Manchester City 1-1 Liverpool: In game and Post Match discussion

Do agree with you on this to be fair. Bobby either competes for the first header or the first touch of every pass that is played up there. He's probably involved in more duels on a pitch than any other striker in the league and that is obviously to his huge credit.

Have noticed in the past few games that we've been much more willing to go long and in some ways is becoming our plan B. Definitely seen this side to our game developing and while this may sound odd we're almost going long with the intent of putting the defender under pressure.

For instance Matip receives it and hits a long diagonal to their RCB, now some may think he has lost possession here but what I've been seeing is we're all taking our queue off that pass to cut out the passing lanes of that RCB. Of course the pass is intended to meet one of our players but it's two fold, we're pressing off our own passes, so to nullify their attempts of simply cutting out our press. It's a nice tweak to our game and is certainly producing chances if it isn't quite getting the goal rewards yet. Now with Firmino this play is much stronger than it is with Origi right now and indeed Coutinho is letting the press down of late, there's something not quite right with the little magician to my eyes. Can't put my finger on that one though.

Smart analysis, I hadn't seen that.

Yeah, fair enough and I not saying he shouldn't be. Just an interesting quote after a draw, but you frame it well

As for Jürgen, yeah I think on the back of that he'll take enormous satisfaction from the performance if not from the result. He just must remember the drop in form we had from Christmas when we get to the summer window. These lads winning back favour from now until the end of the season can't distract him from a few of the decisions I believe he made on a few players then.

Hope you're right, mate.  I worry that we're too kind to our lads when we win and too harsh when we lose.  What we lack isn't quality so much as consistent quality.  I hope Jürgen has marked a few cards in terms of who has got it and keeps producing it week in week out and who has got it but only produces it in the odd match.

Can was arguably MOTM today, but Milner was a constant weak link, although not through any mistakes on the day, simply because of his limitations as a player. Every attack went down his flank but given the personnel available to us we didn't have much of a choice. His penalty was about as good as you could possibly get though. Our two big problems today, and not for the first time this season, was our defence being out of position when they needed to be on the ball (so to speak), and a lack of genuine goal threat up front. I thought we played as well as we could today, given the players on the field, sadly it wasn't enough given how other results went and game's in hand. Top four is still doable, just out of our hands unfortunately.

I thought Milner had an excellent game mate. It's not his fault he is completely unprotected week in week out. Coutinho plays as an out and out inside left and leaves Milner to deal with two on one situations every game. It's up to Jürgen to make an adjustment but he doesn't, particularly when we are ahead and defending for our lives, why we don't switch to four across the middle is beyond me. Their goal was a carbon copy of the Burnley goal last week, if we don't match up one for one or two for two in those areas we will keep conceding goals like that.

As for the match, I was bloody relieved in the end to get out with the draw but wish our final ball had been better during our dominant spells because we looked capable of pushing on to 2-0. Elements of the performance were really good but I do also wish we could shut up shop and slow a game down, so often we are ahead in a game and then we lose the ball with the midfield completely emptied out and you have to pick yourself because we are playing like we are chasing the game rather than in the driving seat.

A great point and a great game, the Micky ratings:


Migs: No chance with the goal and by and large did pretty well. 7/10.

Clyne: Up against an excellent player and handled him as well as he could. Like all of the back they end up getting probably a better mark than they deserve as we could easily have conceded three or four, but they are a good side going forward. 7/10.

Matip: Similar goal to last week in that Klavan has the eventual goalscorer but when he spins off, he and Matip either don't communicate well enough or aren't alert enough to prevent the chance. That aside I thought Matip was excellent, back to his best. 8/10.

Klavan: I like Ragnar, and today despite us on occasions being stretched to the limit he stuck to his task well. 7/10.

Milner: I thought James was excellent, handled Sterling really well and took (again) a brilliant penalty. 7.5/10.

Can: His best game of the season and the clear MOM, gret pass for the penno 9/10.

Lallana: sprung into life like someone had plugged him in second half. Awful miss near the end clouded the memory of his efforts though. 7/10.

Wijnaldum: Ran around a lot. 7/10.

Coutinho: Really really poor, don't know what's up with our best player at all. 6/10.

Firminho: Couple of awful decisions and misses, but other than that won the penno and I thought had a good game. Somewhere near back to his best, with a couple of bonus defensive headers thrown in too. 8/10.

