Manchester City blown away
For all their obvious strengths, Manchester City also have glaring weaknesses. For a club with so many resources and squad depth way superior to their rivals, time and time again they show why they cannot be declared title favourites without any uncertainty. Jürgen Klopp’s Liverpool have starting taking up his philosophy and have improved but they are by no means world-beaters. Yet they easily blew away the so-called champions-elect at their home ground. The high-intensity counter-pressing game displayed by Liverpool’s forwards was too much for City’s weakest centre-back pairing of Eliaquim Mangala and Martin Demichelis and the result was clear by half time. City players were lethargic and frozen on the ball and with the exception of Kevin De Bruyne, all deserve criticism. Yet again Manuel Pelligrini’s tactics must be questioned as the omissions of Nicolas Otamendi and Fernandinho from the starting lineup are still confusing. It was notable that Fernandinho’s introduction into the game, replacing the ineffective Yaya Toure, immediately improved the hosts but they were already beaten.
Klopp era has really and truly taken off
After a quietly impressive start to life at Anfield for Jurgen Klopp, Reds fans would have inevitably been disappointed with their team’s loss to Crystal Palace before the international break. However, that would have been forgotten after their impressive performance against Manchester City. From the start, it was clear that Liverpool were in the mood with their intense pressing and intricate passing moves. City had no answer for it and were seemingly shocked at the way their opponents burst out of the blocks. At Eastlands, the home side usually assert their authority early on but could not do so here with the Reds’ aggressive approach. In particular, the likes of Phillipe Coutinho, Roberto Firmino, Adam Lallana, Emre Can and James Milner were all excellent and have taken quickly to Klopp’s outlook. Brendan Rogers’s declaration of “give me the tools and I’ll do the work” looks very foolish right now.
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