Premier League: Manchester City 0 Liverpool 2 [Salah 14, Szoboszlai 37]
There has been talk in recent weeks about the rising levels of anxiety at Liverpool, a drop-off in their performance levels. Look at the number of draws, people have said. Is this a wobble? The club have won one league title since 1990 so a few nerves ought to come as standard.
And yet at the home of the soon-to-be-deposed champions, when Liverpool had to win to clamp one hand firmly on the Premier League trophy, to take advantage of Arsenal’s shock home loss to West Ham on Saturday, there was only assurance; a never-in-doubt result.
A bit of context. Liverpool entered the Etihad Stadium on an unbeaten league run of 22 matches. They have lost just once in the competition all season and not at all on their travels. They are not really wobbling. Perhaps their rivals just want to cling to something.
There was nothing for any of them here, certainly not Manchester City, who went down with the kind of meekness that has been associated with them too often during this deep winter of discontent. The race feels run. Liverpool have simply been remorseless.
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If one player symbolises the quality, it is Mohamed Salah. The right-sided attacker gave his latest virtuoso display, scoring the opening goal and setting up Dominik Szoboszlai for the second, the game done and dusted by half-time. Salah has 30 goals and 21 assists from 38 appearances in all competitions this season. Is there any doubt that the club must give Mo his dough to stop him leaving as a free agent?
The question for City had concerned whether a champion team had a haymaker left in them. They did not. After the Champions League drubbing at Real Madrid last Wednesday, this was another setback which was marked by the lack of surprise. There were no nerves from the Liverpool fans, only a chorus towards the end that nobody was about to disagree with. “We’re going to win the league,” they sang.
There was no doubt about it. Arsenal’s defeat against West Ham had removed a significant portion of the jeopardy from proceedings. It was some moment for Arsenal to slip up but Arne Slot was focused purely on taking care of Liverpool’s side of things, on dealing with what was in front of his team – and that did not include Erling Haaland, a knee injury having deprived City of the centre forward.
The tactical nuances were pronounced. Pep Guardiola gave Phil Foden and Omar Marmoush central attacking roles at the outset and Slot did the same with Szoboszlai and Curtis Jones. It was a battle of the false 9s, albeit Marmoush is probably a purer version. It was 4-2-4 against 4-2-4, albeit the systems were not straightforward, partly because Rico Lewis stepped up and inside from right back for City.
The breakthrough goal was a tactical triumph for Slot. City had started brightly, Jérémy Doku showing his twinkle toes on the left wing but they were undone by a corner routine that was straight from the Liverpool training ground.
Alexis Mac Allister drove it in low for Szoboszlai, who had sprinted towards the near post and he flicked it back for Salah, who had drifted into space close to the penalty spot. Szoboszlai’s first-time touch was deft; Salah’s first-time finish flew home with the aid of a deflection off Nathan Aké. Liverpool had won the corner after they brought a high press to rob Lewis.
Salah was in highlights-reel mood. There was the moment in the first half when he blazed away from Aké and was only stopped by a decent block by Abdukodir Khusanov. There was another one when Salah released the overlapping Trent Alexander-Arnold with a lovely pass; the City defenders had stood off him, afraid of what he might do.
City went through their routines, trying to work their patterns and Marmoush had the ball in the net from a Foden pass only to be pulled up for offside. It was all too predictable from them and Liverpool were comfortable; Ibrahima Konaté and Virgil van Dijk towers of strength at the back.
Liverpool’s second goal was too easy from a City point of view. Szoboszlai looked offside when Alexander-Arnold whipped a high ball up the inside right and so he stopped, briefly, but Salah, who was onside, most assuredly did not. He raced on to the pass and when he squared for Szoboszlai – active in the second phase – the midfielder flashed a low shot past Ederson.
The City fans had wanted to make a couple of points with their pre-match tifos. “City won four in a row,” went the wording on one, even if they know there will be no fifth straight league title this season. “This means four,” read another. They have their history. Liverpool are preoccupied with the here and now.
Slot was unruffled on the sideline; it was Guardiola in danger of overheating. The Liverpool players stuck to the plan. They knew it would work. They got runners in behind City’s high line after the break and only a tight offside decision from the VAR saw Jones denied a goal for 3-0. The lines came out to show that Szoboszlai had moved too early on to a Ryan Gravenberch pass before teeing up the tap-in. A little earlier, Khusanov had got back to tackle Luis Díaz while the Liverpool winger would also work Ederson.
For City, Marmoush drew a fine save out of Alisson but there was not much else. Liverpool might have scored again only for Khusanov to make a big block to thwart Szoboszlai. Who had played the pass? Salah, of course. – Guardian