Mane: Always a potent attacking threat, his sheer pace scared the sh!t out of them at times. 7.5/10.



Subs:

Origi: World class. 5/10.

Lucas: Good haircut. 5/10.   

     

A very enjoyable game we could have won but we could also easily have lost so I'm happy with the point but Lallana!!

A very enjoyable game we could have won but we could also easily have lost so I'm happy with the point but Lallana!!

It's a shame for Lallana because I think he did very well in that second half.

We looked under the cosh in the early stages of the first half but I thought we improved quickly in the first half. 

Can't fault any Liverpool players performance.  Would have liked us to have been a bit more clinical but then at the other end, Man City missed a couple of great opportunities.

Said before the game that a point would be a decent result and still think it is.  We've taken 4 points off City, 6 points off Arsenal and 4 points off Spurs so if any of those finish above us then it will be down to what we did in the other games - they're the games you should be winning 80-90% of the time.

That miss by Lallana was a f**kin disgrace..
Why the f**k he just didn't put his foot through it I'll never know..
Instead he tried to f**kin ballet dance it into the net...
That was worse than Ronnie Rosenthal's miss that..at least he managed to hit the f**kin bar..

Rant over !

Our finishing let us down today..
Ya Ya Toure got worse in that second half and we had them on the ropes and we should have finished them off.
We could've quite easily have gone 3-0 up in that 20 minute period second half.

Thought bringing off Coutinho was a bit odd as it disrupted our flow and his replacement Origi brought nothing to the table..
We didn't plug the gap on that left hand side and thus allowed DeBruyne loads o space to put a class ball across, exactly the same way Burnley did last week.

Cool penalty finish by Milner though.

That miss by Lallana was a f**kin disgrace..
Why the f**k he just didn't put his foot through it I'll never know..
Instead he tried to f**kin ballet dance it into the net...
That was worse than Ronnie Rosenthal's miss that..at least he managed to hit the f**kin bar..

Rant over !

Our finishing let us down today..
Ya Ya Toure got worse in that second half and we had them on the ropes and we should have finished them off.
We could've quite easily have gone 3-0 up in that 20 minute period second half.

Thought bringing off Coutinho was a bit odd as it disrupted our flow and his replacement Origi brought nothing to the table..
We didn't plug the gap on that left hand side and thus allowed DeBruyne loads o space to put a class ball across, exactly the same way Burnley did last week.

Cool penalty finish by Milner though.

It was a bad miss but wasn't a disgrace he just mistimed the sidefoot strike so he hit with his ankle. Happens to the best of them.

The fact that Adam is our player of the season im willing to give him a pass on this one.

It was a golden chance to nail it..
If that had've gone in city would have melted..

That was a piss poor game. Seriously ? We struggled to put 3 pass's together. All stuttering play by us , far too slow and no urgency. I  couldn't give a f**k what the analysts say , i go off what i see.

Still , i'd of took a point before kickoff.

Should have gone to Specsavers mate 🤓

Ratings:

Mignolet: Thought he did well on the day, perhaps could have commanded his box better at times but overall he was solid enough. No chance with their goal and stopped the little sh*te Sterling getting one with a good race out. 6.5/10

Clyne: Awful display from him again. From a positional sense he was totally at sea, never met the crosser, never closed down the passing lanes, he was mostly an irrelevance when it came to their attacks and the fact people actually rate him anything above 5 for that game astounds me. Not effective going forward but it's becoming worse because his defending is now falling to pieces too. Think I saw him make 1 block, 1 good challenge all game. KdB was having a field day on that side, how they never scored with more crosses was much more down to our CB pairing and Mignolet than it was to do with Clyne and this is a big issue. 4/10

Matip: Excellent again, pure quality and he really was the rock the defence needed today to stop us crumbling. While Clyne was running around like a headless chicken and Klavan was desperately trying to put out fires Matip provided that calming influence that stopped the lads boiling over into the erratic. He's a great passer of the ball too and a real threat on our set pieces if we could ever bloody deliver the ball to a decent standard we'd have a good few goals off him every season. 8/10

Klavan: Not as good as his imperious partner but still decent, he just over commits occasionally and sells himself. One time he damn near cost us but both these CBs had to contend with having awful performers either side of them and for that alone deserve tremendous credit. 7/10

