Battle Of The Heavyweights: Talking Points As Manchester City Travelled To Anfield

 TALKING POINTS FROM LIVERPOOL'S PULSATING DRAW AGAINST CITY

-Parth Pabaru

-Editor: Mitansh Kagalwala

Photo Via: skysports.com

With the Anfield crowd buzzing on a lovely Sunday night, Liverpool and Man City shared the spoils in a thrilling 2-2 draw. A brilliant move led to Liverpool's opener scored by Sadio Mane which was shortly canceled out by Phil Foden. Mo Salah scored one of the goals of the season and Kevin de Bruyne's deflected shot found the back of the net in front of a nervous Kop. In this article, we look at some of the talking points from the game that saw Liverpool go 2nd in the table and Man City concede twice for the first time this Premier League season:

1.   RIGHT BACK THE WEAK SPOT: Liverpool went into this game without one of their most important players, Trent Alexander Arnold. James Milner slotted in at right-back and was tormented by Phil Foden and Jack Grealish throughout, even receiving a booking in the first half. He committed several fouls in the second half, nearly giving a penalty, and could and should have been sent off, according to a fuming Pep Guardiola. Liverpool managed to cover up the weak link through some heroic defending by Joel Matip and Alisson after being dominated by City in the 1st half, but Trent’s absence might prove costly for them if they don’t find a solution soon.

2.   MAN CITY'S SUPERSTARS AGAINST LIVERPOOL'S FLAIR: This was anticipated to be one of the battles of the season, and it lived it up to its expectation. Man City had kept 5 straight clean sheets prior to this match but couldn't continue that streak after they conceded twice to Liverpool's devastating front 3, Sadio Mane, Diogo Jota, and the man in the form of his life, Mo Salah. It was an end-to-end game with the ball flying across the pitch and the excitement as high as ever. Mo Salah scored a stunning solo goal and Joao Cancelo gave some sublime through balls to find his attackers. Some top defenders and attackers and the 2 best center backs in the world, Ruben Dias and Virgil Van Dijk provided major contributions to their respective teams. There was not one player on the pitch who disappointed. This match clearly showed the contrast in the two ways a football team can be built: development, and import.

3.   INCREDIBLE MIDFIELD AND MAGICAL FULL-BACKS: Bernardo Silva weaved through half of Liverpool's team and dominated the midfield in the early stages with both sets of full-backs quite advanced, swinging in delicious crosses. Curtis Jones has been proving popular in recent weeks and has been showing of shades of prime Zinedine Zidane, providing some fantastic assists. This clash was of two of the world's finest football clubs and we were treated to a peach of a game which ended in both sides getting their reward for their efforts. For all City and Liverpool’s firepower upfront, the game was truly fought in midfield, with Bernardo Silva unplayable, Fabinho tenacious and fierce, Curtis Jones turning on the style, and Kevin De Bruyne weaving his usual magic. The highly anticipated game did not disappoint, and there was nobody in the world, except perhaps the exhausted players themselves, who wanted it to end.

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