the back of the opposition’s net. I ADORE Alisson Becker more than perhaps a heterosexual man should really admit to but he was shaky today, gifting an early goal scoring chance to Phil Foden and constantly dithering with the ball in and around his penalty area. He was granted a cricketing “life” too in the second half, benefiting from a generous VAR decision that went his way on 68 minutes that ruled out a second and possibly game defining goal for City. Then, with perfect footballing poetry, he pulled off a brilliant close in save to deny Haaland a second goal and, mere seconds later, the team in Red before him broke at pace up-field, Salah assisted Alexander-Arnold, and the team’s were rightly level. He finished the game clasping a hamstring and one hopes this injury will not dent his season with a lengthy spell on the sidelines.
My self-published book on Liverpool FC - Available via Amazon
So honours even it was on a day that Bernardo Silva demonstrated once again what a gift he is to the wider wide of football (take off your Red tinted glasses everyone!), Joël Matip was immense in defence for the Reds, Erling Haaland scored (but his goal was not a winning one) and City’s danger man Jérémy Doku was largely, but not always, nullified by a brilliant defensive performance from today’s “Man of the Match”, Trent Alexander-Arnold.
A Premier League point gladly grasped with both hands.
A final word on the 25 year old Liverpudlian from West Derby. After 200+ senior appearances for the team he’s adored since childhood and after winning every major domestic honour the game had to offer him some considerable time ago, it’s baffling that he still struggles to hold down a certain and regular place for the national team and isn’t trusted or deemed worthy of a guaranteed place in England’s starting XI.
Keep proving those doubters wrong, kid.
Keep proving those doubters wrong.
A final word from The Boss
“Trent was pretty influential today, in a good way. He played a really good game, super-influential. We changed it, if you want, with the position; we brought him and made it more clear where he has to be in these moments. But he did that really well and had still his moments with Doku where he was really strong in the one-on-one situations”.
“I know it’s part of the circus and all these kinds of things but preparing the most difficult game of the season away at the Etihad with one session is really a challenge. Maybe I’m just not good enough! That’s absolutely possible. But it’s really tricky to do that in 30 minutes on the pitch and 45 in the meeting. So, we needed the first half maybe to understand even more about that and we improved in details, which makes a difference, and we scored a goal and brought it over the line and I am very happy about that”.
“For us I think we passed a test today, I’m not sure it was the test. If that makes sense. In a business where nobody has time, it’s really difficult to ask for it and to use it. Last year when the team had played long together — much longer than this team now — we had no real chance in this game. Today we had a chance. I’m not silly, I see the game, so if you ask me who would have won the game more likely, it was City obviously. But we had our moments and we won games with lesser chances against City, to be honest, from counter-attacking — and if we could have used them better then it would have been a very interesting game”.
Thanks for reading. Aside from persuading you to take a peek at that rather fine self-published book in the centre of this article (Go on, treat yourself or a loved one this Christmas! It’ll look a pip and a dandy all wrapped up as a gift for a Red this Christmas!) please also consider subscribing or following here (I always reciprocate) and feel free to take a wander through my 900+ articles here.
You are so welcome.
A tie is better than a loss.
My hometown CFL football team made it to the Grey Cup, and they seemed to be doing well until the other team scored a touchdown literally in the last minute. Sports are funny that way.