Milner: First the positives, the penalty was a thing of beauty, usually don't doubt him on these for a second but today, against Caballero and his old team I thought there might be a chance he'd miss, not a chance at all. 11 straight I think I heard mentioned, so calm and so precise, top pen that. Secondly I have to give credit for the goal saving challenge, now it may have been a pen and a red card but, the big Kim K sized but is that he got away with it and saved a goal. He has to go for the challenge and fair fucks to him for doing so and preventing a goal, on another day we lose a man and concede a pen but for today we rode our look and she was smiling at us. Negatives, dear god will he learn to block a cross too? Relentless pressure from that side and he was danced around so often it was cruel to watch.  Think he blocked 2 out of maybe 10+ crosses from his side and that's thinking on the generous side, not nearly good enough, lost his man so often and really doesn't react to the ball played inside him well at all. Has to be replaced in the summer. 5.5/10

Can: This lad has lost some pounds, he's no longer turning like an oil tanker and is becoming a proper mobile DM. I was massively impressed how he got around the park and dominated City's midfield. He was putting in honest strong challenges time and again where the City players were really feeling the presence and dominance of a player right on top of his game. Deserved the assist for the pen, slip or not beforehand that pass was finding it's target. Pinged one out to the right not long before that and was generally excellent in possession. Really enjoyed powering past players today and it was as if he'd been released from injury because this was Emre of the end of last season, this really was a sight we want to see much more often. Top stuff and clear MotM 8.5/10

Gini: Thought he had an excellent game, loved his control in tight spaces. His passing is becoming quicker and his vision is very good indeed. Just a little bit more care needed near the end of the match when we had a few counters because we had either Mane or Firmino clear on a couple of occasions and he just got the passes slightly wrong, only slightly though. Starting to cement his place in the side in my book. Keep stringing them together Gini. 7.5/10

Lallana: Brave, tenacious, creative and full throttle. Amazed he missed the easiest chance of the game, as Klopp said he's one of the best, if not the best technical player he's ever coached, if he misses this then it's probably more down to tiredness than it is to do with anything else. Real shame because he deserved his goal for another brilliant performance. Hugely impressed with his bravery in the final quarter of the game, picking it up and beating 3 or 4 men right in front of our backline and leading the charge more than once should have resulted in bigger rewards. They'll come, the fact he's willing and able to do that is to his massive credit. 8/10

Coutinho: Dire. Something about his form right now stinks. The only real positive contribution he made was late into the second half when Bobby missed his 'sitter' (you know the one where he had the keeper to beat from a tight angle and got it on target). Didn't press well enough, didn't back Milner up well enough, didn't seem to run hard or far enough. Something is not right with him. 4/10

Mane: Not as good as I think a lot seem to think he was today. Sure he was in and around the action and his pace did scare the living sh*te out of City but what he produced with the chances and opportunities he was given / or created for himself wasn't enough. Possibly should have had a pen for the one he was clear and Otamendi gets his shooting leg, but I don't think the intent was there and really Sadio should have just ran across his man and either bought the pen or just eliminated him from the game. Next he had a chance from virtually the penalty spot which went nowhere and finally a good opportunity flicked on by Bobby which he fails to win the duel. Then on his crossing/creating points he beats his man but beats all our players with passes too. Has to be a little more accurate with the assists and while I think he wasn't off form in terms of ability today it just wasn't happening for him and he cut a frustrated figure at times. 6/10

Bobby: Outstanding both in attack and defence. Those that want to focus only on the 'misses', well you've got issues with watching and appreciated the game in my book. He terrorised City's defence all day long, should have come off the pitch with 3 assists (pens won should be assists in my book), his runs are so intelligent and draw defenders exactly where they don't want and shouldn't go. The amount of space he wins for other players is a joy to behold. I love him even more when people aren't appreciating him too. 8/10

Origi: Didn't influence the game nearly as much as he should have when coming on with fresh legs. Again seemed to be caught on his heels too often by he pass, where he almost gets there with his pace but if he'd have started to run even near top speed he'd have won the race easily. Develop the anticipation too Divock. 5/10

Jürgen: Where Pep was proud, Jürgen was disappointed. I understand where his frustration lies and he explains it well: http://www.thisisanfield.com/2017/03/video-Jürgen-klopp-post-match-press-conference-man-city-1-1-liverpool/

Our defending wasn't good enough in the wide areas but he has to take responsibility for that too. How far TAA is away I'm not sure, but by all accounts he's having stormer after stormer for the youth side so I hope not too far away now. In attack I think he got it almost perfect and we should have had 4 or 5 today so gets plenty of credit there too. Also the adaption of our tactics now will have teams second guessing how we're going to play. I expect this theme to continue for a while and someone will very soon get an absolute hammering. 7.5 out of 10.

