Manchester City 2-1 Liverpool: In game and Post Match discussion

Sorry but Lovren was far from good today putting clearances into the middle of the box, failing to mark players properly etc, as usual he choked in the big game

I don't agree but nonetheless, we not exactly blessed with choices because a choice between Lovren and Matip is no choice at all so it's an entirely moot point. As I said in the first post, the selection and tactics were not what I think we should have done, and I think it paid City far too much respect, but again, at the risk of repeating myself, they scored a worldie on the back of zero shots on target and it can be argued we lost the game by 11mm which is the finest of fine margins. Like it or not, it was working.

Sorry but Lovren was far from good today putting clearances into the middle of the box, failing to mark players properly etc, as usual he choked in the big game

To be fair, he received an early yellow (memory tells me he took one for the team) and was limited in what he could do for the remainder of the game. He could never again get stuck in or too close on their players due to a probable 2nd yellow.

And the trio today has?

Look im not going to get dragged into who's better than who but I can say for a fact that on form Keita is not our best Midfielder which I was replying to and I don't believe it was you

Gini was the attacking midfielder. At least on paper.

Lovren played very well tonight. In fairness he's played very well since he came into the side, and as I pointed out, it took a worldie from Aguero to break the deadlock. Before their first goal they hadn't had a single shot on target.

Respect your opinion mate, but Gini has never been one that threatens opposing defence, let alone bring the ball forward into the box, he's more of breaking up opposition's attack.

Lovren is one that is at a standard where he is and he will probably not improve further from where he is now. I tend to compare him to Alan Hansen. Alan was one of the slowest around, much slower than Lovren i got to admit, but what made Alan a world class defender is he reads the game very well and positioned himself well ahead of danger and he was always a yard faster then the oppo player. A very intelligent player and a frustrating defender to play against. And he can also start an offensive play, bringing the ball out of defence to midfield. Sadly, Lovren do not have these skills, its always swashbuckling defending that led to mistakes.

But it's Jurgens go to midfield, it's a bit troubling, almost hope for an injury to Milner and/or Hendo to force his hand. that midfield is way to passive against good midfielders, why can't Klopp understand that?

If Klopp doesn't use those bad boys he had on the bench, I can't imagine City having a hard time catching up 4 points. Milner will be gone in the summer I think, expecting him to go Leeds. I've been a big Milner fan, but unfortunately he's being put with incompatible players. I've no doubt we'll get results against Palace and Brighton and we'll forget how bad this trio is together. Every time the opposition is quality they look like championship level. Look at what we did to Arsenal with Fab, Gini and Shaqiri starting. We beat Spurs with Gini, Keita and Milner. Those are quality teams we beat without this sh*te midfield trio of Hendo, Milner and Gini that keeps throwing points out the window. I'm not saying they are individually bad, but they should never be paired as a 3.

Gini was the attacking midfielder. At least on paper.

Lovren played very well tonight. In fairness he's played very well since he came into the side, and as I pointed out, it took a worldie from Aguero to break the deadlock. Before their first goal they hadn't had a single shot on target.

We didn't play an AM tonight which was a big part of the problem.

We should have started Shaq or Keita in the AM role with Fab and Gini behind but Jürgen picked a conservative midfield all energy zero creativity.

And Lovren was average at best.

Really not easy to take that result. They seemed to get all the luck - first half we hit the post and Stones got away with a howler by the skin of his teeth, Kompany should have been sent off.

Still top but suddenly the gap looks a lot less comfortable. Pressure is only going to mount on us now.

Respect your opinion mate, but Gini has never been one that threatens opposing defence, let alone bring the ball forward into the box, he's more of breaking up opposition's attack.

Lovren is one that is at a standard where he is and he will probably not improve further from where he is now. I tend to compare him to Alan Hansen. Alan was one of the slowest around, much slower than Lovren i got to admit, but what made Alan a world class defender is he reads the game very well and positioned himself well ahead of danger and he was always a yard faster then the oppo player. A very intelligent player and a frustrating defender to play against. And he can also start an offensive play, bringing the ball out of defence to midfield. Sadly, Lovren do not have these skills, its always swashbuckling defending that led to mistakes.

It's not an opinion. No offence but what part of "it's not what I would have done" is unclear here? I'm attempting to explain what I believe the selection was about, not justify the choice of it. I have said many, many times before in previous matches that I don't ever want to see Henderson and Milner in the same team because it makes us too pedestrian. To be fair to Lovern, he is 3rd choice and probably the best 3rd choice Center back on the League. We just need options up front and then we have probably the most complete squad we've ever had in the Premier League years.

