Manchester City 0-2 Liverpool Review

Premier League GW26

This was the toughest fixture during the February run so it was always going to be difficult to expect a win, but despite losing to Liverpool we saw plenty of green shoots for the next team under Guardiola. The youngest lineup since the 19/20 season and a further reminder of which players are either in physical decline or below the level quality-wise to be a part of that next team.

Notable Stats:

• Mohamed Salah has created more chances in open play than any other player across Europe's big-five leagues this season (58).

• Manchester City now trails Liverpool by 20 points - the most they have been behind the league leaders at the end of a day since July 14th, 2020, when they last failed to win the title and Liverpool last won it themselves.

• Jérémy Doku won 5 more duels than any other Premier League player in GW26. 

• No player won possession on more occasions than Abdukodir Khusanov in the Premier League this gameweek (12).

• Against Liverpool, Jeremy Doku attempted (19) and completed (13) more dribbles than any other player in a Premier League game this season.

Game Stats:

Manchester City 0-2 Liverpool

• xG: 0.54 - 0.81

• xThreat: 1.3 - 0.8

• Possession: 66.1% - 33.9%

• Field Tilt: 81.1% - 18.9%

• Penalty Box Shots: 6 - 6

• Deep Entries: 23 - 10

• PPDA: 12.3 - 19.4

• High Turnovers: 5 - 2

For much of the game, this was Manchester City with Liverpool pinned back, keeping the ball relatively well (this version of City) and trying to find solutions in the final third. Building up small chances but lacking the speed and right final action in the box. Liverpool on the other hand was set up well to defend, adjusted quite quickly to fill the gaps as Mac Allister tracked Foden, Gravenberch helped support Trent against Doku, and exposed the same issues Manchester City had OOP once the opportunities presented themselves.

It’ll be interesting to see how the final run of games this season goes for the team, which looking back had a good start, slowly entered the losing run and has since improved to some degree. Yet there are still problems. The fixtures in March onward favor the xG trending back up.

Mateo Kovacic and Matheus Nunes are yet to start a match in the last five. De Bruyne and Bernardo have only two starts in the last five.

Savinho has now started the last six matches for Manchester City. Something that Jeremy Doku and Oscar Bobb have yet to do for the club, that Jack Grealish has not done since 2023.

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Erling Haaland missed out due to injury, still unable to start despite training before the match, and it looks like Spurs is the most likely return date. Manchester City named their youngest starting 11 since the 19/20 season as three new signings started and Jeremy Doku picked up his first start at Ipswich Town (A). Seems like they’ve made sure to give Doku plenty of recovery time before as he’s been on the best in the last three games.

It was a 3-2-5 of sorts from Manchester City in the absence of Haaland, Foden playing the false nine role dropping deep to support in the buildup but then you’d see the lack of box presence play when the team was in attack. Progressing the ball wasn’t an issue, getting into the box wasn’t either thanks to Jeremy Doku, but the speed and execution in the box was.

Out of possession, it was a 4-1-4-1 as Foden was often tasked with directing Liverpool toward their right side pressing high but lacked the urgency from Marmoush/De Bruyne when jumping out as the two eights behind him.

Liverpool set up with a double false nine system (4-4-2) as Jones and Szoboszlai were often finding themselves deeper than the two wide players. Lending them support in midfield, deep runs into the box for the wide players to pick out, and in the position adjust quickly to the movement of City players across the middle of the pitch.

Out of possession, it was the 4-2-4 that we’ve seen Slot used across the season. It should be a clear point that the progression of the ball past the front four was no issue for Manchester City. The strength of Liverpool in this system is how well they maintain pressure on the ball to make long passes/switches difficult and how well they drop once you beat the press. The central defenders of Liverpool did a good job of being aggressive stepping out. The holes are there to be exploited centrally but City failed to do so. Were not good enough with their touches on the half-turn in the pockets.

M. Salah 14’ 0-1

It’s not great from Rico Lewis in the leadup to give away the corner. Apart from that it’s a well-worked routine from Liverpool to get the goal. Mac Allister to Szoboszlai who lays it off for Salah to shoot. Rico Lewis is very close to stopping the pass as you can see he reads it and jumps out. Your only complaint is really about the set-piece setup to have another player outside the 6-yard box who can jump onto anything played into the penalty spot.

