Liverpool’s Brazilian harried the Premier League leaders with a swashbuckling display at Anfield that emphatically ended their 30-game unbeaten runThere was a moment of jarringly delicate beauty 58 minutes into this game as Liverpool did not just beat Manchester City at Anfield but wrenched that frictionless unbeaten run away from the league leaders with a startling, controlled fury.Jürgen Klopp’s side were led here by Roberto Firmino, who produced another performance of thrillingly sustained energy and skill, terrorising City’s backline at times in the second half and embodying the pure exhilaration of Klopp’s high-craft power-chord football. With the score level at 1-1 Liverpool were already thrumming up though the gears, about to enter a rare 10-minute period of synchronised press-and-move football...
The Liverpool manager has built a thrilling side geared to absorb high-level departures such as Philippe Coutinho’s without losing momentumThere was an interesting moment towards the start of Jürgen Klopp’s time at Liverpool, back in the days when he still felt the need to apologise for his already-excellent if amusingly sweary English. Asked about transfer targets, budgets and spending big on new players, Klopp didn’t really answer the question. Instead he grimaced and grumbled, rubbing his eyes behind his glasses like a weary, drink-sozzled chief inspector with a short fuse but a heart of gold being told by one of his hair-gelled sergeants that there are no suspicious circumstances so should he close the case on the mysterious death of...
A 4-0 defeat at Everton a year ago, shortly after losing 1-0 at Anfield, ended City’s title hopes. As they visit Liverpool, the transformation has been remarkableAlmost exactly a year ago, Pep Guardiola was on Merseyside conceding defeat in the title race, a comprehensive 4-0 mauling at Everton having confirmed the widespread suspicion that Manchester City were not in any shape to catch Chelsea at the top of the table. A great deal can change in 12 months though. Just ask Everton, whose day could scarcely have gone any better, with Tom Davies grabbing his first goal for the club and Ademola Lookman completing the rout by scoring on his debut.Yet even that version of Everton, confident and compact, willing...
The Manchester City manager’s faith in his players to perform out of position was shaken on a tough night against a spirited Bristol City sideNothing escapes Pep Guardiola. “Bristol City have already beaten four Premier League sides in this competition,” the Manchester City manager noted beforehand. “That tells me something is going on and we need to be careful.”Goodness knows what sort of a side Guardiola would come up with if he was being cavalier, then. His safety-first policy here amounted to keeping most of his big-name attackers but reshuffling his defence, perhaps not the wisest policy against adventurous opponents full of confidence and on a hiding to nothing. Related: Sergio Agüero rides to Manchester City’s rescue against Bristol City...
Mark Robins’ eye-catching Coventry deserve their headlines, Liverpool have a bargain in Andrew Robertson and Wolves are already good enough for top flightAmid all the hoopla over the departing Mark Hughes, it is right to take a moment to praise Coventry City. They were deserved winners of the third-round tie at the Ricoh Arena, despite giving up the greater number of chances to the visitors. The Sky Blues played with a determination and energy you might expect of a team assuming the David role in a Goliath encounter. But they were also calm on the ball and often quite cute on it, too. Their play was all the more striking, given the starting XI had an average age of 24...