It was frustrating to watch, especially in the first half. It looked like we where up for it in the first 20 minutes but then it went very flat and every could sense it as the players started playing sloppy passes, giving the ball away too easily to the opposition and not offering any attacking threat which was very unexpected.Lucky escape It was 100% a penalty.I knew as soon as he went down that the referee would award a penalty because he did touch him but out of every player in that City team why was it Riyhad Mahrez who took it? David Silva, Bernardo Silva, Leroy Sane and Gabriel Jesus, out of the lot of them it would have been David Silva.But regarding Van Dijk giving the penalty away, there was no reason for him to challenge Sane there. The ball was running away from him and he didn’t have too many options in the box so he should have just stood him up rather than try and win the ball.I don’t think Man City performed as well as we expected today and that was probably a let off for us but if this is the title race then it’s not going to be a very exciting one.Something needs to change The whole team needs a re-shuffle in my opinion. Joe Gomez needs to be playing at Centre-back, he looked uncomfortable and towards the end of the game he seemed to be struggling as he look tired, I think we missed Alexander-Arnol at right-back as he is agile and is better going forward as well as defensively. Henderson has also struggled these past few games and although he had some good moments throughout the game he was still lacking that special something, like most players, and even though Keita came on for Milner I don’t think our midfield really improved at any point and that is annoying especially because we hvaen’t seen the best of Keita yet.Mane, Salah and Firmino are not showing us what they are capable of and I think we would all like to see the front three of last season. I think they would benefit from a break in the team as Mo Salah just isn’t performing like last season and we all knew it would have been a lot to ask of him to bang in 40 goals but I want to see more of him, he needs to get out of this funk and start playing again.Sadio Mane needs to learn how to pass the ball quicker and earlier too as he holds onto it for far too long and that can sometimes put us in trouble because he either loses it or nothing comes of it. Roberto Firmino probably played the best out of the three of them tonight and even he wasn’t that good.
They would all benefit from a break in the team and I think the International break has come at the right time for us and with Huddersfield away as our next game it is the perfect opportunity for some players in the team to have a rest and allow players like Sturridge and Shaqiri to play the full 90 minutes and show us what they can do.James Milner I hope James Milner isn’t facing a lengthly spell on the sidelines because he has been our best player this season and I think our midfield would really suffer if he was not in it. It looked to me that Robertson was pointing to his hamstring when the trainer came on but as i’m writing this it hasn’t been confirmed what the injury is so fingers crossed it’s not that.
Article by Lauren Black -@Lauren_Black9
16+ PODCASTS P/MONTH
12+ SHOWS P/MONTH
DAILY ARTICLES INC ‘SPECIAL GUEST WRITERS’
EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEWS – INC JURGEN KLOPP!
Pre and Post Match Shows FREE month trial:https://buff.ly/2GNsNTv