Just an aside, that puts us on 5wins and 5draws against the top 5 teams, damn impressive that Jürgen, well in!

Just an aside, that puts us on 5wins and 5draws against the top 5 teams, damn impressive that Jürgen, well in!

I've said it before if we played Arsenal every week we'd be Champions, Hull every week we'd get relegated. Completely bizarre it is.

Ratings:

Mignolet: Thought he did well on the day, perhaps could have commanded his box better at times but overall he was solid enough. No chance with their goal and stopped the little sh*te Sterling getting one with a good race out. 6.5/10

Clyne: Awful display from him again. From a positional sense he was totally at sea, never met the crosser, never closed down the passing lanes, he was mostly an irrelevance when it came to their attacks and the fact people actually rate him anything above 5 for that game astounds me. Not effective going forward but it's becoming worse because his defending is now falling to pieces too. Think I saw him make 1 block, 1 good challenge all game. KdB was having a field day on that side, how they never scored with more crosses was much more down to our CB pairing and Mignolet than it was to do with Clyne and this is a big issue. 4/10

Matip: Excellent again, pure quality and he really was the rock the defence needed today to stop us crumbling. While Clyne was running around like a headless chicken and Klavan was desperately trying to put out fires Matip provided that calming influence that stopped the lads boiling over into the erratic. He's a great passer of the ball too and a real threat on our set pieces if we could ever bloody deliver the ball to a decent standard we'd have a good few goals off him every season. 8/10

Klavan: Not as good as his imperious partner but still decent, he just over commits occasionally and sells himself. One time he damn near cost us but both these CBs had to contend with having awful performers either side of them and for that alone deserve tremendous credit. 7/10

Milner: First the positives, the penalty was a thing of beauty, usually don't doubt him on these for a second but today, against Caballero and his old team I thought there might be a chance he'd miss, not a chance at all. 11 straight I think I heard mentioned, so calm and so precise, top pen that. Secondly I have to give credit for the goal saving challenge, now it may have been a pen and a red card but, the big Kim K sized but is that he got away with it and saved a goal. He has to go for the challenge and fair fucks to him for doing so and preventing a goal, on another day we lose a man and concede a pen but for today we rode our look and she was smiling at us. Negatives, dear god will he learn to block a cross too? Relentless pressure from that side and he was danced around so often it was cruel to watch.  Think he blocked 2 out of maybe 10+ crosses from his side and that's thinking on the generous side, not nearly good enough, lost his man so often and really doesn't react to the ball played inside him well at all. Has to be replaced in the summer. 5.5/10

Can: This lad has lost some pounds, he's no longer turning like an oil tanker and is becoming a proper mobile DM. I was massively impressed how he got around the park and dominated City's midfield. He was putting in honest strong challenges time and again where the City players were really feeling the presence and dominance of a player right on top of his game. Deserved the assist for the pen, slip or not beforehand that pass was finding it's target. Pinged one out to the right not long before that and was generally excellent in possession. Really enjoyed powering past players today and it was as if he'd been released from injury because this was Emre of the end of last season, this really was a sight we want to see much more often. Top stuff and clear MotM 8.5/10

Gini: Thought he had an excellent game, loved his control in tight spaces. His passing is becoming quicker and his vision is very good indeed. Just a little bit more care needed near the end of the match when we had a few counters because we had either Mane or Firmino clear on a couple of occasions and he just got the passes slightly wrong, only slightly though. Starting to cement his place in the side in my book. Keep stringing them together Gini. 7.5/10

Lallana: Brave, tenacious, creative and full throttle. Amazed he missed the easiest chance of the game, as Klopp said he's one of the best, if not the best technical player he's ever coached, if he misses this then it's probably more down to tiredness than it is to do with anything else. Real shame because he deserved his goal for another brilliant performance. Hugely impressed with his bravery in the final quarter of the game, picking it up and beating 3 or 4 men right in front of our backline and leading the charge more than once should have resulted in bigger rewards. They'll come, the fact he's willing and able to do that is to his massive credit. 8/10

