Liverpool played a 433 at home with defenders Van Dijk, Quansah, Bradley, Gomez, midfielders Szoboszlai, Endo, MacAllister, and strikers Elliott, Luis Diaz, Darwin Núñez.
City played 361 with Akanji, Ake, Walker, Rodri, Stones, B. Silva, DeBruyne, Foden, Álvarez and Haaland.
(Pre-emptive link)
Liverpool are arguably full of injuries. The current formation has barely been dished out. Even the keeper is on the bench. While Salah and Robertson are currently listed on the bench, they shouldn't be completely injured. Klopp can't start them from the start and has to put them on the bench
Both teams were on the attack from the start, with both teams having good chances, but Liverpool gradually gained the upper hand with their high press and full midfield pressing, and began to threaten with shots on goal
From the start of the game, we could see that there were still obvious holes in City's defense. Pep Guardiola insisted on playing three at the back, but Liverpool are a good side attacking team and could easily have caught City in space on the wings to get in, and then there was still a game to play. With Núñez and MacAllister as well as Szoboszlai's first high-speed inswing and second follow-up, City's backline was actually quite dangerous.
VanDijk's form in this match was quite good, he just specialized in watching Haaland, Haaland could not escape from VanDijk's close attention in this match, he could not get any chance at all.
But Liverpool, who were in good shape, had an accident in the 23rd minute when City took a corner, DeBruyne took a very exaggerated corner, curling in a right-footed shot from the right, which looked like it was going to go out of bounds as it traveled along the baseline, and finally came in at high speed to the right side of the penalty box on the six-yard line.
Liverpool were positioned to prevent City from standing tall near the outside.Vandijk was also focused on seeing if there were any City players outside who wanted to accelerate to the top. Therefore, Ake first pushed Macallister out, then the central stones suddenly accelerated and ran diagonally to the right side of the small penalty area, which was suddenly cleared and Darwin Núñez did not react. He didn't know if he should leave the defensive zone. As a result, he was thrown a shot by stones angling towards the six-yard box. After all, Liverpool keeper Kelleher wasn't the first shooter. He seemed a little slow to react to the ball and was caught by stones
City's corner play was clearly set up with a very specific running position. In addition, Haaland at the high point and other defenders stood in other areas. In the center, Ake and Stones were used to face the Liverpool defense with at least three men. They deliberately tried to distract Liverpool, who also had inconsistencies in their defense, by not placing players on either side of the posts to defend. Normally at least one would be placed on the far post so the keeper can concentrate on defending the near post. If there is an arrangement, Kelleher should be able to get in place quickly and stop the ball
Liverpool started to launch a strong attack after the fall, constantly charging towards the Manchester City penalty area, and trying to pass in directly to grab the point, which made City more and more difficult to defend, 30 minutes Elliott on the right side of a cross let Szoboszlai rushed to the 10 yards to the top of the goal, the ball is Szoboszlai is too hasty, because he is 186 centimeters, Elliott pass in the position is too good already! Elliott's pass was so well placed that there was no one to guard him. He jumped a little slower and would have been able to hit the ball with a full header, but because he jumped earlier, he didn't get it right and the ball was deflected out of the goal!
With Liverpool's constant forward pressing, City kept missing passes at the back and Liverpool kept having shots on goal, it was a very dangerous situation, especially when Elliott and Bradley went up, City had a tough time defending on the left side of the field, on the other side of the field, LuisDiaz and Darwin Núñez were playing more direct kicks, which City could still handle, and it was a very dangerous situation. But they both have great impact and speed. If they insist on inserting themselves into the box, they're still dangerous, but they're both a bit short of a shot.
