Manchester United must learn from Liverpool’s win against City
By Wyatt Miner
On January 14th, Liverpool played a rousing match of football against Manchester City. To the surprise of many, Liverpool won the match 4-3. How can Manchester United learn from Liverpool’s successes?
Earlier in the season, Manchester United took a big loss to rivals Manchester City. With Pep at the helm, City are in full stride, beating every opponent they faced by many goals. However, Liverpool proved to the world that Manchester City are not invincible. Thus, Manchester United must see this as a learning opportunity.
What have we learned about Manchester City?
First of all, Liverpool proved that City can be defeated. At the start of their massive winning streak, pundits believed that City were uncatchable. For many weeks, score lines were 4-0 wins in City’s favor. Thankfully, Liverpool found a way to defeat the savage beast, and maybe City will start to lose steam towards the end of the season.
Force City to play in the air.
In order for Liverpool to win the game, they had to force City to play the long ball. The long ball is best suited for last ditch efforts for when the game is on the line. Obviously, a team can not rely on the long ball for it is too risky. Additionally, Liverpool had to win the ball in the air. With City relying on the long ball as their only means to advance, opportunity lies in dominating the air. Thus, if City can not win the ball in the air, they will not have many opportunities on goal.
Once the ball is won out of the air, Liverpool had to rush forward and give the citizens no time to recover. With most of the Liverpool side advancing towards City’s goal, the blues could not defend with eleven men, making an easy path to Manchester City’s goal. It is true that City still found ways to score. They are still an impressive opponent to any team, but one must play more physical than the blues did.
Keep the pressure high. Make City make mistakes.
Lastly, Liverpool kept the pressure up deep into City’s half. If City are unable to move the ball out of their own half, they will have less chances on goal. By simply going to the ball and outnumbering the opposition, there is a high chance that the ball can be won in their half. At times, there were five Liverpool players around two City players. By doing this, Liverpool was able to stomp out any chance Manchester City had to advance. All it takes is one slip from City, and opposition have a good chance to put numbers on the board.
Next: Why Lingard is the perfect number 10 for Mourinho
Ultimately, Manchester City is a team that can be beaten. Premier League teams go into these matches believing that they can not defeat a team as good as City is. In games with a lot on the line, changes must be made in order to secure a win. Manchester United must learn from this win, and use this as ammunition to defeat our cross-city rivals. Like any other sport, a lot can be learned from watching film. Jose Mourinho must look at this game as a lesson to be learned. Manchester City can be defeated.