After rewatching the game:
It seemed like Peps game plan was a 4-4-1-1 with KDB in a free role behind SA, both pressing aggressively when out of possession, almost like a striker partnership. Gundogan was sitting deep alongside Rodri to help in the build up, to counter Lpools high press. Then, KDB in a free role would receive the ball after City played through Lpools high press, looking to exploit space vacated by their pressing midfielders. This game plan is similar to how City played at Anfield last year. However, the main difference in this game was that Angelino & Walker were allowed to attack, while Walker & Mendy played very defensively in the 18/19 fixture.
Refereeing decisions aside. What went wrong:
1-0: Aguero, Bernardo, Sterling, KDB, Gundogan and Walker are all in & around LFCs 18 yard box. If we were looking to play a bit conservative like last year, then either Walker or Gundo should have stayed further back imo. But they didnt. After TAA´s handball, the ball goes to Mane, Stones tracks his run while Rodri covers Stones in case Mane tries to go inside. Mane eventually gets a cross in, which Angelino prevents from reaching Salah. The big mistake happens when Gundo gets the ball from Angelino. We have 5 players vs Lpools 3 inside our 18 yard box. As Walker is the last of the defensive 6 (back 4 + 2 DMs) to return, he should position himself centrally outside our 18 yard box in case of a clearance. Instead, Walker moves toward his fullback position which leaves a massive space for Fabinho. Then Gundo delivers a horrendous clearance, and Fabinho has got all the space & time in the world to take the shot. A very poor goal to concede.
2-0: City are pressing high, until Arnold switches play to Robertson who is in space. He takes a touch before crossing to Salah who scores. Its more of a brilliant attack by Lpool than poor defending by City really. A more experienced LB could maybe have prevented this goal, but i dont want to be too harsh on Angelino. Possibly offiside??
3-0: Throw-in for Lpool down our left side. Henderson gets the ball and his run is tracked by Gundo while Angelino is marking Firmino. Henderson sprints toward the touchline, and both Gundo & Angelino follows him until Gundo suddenly gives up. Angelino tries to block the cross but Henderson has got too much space. Bravo is passive, and with better anticipation he could have cleared the cross. Walker is ball watching while Mane runs behind his back to score. A very poor goal to concede. Lack of communication between Angelino & Gundo, Bravo is way to passive while Walker looses his marking.What should have happened: Gundo marks Firmino and tells Angelino to close down Henderson. As Henderson moves toward the touchline, Bravo anticipates a cross and takes a few steps out, ready to intervene. Walker keeps close to Mane and is ready to clear at the far post.
Also, Citys counter attacking throughout the match was horrendous. 4-5 good counter attacking opportunities were wasted. Of the two counter attacks that were successful, Aguero should have scored 1, maybe 2 goals. Although KDB created 3 big chances, i dont think we got enough out of him in this match.
Positives: The team didnt give up, didnt get nervous, and pushed for goals whatever the scoreline was. We dominated possession and created some decent chances against their low block. Apart from their goals, Liverpool only created 1 decent chance, which shows how effective they were.
In summary: Citys performance wasnt terrible, though far from good enough. We did create chances. What let us down was poor finishing, individual mistakes, lack of communication, and wasteful counter attacks.
January 1st this year we were 7 points behind Lpool. We won 18 out of the last 19 games to win the title on the final day. That is insane. While things looks like shit right now, dont give up yet. But Pep needs to get our defensive stability back. A long winning run for us from now until Laporte & Sane gets back in jan, while Lpool got a cracy december, then things could look very different in a couple of months.
Come on City