Coutinho: Dire. Something about his form right now stinks. The only real positive contribution he made was late into the second half when Bobby missed his 'sitter' (you know the one where he had the keeper to beat from a tight angle and got it on target). Didn't press well enough, didn't back Milner up well enough, didn't seem to run hard or far enough. Something is not right with him. 4/10

Mane: Not as good as I think a lot seem to think he was today. Sure he was in and around the action and his pace did scare the living sh*te out of City but what he produced with the chances and opportunities he was given / or created for himself wasn't enough. Possibly should have had a pen for the one he was clear and Otamendi gets his shooting leg, but I don't think the intent was there and really Sadio should have just ran across his man and either bought the pen or just eliminated him from the game. Next he had a chance from virtually the penalty spot which went nowhere and finally a good opportunity flicked on by Bobby which he fails to win the duel. Then on his crossing/creating points he beats his man but beats all our players with passes too. Has to be a little more accurate with the assists and while I think he wasn't off form in terms of ability today it just wasn't happening for him and he cut a frustrated figure at times. 6/10

Bobby: Outstanding both in attack and defence. Those that want to focus only on the 'misses', well you've got issues with watching and appreciated the game in my book. He terrorised City's defence all day long, should have come off the pitch with 3 assists (pens won should be assists in my book), his runs are so intelligent and draw defenders exactly where they don't want and shouldn't go. The amount of space he wins for other players is a joy to behold. I love him even more when people aren't appreciating him too. 8/10

Origi: Didn't influence the game nearly as much as he should have when coming on with fresh legs. Again seemed to be caught on his heels too often by he pass, where he almost gets there with his pace but if he'd have started to run even near top speed he'd have won the race easily. Develop the anticipation too Divock. 5/10

Jürgen: Where Pep was proud, Jürgen was disappointed. I understand where his frustration lies and he explains it well: http://www.thisisanfield.com/2017/03/video-Jürgen-klopp-post-match-press-conference-man-city-1-1-liverpool/

Our defending wasn't good enough in the wide areas but he has to take responsibility for that too. How far TAA is away I'm not sure, but by all accounts he's having stormer after stormer for the youth side so I hope not too far away now. In attack I think he got it almost perfect and we should have had 4 or 5 today so gets plenty of credit there too. Also the adaption of our tactics now will have teams second guessing how we're going to play. I expect this theme to continue for a while and someone will very soon get an absolute hammering. 7.5 out of 10.

Just an aside, that puts us on 5wins and 5draws against the top 5 teams, damn impressive that Jürgen, well in!

Your rating for Firmino is predictable as usual - although it is surprising this time he isn't your stand-out MotM!

Bobby was poor in the first half, his only meaningful contribution was clearing a defensive header which he did pretty well. Other than that, in the first half it was the same old lack of control, and passing to the opposition that we've been accustomed to.

Second half he was better, but if there was ever a case for putting down your drum and obsession with being proven right of what a gift of a false #9 he is, this was it. He won a penalty. We were one-nil up against Citeh, he was put through 1 v 1 against their keeper and failed to double our lead and give us the much needed space between a team like Citeh and ourselves. Those are the moments that define a game and if ever there was a case that highlighted the fact that we actually need a proper #9 who can get in behind the defence and kill teams off this was it. He had another opportunity wider on the right, and just hopelessly scuffed it into the side netting. These are not the attributes and instincts of a player played in a key area of the pitch who needs to punish teams.

Granted, Lallana's miss was even worse, and Firmino's touch to him was very good. But you tend to go way over board with your insistent praise of Bobby.

"He terrorised City's defense all day long"

Good one!

Your rating for Firmino is predictable as usual - although it is surprising this time he isn't your stand-out MotM!

Bobby was poor in the first half, his only meaningful contribution was clearing a defensive header which he did pretty well. Other than that, in the first half it was the same old lack of control, and passing to the opposition that we've been accustomed to.