I don't agree but nonetheless, we not exactly blessed with choices because a choice between Lovren and Matip is no choice at all so it's an entirely moot point. As I said in the first post, the selection and tactics were not what I think we should have done, and I think it paid City far too much respect, but again, at the risk of repeating myself, they scored a worldie on the back of zero shots on target and it can be argued we lost the game by 11mm which is the finest of fine margins. Like it or not, it was working.

if he was quick minded enough, he should have blocked it. not even close to the man, like Trent, should've slid in.
But never mind, the only negative here is that we lost, everyone else is going to say we've lost this, but we are still strong, just unlucky tonight

If Klopp doesn't use those bad boys he had on the bench, I can't imagine City having a hard time catching up 4 points. Milner will be gone in the summer I think, expecting him to go Leeds. I've been a big Milner fan, but unfortunately he's being put with incompatible players. I've no doubt we'll get results against Palace and Brighton and we'll forget how bad this trio is together. Every time the opposition is quality they look like championship level. Look at what we did to Arsenal with Fab, Gini and Shaqiri starting. We beat Spurs with Gini, Keita and Milner. Those are quality teams we beat without this sh*te midfield trio of Hendo, Milner and Gini that keeps throwing points out the window. I'm not saying they are individually bad, but they should never be paired as a 3.

The problem with the trio is, they don't give the opposition an element of surprise. They keep defending deep and left the front 3 isolated. I don' t kind 2 defending deep but one of the 3 must be able to move the ball forward more often.

Feels like a defeat we really could have avoided.

We didn't play an AM tonight which was a big part of the problem.

We should have started Shaq or Keita in the AM role with Fab and Gini behind but Jürgen picked a conservative midfield all energy zero creativity.

And Lovren was average at best.

I agree. City start the 2 Silva’s in midfield. De Bruyne would have played if fit - we don’t need 3 work horses against them. Shaq should have played he’s our best midfielder on form just now

we lost the game by 11mm which is the finest of fine margins. Like it or not, it was working.

That is right we lost by about 11mm not once, twice, but three times.    The ball was just cleared off the line it was mm from an on running Salah it went between his legs and mm off a touch that would have put it in the net.  Sane's goal was mm off missing  it was just in add may be another 11mm and that does not go in. 

They had the luck today there wasn't much in it.   

Just hope Lovren zips it from here on in. 

What a missed opportunity this was, and it hurts. We had a chance to go into their own house and make a statement, yet it seems like we were not ready to take the game to them and instead played not to lose. This idea that "i would have bit your hand off at the start of the year to be up 4pts after 21 games" is just a cop out and does not make this a lesser missed opportunity than it was. I'm not a fan of a midfield 3 of Milner / Hendo / Gini but they have put together many a great game so not going to dwell on that.

Also don't get why Sturridge comes in with 5 minutes left. If things aren't working out, why not give him more time? It almost reeks of "i'm out of ideas, so i'm going to throw a hail mary and hope Sturridge puts one in". Since the game against Burnley, basically a month ago, he's had 20+ minutes of game time against Newcastle but yet he's our last hope? If we are going to count on him to score these late game-saving goals he should be getting more playing time to gain and stay in form.

Most important right now is how we rebound from this and make sure today does not snowball. City (and Spurs) get a confidence boost from this and now we have to respond.

How was Fab when he came on? I’ve read a few things that say he was very good.
Think we should have started him.

Our professionalism and composure will be tested now, but there's no reason to think we are not up to that challenge. We still have the advantages and even tonight we only just lost. Could have been 2-2 or a one-goal win for us based on the play (and yes, I know they should have scored at the end as well).

I was disappointed in Lovren tonight, but have no problem with the midfield Jürgen used, in fact I only think Milner was subbed because he has been carrying an injury.

For the Cup match Monday, ,I wouldn't mind if Conor Masterson and Nat Phillips played at center back, add Clyne, Moreno, the backup forwards, Lallana and maybe Curtis Jones if he's fit. We'll probably see Mignolet in goal even. All the focus should be on bouncing back vs. Brighton, and we will do that.

Support the team.

What a missed opportunity this was, and it hurts. We had a chance to go into their own house and make a statement, yet it seems like we were not ready to take the game to them and instead played not to lose. This idea that "i would have bit your hand off at the start of the year to be up 4pts after 21 games" is just a cop out and does not make this a lesser missed opportunity than it was. I'm not a fan of a midfield 3 of Milner / Hendo / Gini but they have put together many a great game so not going to dwell on that.