D. Szoboszlai 37’ 0-2

Alexander-Arnold played a more deep reserved role focused on his passing ability which made sense given the common issue at Manchester City this season, not applying pressure on the ball from the front line. The second goal is all about the ball over the top to Salah, Szoboszlai occupies Ake, Jones occupies Khusanov, Diaz drifting inside, and Robertson pushes up high on the left side. In that in-between phase as the ball is played, Nico Gonzalez doesn’t pick up Szoboszlai and once Gvardiol is beaten, Ake is drawn in and that pass is wide open.

When getting back to support Nico goes first to Salah instead of Szoboszlai which gives him the time needed to shoot. Neither is it great for Ederson to be planted.

You can see with the touches and pass-receiving points for Jeremy Doku against Liverpool where Manchester City wanted to find him and utilize his skillset. Getting him isolated with quicker switches, making better use of the space from two players he occupied, better runs inside the box behind TAA, and getting more players into the box were the issues.

Jeremy Doku is brilliant at getting to the byline, even with two players (TAA, RG) trying to defend him out wide. Then when he gets past those two Liverpool had both Konate and VVD always switched on to cover.

There wasn't enough threat at the near-post or for a cutback consistently. But it's these opportunities, on top of several crosses from the byline, below that Doku helped to create which weren't then followed by the right action. He completes all of these passes and Marmoush/Foden doesn't capitalize.

Abdukodir Khusanov was one of the bright sparks in the match against Liverpool and has now started the last three. His recovery pace may have gotten him into the team, but it's his aggressive defending, composure on the ball, and willingness to break lines with his passing that's kept him in it.

For all that he's done well this season, these moments are far too common from Mateo Kovacic, and it's why he will keep struggling to get a start. From just over the halfway line Dias is constantly directing him to the run of Szoboszlai. He doesn't react so Dias cannot commit to either option, and at the last minute comes over to Salah which opens up the pass. Khusanov makes a brilliant recovery challenge coming across from the RHS and that's why he'll start as many games as he can until the summer.

James McAtee (66’) came on for De Bruyne in the second half, which is about at the limit of what De Bruyne can now offer with his legs. Although it was ovbious throughout the match that he’s just not at the physical level he used to be, even compared to last season, that drop-off has come and it makes extending his contract a hard decision to justify.

Kovacic/Dias/Gundogan (77’) came on in the second half for Gonzalez/Ake/Marmoush which tells you about how Guardiola saw the rest of the game playing out, with Spurs in mind, not to push too much with the players he’ll want involved in that match. Gundogan was arriving into the box for cutbacks just hasn’t got the legs to arrive on time like he use to.

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Moving Forward

Given the run of fixtures during this month, beating Chelsea and Newcastle is exactly what we needed to do. The losses to Arsenal and Liverpool are expected. Now they need to beat Spurs and Forest. Those are the teams around you competing for the top four, and it’s doing that before putting together a consistent final run of games that will make finishing third quite straightforward. Especially without Champions League matches.

Getting Oscar Bobb back fit and involved in the final run of games in the Premier League will be important, given he’s going to be fresher than the rest and offers something completely different as a wide player to the likes of Savinho and Doku. His pressing off the ball is fantastic, like Savinho, he’s able to cover and apply pressure onto two players.

Akanji, Dias, Ake, and Stones are all involved in the top three most-used CB pairings and all of them have had at least two separate injury periods this season. You simply cannot build consistency in the defense with that. It’s why Khusanov and Reis have arrived, it’s why you might see another come in during the summer, and we likely see senior central defenders depart. For Manchester City, you must be able to play every three days.

As a final point to finish on, I think it’s important to remember the work our potential rivals have to do in the summer. Yes, Manchester City need to rebuild, but Arsenal and Liverpool have more than enough on their plates in the summer.

Arsenal, they have both Neto and Sterling who return from loan. Partey, Tierney, and Jorginho's contracts expire. Nwaneri and MLS also need new deals. Saka, Martinelli, Gabriel, Jesus, and Saliba all have contracts until 2027 so will want new deals agreed upon soon. Kiwior, Calafiori, and Merino have all had questionable performances this season as to whether they’re at the level for Arsenal as starters.

Liverpool, the ovbious starting point is losing TAA, VVD, and Salah. The last two are a level beyond anything else they have in the team. Konate will have one year left on his deal in the summer, and PSG is very interested in signing him. Robertson is coming towards the end of his career at this level. Jota is injury-prone. Nunez/Endo/Quansah are not in favor of the manager. As good as Diaz and Gakpo have been this season, they’re not the wide players you’d bank the season on. Harvey Elliot has not started a single Premier League match this season.

Next up for Manchester City is Spurs (A) on the 26th of February at 19:30 (GMT).