City away at Scousers

[Rowley Birkin QC]

Reading the media match reports this morning I got the impression that the mighty "only team likely to catch Chelsea" Liverpool had totally dominated this game. Well that's not the game I've just watched (on delay).

Granted - City weren't good, especially the first half, but we were marginally the better side for most of the second and you could hear the tension in the Anfield crowd when we went forward (that's when they weren't too busy booing, or the usual scouse choir practice...). In fact going forward in the second half we looked OK and threatened quite a lot - only to be always let down by the final ball or last touch in the box. Liverpool during the same period created almost bugger all. They can count themselves fortunate that we offered up the usual defensive horror show one-off to gift them the goal. 1-1 or 0-0 might have been a more reflective scoreline.

However, I'm not trying to dress this up as something it wasn't. We were disappointing. I was particularly frustrated during the first half by how static we were when Liverpool had the ball. I thought we were guilty of ball watching and not anticipating quickly enough to close opponents down. As a result too many Liverpool players were drifting off our boys and finding too much useful space in the middle. Liverpool on the other hand gave us a first half lesson in how to press an opponent!

I shall go on defending Kolarov (even if he doesn't  ). Some of you are too harsh. Yes he was at fault, but as Brendan said, Yaya's ludicrous free kick put him under unnecessary pressure and having lost the ball Kolarov was always going to struggle to get back and reset in time. He didn't do a lot else wrong. 

Continually losing at Anfield to cocky scousers is becoming very tiresome.

[gavin]

They're no better than us that is the annoying thing. So many players let themselves and us down yesterday. De Bruyne was the worst for me, lacking creativity, often giving the ball away and lacking in defensive responsibility. Over the years I've got all too used to shit players being shit but it is very frustrating watching potentially world class players be shit. Unfortunately, so many of our were yesterday. Pep must shoulder his share of the blame but players have to take responsibility and improve themselves too.

[KunDB]

The fact is some of these players do not have the stomach and determination for a real battle and even some of those who do are just well past their best.

Pep must share some blame for overseeing such limp performances (repeatedly) against our top rivals, all season. There ain't no points for possession in this league.

[nimrod]

The fact is some of these players do not have the stomach and determination for a real battle and even some of those who do are just well past their best.

Pep must share some blame for overseeing such limp performances (repeatedly) against our top rivals, all season. There ain't no points for possession in this league.

Pep is already adapting to the prem
In fact our performance looked like Pellers was still in charge.....but with a worse goalie

[Swiss]

I shall go on defending Kolarov (even if he doesn't  ). Some of you are too harsh. Yes he was at fault, but as Brendan said, Yaya's ludicrous free kick put him under unnecessary pressure and having lost the ball Kolarov was always going to struggle to get back and reset in time. He didn't do a lot else wrong. 

According to Squawka Kolarov gave the ball away on 16 occasions (passing). He had a pass accuracy of 69%

De Bruyne was the worst for me, lacking creativity, often giving the ball away and lacking in defensive responsibility.

KDB gave the ball away on 9 occasions, but had a pass accuracy of 65%. Suggesting he didn't have the ball enough.
He only created 1 chance (Corner) but had 9 crosses in the box, the rest didn't make it to our player. The heat map shows he did put himself about the pitch when we needed him to be supporting Aguero who spent most of the match on his own. We had two DM's on the pitch which should have released KDB to work further up the pitch, but both DM's gave the ball away a total of 23 times ('Dinho 15 & Yaya

Even Silver ( ) gave the ball away on 12 occasions!

We were our own worst enemies & the heat map is damning for the amount of time we spent in their box, virtually zero.

[Rowley Birkin QC]

According to Squawka Kolarov gave the ball away on 16 occasions (passing). He had a pass accuracy of 69%

Yes - that is a lot. Too much. But from the rest of the stats the whole team were guilty of giving the ball away like it was Christmas.