Also don't get why Sturridge comes in with 5 minutes left. If things aren't working out, why not give him more time? It almost reeks of "i'm out of ideas, so i'm going to throw a hail mary and hope Sturridge puts one in". Since the game against Burnley, basically a month ago, he's had 20+ minutes of game time against Newcastle but yet he's our last hope? If we are going to count on him to score these late game-saving goals he should be getting more playing time to gain and stay in form.

Most important right now is how we rebound from this and make sure today does not snowball. City (and Spurs) get a confidence boost from this and now we have to respond.

I completely agree with you on Sturridge. He’s been the forgotten man for months but gets called upon in one of the biggest games of the season to make a difference in the space of 5-10 mins. Find it bizarre

An early rise this morning & the result still in my head... wounded..

Okay we we lost (were robbed)  for the first time this season by the thuggery of Kompany.The b***ard is in bad company when he is by himself.We can't do nout about that result now but we can get back to winning ways and if we can repeat the first half season results No 19 is surely destined for Anfield.One other thing  is how we have missed having Joe playing alongside Virgil.

Purposely didn't post last night because I was quite angry but even after I've slept on it I feel no different so here we go.

So as always I'll start with the line up. I put in the pre match thread the team I wanted to go with so I was disappointed seeing Milner gini and Henderson in the middle. I honestly couldn't care less what results those three have gotten in the past, if you can't see the problems we have in midfield when those three all play together then you're just deluded. There is no balance or flair at all - which we then saw which I'll discuss in a minute.

So the game starts and for the first five or ten minutes I thought we were all over the place. We were quite clearly nervous which I was a little surprised at. City were forcing us into mistakes and had us under the cosh. We weathered the storm though and started to settle down and grow into the game.

We then should have taken the lead with manes effort that hit the post and then that bizarre goal line clearance from stones. How the F**k did that not go in? Even now I can't F***ing believe it.

I also think kompany should have been given a red too for that reckless challenge on Salah but the ref bottled it.

City score towards the end of the half which was a good goal by aguero but poor defending on our half. We just switched off and lost concentration. It felt at the time that goal was against the run of play, I didn't think city deserved to be in front.

Second half begins and it's obvious we need to make a change. We just weren't getting enough out of our midfield three. Milner was still obviously carrying a knock so he was the one to leave the field but personally I wanted to drag henderson off who I thought up until this point was abysmal once more. 

Fabinho comes on as the 6 and straight away you saw the difference. Finally somebody who looks up and passes the ball F***ing forward. Somebody who isn't afraid to carry the ball a little bit forward either.  To be fair to Henderson, he improved somewhat once he moved further forward too.

The equaliser came which I thought was a cracking goal from us. Really well worked and thoroughly deserved too.

City then score another which again seemed to come from nowhere and, again, just poor defending from us. It was the type of goal we used to concede regularly 3-4 seasons ago.

We huffed and puffed and despite having two or three pin ball like moments in the city box, we just couldn't find the equaliser and city took the points. Very disappointing result for us.

Becker - don't think he could have done anything for either goal but his kicking was dog sh*t.  5/10

Trent - inexperienced showed at the back at times. Played some nice stuff going forward though but crossing is still a little bit off compared to usual. 5/10

Lovren - I've said literally hundreds of times he isn't good enough for us. He's awful. Similar to Henderson he has his supporters but I honestly have no idea what the F**k they're watching. Another terrible performance from dejan and he has proven once more he is a liability who can't be trusted. You could argue that he cost us this game. 1/10

VVD - Did very little wrong. Solid as always. 8/10

Robertson - my motm. Thought he had Sterling in his back pocket once again. Considering how rapid Sterling is, he never seems to get past andy does he? Good going forward as usual too. 9/10

Henderson - Was hoping he wouldn't play. Yet another massive game where he doesn't contribue. This is a title decider and our captain is just non existent, it's actually embarrassing how little he offers us. Ive never, ever, seen Henderson give 'a captain like performance' ever. I'm just sick of him. The only compliment I can give to him is that once fabinho came on, he moved up the pitch and played a bit better. 3/0

Milner - Poor. Think he's still carrying a knock. 4/10.

Gini - Bits of flashes then goes missing. Frustrating. 4/10

Salah - Even though he didn't have the best of games I thought he was a threat still. 6/10

Mane - Same. He didn't have his shooting boots on but he still looked threatening at times. 6/10

Firmino - thought Bobby was quiet until the late stages of the game. 5/10

Fabinho - should have started. Head and shoulders above Henderson in the DM role. Made a massive difference once he came on. 8/10.

