While Manchester City came from behind to salvage a draw against Liverpool on Sunday, Gary Neville is convinced the Reds caught them out.
Liverpool’s high tempo in the opening half at the Etihad Stadium caught Manchester City off guard, says Neville, along with the introduction of a four-man attack of Diogo Jota, Roberto Firmino, Mohamed Salah, and Sadio Mane.
The latter, in fact, won the penalty that led to Liverpool’s opener when Kyle Walker fouled him. Salah put the spot-kick away for his eighth league goal of the season after just 13 minutes of play. But Gabriel Jesus equalized past the half-hour mark to ensure a share of the spoils with a 1-1 draw.
⚽️ Gabriel Jesus has now scored in 6 of his last 7 PL apps. Man City have a record of W34 D1 in the previous 35 PL games in which he has scored pic.twitter.com/x6UWojaKCq
— Sky Sports Statto (@SkySportsStatto) November 8, 2020
Kevin De Bruyne then missed a penalty before the break and both sides later eased off the gas somewhat in the second half.
Speaking on the ‘Gary Neville Podcast’, Neville said: “I think in the first half, it was a demonstration of how brilliant these two teams can be, the exhibition they can put on and the Premier League can put on.
“The second half showed how long we’ve got left in this season. I think both teams went in at half-time and said: ‘We’ve got to calm this down a little bit.’
“I think with City being [10th in the league], my feeling was they’d be quite desperate to beat Liverpool, damage them, get close to them – within two points and a game in hand. I was wrong with that, because I thought City would show a lot more urgency.
“I think Pep showed the respect he has for Liverpool in the second half, in that he didn’t really break away from his shape in the counter-attack.
“In that first 25 minutes it was exhilarating: the speed of play, the tempo, the passes into the front players. It was a throwback, and a little bit of throwback to the earlier [Jurgen] Klopp days – a bit more frantic. Now it’s a lot more measured, more rounded, but it caught City out.”
“The level of both teams tonight was incredible. It was really good football.”
Jurgen Klopp was 'really happy' with his side's performance today, and impressed with the standard of the game.
Watch Super Sunday now on Sky Sports PL 📺 pic.twitter.com/40B0mqIYak
— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) November 8, 2020
Jota’s hat-trick against Atalanta in the Champions League last week left Klopp in a bit of a dilemma in deciding whether to drop Firmino.
But the Liverpool boss instead rolled out a surprise four-man attack to accommodate both forwards, which Neville is certain also caught City out.
The former Manchester United defender added: “The idea of playing Jota was like a front four, there was no subtlety to it, they were going for it.
“It really was a brilliant display and wonderful to watch, and it just really caught City out, and it took half an hour for City to weather that storm, get into the game and realize what’s happening here.”
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