Brilliant Wataru Endo pockets City midfield while Luis Diaz struggles to finish in Liverpool FC’s draw against Manchester City
For all the hype created ahead of the crucial game against Manchester City, we knew that the Reds’ showdown with them would be a thriller even if it had no goals. While a win would’ve been ideal, the performance in this 1-1 draw against probably the best side in world football is something Liverpool would be proud of.
After initially going down as early as the 23rd minute with John Stones scoring from a corner situation, Liverpool showed great mentality and dominated every minute of the second half. Darwin Nunez won the Reds a penalty in the 50th minute of the game as Ederson came crashing at Darwin’s ankles, missing the ball by the breadth of the Asian continent. Alexis Mac Allister showed godly levels of composure to level things up.
Liverpool were easily the dominant team in the fixture, creating constant chances, running in behind the backline and taking absolute control of the midfield. The few half-chances City created, Virgil van Dijk and Jarell Quansah were absolutely brilliant in handling everything that came their way. If it were not for that lapse of concentration in the defending of that set-piece from Kevin de Bruyne, Liverpool would have easily won the game and given heart attacks to people over various parts of Manchester and North London.
The Hits
Wataru Endo
What was the best #6 doing at Stuttgart? The 30-year-old Japanese international made this game his own. Kevin de Bruyne and Rodri didn’t have the usual impact they have on other games this time only because of Endo. This might go down as one of the best midfield performances from a Liverpool midfielder this season. Even negated the big physical presence of Erling Haaland alongside the centre-backs. He more than held his own against a City midfield trio that has been the world’s best for quite some time now. And a bargain deal for him. Thank you Jorg Schmadtke.
Kevin de Bruyne came off the pitch for Mateo Kovacic in the 69th minute and a major part of the reason for that is Wataru Endo got the better of the Belgian maestro. Our Samurai was rightly named the Carlsberg Player of the Match by the fans on the club’s official website.
This is not the first time that Endo has put in such a great performance. He has been one of our most consistent players ever since finding his feet in the Red of Liverpool. The special thing about his performance against City was that the entire world saw it and acknowledged what a brilliant player he is. Top-class shift, Wataru. 我らのサムライ。
Our centre-backs
A neutral looking at Jarell Quansah’s play might not even believe the fact that he was at League One side Bristol Rovers last season under the management of Joey Barton. Ever since his debut, he has been putting in performances that have not made us feel the absence of Joel Matip. While he is not like Matip in the style of play, his defensive prowess goes beyond his years. He is just a reflection of Virgil van Dijk, but at the age of 21, playing alongside the real deal.
The other centre-back alongside Quansah was pretty just okayish. A normal performance from him. The usual. Just the everyday shift. However, the everyday shift for Virgil van Dijk is somebody else’s claim to fame. Skipper VVD was top-class. To think that he suffered an ACL injury, came back strong last season, drew as much criticism as he did last term, and is putting in shifts like this now, absolutely surreal. That 1v1 against Erling Haaland will go down as one of the best pieces of defensive displays this season. Drew the striker in, put him off at the last moment and ensured a weak strike from the Norweigan that Caoimhin Kelleher in goal handled easily.
Our Player of the Month for February is carrying on his momentum in March, and will surely do so in April, May and whenever he is called upon. The greatest centre-back in the history of the Premier League. He is him.
The Miss
Luis Diaz
Lucho robbed himself of an all-timer. The 27-year-old Colombian international’s performance against Manchester City was probably the best performance by an attacker which is the worst performance by an attacker. Makes sense? Neither did Lucho’s performance. He put every player that took him on to sleep in typical South American Joga Bonito fashion, and somehow, in front of goal, he turned into Joe Gomez. Not that Joey is a bad player, hell, he is one of the best players on the squad, but there’s a reason why he does not have a goal to his name.
Kyle Walker gassed his teammates in the away dressing room only for Lucho to disintegrate him before anyone else. Poor Dominik Szoboszlai took the brunt of Walker’s frustrations as the English full-back launched himself into the Hungarian on multiple occasions in the opening stages of the play.
It is okay Lucho. You are the traditional winger at Liverpool with your world-class dribbling skills. We have yet to see the best of Lucho’s finishing at Liverpool. Best believe that he will come in clutch at just the right moment at some point later in the season. We should not lose hope in him, and he should not lose heart at not being able to score.
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The season is still in our hands. We might need Spurs to pull us some favours. They can do that considering the VAR robbery at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium earlier this term.
