EPL 2021-22: Liverpool 2-2 Manchester City: 3 Crucial factors which stood out in the match
Liverpool drew 2-2 with Manchester City in a highly entertaining Premier League match at Anfield on Sunday. Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah scored for the home side in the 59th and 76th minute respectively. While Phil Foden and Kevin De Bruyne equalized for the visitors in the 69th and 81st minute respectively.
The draw meant that Liverpool are now in the 2nd position in the league table behind Chelsea with 15 points from seven matches. City are 3rd with 14 points from the same number of matches.
Liverpool's official Twitter page lauded Salah for his magnificent performance:
We thought it might be 😉 Sensational yet again.
An incredible goal and an assist for @MoSalah, who is your Player of the Match! #LIVMCI https://t.co/hAAeR52lku
On that note, we now take a look at the three crucial factors which stood out in the match:
1. Liverpool started strongly, but could not sustain their supremacy for long
Liverpool started the match strongly, and were definitely the superior side for the first 15 minutes. They kept launching attacks at City's goal repeatedly and were particularly active through the right flank. Their right-winger Salah was in the thick of things from the very beginning.
The triumvirate of Salah, James Milner and Jordan Henderson put pressure on the City defense through the right flank and the inside-right channel. City left-back Joao Cancelo was not very comfortable initially dealing with the attacks. Aymeric Laporte also had to intervene occasionally to ease the pressure on Cancelo.
However, Curtis Jones, who had started in the three-man midfield in Liverpool’s 4-3-3, had an ordinary first half. Sadio Mane could not do much on the left flank either. As a result, Liverpool saw their supremacy fade as the match progressed.
2. City came back into the match strongly with Foden having a great match
City were quite uncharacteristically not playing with a high defensive line for the initial 15-20 minutes. But then they started pressing high and made a strong comeback into the match. Foden, who had started as the left winger, started exploiting the space left behind by Milner, Liverpool’s make-shift right-back.
Foden started making forays through the inside-left channel and had one of his shots saved by Alisson Becker. On another occasion, he shot wide and De Bruyne also failed to score from his cross from the left flank. Foden’s impact on the match was so evident that Milner had to shun his attacking instincts and started playing deeper. Milner was also shown a yellow card when he was forced to foul Foden to stop the young English forward on yet another occasion.
City also started to play with a high defensive line towards the latter stages of the first half, and increased numbers in the opposition half. De Bruyne had a few of his shots blocked by the Liverpool defenders. Ultimately, the home side were able to finish the first half unscathed.
3. Goals galore in the second half
Salah and Foden were the two most influential players in the match. They stamped their class in the second half by scoring a goal apiece and also registering an assist each. Salah fell back into his own half and played a pass to Mane, who ran inside to collect the ball and beat Ederson with a right-footer. Salah then brilliantly dribbled past Bernardo Silva and Laporte to score his ninth goal of the season.
City, on the other hand, came back twice from behind to ensure a point from the match. The hard-working Gabriel Jesus ran inside from the right flank before playing a pass to an advancing Foden. He made no mistake in putting the ball into the net. Foden's pass then found De Bruyne via a deflection and the Belgian midfielder shot home from outside the penalty box.
Liverpool could have gone ahead again, but Fabinho’s shot was brilliantly blocked by Rodri inside the City penalty box with the goal gaping. The match ended in a 2-2 draw and the two teams should be happy with the outcome of the match.