Three goals, and one off the woodwork. In a phenomenal eight minutes midway through the second-half at Anfield on Sunday, Liverpool inflicted more damage on Manchester City and the Pep Guardiola way than the rest of their Premier League rivals put together this season. They scored and scored and scored again. They could have scored more, in fact, had Sadio Mane not driven a curling shot against the left post after 61 minutes.
The best team won. Not the best team in the country because a glance at the league table suggests that has not changed, but certainly the best team on the day. Ignore the closeness of the scoreline. Liverpool were 4-1 up going into the 84th minute, and were not flattered in the least by that margin.
They took the game to Manchester City, rattled and hassled them, like no other Premier League team this season. And in a period of eight minutes in the second-half they took the champions elect and Pep Guardiola's methodology apart.
Will he change? Of course not. This is Manchester City's first defeat of the campaign. Why should he? Yet there will be no invincible season and, eight months from now, maybe more managers will set up to try to City-proof their tactics.
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain put Liverpool ahead when he unleashed a shot from outside the box — Ederson couldn't reach it
A thunderbolt then from Sadio Mane, just three minutes after Firmino's strike, then gave the Reds a two-goal cushion |
'Pressing from another planet,' Klopp called it, and he was right. Liverpool were absolutely superb, restricting Manchester City to just four shots on target. That City scored three goals may be a worry for Klopp, but the return of Virgil Van Dijk – missing on Sunday – should shore them up.
Without doubt, this was a hugely positive afternoon for Liverpool. City may have got away from them, and everybody else, this season but a year from now, who knows?
Between the 60th and 68th minutes, Manchester City were dismantled. Liverpool scored three goals and hit a post through Sadio Mane in that time. In the five minutes before, Ederson Moraes made two excellent saves. It was an outstanding period of sustained pressure and focus, not least because Manchester City had started the half well, and had hit the bar through a header by Nicolas Otamendi.
Via - Dailymail
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