Why Liverpool Vs Man City Will Be Decided By One Man
Liverpool v Man City has fast become THE Premier League fixture over recent seasons. With Klopp and Pep going toe-to-toe yet again for another title; this time the outcome is heavily dependent on one man - and his name, is Mohamed Salah...
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00:00 Hello everyone, Adam Monk here from 442 yet again with another Friday show and it's
00:09 that fixture that I personally as a Man City fan dread every year.
00:14 Yes, it's City v Liverpool at Anfield and for many the title may well be on the line
00:18 in this game as it has been for many other seasons and as a City fan they've won there
00:22 twice in my life.
00:24 And if you have a trip down memory lane with this fixture, just to appease the non-Liverpool
00:29 fans who are watching, well, you might remember the game where Raheem Sterling scored, Philipp
00:34 Coutinho and Martin Skrtle in 2014 which was then followed by this.
00:40 So get your laughs out the way now because that's all you're going to have for this
00:43 video.
00:47 And then yeah, if you think about this fixture in recent years, well, you think about Mo
00:50 Salah's goal from the halfway line in 17/18, you think about Mo Salah's header at the
00:55 back post in 19/20 when Liverpool won the league, you think about Mo Salah's goal of
01:01 the season contender in the 21/22 season where he sat Laporte down, you think about last
01:06 season when he ended Joao Cancelo's Man City career to give Liverpool a 1-0 win breaking
01:10 away on the halfway line.
01:13 So you ask, what is the common theme between all those memories?
01:17 Well of course it's Darwin New...
01:18 No, of course it is Mo Salah who has been synonymous with this fixture for many years
01:23 and always turns up when it matters because simply put, he's probably Liverpool's best
01:27 player but he has been injured recently but good news Liverpool fans, the man is back
01:32 in training.
01:33 And listen, you can talk about the incoming tactics in this game all you want but bottom
01:37 line is if you don't have your best player you will suffer in some regard so Liverpool
01:41 will need Mo Salah fit, whether he'll be 100% remains to be seen but even if he's
01:45 not, they'll probably just inject him with a few magical little things to get him up
01:49 to scratch because they'll need him in this game because he always delivers.
01:53 And look, in addition to that, I know this is a tactics channel so don't shoot me, but
01:57 another non-tactic thing that you kind of have to talk about and get the feeling of
02:01 going into this game is another intangible which is the narrative around Liverpool and
02:06 Jurgen Klopp this season.
02:08 Now look, sometimes football can just be an emotional sport where you feel like the script
02:12 has already been written before it's even happened, so like when Leicester won the league,
02:16 that was just like a snowball that kept rolling and eventually happened or in Alex Ferguson's
02:20 last season at United you kind of just knew he'd go out on that 13th Premier League title
02:25 or you know when Messi won the World Cup that felt like his destiny and that it was pre-written
02:30 unless you think Ronaldo's the goat in which case you could argue that football's not emotional
02:34 because he's slogging it in Saudi Arabia now and got knocked out against Morocco in
02:37 the World Cup but nonetheless you do kind of get the feeling that with Klopp announcing
02:42 that he was leaving Liverpool a month ago, this title win or just the fact that he's
02:47 going to go out on a high with trophies and silverware and cement his legacy even further
02:52 feels inevitable, especially given the fact that they scored in the 118th minute to snatch
02:57 victory against Chelsea in the Carabao Cup final and then pulled a Bugs Bunny sized rabbit
03:03 out of a hat at the city ground last weekend when Darwin Nunes scored that death header
03:07 in the 99th minute so they've got to use these recent results from recent late goals as well
03:12 to kind of fuel this inherent belief that it is Liverpool's destiny to win this title
03:18 and listen I understand that kind of sounds stupid and arbitrary in a way but at a ground
03:22 like Anfield where the crowd really are the 12th man and play such a part, if they believe
03:27 it, if the club believes it, if the players believe it, if Klopp believes it, it will
03:30 add that extra element and dynamic to this game which won't go in Man City's favour
03:35 and will definitely favour Liverpool so they've got to feed into that.
03:39 So how did Klopp's Liverpool set up against Manchester City in this exact same fixture
03:43 last season? Well they had a few injuries last season as they do now but they were struggling
03:47 a lot more in the table and they ended up actually deploying Salah as this kind of lone
03:52 nine as a bit of a target man really and a roadrunner as demonstrated by the clips here
03:57 which I will accompany elevator music to so you can quickly indulge in them.
