Manchester City and Gabriel Jesus hammer 10-man Liverpool 5-0

By the time this game had finished Ederson, Manchester City’s goalkeeper, had just reappeared from the x-ray suite at the nearby clinic where he had been taken to check his cheekbone or jaw were still in working order. Ederson had been caught flush in the face, head-high, by Sadio Mané’s flying studs and the red card that was shown does at least offer Liverpool some kind of excuse for this scoreline.
Not entirely, though. Liverpool’s response to going a man down did not exactly offer great encouragement about the competitive courage of this team and, not for the first time, it was difficult to imagine any possibly way Jürgen Klopp can achieve his ambitions if his side are going to defend this generously. Liverpool crumbled far too easily and once City scent blood they can be cruel opponents.
Pep Guardiola’s team were already winning courtesy of Sergio Agüero’s goal by the time the referee, Jon Moss, decided that Mané’s collision with Ederson 25 yards from goal constituted dangerous play eight minutes before half-time. Gabriel Jesus headed in a second in the fifth minute out of eight that had been added on, taking Ederson’s injury into account, at the end of the first half and when the same player made it 3-0 eight minutes into the second half it was almost a surprise City restricted themselves to only two more. Leroy Sané, one of their second-half substitutes, scored them both and Ederson was back in the stadium to see the final one – the game’s outstanding moment – fly into the top corner.
This was certainly not the way Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, a second-half substitute, must have envisaged his Liverpool debut going and the punishment for Mané will be considerable. He will miss their next three league fixture – Burnley, Leicester and Newcastle – and it will be over a month before he can return, at home to Manchester United on 14 October.
Will Liverpool appeal? Possibly, but it is unlikely to make any difference. As red cards go, however, this one will always polarise opinion. Mané’s sympathisers will argue that he was entitled to go for the ball and that it was an accidental collision. Equally, his studs were way off the ground, if the argument is whether it constituted dangerous play. All that can really be said for certain is that it left Ederson motionless on the ground with a clutch of City players frantically waving for medically assistance. The goalkeeper had taken an almighty whack, requiring fully eight minutes of treatment, and it was lamentable that some Liverpool fans seemed to hold him responsible, booing as the stretcher bearers prepared to take him off the field.
A goal behind and a man down, it was always going to be a challenging afternoon for Liverpool from that point. Even so, it was still startling to see the way they capitulated, almost as soon as play restarted. Klopp’s team seemed unsettled, to say the least, with little or no idea about was required for a team in that position.
A linesman’s flag saved them, two minutes into first-half stoppages, when Kevin De Bruyne crossed from the right and Jesus sent a header past Simon Mignolet. Yet the next time De Bruyne picked out the Brazilian, this time from the left, he was onside and unmarked again. Mignolet was hopelessly exposed and, regardless of what had happened with Mané, the biggest problem for Liverpool here was an absence of defending.
Early on, the same could be said of their opponents bearing in mind there were long parts of the first half, at 11 v 11, when the home team had seemed intent on providing hard evidence that Guardiola has been neglecting their defensive work. Not for the first time, Nicolás Otamendi in particular looked susceptible. Mohamed Salah gave him a chasing in the opening 35 minutes but the Egyptian was withdrawn after Mané’s red card and the second half was a stress-free occasion for the home side.
Liverpool’s carelessness could be summed up by the stray pass from Jordan Henderson that led to City’s third goal, with Fernandinho’s through ball leaving Agüero running clear of the visitors’ defence. Agüero had been in this position for the opening goal, picked out by De Bruyne’s measured pass, and chose on that occasion to take the ball past Mignolet. Now, however, he had Jesus in support and rolled the ball to the left to leave his team-mate with an easy finish.
The last half an hour was an exercise in damage limitation for Liverpool but still there was no evidence that they knew how to keep it tight and make sure the rout did not become even more of an ordeal. Sané’s first goal followed an exchange of passes with Benjamin Mendy on the left and the best was saved for last as the substitute let fly from 25 yards to sending a curling shot into the top right-hand corner of Mignolet’s net.

SOURCE : GUARDIAN SPORTS
posted by CAMPUS94