Second half he was better, but if there was ever a case for putting down your drum and obsession with being proven right of what a gift of a false #9 he is, this was it. He won a penalty. We were one-nil up against Citeh, he was put through 1 v 1 against their keeper and failed to double our lead and give us the much needed space between a team like Citeh and ourselves. Those are the moments that define a game and if ever there was a case that highlighted the fact that we actually need a proper #9 who can get in behind the defence and kill teams off this was it. He had another opportunity wider on the right, and just hopelessly scuffed it into the side netting. These are not the attributes and instincts of a player played in a key area of the pitch who needs to punish teams.

Granted, Lallana's miss was even worse, and Firmino's touch to him was very good. But you tend to go way over board with your insistent praise of Bobby. I mean, you gave Mane a 6 FFS, and Bobby an 8. F***ing glad I don't watch the game through your lenses!

"He terrorised City's defense all day long"

Good one!

Yes he did and the reason why Mane got a 6 is because he also missed a 1v1 opportunity, a much easier one. He then missed a chance from the penalty spot, set up by Bobby, a much easier chance than a clearly tired Firmino from the wide right of the box. He also missed a chance from 6 yards out when Bobby deftly flicked it on to him again. Then consider Lallana's chances, one set up by Bobby that was a sitter, another volley from inside the box that was far easier than Bobby's 'sitter' and you'll see why setting up as many chances as Firmino did he could easily have walked off with 4 assists and possibly a goal. This doesn't even include winning the penalty.

How you'd possibly rate Mane higher would be total madness, which opportunities did he set up? What defensive contributions did he offer? So out of our attacking players then Firmino was by far the best performing, the fact you want to argue that though just shows your bias that you'd rather credit a player for being completely unproductive than you would a player setting up 4 opportunities and winning a penalty + great defensive work.

Your rating for Firmino is predictable as usual - although it is surprising this time he isn't your stand-out MotM!

Bobby was poor in the first half, his only meaningful contribution was clearing a defensive header which he did pretty well. Other than that, in the first half it was the same old lack of control, and passing to the opposition that we've been accustomed to.

Second half he was better, but if there was ever a case for putting down your drum and obsession with being proven right of what a gift of a false #9 he is, this was it. He won a penalty. We were one-nil up against Citeh, he was put through 1 v 1 against their keeper and failed to double our lead and give us the much needed space between a team like Citeh and ourselves. Those are the moments that define a game and if ever there was a case that highlighted the fact that we actually need a proper #9 who can get in behind the defence and kill teams off this was it. He had another opportunity wider on the right, and just hopelessly scuffed it into the side netting. These are not the attributes and instincts of a player played in a key area of the pitch who needs to punish teams.

Granted, Lallana's miss was even worse, and Firmino's touch to him was very good. But you tend to go way over board with your insistent praise of Bobby.

"He terrorised City's defense all day long"

Good one!

Mate jog on

Yes he did and the reason why Mane got a 6 is because he also missed a 1v1 opportunity, a much easier one. He then missed a chance from the penalty spot, set up by Bobby, a much easier chance than a clearly tired Firmino from the wide right of the box. He also missed a chance from 6 yards out when Bobby deftly flicked it on to him again. Then consider Lallana's chances, one set up by Bobby that was a sitter, another volley from inside the box that was far easier than Bobby's 'sitter' and you'll see why setting up as many chances as Firmino did he could easily have walked off with 4 assists and possibly a goal. This doesn't even include winning the penalty.

How you'd possibly rate Mane higher would be total madness, which opportunities did he set up? What defensive contributions did he offer? So out of our attacking players then Firmino was by far the best performing, the fact you want to argue that though just shows your bias that you'd rather credit a player for being completely unproductive than you would a player setting up 4 opportunities and winning a penalty + great defensive work.

Mane's defensive work was tireless and very good today. In fact, he had to be when you consider the width and pressure Citey had on us down the flanks. His work rate defensively was phenomenal - watch it again. How you can sit there and say that just shows how much your willing to play Bobby up at the expense of a player like Mane. Naivety beyond belief that.

After Coutinho tried a 1-2 with Bobby, who could only cushion the return pass back to a Citeh player, Citeh recycled possession pushed up and it was Sadio who tracked back into the center to pick pocket De Bruyne. Bobby is often sloppy in possession in key phases of play and it is becoming rather habitual now.

Never mind the assists Bobby could have walked off with, what about the chances that fall to him in vital moments of a game that go begging?

