Manchester City and Liverpool finally went head-to-head in a match that could well decide where the Premier League trophy ends up this season.
Pep Guardiola made three changes to the team that broke down an ultra-defensive Atlético Madrid in the Champions League, as Nathan Aké, Ilkay Gündogan and Riyad Mahrez were replaced by Kyle Walker, Gabriel Jesus and Phil Foden. City switched to a 4-2-3-1 shape.
Jürgen Klopp made three changes to the side that beat Benfica in mid-week, with Joël Matip, Thiago Alcântara and Diogo Jota returning in place of Ibrahima Konaté, Naby Keïta and Luis Diaz. Liverpool set up in their usual 4-3-3 formation.
Liverpool adopted a different pressing scheme to their usual approach. Typically Liverpool’s wingers will push up to press the opposition centre-backs while curving their runs to block the pass out to the full-backs, yet here they mainly focussed on tracking City’s full-backs. Both Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mané would generally follow João Cancelo and Walker rather than pushing up onto Aymeric Laporte and John Stones, meaning Liverpool often resembled more of a 4-5-1 shape out of possession than their usual 4-3-3.
Liverpool still wanted to engage City high up the pitch though, and with Jota left alone against the centre-backs, Jordan Henderson and, to a lesser extent, Thiago would step up to join the striker in pressing City’s centre-backs, forming a 4-4-2 shape.
Regardless City rarely showed much desire to actually play through Liverpool. They would typically push Foden and Jesus up alongside Raheem Sterling and attempt to get them running in behind Liverpool’s backline with direct passes in behind. It had limited effectiveness though, as Liverpool’s defenders would generally get to the ball first or at least trap the City attacker to wait for a teammate, or Alisson Becker would come out to claim the ball himself.
City slightly modified their approach to create better chances. Mané and Salah would follow City’s full-backs to a certain extent, but they were still primarily forwards, so wouldn’t track Walker and Cancelo deep into their own half. City exploited this by having their attack position themselves narrow, drawing Liverpool’s defenders inside to create space out wide for the full-backs to run into. Whereas previously City’s supply was long balls from deep, now it was crosses in attack.
Liverpool’s approach was broadly similar. City’s pressing wasn’t particularly great, as Kevin De Bruyne and Sterling took it in turns to press while the other watched over Fabinho, but they did a poor job of ensuring the Brazilian was covered, allowing him to go free.
Like City, Liverpool didn’t appear to be particularly interested in playing through their opponents though. They would mainly pass wide, then attempt to play direct to the attackers running in behind. Just like Liverpool’s, City’s defenders were generally able to get to the ball first or at least slow down Liverpool’s forwards though.
If they managed to push back City, then the full-backs would join the attack just as the home side were doing. Both teams were essentially doing the same thing: looking to overload the opposition backline and catch them out with direct passes in behind.
With both teams having strong defences, this approach didn’t really garner much success though, and their goals generally came from individual moments rather than wider patterns of play.
City opened the scoring through De Bruyne. They won a free-kick and played it quickly to the Belgian while Henderson and Fabinho were talking to the referee, allowing De Bruyne to dribble forward and shoot – his shot deflecting in off Matip.
Liverpool’s equaliser was perhaps the goal most linked to a wider strategy. They played to Trent Alexander-Arnold running in behind, going four-against-four with City’s backline, and, although the ball was headed away, it fell to Andy Robertson to cross back toward Alexander-Arnold again running in behind at the far post. Initially starting in an offside position, Jota went untracked, peeling off to receive the ball from Alexander-Arnold in space to place his finish.
City again took the lead. Liverpool cleared a corner and were pushing out of their box, but the second ball fell to Cancelo, who picked out Jesus making a perfectly timed run into the box just as Liverpool’s players were trying to exit it, leaving him one-on-one with Alisson.
Liverpool again equalised at the start of the second half though. They again tried to find Alexander-Arnold running in behind, but Cancelo cut it out, only for the loose ball to fall to Henderson. Liverpool fed the ball to Salah, but neither Cancelo nor Laporte took responsibility for dealing with him – Cancelo had initially positioned himself to defend against a run in behind, but the pass being played behind the forward rather than into space left the Egyptian closer to Laporte than the full-back, however Laporte appeared wary of Jota making a run in behind him, and so neither defender stepped up to get tight to Salah. With no pressure on the ball, Salah was given time to turn and play a pass through to Mané sprinting in behind Walker to finish past Ederson Moraes.
After getting back on level terms, Liverpool sat back more in a 4-5-1, only occasionally pushing forward to press City. As a result, the home side gained greater control but created fewer chances. Attempts to play through the midfield generally saw them pass backwards again soon after, while balls over the top were either smothered by Liverpool’s defence or played out to the wings, where they would be left with few options and generally played backwards again.
The game was similar to the same fixture from November 2020. It was more attacking, with each team looking to overload the opposition backline, but the directness of the play was reflective of how unwilling either side was to risk making a costly error in possession. They both appeared happy to settle for a draw, confident in succeeding based on their respective run-ins rather than losing this match and having their title rivals open up a gap on them.
If you enjoy these posts, please consider subscribing to our Patreon or making a one-off donation. For just €2.99, you can get access to premium videos and training sessions.
No responses yet