Cometh the hour cometh the man. After last week's defeat to Arsenal as well as a string of poor results prior to that defeat, pressure was mounting on Liverpool's star players and manager. Jurgen Klopp seemed uncharacteristically edgy at press conferences and his team looked devoid of ideas.
As much as Klopp would hate to admit, Liverpool were in need of a spark and playing Rangers in the Champions League would provide the perfect opportunity for Mohammed Salah to reignite and remind us all why he was a contender for the World's Best Player last year. Salah scored the fastest Hattrick in Champions League history as Liverpool demolished Rangers 7-1, a perfect confidence boost for the coming challenge of Manchester City.
Manchester City themselves were firm favourites heading into this match, sitting a point behind leaders Arsenal and the only undefeated team in this season's Premier League. City also had a fully fit Erling Haaland, a man who's been giving Premier League defenders sleepless nights after having 18 goal involvements in his first 10 matches. If Liverpool were to get anything out of this game, they had to be at their best or face humiliation as many can attest at the hands of the reigning champions.
Klopp made some tactical tweaks that worked wonders with Milner at Right Back and Gomes having one of his best performances in recent times at centre back, forming a great partnership with Van Dyke. The 4-2-3-1 formation instead of the usual 4-3-3 for Liverpool ensured that they crowded the midfield, having a block of 5 players when defending, thus limiting the influence of players like Kevin De Bryne. It was good to see that Klopp noticed that he cannot match Manchester City's intensity, so he played a mid to low block, with a solid 4 at the back, a line of 5 in the middle and one man by the halfway line waiting for the break.
That is how the Liverpool goal came. City we're in attack and the ball ended up in the Liverpool goalkeeper Allison's hands, he takes a look before launching a long ball towards the lone figure of Mohamed Salah by the halfway line, isolating him with Cancello. Mohamed Salah then brilliantly controlled the ball with his left foot whilst tuning the defender to leave himself racing for a one on one with the goalkeeper. The outcome was a delicate chip over the onrushing Ederson. One nil to Liverpool and Anfield erupts into indescribable euphoria. That was enough to see Liverpool not only end Manchester City's unbeaten run, but also send a firm reminder that they will not give up.
Was it pretty football? No. Was it efficient? Most definitely. It takes discipline to keep Manchester City from scoring and Liverpool did just that.
Is this victory the spark that they needed?
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