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Liverpool let yet another 2nd half lead slip away as an out of sorts City escaped with a 2-2 at Manchester. A game that was strewn with individual errors, including the referee on few occasions, was finally decided by 2 moments of brilliance by Gerrard and Aguero.
An interesting stat popped up towards the end of the game last night: Liverpool have not beaten even 1 of the teams from the top half of the table. This might have showcased the lack of quality in Brendan Rodgers’ teams or the lack of self belief within the squad, but the Liverpool side turning up in the last 2 League games has shown no shortage of character or skill. Infact, the only reason for their disappointment against Arsenal, and now against City, has been individual errors at crucial points in the game.
Where will Suarez play?
Brendan Rodgers continued with Jamie Carragher in defence ahead of Martin Skrtel, whose wounds against Oldham do not seemed to have healed yet. Stuart Downing was again preferred to Raheem Sterling with Suarez and Sturridge upfront.
Rodgers’ choice of formation was a bit altered this time around. Instead of playing Suarez on the left with Sturridge as the lone man, Suarez was played behind the young Englishman with Downing from the right. This left either Henderson supplementing the attack on the left in a 4-2-3-1; or else Henderson pushing into a very flat mid-3 with Gerrard and Lucas, leaving Sturridge to shift wide left.
Mancini has been unfortunate with injuries and players leaving for the AFCON. Yaya Toure was again a big miss, as Barry and Garcia were slotted in behind Silva, Aguero and Milner in a 4-2-3-1. An injured Kompany was replaced by Lecott alongside Nastasic.
Lucas sticks to Aguero, Garcia lets Suarez slip
Luis Suarez and Sergio Aguero were the most iconic players on each side, and the match started with the play revolving around these 2. Aguero was adept at finding pockets of space in front of the defence, but today Lucas Leiva was able to close down his fellow South American pretty soon.
Lucas did not allow Aguero to affect the play much and this left Dzeko isolated for long periods upfront. A similar battle was going on in the other half where Suarez kept slipping away from Javi Garcia. Garcia did not keep as close a marking as Lucas on Aguero, but mostly marked the zones in which Suarez operated. The wily Uruguayan was able to find loads of space behind Garcia, and this often pulled out Lescott from the defense.
Dzeko’s strength, Sturridge’s pace
The strikers of both sides came into play here. While Edin Dzeko was able to impose his entire physical strength when he fell deep on Lucas, he was easily quelled by the physical process of Daniel Agger in more forward positions. This negated City’s entire ploy to exploit Carragher’s pace by playing long balls, as Agger now fell into very deep positions.
Infact, this position of Agger’s was also the reason for City’s goal as the Dane fell behind the offside line and let Dzeko in for a tap-in from Milner’s precise ball.
On the other end of the pitch, Danny Sturridge continued his dream start at Liverpool. Sturridge has been a perfect fit to Rodgers’ team as he provides Suarez the space to perform his tricks and also presents an outlet for the likes of Gerrard and Downing.
Apart from this, Sturridge pawned Nastasic with his terrific turn of pace, and was able to catch out Lescott and Zabaleta on many occasions. Liverpool deservedly equalized via a crisp Sturridge effort that caught Hart by surprise, though Dzeko seemed to have been fouled in the build- up.
City’s inverted wings, Midfield gets crowded
An area of the pitch that City have been utilizing well this season is their contrasting wings; one where Milner has been fantastic down the flanks, and the other where Silva has been able to cut-in and link up with Aguero down the centre. Tonight again, Milner was in his element, as he tormented Enrique and to some extent Henderson down the right.
Henderson, who seemed to be drifting to a wide left position from the middle 3, was often caught tracking back with the spirited Milner, and Liverpool’s attacks down the left suffered. This left Sturridge to often fall into this position, as Suarez was preferred in a much central role now.
Silva on the other flank caused Lucas more worries along with Aguero, and the Liverpool man could not handle the overload on Silva’s wing en-route the first goal. This meant Steven Gerrard had to shift into more defensive responsibilities and the captain was able to relieve Lucas off some of his load. But Gareth Barry took up the Yaya Toure role on himself today, and tried to steamroll past Gerrard.
So Gerrard’s creative element suffered initially, until Jordan Henderson started to drift much more central. The first half so was more or less settled in this midfield battle.
Mancini opts for 3 at the back, Barry’s advanced role crucial
Mancini made early changes in the second half, by removing Nastasic for Kolorov in the 60th minute. City then shifted to a 3 man defense with Zabaleta, Clichy and Lescott at the back.
Lescott was tracking Suarez as the Englishman often was pulled out of the defense unsuccessfully. On the other flank, Zabaleta was tracking Sturridge’s movement and this turned out to be a much tougher job as it left Gael Clichy as the lone defender.
City were lacking any conviction or source of inspiration. With 3 at the back, Garcia remained in a deep position with Milner and Kolarov also being pushed back by Liverpool’s wingers. Barry then advanced just behind Silva who was playing behind Aguero and Dzeko upfront. Due to the lack of cover around Garcia, Liverpool and especially Steven Gerrard was finding lots more space to operate in.
Liverpool’s performance on the whole truly deserved their 2nd goal, which will go down as another one of those ‘Gerrrraaaaaaaard ‘moments. Stevie G was not having one of his most successful nights in terms of passing, but that goal was truly reminiscent of his age old practises.
If City’s first goal was due to individual errors from Johnson and Agger, Pepe Reina will be left red faced after his insane rush-out, only to beaten by a wily Aguero. The Argentine’s finish after that was truly world class, and matched Gerrard’s strike all the way.
Mancini refused to bring on Carlos Tevez at this stage and rather preferred to shift Milner behind the front 2 instead. This saw Maicon come in at right wing back and the Brazilian added his presence to City’s set pieces.
Brendan Rodgers’ Liverpool finally seems to be coming around in terms of build-up play and teamwork. Suarez is no longer their only weapon as Danny-boy will surely become an Anfield favorite now. With this mix only to get better with the addition of Coutinho, Liverpool can only move ahead now.
City are clearly lacking motivation at the moment. Kompany’s return is eagerly awaited at Eastlands, and Ivory Coast’s AFCON disaster last night would not have left Mancini shedding a single tear. Mario’s remarkable debut at Milan last night just worsened the Italian’s plight further.
Top of the Match: Danniel Sturridge
Flop of the Match: Javi Garcia