He isn't the answer in that role. It's as simple as that, and again another game goes by highlighting this.

EDIT: I know you have a tendency to award Bobby MotM even when he's not playing, but saying he set Sadio up on the penalty spot when it was Lallana is reaching new depths, even for you.

Firmino's 1 v 1 was easier than Sadio's, Firmino had nobody at all near him breathing in down his neck; their defender did enough to prevent Sadio making contact with the ball as his back lift clipped the player behind him. Firmino had nothing like that to worry about.

Firmino's other "tired" shot didn't have to be either, he could have crossed that to Lallana, who rightly gave him an earful after that wasted opportunity.

Clearly your stream was of 144p quality.

Mane's defensive work was tireless and very good today. In fact, he had to be when you consider the width and pressure Citey had on us down the flanks. His work rate defensively was phenomenal - watch it again. How you can sit there and say that just shows how much your willing to play Bobby up at the expense of a player like Mane. Naivety beyond belief that.

Your double standards are hilarious. Mocking Bobby for his exceptional defensive attributes and then focussing solely on Mane's to detract from the fact that he was totally unproductive in attack. This is the definition of hypocritical.

Never mind the assists Bobby could have walked off wit

So let's ignore the positives....

what about the chances that fall to him in vital moments of a game that go begging?

Aguero missed far easier chances than any that fell to Bobby, it's laughable how people are getting carried away with a shot he got on target. As for the shot at the end it would have taken a worldly to score from there and was clearly knackered after coming back from injury and not training for two weeks but again, no slack given for that yet Sturridge requires "a run of games" before he hits hits his stride. Double standards all over you.

He isn't the answer in that role. It's as simple as that, and again another game goes by highlighting this.

He's excellent at the role and is easily the best answer we have right now. However, just so we're clear, I'm all for bringing in another striker to partner him, one who can create an equal amount of chances too because I think we'll see his level go up even further when he has quality alongside him that can actually finish the chances he creates and perhaps provide him with the similar level of chances he gives others. 

I thought it was a good match, but to be honest, Hendo offers that and more on a far more consistent basis IMO. Hendo has had games like that in which he was composed and won the ball plenty of times, only to end up being criticized for not "playing the Xabi Alonso role" (ha ha), not covering the fullbacks well enough or some other crap.

I wonder what happens when Hendo is back. My guess is Can doesn't keep this sort of form and Hendo gets his place back in the team. Which will be interesting given Can saying he wants to play as the number 6.

Hendo back, Coutinho out

Your double standards are hilarious. Mocking Bobby for his exceptional defensive attributes and then focussing solely on Mane's to detract from the fact that he was totally unproductive in attack. This is the definition of hypocritical.

So let's ignore the positives....

Aguero missed far easier chances than any that fell to Bobby, it's laughable how people are getting carried away with a shot he got on target. As for the shot at the end it would have taken a worldly to score from there and was clearly knackered after coming back from injury and not training for two weeks but again, no slack given for that yet Sturridge requires "a run of games" before he hits hits his stride. Double standards all over you.

He's excellent at the role and is easily the best answer we have right now. However, just so we're clear, I'm all for bringing in another striker to partner him, one who can create an equal amount of chances too because I think we'll see his level go up even further when he has quality alongside him that can actually finish the chances he creates and perhaps provide him with the similar level of chances he gives others.

I'm not mocking Firmino. I'm saying he isn't the answer there for a host of reasons. And today highlighted another aspect of it, that when your one nil up in a precarious position and fail to take the chance on offer, it can be the difference between 1 point and 3.

And over the course of the season my opinion has been vindicated by the fact our number 9 hasn't even hit double figures come the end of March.

I like that!

Just happened to notice at the right time, caught my attention immediately.

A point each was the fair result. Plenty of chances either side. At times we clung on a bit too much for my liking. Klavan was woeful. Clyne played well. Our finishing was poor. And Coutinho was absent again...

A point each was the fair result. Plenty of chances either side. At times we clung on a bit too much for my liking. Klavan was woeful. Clyne played well. Our finishing was poor. And Coutinho was absent again...

Pretty much agree with that.

Thought we stuck in there well with City in the first half without really getting into the game. After taking the lead through Milner's penalty the confidence and zip in our passing improved immediately. And like Klopp said, we could have really finished them off during this 10-15 min period.