LIVERPOOL 0 – 3 MANCHESTER CITY
Manchester City: Haaland 64’, Doku 68’, Cherki 78’
Pre-Match
The men’s international break is finally over and Anfield gets to host the most prolific cheaters of the football world, Manchester Cheaters, I mean City. The thing is, they were found guilty over the break of over 100 charges so we can call them cheaters without being libelous. As the club most effected by the illegal dealings of the visitors, there is no better team than us to welcome back in the Premier League. Where do you even start?
Well, hopefully it starts with us scoring early and often against a City team trying to find their identity in the post-Pep Guardiola era. It’ll be a little more difficult for us without two strikers as Alexander Isak and Cody Gakpo both suffered injuries in the break that they haven’t fully recovered from, and the surprise of Dominik Szoboszlai being out too, but maybe the ire of the Anfield faithful will be enough to push us to a victory and three points.
First Half
The raucous boos from Anfield almost drowned out the whistle to kick things off, but we’re off and attempting to run. It is already a fairly physical affair, with Wirtz going down early and we get near to the goal but still appear to be shaking off some rust. Liverpool do look the more focused of the two today as they’ve gotten into the final third more often in these opening ten minutes. Marc Guehi actually handles the ball after going down right in front of the corner flag but sure, Araujo gets a yellow for the dissent. That’s about what maybe any of us expected with Manchester-born Chris Kavanaugh officiating today.
Our defense, as different as it is now, is working harder and better together so far than theirs, although City get a lucky break as Semenyo crosses across the face of the goal, but it doesn’t even test Alisson. Things have settled, as expected, around the 15th minute, and Liverpool are still the more threatening of the squads. City get a corner, but the Reds are fighting for a counterattack, and get back to win a corner of their own. There’s a decent scrum where it looks like we might score, but Donnarumma takes control (unlike what he’s done with his hairline). Our lack of a true striker is hurting us, as expected, though, as there’s no one with a good finishing instinct to actually get the ball into the net.
There is finally some scoring forethought as we’re able to string a proper counterattack together and get the ball into the box, but Munoz’s effort hits the side of the net, but hey we got another corner. The good news is that City’s first shot on goal has come at the 34th minute, so for all the hype and the frustration leading up to this game, we might even end up 0-0 (god I hope not). We go into the last five or so minutes of the half, although with how many corners we’ve had there will definitely be a sizable bit of added time, and City are pushing a little more to break the deadlock. Just kidding, there’s only one minute added, so that should be fine (annoying, but fine).
Second Half
Everyone is out for the second half, with predictably no changes made to the lineups. The boos have restarted whenever City gets the ball, though, and that’s as good a sign as any. Kavanaugh gets back to work for the cheaters early too, handing Gravenberch a yellow after Anderson goes down holding his hamstring, but sure. Koumas gets the hint that we just need to score, though, and charges forward, fires a shot that hits Donnarumma right on. Better to just shoot, though, and have it get saved than to not shoot at all. The Reds begin testing the City keeper from distance, with Gravenberch first firing and then Mac Allister, but the bigger hint is that City is leaving huge holes for us to get through. The problem is that we are just as likely to have attention problems and leave some holes for them.
Everyone seems a little more confident in this game, even as Araujo crosses it over towards Koumas, and the kid mises it but he was offside anyway. It very much looks like the halftime talk was more about shooting than anything else, so you know what, we’ll take it. At least it feels like City are unable to get out of their own half, we just need that lucky break into the goal. There is another foul in the middle of the park from Haaland, but naturally City get away without a card – oh hey, there’s one finally in the 57th minute to Nico O’Reilly for taking down a literal child in Koumas. We get a free kick too, though, and Wirtz is up to take it but it goes just into the melee and City are able to dispatch.
The visitors have been slightly more threatening since bringing on Jeremy Doku, so we do have to get our heads back in the game. And of course, the worst happens, Kavanaugh hands Gravenberch his second yellow to send him off for nothing, certainly not a yellow card worthy foul. It’s not like VAR is there to overturn decisions either. Trey Nyoni gets ready to come on since we need a strong midfielder, so Wirtz may be the one to come off. Haaland scores in the meantime, and City take the lead at the 64th minute. Wirtz did indeed come off for Nyoni, and Doku makes it two four minutes later. The bad guys were bound to take over at some point.
There’s still twenty minutes left for us to get something going, but the two goals have taken all the breath out of everyone, so clawing our way back will be challenging. Iraola makes another change, bringing on Frimpong and Rio for Araujo and Koumas, which feels like a bad decision because they have been some of our best players on the day. The real problem is that the players that were hard done by City’s cheating are no longer with the team and Van Dijk can’t inspire anyone. City add a third through Cherki in the 78th minute, and it feels like even chanting “CHEATS” doesn’t help the hurt. Even if we pull one back, it’ll be a cold comfort.
Liverpool win a free kick in the 86th minute in a good spot, Mac Allister steps up to take it, but it’s saved easily by Donnarumma having a great day against us. Jacquet comes off at the 87th minute for Gomez, and Chiesa comes on for Barcola and we might as well have packed it in early. There’s 3 minutes of added time, and Virgil gets a yellow for a pissed off tackle, but it’s been over for a while.
Final Thoughts
For all the ire and noise we brought, the lads were undone within ten minutes, and Liverpool did not do the thing. In fact, we undid Iraola’s unbeaten streak and drop points for the first time this season. Can’t wait to see PGMOL’s apology that Gravenberch’s second yellow shouldn’t have been a yellow. Never forget that they only have these players because they cheated the system.
