???️ Manchester City 5-0 Liverpool – What went wrong for the Reds on a sour afternoon at the Etihad?

It’s the start of a new week and the dust has finally settled on what was a difficult and painful weekend for Liverpool fans. You’re welcome to read on if you dare, I’ll be talking in-depth about the problems Liverpool faced this weekend as they lost 5-0 to Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday lunchtime. There were obviously factors within the match that may have contributed to the romping City win, and I’ll talk about the red card shortly, but red card or no red card, we were cut through like butter for several of City’s goals, which is a worrying side going forward. We started well, as we’ve done a few times this season. We didn’t boss the game entirely but we looked dangerous going forward. Salah in particular was giving Otamendi plenty of problems, he got him booked early on, and if anything it was looking like City would end up being the ones down to 10 men. But City rode the storm and got ahead after 24 minutes, with Sergio Aguero scoring the first of several very simple goals for the home side. Ultimately, weak battling in midfield and winning aerial battles from Mignolet’s initial kick out lead to the ball falling to De Bruyne and him being allowed to poke that ball through. The space between the two centre-backs is criminal and that’s because the full-backs have already begun to venture up-field to support the attack following from Mignolet’s goal kick. Once City win that ball back, the back 4 never recover, and we are still out all over the place once the ball falls at De Bruyne’s feel. I did think at the time that Wijnaldum is fouled by Fernandinho but upon a second viewing it’s simply a case of him not being strong enough. Our shape is so out of place that’s the simplest of balls through for Aguero who is never going to miss from there. Unfortunately this set the tone for the entire afternoon as we never really fixed this problem, even after adding Emre Can as an extra centre-back in the second half. In fact, the third goal is pretty much a carbon copy. City win the ball back in midfield again, there’s no pressure on the ball and we’re playing a high line. We were sitting ducks. Aguero is through, he plays it to Jesus, City are 3 up. Before I dissect the other three goals (I’m not even halfway through the goals, how depressing is that?), let’s discuss the sending off. I was in two minds about the sending off for quite a while. Like everyone, I disagreed at the time, although the camera angles didn’t reveal the full extent of what had happened. The reverse angle makes for much more difficult viewing. Here’s the thing, it’s incredibly unlucky, but it’s definitely a sending off. I now actually think that it was a stone-wall sending off and the referee unfortunately came to the right decision. I came to this conclusion after seeing this graphic from BT Sport about the law regarding this type of incident. A lot of fans were claiming the referee’s decision was the wrong one as there was no intent to hurt Ederson in the challenge from Mane. However as you can see in the law, the word ‘intent’ does not enter the situation. Mane didn’t intend to catch him, of course he didn’t. Take note of the ‘key considerations’:

• Speed: Well, he does go in at pace, obviously, he’s racing Ederson to the ball but doesn’t make it there first.
• Intensity: He catches him in the face, so it’s quite an intense affair.
• Force used: Because of the pace he’s going at, there’s a lot of force behind the challenge, basic physics suggests there is indeed forces at play.
• Point of contact: It’s high up, he’s caught his face. Therefore, it’s dangerous play.

It’s pretty much black and white as far as I’m concerned. It’s still unlucky and Mane is still entitled to go for that ball, but he’s been beaten to it and paid the price. Mane can’t go for the ball any other way, however, he lost the race and because he did, he got the red. In a split second it is so hard to judge whether or not you are going to make it to the ball first, but I was always taught as a kid, if you aren’t 100% sure you are going to win the ball, don’t make the tackle. Perhaps the only thing that Mane should’ve done was recognised he might not win that race and not put his boot so high in the air. However in a split second of thinking, you naturally just go and try to win it, and in this case he’s lost, so he’s unlucky. The fact of the matter is that it left us a man down and a goal down. From here, the game was already pretty much lost and the second goal just before half time was a killer. Klopp himself and other pundits conceded there was any team you don’t want to be a man down against, it’s a Guardiola team. However, we can’t use that as an excuse for some of the overall defending we seemed incapable of doing after the sending off. Let’s discuss the second goal. There isn’t much to discuss, it’s again another example of the centre-backs being far too wide from each other and letting Jesus (and Silva just behind him) roam free and head in from 3 yards out. It’s shoddy marking and let me tell you something, Mane being on or off the field doesn’t affect that. Last week in a transfer roundup with Paul and Chris, I openly said that I rated Ragnar Klaven as our centre-back, but he really didn’t help his cause here. He and Alberto Moreno are too spread out across that defensive line, again providing gaps for City to exploit in the six-yard box. And for someone like Jesus, who has a total of 10 goals from 16 shots in the Premier League (a crazy stat), it’s pretty much suicide to give him that kind of space so close to goal. The first Sane goal is another example of City cutting right through us. City are due some credit here as this is a lovely, flowing team goal but again, Liverpool need to do better. De Bruyne gathers the ball in midfield and is once again not challenged in possession. He knocks it forward to Sane, who’s free, sitting in between Matip and Trent. He makes a pass to Mendy on their left-hand side and STILL no one picks him up, and it’s a simple one-two in the end. Mendy brings it back across to Sane who tucks home a nice finish at the near post. There’s perhaps an argument that Mignolet should be doing better but overall we need to be doing better defensively. The 5^th goal, Sane’s second, is a very nice finish and there isn’t much to pick apart there. By that point we all know the game is done. The issue facing us is quite an alarming one. Why did we fold so easily when down to 10 men? And why are we so bad without Sadio Mane in our side? The Mane question is one for another day, but Klopp will be fuming with the fact that his team were incapable of basic defending following the sending off. Expect to see Lovren re-instated to the back 4 for the Sevilla game tomorrow.   By Ben Kelly