A win would have taken either side top as Liverpool hosted title rivals Manchester City at Anfield.
Jürgen Klopp made no changes to the side that thrashed Porto in mid-week, sticking with Liverpool’s usual 4-3-3 formation.
Pep Guardiola made two changes to the side that lost to Paris Saint-Germain, with Riyad Mahrez and Raheem Sterling dropped in favour of Gabriel Jesus and Phil Foden. City matched Liverpool’s 4-3-3 shape.
In an otherwise horrific first half for them, Liverpool actually had the better of the opening stages. The pressing of City’s front three worked (or rather didn’t work) a lot like how Liverpool’s did last season: in the centre, Jack Grealish would stick close to Fabinho, while, after initially starting in quite narrow positions, Jesus and Foden would move up to press the centre-backs while curving their runs to block the passes out to the Liverpool full-backs. The main issue with this was that they allowed Liverpool’s centre-backs too much time on the ball, while Fabinho would drag Grealish away from the centre. Virgil van Dijk was happy to pick out raking balls into attack and Joël Matip took the opportunity to push forward on the ball, draw a City midfielder forward and pass into the space he had opened up.
The other issue was that it left Andy Robertson and James Milner free to push forward into attack, doubling up on City’s full-backs. This was particularly notable on the right flank, where Jordan Henderson would move out to join Mohamed Salah and Milner, varying who made runs through the middle and who went down the outside.
Guardiola corrected this about ten minutes into the game, with City now instead forming a 4-4-2 defensively. Who moved up to partner Grealish varied, but there would now be two men to deal with Liverpool’s centre-backs and the wingers would stay in midfield to combat the runs of Liverpool’s full-backs.
Liverpool now found it harder to play out, instead going long and repeatedly handing City the ball back easily. A City midfielder would step up to get tight to Fabinho and limit the space he had to receive the ball from the defenders, but Curtis Jones would drop in next to him to help play out – Liverpool rarely used the option of either man though, preferring to pump it over their heads.
Liverpool weren’t helping themselves in possession, but they weren’t defending well either. As they did against Chelsea, Liverpool’s front three generally stayed narrow, meaning there was acres of space out wide for João Cancelo and Kyle Walker to receive the ball. This would either force Liverpool’s midfielders out to cover, opening up space for City’s midfielders inside, or leave the full-backs free to advance and double up on Liverpool’s.
This was creating a particular issue for Liverpool on their right, where 35 year-old Milner was expected to cover for the injured Trent Alexander-Arnold. He was found lacking the pace to play at full-back as far back as 2017 and is unlikely to have gotten any quicker since then, so it was hardly surprising he was struggling when isolated against a world class team – very lucky not to be sent off. Despite the full-backs being absolutely key to Klopp’s system, it took until 2020 for Kostas Tsimikas to be signed as a back-up to Robertson and the club are still waiting on a real back-up for Alexander-Arnold – it nearly proved costly here.
Liverpool’s wingers tucking inside didn’t even help Liverpool to defend through the centre though. They were failing to block the pass into Rodri, while another City player would frequently drop in next to him to help play out, meaning Liverpool’s midfielders were getting pulled forward to deal with them, leaving space behind them for Kevin De Bruyne, Bernardo Silva, Grealish and possibly Foden if he tucked inside between the lines.
The match really highlighted many of the issues we spoke about last season: leaving three attackers up the pitch who were doing little defensively, Liverpool’s midfielders were left with too much ground to cover for just three men, forced into leaving a shortfall somewhere.
While City’s set-up was ideal for dominating the midfield, the lack of a proper striker meant they couldn’t convert this into goals. Grealish dropping off into midfield saw them outnumber Liverpool, but it also meant there was no one running in behind the Reds’ backline to punish them, except for Foden out on the left flank, away from goal. For all City’s dominance, the teams went in at half-time goalless.
In the second half, Liverpool reverted back to the pressing set-up that City had mimicked at the start of the match: Diogo Jota would stick close to Rodri to stop him from being able to receive the ball, while Sadio Mané and Salah would press the centre-backs while curving their runs to block the pass out to the full-backs. Even though De Bruyne, then later Silva, would drop back to help him play out, with Jota on Rodri, Liverpool’s midfielders weren’t pulled forward constantly and, while they would still be forced out wide to meet the full-backs, at least Mané and Salah were making it harder for City to play out to the flanks, meaning Jones and Henderson could actually maintain their positions in midfield close to Fabinho rather than getting dragged across the pitch.
Thirteen minutes into the second half, Liverpool took the lead. City pressed Liverpool high, forcing Matip into playing over the top, only for Liverpool to win the second ball. City’s forwards made no effort to track back, meaning Liverpool had a little five-versus-three situation on their right, reminiscent of the rondo training Guardiola loves so much. Fabinho dinked the ball over to Salah, who easily knocked the ball around the capoeira spin Cancelo attempted instead of a tackle. If the first half had shown the weaknesses of Liverpool’s 4-3-3 then the goal showed its benefits, as their attacking trio ran three-versus-three at City’s backline. Mané had frequently tucked inside in the first half, using his pace to scare Ruben Dias, and now he finally had the chance to do some actual damage with it: Salah slipped in behind a through ball for the Senegalese to run onto and finish.
Ten minutes later though, City equalised. Liverpool’s midfield was again left stretched: City played down their left, then switched the ball out to the right. With Mané pulled inside and Jones occupied by De Bruyne, Walker was left untracked on the overlap, opening up space for Jesus to cut inside. The Brazilian avoided the challenge of Fabinho then slid the ball out to Foden down the left, who finished from a tight angle into the far corner.
Liverpool again took the lead, although this time it was just through the brilliance of Salah, twisting and turning his way past several players into the box then finishing from an acute angle.
It didn’t take long for City to get back on level terms though. Again Liverpool’s midfield was left stretched, with De Bruyne given time on the ball thanks to Fabinho and Jones’ need to come across and cover the right side behind Henderson at a throw-in. This left De Bruyne with time to push forward and pick out a pass into Foden, who was given space to control it thanks to substitute Joe Gomez stepping up, reading a pass into Silva, only for De Bruyne to knock it over his head. Foden cut the ball back and Robertson’s half-clearance fell to De Bruyne to finish brilliantly on his left foot.
On the balance of play, City were by far the better team, however they lacked the cutting edge to put Liverpool to the sword. Liverpool on the other hand managed to get momentum back after a poor first half, but it was entirely the work of Salah that earned them their point – they very easily could have won the game, yet they were also very obviously second best minus a certain Egyptian.
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