Manchester City and Liverpool played out an entertaining match that ultimately ended in a 3-2 victory to side from Manchester. In his post match interview, Jurgen Klopp told reporters that the three goals conceded by Liverpool were “completely unnecessary”.
Following on from that, the team at DaveOCKOP sat down to review the footage of the goals to see where Klopp’s discontent came from and we’ve tried to analyse it and share our thoughts on each goal below.
MANCHESTER CITY GOAL (10th minute)
It is important to note that Manchester City’s first goal wasn’t created by chance. The team was initially ready to create pressure on the left side of attack, followed by a cross to the centre towards the penalty box.
To understand how Liverpool conceded we have to see this play from one minute prior.
Liverpool pressed Manchester City high and when Laporte took six Liverpool players out with a pass the Reds were in trouble.
Cole Palmer made a pass to a comfortable to De Bruyne, who had taken up the free space left of the Liverpool defence. De Bruyne found himself in free space and by dropping deep he took some attention away from Haaland.
Joe Gomez was focused on De Bruyne and didn’t pay enough attention to Haaland.
Manchester City created this exact move just one minute later. Fabio Carvalho lost the ball in the centre of the field. Manchester City then had an overload on the left side again.
De Bruyne moved left from the central zone, James Milner focused on Carlton Palmer, resulting in De Bruyne finding the space to receive the ball with no defender close by.
Joel Matip stayed in a neutral position – he could not go to theside against De Bruyne because Gundogan would have came through unmarked in the centre. Matip decided to run into the penalty area, which made it possible for De Bruyne to make dangerous pass to the centre of penalty box.
De Bruyne put an inviting cross in for Haaland. Haaland attacked the ball with vigour, while Gomez was caught flat-footed. 1-0
LIVERPOOL GOAL (20th minute)
Joel Matip was key for Liverpool’s opening goal. Matip burst forward and managed to play James Milner in who set up Fabio Carvalho.
Matip moved towards five Manchester City players but with one pass he took the five out of the game creating an overload for Liverpool. Liverpool then had a 4 on 3 in their favour.
Milner had several options – a cross to the centre, a pass to the far post, or a pass to Carvalho, who was left alone. Milner chose the third option and created the equaliser.
Initially, Carvalho was under pressure from Akanji, but when Laporte moved to stop Milner, Akanji went towards the penalty area while Carvalho dropped deeper and found space alone.
MANCHESTER CITY SECOND GOAL (46th minutes)
Once again, Liverpool came under pressure after an initial high press. City kept control of the ball in their own half, while Liverpool used 7 (!) players to try to win the ball back.
As a result, Joe Gomez took up a full back’s position leaving space for Gundogan.
Let’s take a closer look at what happened. Palmer got the ball on the flank, with matip taking him up, while Phillips was focused on Haaland. Andy Robertson was forced to abandon his zone to cover De Bruyne. City moved the ball fast and found De Bruyne free with a lot of space.
Pay attention to De Bruyne – he signals to Palmer where to make the pass. He signalled to play it to the right side of the attack, where Riyad Mahrez was free.
Liverpool players put pressure on Palmer, forced him to pause which almost gave Liverpool enough time to get defensive cover back. But Robertson did not have time to get back to his left back position which gave Mahrez a free run on goal.
Riyad cut into the box and with a curling effort he made it 2-1.
SECOND LIVERPOOL GOAL (47th minute)
Liverpool responded almost immediately. City players this time press high and Liverpool were able to break the press and create space.
Oxlade-Chamberlain was under pressure from four Manchester City players yet managed to find Darwin Nunez in space and a beautifully weighted pass with the outside of his foot sent Nunez through down the line.
Nunez was able to use his pace to get free of Laporte after a great pass from Oxlade-Chamberlain.
Nunez used his composure to give Salah a simple chance from a few yards out.
MANCHESTER CITY THIRD GOAL (58th minute)
City again focused on the left side.
Salah pushed to the centre, leaving Ake free. Gomez went towards Matip to offer assistance but this gave De Bruyne space.
Pay attention to the Liverpool defence. Everyone was focused on the near post, yet the far post was where the winner came from.
De Bruyne created the winner with a trademark cross with Nathan Ake scoring unopposed. Klopp comments afterwards about Liverpool poor defending was particularly focused on the third goal.
As you can see from the above, there’s justified reason for Jurgen Klopp’s post match comments and we can see how and why he’d be frustrated with the way that the goals were conceded.
What do you think of our goal analysis? Is our analysis accurate? Would you like to see more of these featured on our site in the future? Comment below and share your thoughts on the goals Liverpool conceded on Thursday evening.
