Man City vs Liverpool - Premier League (18/19 - Game 21)

[BobTheCharmer]

This was as good a chance to have a real go at city as you will ever get. We got beat by playing it fairly cagey. But with that 7 point cushion it would have been a great opportunity to put a marker down and go straight at them from kick off. But our passing was poor. Most of the ball we had was going backwards to the keeper.

Feels like we had a chance to take the gloves off and go for it but weren't brave enough. What might of been.

Onwards and upwards.

[Fosterbloke]

This was as good a chance to have a real go at city as you will ever get. We got beat by playing it fairly cagey. But with that 7 point cushion it would have been a great opportunity to put a marker down and go straight at them from kick off. But our passing was poor. Most of the ball we had was going backwards to the keeper.

Feels like we had a chance to take the gloves off and go for it but weren't brave enough. What might of been.

Onwards and upwards.

Didn't we do that against Chelsea and Crystal Palace in 13/14?

[BobTheCharmer]

Didn't we do that against Chelsea and Crystal Palace in 13/14?

No not really.

[BootRoom]

Didn't we do that against Chelsea and Crystal Palace in 13/14?

No. All we needed was a draw and two wins, with 3 games to play against teams that weren't our rivals.

Nothing was happening in the game vs Chelsea as they had rested some players due to other priorities and had no interest in making a game of it. It would have fizzled out to a mundane 0-0 if it wasn't for you-know-what.

Vs Palace we were forced to keep pushing despite being 3 up, due to the GD disadvantage.

Totally different scenario to having a 'free hit' to put our (at that point) only rival into a 10 point hole with half the season to go.

[Fosterbloke]

Ah fair enough.

[danperkins]

I did think we would have a go and go full tilt. We could have killed them off last night but we don't really play like that anymore. If you don't take the game to City, you'll get punished. Their defence is ropey apart from Laporte but he was playing out of position, Kompany had an easy game cleaning up high balls to Salah and winning the physical battle which isn't surprising. Bobby and Mane couldn't get into the game, Mane to a lesser extent.

Nobody in that midfield you breaks out to support the front (like Ox) or nobody who tries to pick a forward pass (like Shaq). That midfield trio worked last last but not this season, work hard but lack the quality needed to link to our front lads. Fernandinho & Bernardo Silva bossed that midfield last night & actually worked harder than our lads which is impressive.

Not the end of the world losing one of the toughest fixtures in world football but we will see how we deal with the pressure now and what our lads are made of. I'd love to see a massive winning streak from us, smashing team along the way. Hopefully no stuttering performances or blips.

[Fredo]

I think the only two dodgy periods during the game when we were below par were at the start of both halves. We were quite poor for 10/15 mins at the start of the second half, giving the ball away at the back. We were not making the right decisions and we were picking up the wrong option. It settled down after Fabinho come on.

Apart from these two periods, we pretty much matched them.

This is the kind of things we need to improve on generally. It's the thing which stands out when comparing us against City. They don't make many mistakes in possession, especially in build up play.

[Vermilion]

I'd laugh my cock off if after the next couple of games the gap grew wider again.

[marcus50bucks]

I did think we would have a go and go full tilt. We could have killed them off last night but we don't really play like that anymore. If you don't take the game to City, you'll get punished. Their defence is ropey apart from Laporte but he was playing out of position, Kompany had an easy game cleaning up high balls to Salah and winning the physical battle which isn't surprising. Bobby and Mane couldn't get into the game, Mane to a lesser extent.

Nobody in that midfield you breaks out to support the front (like Ox) or nobody who tries to pick a forward pass (like Shaq). That midfield trio worked last last but not this season, work hard but lack the quality needed to link to our front lads. Fernandinho & Bernardo Silva bossed that midfield last night & actually worked harder than our lads which is impressive.

Not the end of the world losing one of the toughest fixtures in world football but we will see how we deal with the pressure now and what our lads are made of. I'd love to see a massive winning streak from us, smashing team along the way. Hopefully no stuttering performances or blips.

I said on another forum that I wouldn't have gone with that midfield trio. I do think it's overrated by us. Workers will only get you so far. Don't get me wrong, it's definitely worked well in the past (PSG and Napoli home) but if you look back at some of the big away games, we've failed to get a control of midfield and it's cost us. Think back to Roma away, Real Madrid, Napoli away (I know Keita started but he came off early in the first half), PSG away, these are all games where we've have gone with the so called tried and tested trio. For me it just doesn't work particularly away from home against the the big teams. What we needed yesterday was composure on the ball and someone who could carry the ball. It was all too erratic for me and our midfield struggled with City's press. When Fabinho came on you could see the difference in composure when he had the ball. Our attacks were instantly better imo. He definitely has to start more often for me and Keita really needs to push on. He would give us something that's been missing since Ox got injured.

[Fredo]

I think maybe the mistake was to play Millie last night as he looked a bit off the pace. It's an easy 'mistake' to make in hindsight because he is usually so reliable. But I've got to agree to a degree. Against these very good technical sides, away from home, we need a bit more composure on the ball when the game is frenzied.

[poorscousertommy]

I think maybe the mistake was to play Millie last night as he looked a bit off the pace. It's an easy 'mistake' to make in hindsight because he is usually so reliable. But I've got to agree to a degree. Against these very good technical sides, away from home, we need a bit more composure on the ball when the game is frenzied.

Agreed. Fabinho changed the game for us when he came on. Should start every game from now on. Henderson was poor too I thought. In fact the midfield massively under-performed last night and City bossed it there.

[Fredo]

I thought Hendo was very good. He did his job well.

[The_weatherman]

I echo what has been said about Fabinho changing things when he came on, it felt to me that he helped us keep possession, he can turn with ball and release if forward, Hendo sends every second pass back to Alisson or the CB's.

But this also highlights to me that even though this team is so, so good, it's still a work in progress, Fabinho is finding his feet and Keita will do so eventually. Lovren is our 4th choice center back, but his performance shows how much we need our defenders to be useful on the ball and faster.

[Pablo]

I feel like we bought Keita and Fabinho because they are a level up from the likes of Milner/Henderson. I get they've needed time to settle in. I've often defended them and said we need to be patient.

However I think by now, they should have both been integrated into the team. Fabinho definitely deserves to be a starter. Keita, ok, probably not yet, but it should be our aim to get him in the team in the 2nd half of the season.

As others have said that midfield was too one-paced and workmanlike. They're midfield made ours look old-fashioned and out-dated.

[cannotmakeit]

this invincible tag was getting boring, the chances of going this season unbeaten was a fantasy in my opinion and now it's out of the way the media can stop bleating on about in every interview.