19 Mar 2017 18:49:44
Really entertaining game, end to end, loads of talking points and, on balance of play, a fair result. This is how I saw it:

Mignolet - 6/ 10 - blameless for the goal, distribution was OK, didn't make too many saves as it was city misses, rather than saves, that were the issue.

Clyne - 5/ 10 - played some decent, forward passes today which is the first time I have seen him do that for ages. Still didn't give us much up front though and was continuously tortured defensively by City.

Milner - 6/ 10 - stepped up to take the penalty and delivered once more. Full of energy and tried to support the attack but lacked the quality to do so. Defensively decent but was targeted to an extent by city and the cross that lead to their goal came from his side.

Klavan - 5/ 10 - my heart was in my mouth every time I saw him playing a pass. Distribution wise he is very dodgy. Also got sucked out a few times marking Sterling amongst others and looked fragile at many points. Did OK but, as has been mentioned, looks frightened by pace.

Matip - 6/ 10 - probably our best defender on the day won a number of headers, broke up there attacks and made life as difficult as possible for them. Still looked vulnerable though (as did the team) - was this down to bad defending or good attacking from City? Probably a bit of both.

Emre Can - 8/ 10 - been a big critic of his but he stepped up in this game big time. He got off to a typical start - give away passes, couldn't stamp his authority onto the game - but he grew into the game superbly. This is the first time I really saw him use his physicality and athleticism to its maximum effect - he broke up play, played some good passes and made some very good bursts forward (particularly 2nd half) . I was impressed by his contribution and play, he was everywhere and, for me, our man of the match.

Wijinaldum - 8/ 10 - another player who was everywhere from breaking up play to creating chances. His passing is neater than Can's and his reverse pass to Firmino (for the Lallana chance) was superb. Thought he had a really good game in defence and attack - wish he would get forward a bit more as he clearly has the tools to cause damage to the opposition.

Lallana - 7/ 10 - demure start but grew into the game and was a big asset with his pressing and movement. Didn't always do great and that miss was scandalous but he played well and was at the heart of all of our good moves - he will be having nightmares about that miss tonight though!

Coutinho - 6/ 10 - drifted in and out of the game which is a recurrent theme since his injury. Thought he actually started coming into the game more and linking with Firmino well before he was substituted and would not have minded him staying on longer. Hope he can find his form soon.

Mane - 7/ 10 - full of running, an absolute menace to defences, won a penalty and was involved in most of our best attacking pieces of play. He did very well and made city's defence very edgy.

Firmino - 7/ 10 - mixed game for the Brazilian. Good pressing as we simply expect from him now - some good link up play and good touches around the box - but some less than impressive finishing and decision-making at crucial moments (1-on-1 with Caballero; shot instead of cross to Lallana) though his touch for Lallana's golden chance was sublime.

Subs:

Origi - 5/ 10 - thought he was pretty disappointing to be honest he came in with a good amount of time to make an impact but never really got himsefl into the game. Didn't really link up well with team mates or threaten cities defence with any direct running or displays of power. Overall was very tame and actually offered less than Coutinho did.

Lucas - n/ a - came on to shore up the back and didn't really have enough touches to make any sort of assessment of his quality.

Klopp - thought the tactics for the most part were right. City pushed hard early and then tired considerably and we looked to press hard when that happened. Were a number of very dodgy moments defensively but an equal (if not greater) amount fo positive moments in attack. I thought our attitude to the game the most puzzling though - after we scored we were in a clear ascendancy with City on the ropes, what did we do? Decided to take it easy, allow our levels to slip and invite pressure - city took the invitation and scored. Again later in the game I thought we had a real opportunity to get at City and perhaps snatch a winner - we instead decided to play safe and eek out a draw. It felt like points dropped in some ways (clear cut chances missed, overall strong play) but City also had a lot of good chances as well as us getting some luck with decisions (Milner's foul on Sterling in the 6 yard box as he was about to finish - if ref see's it surely penalty and red card) . Overall I loved the game because of the entertainment and would have loved it more had we managed to snatch a winner. Areas to improve on, as always, but a good performance and a decent point earned away to City.

1.) 19 Mar 2017
19 Mar 2017 19:17:47
Good post Seano, but 5 is about 3 too much for Clyne.