Shaqiri and Sturridge. Didn't have enough time to really contribute.

Klopp - not often our Jürgen gets it wrong but I think he did tonight. Thought the game was crying out for keita as well as Fabinho and the changes should have come sooner.

Waking up with that ‘need to avoid the media for 24 hours’ feeling sucks. I’d almost forgotten what it feels like. Good time for an FA Cup match I think, just gives the lads a minute to reset and go again at Brighton next weekend. We’ve got a run of very winnable games coming up.

Purposely didn't post last night because I was quite angry but even after I've slept on it I feel no different so here we go.

So as always I'll start with the line up. I put in the pre match thread the team I wanted to go with so I was disappointed seeing Milner gini and Henderson in the middle. I honestly couldn't care less what results those three have gotten in the past, if you can't see the problems we have in midfield when those three all play together then you're just deluded. There is no balance or flair at all - which we then saw which I'll discuss in a minute.

So the game starts and for the first five or ten minutes I thought we were all over the place. We were quite clearly nervous which I was a little surprised at. City were forcing us into mistakes and had us under the cosh. We weathered the storm though and started to settle down and grow into the game.

We then should have taken the lead with manes effort that hit the post and then that bizarre goal line clearance from stones. How the f**k did that not go in? Even now I can't f**king believe it.

I also think kompany should have been given a red too for that reckless challenge on Salah but the ref bottled it.

City score towards the end of the half which was a good goal by aguero but poor defending on our half. We just switched off and lost concentration. It felt at the time that goal was against the run of play, I didn't think city deserved to be in front.

Second half begins and it's obvious we need to make a change. We just weren't getting enough out of our midfield three. Milner was still obviously carrying a knock so he was the one to leave the field but personally I wanted to drag henderson off who I thought up until this point was abysmal once more. 

Fabinho comes on as the 6 and straight away you saw the difference. Finally somebody who looks up and passes the ball f**king forward. Somebody who isn't afraid to carry the ball a little bit forward either.  To be fair to Henderson, he improved somewhat once he moved further forward too.

The equaliser came which I thought was a cracking goal from us. Really well worked and thoroughly deserved too.

City then score another which again seemed to come from nowhere and, again, just poor defending from us. It was the type of goal we used to concede regularly 3-4 seasons ago.

We huffed and puffed and despite having two or three pin ball like moments in the city box, we just couldn't find the equaliser and city took the points. Very disappointing result for us.

Becker - don't think he could have done anything for either goal but his kicking was dog sh*t.  5/10

Trent - inexperienced showed at the back at times. Played some nice stuff going forward though but crossing is still a little bit off compared to usual. 5/10

Lovren - I've said literally hundreds of times he isn't good enough for us. He's awful. Similar to Henderson he has his supporters but I honestly have no idea what the f**k they're watching. Another terrible performance from dejan and he has proven once more he is a liability who can't be trusted. You could argue that he cost us this game. 1/10

VVD - Did very little wrong. Solid as always. 8/10

Robertson - my motm. Thought he had Sterling in his back pocket once again. Considering how rapid Sterling is, he never seems to get past andy does he? Good going forward as usual too. 9/10

Henderson - Was hoping he wouldn't play. Yet another massive game where he doesn't contribue. This is a title decider and our captain is just non existent, it's actually embarrassing how little he offers us. Ive never, ever, seen Henderson give 'a captain like performance' ever. I'm just sick of him. The only compliment I can give to him is that once fabinho came on, he moved up the pitch and played a bit better. 3/0

Milner - Poor. Think he's still carrying a knock. 4/10.

Gini - Bits of flashes then goes missing. Frustrating. 4/10

Salah - Even though he didn't have the best of games I thought he was a threat still. 6/10

Mane - Same. He didn't have his shooting boots on but he still looked threatening at times. 6/10

Firmino - thought Bobby was quiet until the late stages of the game. 5/10

Fabinho - should have started. Head and shoulders above Henderson in the DM role. Made a massive difference once he came on. 8/10.

Shaqiri and Sturridge. Didn't have enough time to really contribute.

Klopp - not often our Jürgen gets it wrong but I think he did tonight. Thought the game was crying out for keita as well as Fabinho and the changes should have come sooner.

It wasn’t a title decider

And some of those marks are laughable, you would think we were smashed last night

The reaction from people at the moment is embarrassing, we lost a very tight game by a fine margin but still sit at the top of the table

Get a F***ing grip people

You’d think we lost against Cardiff at home and slipped down to 3rd in the table reading some of these posts!