The Breakdown: Man City and Liverpool Play Out Exciting Draw

THE MATCH: Manchester City 1-1 Liverpool

Liverpool began the game very sharply, putting lots of pressure on City who looked a little jittery to start the match. Liverpool’s attacking 4 looked capable of causing the City defense some serious headaches.

They did just that, in fact, earning an early penalty within the first quarter of an hour, as Kyle Walker brought down Sadio Mane after a good turn in the area. Salah stepped up to coolly dispatch the penalty past Ederson, giving the Reds a crucial early lead.

Just before Liverpool were awarded their penalty, City had their own penalty shout as Jota knocked Sterling off the ball in the area, but the referee wasn’t interested and Pep was left nonplussed with the refereeing in yet another match with Liverpool.

After conceding early, Pep urged his side to recover and stay on plan. They regained their composure with the rain coming down and had decent possession. Liverpool, meanwhile, looked very content to try and hurt City on the counter-attack with their terrific pace up top in the form of Salah, Mane, and Jota. Firmino in the number 10 role did what he does so well in matches like this: find pockets of space, hold the ball up, and initiate threatening counters.

Liverpool’s game plan became clearer as the match went on, with the early lead only solidifying the shape and intent of Klopp’s side. The 53-year-old German clearly meant to frustrate City, limit clear-cut chances, and hit Pep’s side on the break as City pushed for goals. And it worked. Liverpool broke with menace time after time in the first 30 minutes and looked much the more dangerous side.

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City were pressing Liverpool well, but they simply didn’t have enough sharpness in the final third for the first 30 minutes. Sterling did manage to force Alisson into a good save after a peach of a cross from Kevin De Bruyne, but City had to wait until Jesus’ fortunate touch in the box gave him the space to poke the ball past Alisson for the equalizer.

There was yet more VAR controversy as Joe Gomez inadvertently handled Kevin De Bruyne’s cross in the box. Referee Craig Pawson awarded City a penalty after initially deeming that Gomez had done nothing wrong.

VAR was spared its blushes, however, because Kevin De Bruyne failed to punish Liverpool, sending his penalty just wide. The weekly VAR nonsensical sideshow episode is becoming a real bore and, frankly, a detriment to the game.

Liverpool could have scored just before the stroke of halftime, but Ederson did well to retrieve his spilled save from Trent Alexander-Arnold’s close-range effort. The Reds had another good chance sail over Ederson goal, as Alexander-Arnold’s free-kick effort was off target. Both sides went into halftime level.

After the restart, the contest almost immediately became somehow frantic, chippy, and open all at once. It was chance after chance at both ends, and Liverpool really should have taken the lead back but Jota’s scuffed half-volley hit right at Ederson. Both sides seemed to abandon the plan momentarily as they went for the jugular in their bid to claim a crucial win for their side at this early stage of the Premier League season.

City had a big chance after 55 minutes played, but Jesus put his header wide of the post even though he was completely free in the area.

At this point in the match, both teams began trading blows, and had the two sides been a little more clinical in the attacking third, it could have also resembled an NBA game. Naturally, the frenetic pace of the game could last. Injuries, substitutions, and fouls started to turn the game into a stodgy affair, even though both teams made attacking substitutions to try and keep the chances coming for their side.

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Unfortunately for Klopp and Reds supporters, Trent Alexander-Arnold pulled up with an apparent calf/achilles injury and was forced to depart proceedings, with James Milner taking his place at right-back.

With 15 minutes left, the realization that the next goal may very be the match-winner began to dawn on the players. City pressed for the winner, while Liverpool looked to stay solid and compact in order to look for dangerous opportunities on the counter-attack. The winner was not meant to be, though, as both sides started showing the signs of playing a game every three days.

Their energy level depleted, neither team looked likely to break the deadlock in the pouring Manchester rain. The game played out without drama, despite Craig Pawson’s attempts to make himself the story of the match for all the wrong reasons. Liverpool will be the happier of the two sides, as an away draw is a respectable result given the fixture congestion. Manchester City, on the other hand, will be lamenting De Bruyne’s penalty miss that would have been the difference between the two sides.