Although this fixture wasn’t the title clash that it was
last season, it lived up to similar standards in terms of excitement. Both
teams still had a lot to fight for – Liverpool needed a win to keep up their
pursuit of a place in the top four, while City wanted three points in a bid to
keep the pressure on Chelsea. The two sides are both renowned for their easy on
the eye attacking football, and they certainly didn’t disappoint. They produced
one of the games of the season, with
It was evident from kick-off that this was going to be a
hard fought affair. Immediately the game developed an end-to-end nature, with
both sides looking very threatening. City perhaps looked a little more likely
to score in the opening exchanges, perhaps due to their extra recovery day
since the two teams’ European excursions. However, a moment of pure inspiration
from Jordan Henderson after eleven minutes meant it was the hosts who struck
first. Sterling
passed the ball to the captain, who was in a fair amount of space outside of
the box. After a touch to set himself, the ex-Sunderland man curled the ball
powerfully into the top corner, leaving Joe Hart completely powerless to
prevent it.
The game continued in much the same way after this, although
City’s attacking play had a little more urgency about it. Aguero struck the
post just two minutes after they fell behind, and then turned provider after 25
minutes to give City an equaliser. He slotted a perfect ball through to Dzeko,
who made no mistake with his finish. Can could be criticised for not stepping
forward and playing Dzeko offside, and Lovren was perhaps a little guilty of
ball watching, but the goal largely came courtesy of Aguero’s excellent vision
and technique.
From this moment on it was Liverpool
who seized the initiative, playing the better football from then until the end
of the game. Coutinho was instrumental in this, showcasing his amazing
dribbling talents to embarrass City defenders on multiple occasions. Zabaletta
had a particularly torrid time of things; Sterling
and Coutinho both caused him multiple problems in the first half. To be fair to
the Argentinean, he had an immense second half – he made multiple crucial
tackles and drastically reduced Liverpool ’s
threat down the left. Allen should also be singled out for praise. Many have
said that this match was his best in a Liverpool shirt: his close control and
passing were both excellent, and he definitely brought a degree of composure
into the Liverpool midfield. Lallana, too, was
excellent. He was using his undoubted skill properly for once – rather than
executing ten pointless Cruyff turns before giving the ball away, he was
actually beating men and creating chances. His highlight was a beautiful piece
of first time control in the second half; he took the ball down and beat his
marker with a beautiful piece of trickery all in one movement.
Although Liverpool had
really begun to dominate by the hour mark, their inability to pick out a final
ball meant that it looked like the match could be heading for a draw. Coutinho
had other ideas. If there was any doubt that he deserved man of the match, he
ended it by scoring an absolute peach of a goal to win the match for the hosts
and hugely bolster their chances of finishing fourth or higher. Henderson watched on as
his goal went from goal of the season contender to not even goal of the game:
Coutinho struck one from even further out, and it curled in a remarkably
similar way straight into the top corner. The Brazilian is making a habit of
scoring exceptional goals – everyone’s been saying for a while that he would be
scarily good if he added goals to his game, and two in two matches speaks for
itself. He is fast becoming the complete package, to the point where I’d now
rather lose Sterling
than Coutinho.
To sum up, both sides deserve credit for an all-round
excellent game of football. Neither team was perfect defensively - Liverpool clearly missed Sakho – but that just added to
the spectacle. In the end it took two moments of magic to see Liverpool
take all three points, and continue on the right track for a top four finish.
Their next game is against Burnley ; we’ve
beaten the big team, but getting the results against the minnows is just as
important. Hopefully Liverpool can retain
their unbeaten league record in 2015 and pile even more pressure on Arsenal and
United.
-James Martin
Follow me on Twitter @JamesMartin013
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