Postby Diamond Dog » 04 Jan 2019, 09:12
I personally thought the first half was as good a 45 minutes as I've ever seen in the Premier League - incredibly accurate passing and inventive movement, all at a stunning pace. An absolute credit to both sides - that was an astonishing half of football.
I think Man City did deserve it but... had Kompany been dismissed (and I have seen many go for a lot less) and Mane's shot hadn't hit the post, and Stones not make that absolutely incredible goal line clearance (for which he deserved a great deal more credit than he seemed to receive)... the game would have been entirely different. Man City clearly had more of the ball and were just that bit more inventive in midfield (certainly I think Fabinho instead of Henderson would have been a better choice) and, in Aguerro, have probably as good a finisher as has ever played in the EPL. But Liverpool more than held their own and looked very solid all round. Indeed, that was full scale panic at the end in the City box and, had Liverpool sneaked an equalizer, I'm not sure that would have been unjust.
A couple of things - Trent Alexander-Arnold was hugely impressive. I'm pretty sure he is the England right back of the future - And I imagine Kyle Walker is probably thinking the same too. Lovren is a weak link at the back for Liverpool - the sooner Gomez is fit, the better for them. Bernardo Silva was inspirational too - all the talent but what a work ethic too. I thought Laporte did excellently as a make shift left back too - that was a bit of a masterstroke from Guardiola.
That four point gap is still very significant - as long as they weather this first loss well, I don't see Liverpool dropping too many points before the end of the season. I'd imagine Guardiola thinks Man City probably need to win 15 or 16 of the last 17 games to win the League - seriously. And even then, that might not be quite enough.
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