5 Things we learned from Man Cities comprehensive win against Liverpool

1. There’s only one thing that’s going to stop City winning the league this season. Ever since the guilty verdict a few weeks back everyone has been pointing to this game as must-watch due to the history between the two sides but it was City who swept aside a weakened Liverpool in the second half, Iraola’s side came flying out of the blocks as you’d expect pressing City heavily throughout the first 45 but they struggled to create anything meaningful in the final third to worry Donnarumma or City. Although Marseca’s side did take some time to cope with the speed of the game they eventually wrestled control late in the half but again didn’t really worry Alisson in the Liverpool goal, by half-time I think both teams were happy enough to go into the break at 0-0. The second half started similar to the first with Liverpool looking really energetic but they were dealt a huge blow in the 62nd minute when Ryan Gravenberch was shown a second yellow card for a challenge on Jeremy Doku which put Liverpool down to 10-men for the remainder of the game, it didn’t take long for City to capitalise on the man advantage as just three minutes later Doku’s shot was blocked by Mac Allister but the ball fell straight to Haaland who rifled City 0-1 up at Anfield. Then in the 68th minute Elliot Anderson speared the ball out to Jeremy Doku who drove towards the box before cutting in and unleashing an absolute beauty of a shot past Alisson to double Cities lead, Maresca’s side added a third ten minutes later as Elliot Anderson played the ball into Cherki in the box who dummied the ball to Gvardiol before the Croatian played Cherki with a lovely flick as the Frenchman sent Frimpong flying with a fake-shot before firing low past Alisson to well and truly finish the game for City at Anfield.

2. Siege mentality is going to aid City massively this season. I don’t think there’s many things stronger in football than ‘us against the world’ and I think we got a glimpse of that today in the City performance over the 90 minutes, I haven’t really talked about the charges yet on here and I don’t think I really will as it’s been done to death already at this point by people far smarter than me but it does make a bit of a mockery of the league that City just continue as normal with a guilty verdict hanging over their head. Obviously there’s an appeal to come but will these points mean anything at the end of the season if there’s a point deduction to come? I’m not sure but what I do know is that City were outstanding in the second half and showed the gulf between the two sides with some gorgeous football for some of the goals, they weathered the storm Liverpool threw at them early on which was inevitable considering the atmosphere but again that siege mentality will have you running through walls to get the win and Marseca clearly got that point into the players over the last week. I do think they got lucky with the sending off as Gravenberch should have never received that first yellow card but as we’ve seen with United this season playing against 10-men isn’t a guarantee of three points but it certainly was for City today, the introduction of Jeremy Doku completely changed the game and when he’s at his best he’s by far and away the best winger in the league which we saw on full display today with an absolute peach of a goal which we’re becoming used to seeing from the Belgian. Rayan Cherki continues to be my favourite player in the league despite my United connections but I can’t help but take so much joy in the way the Frenchman plays football and the third goal sums his ability up to a tee, the dummy just before receiving the ball was genius then the chop to send Frimpong sliding into the distance before having the composure to finish it off is world-class and I’ll never get tired of watching it. Overall this was a real statement from City about their ambitions this season despite the charges which in fairness the players have nothing to do with, they just have to get on with their football.

3. ‍That’s a real nasty result for Liverpool at home. I think just about everyone in the footballing world was hoping Liverpool would get a result today and despite the score-line they were more than competitive for 60 minutes of that match, up until the Gravenberch red card I’d say it was a complete 50/50 game which is definitely a positive considering the players Iraola had missing today. The problem was that even when they were playing well in the first half they weren’t creating anything substantial which would have me pointing the finger at the attackers and their performances, Floarian Wirtz is a player I was such a big fan of at Leverkusen but I think it’s got to the point now where he needs a spell out of the team as his current performances are so bad it has me wondering if we’ll ever see the player we saw at Leverkusen? Liverpool’s other £100 million plus player wasn’t much better today by the name of Bradley Barcola who has looked miles off the pace since making his debut last month, I’ll cut him a bit of slack for now but I think Jeremy Doku showed the level today that Liverpool are expecting of the Frenchman. Koumas and Munoz showed some real energy in that frontline but lacked any real quality to hurt a really strong City back-line on the day, Isak, Ekitike and Gakpo were sorely missed in that attack today and Iraola will be hoping they are back sooner rather than later. I actually thought Liverpool’s midfield was playing really well up until the red card with Gravenberch arguably being the best player on the pitch which makes the sending off all the more painful as that was by far his best performance under Iraola so far, the referee made a big mistake booking the Dutchman initially but it was clumsy to make that challenge on Doku already on a yellow. Overall I definitely think there’s positives to take for Liverpool from the first 60 minutes but the performances of the big money players would have me massively worried ahead of the next few weeks, will they step up and start performing? Only time will tell.

4. Elliot Anderson is already the best midfielder in the league. There were a lot of eyebrows raised over the summer at the price City paid for Anderson which was reported at around £116 million but that’s looking like a bargain with the current level he’s playing at in Cities midfield, with Rodri leaving in the summer to Barcelona City needed a ready-made replacement for the Ballon D’Or winner and it looks like they’ve got it with yet another player-of-the-match performance from the Englishman. There’s been times this season when he’s been left isolated in midfield but he covers so much ground that City can push extra players up the pitch knowing that he’ll bail them out if they lose the ball, I wouldn’t quite call it the ‘Kante’ effect but it’s not a million miles away. When you’re going to stadiums like Anfield and Old Trafford you need players with character to step on the ball and not be afraid of losing it and we’ve now seen that twice from Anderson already coming with two wins from both games, there’s not a thing on the pitch that he can’t do which makes him invaluable to this City team and Enzo Marseca. I suppose it’s a shame he might be playing in the lower leagues next year, maybe he’ll take a trip over to the red side of Manchester and help us out if the punishment is as brutal as many are touting for City?

5. What’s up next for both these sides? The Champions League returns this week which means both City and Liverpool are in action in Europe’s elite competition, Liverpool take a trip to Austria to play LASK on Wednesday in the early kick-off whilst City return to the Etihad to face PSG in a mouth-watering clash on Wednesday evening. Back in the Premier League both sides play on Saturday afternoon with Liverpool taking a trip to the G-Tech to play Brentford whilst City stay at the Etihad to play Ipswich Town at the same time, plenty of football this midweek so stay tuned as I’ll have all the big games covered on here. Should be good fun. ‍