Manchester City vs. Liverpool Match Preview
Monday, August 23rd, 8PM.
It is almost four months since Manchester City’s last competitive home outing, but the majority will tell you that it feels more like an eternity. Tottenham Hotspur visited Eastlands under the lights on May 5th, by a backdrop of Icelandic fog, in a winner-takes-all contest for a Champions’ League place. Given that the task in front of City was so straightforward- win the match- it should come as little surprise that they managed to complicate it, and therefore fail in their quest for glory. It’s always been the way.
Always, that is, until now. Where disappointment was a dish served with a side salad of anxiety, a fear of what the future would hold, this revolutionised City show no appetite for such feelings. In place of a defeatist mindset is a pragmatic one, designed to ensure that success is the only option on the menu from now on. Jerome Boateng kickstarted Roberto Mancini’s 2010 recruitment drive, with World Cup winner David Silva and influential Barcelona midfielder Yaya Touré joining swiftly thereafter, and Aleksander Kolarov, Mario Balotelli and Aston Villa’s talismanic midfielder James Milner, who finally joined on Wednesday in a swap deal with Stephen Ireland- have all since arrived to round off an exciting Summer at the club.
With the clouds illustrative of that Spurs defeat parting at a rapid pace, it was perhaps fitting that it was they who posed the first test of the new campaign, at White Hart Lane. A 0-0 draw was unspectacular under the circumstances, but indicative of that change in mindset. Spurs and the Lane, a club and a ground synonymous with breaking City hearts for many a year, found themselves facing a dogged, determined outfit that refused to tolerate defeat- spearheaded, ironically, by the cheapest acquisition on the pitch- Joe Hart.
Liverpool, the visitors to Eastlands on Monday night, showed similar characteristics in their first outing of the season against Arsenal, and would have secured all three points despite playing the second half with ten men, but for a last gasp equaliser. The added effort and cohesiveness was, nonetheless, a pleasant sight for their supporters, who endured endless disappointments as the flame of Rafael Benitez’s six year tenure petered out hopelessly. While City’s growth has accelerated rapidly, it’s consolidation that Liverpool had hoped for this Summer- with questionable ownership and the future of star players uncertain- so with Javier Mascherano, Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres all still on Merseyside, it has perhaps, in context, been a successful Summer for both clubs.
Both sides had European commitments on Thursday night, with City travelling to Timasoara of Romania and securing a 1-0 win thanks to new man Mario Balotelli’s late strike. Liverpool, meanwhile, stayed at home to face Trabzanspor of Turkey, with David Ngog securing victory just after the restart. Steven Gerrard sat out the tie while Torres only played 45 minutes. Mascherano and centre-half Daniel Agger missed out through injury, but Macherano is expected to return on Monday. Joe Cole will play no part as he serves a three match suspension for his sending off against Arsenal. Roy Hodgson will be fully aware of City’s potential threat and will likely opt for a defensively minded side. Expect Torres to lead the line, supported by Gerrard, with Mascherano and new signing Christian Poulsen screening the back four. Milan Jovanovic, who has impressed since joining the club from Standard Liége, and Dirk Kuyt should offer Liverpool width, although Ryan Babel, fresh from scoring on Thursday and Maxi Rodriguez will give Hodgson food for thought. In defence, Jamie Carragher will be partnered by Sotirios Kyrgiakos in Agger’s absence, with Glen Johnson and Fabio Aurelio likely to fill the full-back positions. Jose Reina, all fumbles aside, is secure in his position as goalkeeper.
City’s two main left-backs, meanwhile, Aleksander Kolarov and Wayne Bridge, will miss out through injury, along with Jerome Boateng. This should allow Joleon Lescott to carry on after impressing in Romania. Otherwise, Roberto Mancini has a full compliment to choose from and will have something of a selection headache. Kolo Touré and Vincent Kompany will be joined by Lescott in the back four but right-back is far from clear cut. With Boateng’s injury, Mancini is left to choose between Micah Richards, City’s weakest link by some distance at Spurs, and Pablo Zabaleta, who failed to impress at Timasoara. In midfield, James Milner, Gareth Barry, Yaya Touré and Nigel de Jong will battle for two, or possibly three places, so one big player is certain to miss out. David Silva, Mario Balotelli, Emmanuel Adebayor and Adam Johnson will be the most likely candidates to join newly installed captain Carlos Tevez in attack. Following his heroics at White Hart Lane, Joe Hart has most certainly won the battle for City’s number 1, which is expected to see Shay Given leave the club on loan before the transfer deadline, following Craig Bellamy, Nedum Onuoha and Vladimir Weiss out the most overworked revolving door in football.
History paints a picture of two very contrasting fortunes- Liverpool’s eighteen league titles and five European cups, the culmination of decades of dominance, weighed against a City side that flirted with glory but calamitously failed time and again. The reality though- so difficult to grasp for pundits and journalist across the land- is that history holds no relevance today. Today, the optimism and solid infrastructure that embodied Liverpool’s past belongs to City. Hopes and dreams, of course, are still more easily acquired than the success that justifies them. By ten o’clock on Monday night, we will all have a clearer idea of who the future belongs to.
Prediction- A tight affair between two managers in pressure cooker environments. Expect a tactical game of chess until the first goal heads in (if indeed it does). The longer it goes on without a goal, though, the more Liverpool’s talismanic figures, messieurs Gerrard and Torres, will become a cause for concern, but with so many creative outlets, gelled or not, I expect City to carve out that opening goal. If it comes relatively early, the pace and passing prowess at their disposal could enable a flurry of counter-attacking opportunities. City 2-1 Liverpool.
Many thanks to Colin the King of www.mancityfans.net for this fantastic match preview.