04:02 *Elevator Music*
04:13 Oh yeah and needless to say this actually worked for them as they scored the only goal
04:16 of the game with a long goal kick from Alisson all the way down the throat of Manchester
04:20 City to Mo Salah so it worked then but they will be in a stronger position this time because
04:25 they won't have to do it and that is because Darwin "Darwizy" Nunes has found his feet.
04:31 Now first and foremost Darwin Nunes has already scored one more goal in the Premier League
04:34 than he did last season including two last minute winners, one at St James' and one
04:38 at Nottingham Forest last weekend so he's scoring big goals and goals more frequently
04:43 which is of course a good sign for a big money signing striker.
04:46 And Nunes hasn't just improved statistically slightly he's actually refined his striking
04:50 number nine game massively from last season to now. Firstly this is his shot map from
04:56 last season you can see the green circles are goals and the red ones are misses nice
05:02 and simple to understand but notice a lot of these red dots are floating around the
05:06 left and right hand side of the penalty area from wide positions meaning he was taking
05:09 low xg shots to little avail. Now this is Nunes' shot map this season and what you
05:15 can see is he's clearly refined where in the box he shoots from and as you can see
05:19 here consequently his conversion rate has jumped up by a couple of percent which is
05:23 a small margin but nonetheless it does demonstrate that he's refining his game and it just
05:27 means that he can be more heavily relied on now to lead the line for Liverpool which means
05:32 you can play Mo Salah the main man in his optimal position. Which would of course to
05:36 be using on the right hand side as the outlet in transition which is where Manchester City
05:42 have left a little bit of space of recent.
05:46 Against Chelsea at the Etihad the other week who quite bizarrely given where they are in
05:49 the table have set a precedent and a blueprint on how to play against Manchester City recently.
05:55 You saw a lot of space opened up on that left hand side when Ake advanced forward into the
06:00 pitch and Liverpool dropped Cole Palmer into the centre of the park. This led to several
06:06 successful transitions whether it was Malo Gusto overlapping or Raheem Sterling or Nicholas
06:10 Jackson finding width and Chelsea got about two or three particularly in the first half
06:14 and they did get a goal out of it. So can Liverpool take a leaf out of Chelsea's book
06:19 and try and do this whilst playing collectively on the front foot more well? Probably yes
06:23 because they're not going to have to drag Cole Palmer which in this case would be Mo
06:26 Salah into the middle using their right hand sided player. They might be able to do this
06:30 using the right back which they have done for the last 18 months or so.
06:35 Now it doesn't look like Trent Alexander-Arnold is going to be fit for the game but luckily
06:39 for Liverpool just like Whack-a-Mole you strike one down and another one pops back up in the
06:43 form of Conor Bradley. He's a similar profile to Trent who's very comfortable on the ball
06:47 and is not afraid to get forward. And if Liverpool were to advance Bradley into this kind of
06:52 pivot and revert to a back three when in possession they can numerically match Manchester City
06:57 and also then keep Salah out wide to try and expose Zaka or at least get against him one
07:02 on one. And I in short think that is where the game could be won or lost for Liverpool.
07:08 Relying on Mo Salah's individual brilliance and transitioning quick and getting it out
07:11 to that right hand side as quickly as possible. And just putting City under the caution under
07:17 pressure like they always like to do at Anfield.
07:19 And look regardless this is always the big game of the season now just like United vs
07:24 Arsenal was 20 years ago this is the blockbuster fixture now. And it does kind of feel like
07:29 you know I know Arsenal are there and they're flying at the moment but it does feel like
07:32 in many ways the title is kind of on the line or whoever loses this game will lose their
07:37 strength in the title race and their grip on the title significantly so a lot of stake
07:41 in this game. But pains me to say it but the sample size is there as well you would assume
07:47 that Liverpool can get the job done.
07:49 Anyway guys yes do not forget to subscribe. Smashing it recently with the views and figures
07:54 this month. I've been Adam Monk have a lovely day or evening and weekend whenever you are
07:59 watching this. Look forward to the game hopefully it's not too painful for me. Regardless though
08:05 I'll see you very soon. Goodbye.