Photo credit: Sports Vision
As the battle rages on, both teams are suffering from a wave of injuries. Liverpool's squad is riddled with injuries, while City have lost right-back Walker and center-back Stones, and Guardiola has had to tweak his defense, pushing Ake to left-center back, Ruben Dias to partner Akanji, and Cancelo to right-back.
(Starting lineups for both teams)
Liverpool were challenged to change their formation, and this time they focused on consolidating their defense, with Milner replacing Arnold on the right side of the field, Robertson occasionally stepping up to attack, and Fabinho and Thiago playing as a double back in defense, with Salah and Jota initiating the attacking play up front.
At the beginning of the match, Liverpool were quite scared of City's powerful attacking force, especially the presence of Haaland. They contracted their defense, with almost all four defenders retreating into the penalty area and the two backs forming a barrier to prevent Haaland from gaining space. Liverpool gave up the wings, but the central position was tightly defended.
City could have utilized both flanks to attack, but Walker's injury led to a change in wing back positions and Cancelo looked out of place at right back. City's left and right sides were unbalanced, with the left side concentrating on strength and the right side relatively open, confusing Cancelo.Ake was able to play on the left side but was not as effective as Cancelo and could only provide limited support.
City's reduced pressure on both flanks instead allowed Liverpool's Salah more freedom on the right. Whenever Salah entered the right side, Jota and Firmino were waiting in the center to steal the ball, forcing City's backs to back off. Rodri was busy on the defensive line all night long, and as a result, B.Silva and Gundogan were backing off and seldom rushing into the penalty area, making it difficult for the central forces to break through Liverpool's double backs' stance, and the game was gradually coming to a stalemate.
Photo credit: Sports Vision
Haaland found it difficult to break through in the central area and retreated to the midfield to assist. However, Fabinho and Thiago put up a good fight as Liverpool's midfield meat grinder took its toll on Haaland. Despite Haaland taking a number of shots on goal, they were too direct, either from too far away or the passing route was recognized by Alisson, and Liverpool's midfield really restricted the magician Pu'u.
In the second half, Liverpool began to try to counterattack from a long distance, and on 49 minutes, Salah knocked down Ruben Dias on the halfway line, and then took a long pass to form a one-two, which Ederson tried his best to block. However, it was a move that made Liverpool realize that there were gaps in the City defense, and on 76 minutes, City were about to set up a set piece, the center backs stepped up, the ball was picked up, Alisson played a long ball, and Salah again had a chance to score in the center, Cancelo missed a clearance, and Salah was able to easily pick out the goal, and Liverpool found their chance on the counterattack.
In the second half, Liverpool had a lot of momentum, but City looked a bit lost. Guardiola didn't make too many changes, only substituting Alvarez in the 89th minute, and he still had Mahrez, Grealish, and Sergio Gomez to choose from. Guardiola seemed to want to stick with the original formation, and there seemed to be nothing he could do when he fell behind. Jurgen Klopp was red carded for his dissatisfaction with the referee's decision and Darwin came on as a substitute and had three excellent chances which he failed to convert into assists or goals as Liverpool secured a valuable 1-0 win over Manchester City.
This game is slightly flat, both sides do not have many shots on goal, Liverpool only two shots on goal in the whole game, Manchester City also only 9 shots on goal 5 shots on goal, the box with the difficulty, mostly simple straight line shot. Guardiola's first encounter with Liverpool after the change of formation, so far it seems unable to cope with, the next meeting, the melon manager may adjust the tactics.
Photo credit: Sports Vision
Liverpool are currently in 8th place with 13 points, 14 points off the top of the table. Manchester City dropped to 23 points due to the loss, four points off the 27 points of Arsenal at the top of the table. Tottenham Hotspur, with 23 points, are behind City. The battle for the top of the table is set to get even tighter, with back-to-back matches up until the start of the World Cup, it's going to be one hell of a schedule for everyone, and it's vital to keep an eye on the players' health.
