What a superb display. But I'm gutted / pissed off we didn't get the three points from that. It was a midfield display to savour. Mac allister, Endo and Szobo were nigh on perfect. It was utterly complete in vision and understanding of each other and everyone else. Quite a midfield trio if we can keep them all fit and firing together.
Quansah and Virgil were superb together, particularly Quansah who is still so raw yet is growing in stature every time he plays for us. Kelleher - well there's nothing to be said about this guy. He just keep doing it and doing it. Ali has a big job on his hands when he comes back but what a lovely dilemma to have. Bradley - superb. I can only think he had gassed himself such was the reason why he came off (if not - why?)
Nunez didn't score but he was a wrecking ball all afternoon when on the pitch. The amount of headers and flick ons in mid air he achieved was superb. Questions will be asked of Jürgen as to why he came off. Unless it was an injury, there was no excuse for removing him for Gakpo which was like, and indeed had the effect, of a West End stage show replacing their lead actor Daniel Day Lewis with Danny F***ing Dyer.
As for Diaz...well Diaz, Diaz, Diaz. It just doesn't work out for him does it? He has tenacity, he runs ALL game and his heart is big. But his mind is lacking and he doesn't have the conviction or dare I say it (after 2 years seeing him up close) the quality. Many players would give their right arm to have ONE gilt edged chance against City. So to have not one, not two but THREE quality opportunities to score in 7 minutes and FLUFF every single one of them, well it makes for shocking viewing.
We were all over them for much of that second half. They looked as bang average a city side as I've seen at Anfield for a very very long time. Performance wise, possibly City's worst at Anfield whilst Pep has been managing them. Yet they stole a point from this because of our own ineffectiveness.
Did the subs work out? I'd love to see Jürgen justify taking Szobo and Nunez off, especially the latter. Both were a pain in the arse for City and didn't look like fading. Granted - Bradley looked like he'd run around the world when the half time whistle blew so I could understand that. But I'm struggling with the Szobo and Nunez decisions.
What's worse with the Nunez / Gakpo substitution is the fear and suspicion that Jürgen was doing it to 'prove a point.' It's been written about that Gakpo was a signing purely of Jürgen and Lijnders making and not the Director of Football's. With the news that Edwards is coming back I hope to God Jürgen wasn't trying to force / justify his decision of what has turned out to be a very poor signing on his part (and emboldens the idea of the Sporting Director providing the names to sign rather than the coaches). Gakpo came on and promptly sucked the life and drama out of our attack. There was no rhyme or reason as to his appearance and was tantamount to Jürgen throwing two points away right there. If Doku had scored instead of hitting the post, the ramifications of that substitutions would have been even worse.
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