2.) 19 Mar 2017
19 Mar 2017 19:35:06
Harsh in clyne! Thought he had a good game, didn't attack because we would get torn apart on the counter.

3.) 19 Mar 2017
19 Mar 2017 19:53:14
Firmino won the penalty not mane.

4.) 19 Mar 2017
19 Mar 2017 20:44:19
So you give our back 5 (inc keeper) 5 or 6 out of 10. Im sorry. I don't agree. Very harsh.

5.) 19 Mar 2017
19 Mar 2017 21:02:06
Could not agree more RedFuzz.

6.) 19 Mar 2017
19 Mar 2017 21:50:40
Sorry Fuzz Clyne was horrible, every time they attacked he's side was a goal waiting to happen.

7.) 19 Mar 2017
19 Mar 2017 22:03:01
Seano good post but the penalty that sterling should have got wouldn't have been a red card it would only have been a yellow because of the new laws mate and when firminio was through on cabalero i think he didn't pass to lallana because 1. stones readjusted to get closer to lallana and 2 the tap in lallana had just missed was fresh in hie head. But as i said good post.

8.) 19 Mar 2017
19 Mar 2017 23:02:36
to be honest i just cannot see what you're saying about clyne at all. I thought he was very very good today defensively and marked sane almost out of the game, the vast majority of citys good stuff came from sterling and de bruyne on the right. Definitely thought he was the best defender after matip and made some crucial interceptions- granted he did not do much at all from an attacking perspective but when you are marking a guy as sharp and fast as Sane then you cannot leave yourself open and im finding it quite hard to see how u can give milner a 6 defensively and clyne a 5 to be honest.

9.) 20 Mar 2017
19 Mar 2017 23:21:20
Good post overall, Seano. But I think Clyne was very good defensively and kept Sane pretty quiet judging by the form he's currently in. He got forward when necessary BUT was maybe told to hold his position due to Sane's pace and not getting caught out. Also, Firmino was very good to judging by the fact that he only trained two days leading to the game so not enuff sharpness there.

10.) 20 Mar 2017
20 Mar 2017 05:02:58
Clyne got done a few times by Sane and a number of their most dangerous pieces of play in the first half eminated from his side. He did OK defensively, and I did give him a 5 because it was an improvement on recent performances, but he hardly set the world alight either nor did he do anything of note getting forward - he was not as amazing as some are saying in my opinion.

As for the defence getting 5's and 6's? We got torn apart multiple times and City had a number of very, very presentable chances which they failed to take. We had a good number of chances too. As I alluded to in the original post City attacked well and we didn't defend as well as we could - most of their best chances were squandered, not because of great defending, but because they fluffed there lines. Sorry but the defence just wasn't good, it was our attack that shone.

11.) 20 Mar 2017
20 Mar 2017 05:03:59
p. s. I also think Firmino did very well - if he could of added a goal he would of been man of the match - he still played well though and made cities life difficult.

12.) 20 Mar 2017
20 Mar 2017 05:06:16
@ bruffalo - I was thinking the exact same thing about why Firmino didn't pass - maybe the miss Lallana had moments earlier made him think he was better off having a pop himself. Completely understandable but the wrong decision I think.

13.) 20 Mar 2017
20 Mar 2017 05:44:27
Thought clyne was fine. He won loads of balls and covered sane and then sterling very well most of the game. Got beat a couple times, but that happens. Not saying he is some kind of world class RB, but I think some of the criticism lately has been unfair.

14.) 20 Mar 2017
20 Mar 2017 08:59:24
Average of 6.3 per player. What do you expect playing one of the best and most expensive teams in Europe away from home? Seems a bit harsh.

15.) 20 Mar 2017
20 Mar 2017 09:55:31
Lol Sane made Clyne look worse than average and the 94th minute free shot from Aguero was all due Clyne being out of position. He was left free inside the 6 yard box.

16.) 20 Mar 2017
20 Mar 2017 11:31:21
Aguero and sane will make most defenders look less than average. Get some perspective.

17.) 20 Mar 2017
20 Mar 2017 23:35:17
clyne has 2 guys to mark there. he loses either way.