From Chelsea to Mahrez: Winners and losers as Liverpool and Man City draw 0-0

In a tense late afternoon of football on Merseyside, Manchester City and Liverpool played out a 0-0 draw.

The table-topping clash should have been a blockbuster affair full of goals, but was instead quite sloppy and full of errors (that went unpunished). In the end it saw three teams move joint top of the league on 20 points. Who were the winners and losers?

Winner: VAR

The Premier League doesn’t have VAR. No one really understood why the video refereeing system wasn’t adopted, but it wasn’t. And if anyone wasn’t a believer after the World Cup, this game would have been cast-iron proof that VAR is both quality and needed.

Firstly Dejan Lovren kicked Sergio Aguero in the back of the leg, knocking him over. The fact that Aguero got straight back up to try and dribble probably helped Martin Atkinson not give a decision, but VAR would have rendered that a stonewall.

Secondly a corner came in and Virgil Van Dijk “did an Umtiti” and bizarrely threw his arm up in the air, blocking a City player from getting to the ball. It was an obvious bit of cheating but again Atkinson trotted away shaking his head.

Thirdly Gabriel Jesus produced probably his only good bit of play in the match to trick his way past Dejan Lovren only to get elbowed in the throat for his troubles. The Brazilian collapsed but again Atkinson shook his head.

Finally he did give City a penalty when Virgil van Dijk knocked Leroy Sané to the ground with a needless foul. Of course sod’s law was in effect for City, meaning that when they finally got a penalty, their main taker was off and they ended up missing it.

Loser: Riyad Mahrez

This game was monumental, the winners would have claimed top spot by themselves. If it was City who had won they would have broken any number of records by finally triumphing at Anfield and it would have given them a huge psychological lift going forward in their attempts to retain the Premier League title.

Of course, that didn’t happen because Riyad Mahrez kicked his 86th minute penalty into orbit. Seriously, this was the kind penalty that could launch a satellite. Somewhere in space, that ball is soaring past Voyager 1 with plenty of momentum behind it.

Why on earth Manchester City’s players let Riyad Mahrez, a player who has only score three of the eight penalties he’s taken in the Premier League, step up and take the penalty is beyond belief. Obviously confidence is important, but Mahrez is the kind of person whose confidence is as misplaced as you could possibly be.

Shambles.

Winner: Chelsea

Chelsea are just three months into the reign of a new coach at Stamford Bridge, a tactically demanding coach whose philosophy should see them undergo several teething problems as they adapt. Chelsea also went top of the table earlier in the day after beating Southampton.

A win for either of these sides would have knocked the Blues off top spot, and even though they would have only been two points off the top it would have still been a significant psychological blow. But a draw? A draw keeps Chelsea level on points with the league’s two heavy-hitters, it allows a side still obviously in transition to continue competing even as they struggle to find their best rhythm.

Once Chelsea fully adapt to Sarrismo? Duck and cover, sports fans!

Loser: Trent Alexander-Arnold

Imagine debuting as a 19 year old and being so good that by the end of the season you were a regular starter despite your ridiculous shirt number. Then you go to the World Cup (as a sub, but still!) and you start the new season in reasonable form as well. You’d be flying.

Then imagine that on your 20th birthday you’re getting ready to play Premier League champions Manchester City – a side against whom you have always played well – and you find out that you’ve been dropped for Joe Gomez.

Now, tactically the move makes sense. Gomez is a great defender whilst Alexander-Arnold is weak in that area; and when you want to try and cage the Manchester City attack, particularly the inverted winger Raheem Sterling. But it must have stung for Alexander-Arnold to be replaced for a tactical reason why he had, thus far, seemed like the undisputed first-choice.

Winner: Pep Guardiola

Manchester City missed a chance to go top of the league today, but this was also their hardest game of the Premier League season. After all, City had conceded 7 goals in their previous two visits to Anfield this year. It has not been a happy hunting ground for Pep Guardiola’s men.

Yet today, Guardiola set his team out in a unique fashion – a slight tweak on his usual shape that saw David Silva consistently position himself between Liverpool’s midfield and their defence. It occupied the Reds and caused them no end of worries.

It was Guardiola whose decision to go with John Stones and Aymeric Laporte worked perfectly. Last time he opted for the duo of Nico Otamendi and Vincent Kompany because they excelled in duels; that backfired and they were ripped apart from Liverpool’s movement. City’s centre-backs played more consistently with Guardiola’s vision and it paid off.

If the referees had done their job and awarded City the penalties they earned, then Guardiola’s men would have come away to their biggest rival and won comfortably (yeah, they missed the one they had, but Aguero would have taken the first two and buried them). Of course, the referees didn’t and it was only a draw, meaning technically City missed their chance.

But Pep coming away to Liverpool and avoiding defeat isn’t the worst thing in the world, especially as Kevin Keegan is the Manchester City manager to win at Anfield in Premier League era. City have now had their hardest test of the season and passed it; with muted colours for sure, but a pass all the same.

Loser: Sergio Aguero

Sergio Aguero has been dominant force in English football pretty much ever since he arrived but he has never managed to crack the nut that is Anfield. The Argentine has now played 10 games away to Liverpool, both for Manchester City and Atlético Madrid, and never managed to score. In fact he’s never even won, losing 7 times.

Looking at those numbers (which were all one better off before kick-off) it’s hard to understand why Aguero managed to play as long as he did in a game where he clearly didn’t look like he was ever going to break his duck. Obviously the poor form of Gabriel Jesus kind of ruled out the possibility that Aguero wouldn’t start the game, but leaving him on so long allowed Liverpool to grow in confidence as it was increasingly clear that City weren’t going to pinch a goal on the break, at least not with Aguero up-top.

To complete the ignominy, Aguero wasn’t on the field when Manchester City got an 86th minute penalty and had to watch Riyad Mahrez smash the ball miles over the bar. The Argentine saw his chance to both score and win at Anfield pass him by.

 

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