Salah scores to help Liverpool beat reigning champions Man City 1-0 in a thrilling encounter at at Anfield.
Breakthrough Liverpool! 💥
— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) October 16, 2022
What a HUGE goal from Mo Salah 🙌 pic.twitter.com/8FYjm3F2Xt
The Red’s who had a task of stopping free scoring Haaland and City faced more problems as they had to bring in James Milner to play right back after Konate had picked an injury late in the warm up. Milner replaced Joe Gomez who had shifted to a more central role partnering Van Dijk.
Liverpool started the game on the right tone as they pushed city to sit deep and defend in the first quarter of the game but they failed to create any meaningful impact from the possession. Manchester City would then pounce back into the game and boast possession in better part of the game.
Salah constantly threatened the city’s defense line with his constant runs in and out trying to undress them and create a clear chances for himself & team mates. The Egyptian had just returned to starting line up after being benched in UEFA Champions League match against Rangers in mid-week though was introduced later on & grabbed a hat-trick.
Although both teams had half chances, Liverpool looked more vulnerable to conceding. Haaland spurned a couple of headers after Kevin De Bruyne deployed his trademark crosses to find him in the penalty yard. The 22 year old Norwegian tried chipping a clear cut chance over on rushing Alison Becker after a beautiful pass by Ikay Gundogan but the Liverpool goal keeper was spot on to keep the inform City striker at bay.
🙌 𝗦𝗔𝗟𝗔𝗛 🙌 pic.twitter.com/CLz61ug7am
— snappedlfc (@snappedlfc) October 16, 2022
Liverpool similarly failed to capitalize on their opportunities. Diogo Jota failed to convert from a close range header after Salah flicked the ball past City’s defense to find him unmarked sending it straight into the hands of Ederson. The Portuguese would later on blaze the ball over the post after left back Andrew Robertson sent a fling cross to him. Both teams held firm to see it go halfway on barren draw.
Moh Salah celebrates after Scoring
The game sprung to life in second half as both teams knocked on each other’s goals. The attacking spree began with Roberto Firmino as the Brazilian picked Salah who managed to beat Man City’s offside trap & ran straight at goal only to be denied by Ederson after he tipped the ball far & wide off the target.
Pep Guardiola’s men would then turn on to counter attack the red’s leading to a goal. Haaland, De Bruyne and Phil Foden combined at the edge of the box before Foden squeezed the ball into the net via deflection off Gomez who was outstanding throughout the game. VAR had to intervene and the goal was ruled out after it was deemed that Haaland had fouled Fabinho in the build up.
Reprieve for Liverpool after the goal cancelation and they attacked again but Jota once more couldn’t direct his header into the net from close range. Salah had once again a flick of the ball above the defenders to pick up the Portuguese at the far left but his header went over the cross bar. City responded with Haaland coming close after hitting the ball which was saved by superb Alison to deny him from 13 yards.
It was Liverpool who had a breakthrough soon afterwards through Mohamed Salah. The prolific winger outsmarted Joao Cancelo as he controlled the ball from Alison counter attack kick & ran through goal dunking the ball over Ederson for a goal.
The reigning champions tried to charge themselves back into the game as tension boiled in the later stages but Liverpool soaked the pressure. Darwin Nunez who came in as substitute in the second period failed to either convert or pass it Salah to finish it off after finding pocket of space in 3 vee 1 situation in city’s defense.
Jurgen Klopp was later on shown a red card by Anthony Taylor for heckling at the officials. Klopp expressed his frustration following a wave of play on by Taylor despite Bernado Silva fouling Salah. Contrary, Guardiola was also furious earlier on the other side following the Foden’s goal cancelation with the VAR showing that city players Bernado and Haaland had drawn fouls in both occasions with the latter going unpunished.
Liverpool came into the game with worst start of EPL season in a decade as they had amarsed 10 points from 8 games and 13 points a drift off their opponents, City. On the contrary, City came into the game having not lost a single game this season and with a single draw so far trailing Arsenal who were at the top of the table with one point ahead of them.
Klopp now turns the team’s attention to Wednesday as they host Westham at Anfield. Red’s 1-0 win over City could be a potential turn around of events for the remainder of the season as they left the citizens with much needed catch up to do against surprise table toppers Arsenal.
Liverpool XI: Alisson; Milner, Gomez, Van Dijk, Robertson; Elliot, Fabinho, Thiago; Salah, Firmino, Jota
Man City XI: Ederson; Cancelo, Dias, Akanji, Ake; De Buryne, Rodri, Gundogan; Silva, Haaland, Foden
Referee : Anthony Taylor
Read also: The state of Manchester united in the last 3 years
