Liverpool
City’s Tactical Masterclass Exposes Liverpool’s Fragility at the Etihad
City outclassed Liverpool; tactical plan, Haaland and Doku exposed weaknesses as title hopes wobble.
Manchester City arrived at the Etihad with freshness and a clear plan; Liverpool were leggy and outplayed. Erling Haaland supplied a cutting edge Liverpool could not match. City used Nico González as a competent stand-in for the absent Rodri, while Jeremy Doku’s wide threat caused persistent problems for Conor Bradley. Mohamed Salah offered little spark and Liverpool had no convincing answer from the bench.
Arne Slot’s side arrived on the back of a midweek Champions League victory over Real Madrid, but that momentum did not transfer to this fixture. Liverpool’s vaunted midfield trio of Ryan Gravenberch, Alexis Mac Allister and Dominik Szoboszlai were overrun in the centre as City deliberately congested the middle with Bernardo Silva, González, Rayan Cherki and Phil Foden playing centrally behind Haaland.
The contrast with last February was stark. Then Liverpool fans were serenading the empty blue seats with “we’re going to win the league.” Now, nine months and 23 league games later, City accelerated while Liverpool stumbled. Arsenal sit four points clear of second-placed City, and Guardiola underlined his intent with the reminder that it was “almost impossible” to catch Arsenal, a line he clearly believed before this game.
This was Guardiola’s 1,000th match as a manager and he was intensely involved on the touchline. The tactical details paid off: Haaland’s powerful header gave City the lead and marked his 99th Premier League goal in 108 games. González added a deflected low shot before half-time. Young academy product Nico O’Reilly then created the third with a cutback to Doku, who wrong-footed Ibrahima Konaté and finished with composure.
Moments of controversy remain. Virgil van Dijk had a headed effort disallowed for an alleged offside by Robertson when he clearly wasn’t “directly (as the law dictates) in Gianluigi Donnarumma’s eye-line.”
Liverpool will need fitness and form from Alexander Isak, a sharper Mohamed Salah, more physical adaptation from Florian Wirtz and greater focus from Konaté if they are to salvage their domestic campaign. Giorgi Mamardashvili’s penalty save from Haaland offered a rare positive; he has also denied Ferran Torres and Vinicius from the spot in 2025.
Liverpool
Rooney Rekindles Criticism of Van Dijk and Questions Anfield Mood
Rooney renews criticism of Van Dijk, saying ‘there’s something not right’ at Anfield Rooney insists
Wayne Rooney has reopened a public dispute with Virgil van Dijk, arguing that the Liverpool captain has become too distracted by external noise and that “there’s something not right” at Anfield. The increasingly outspoken pundit returned to the topic despite earlier suggesting he would stop after a brief exchange with van Dijk.
With the towering Dutchman looming over his shoulder, Rooney joked that he was finished prodding at Liverpool’s captain. That promise didn’t last long. On The Overlap this week Rooney challenged Van Dijk’s level of play. “From a performance level, from what we’ve seen from Van Dijk, I don’t think he’s been at that level this season,” he said.
Rooney questioned the captain’s handling of the dressing-room response and private efforts to steady the squad. “I said I’m sure as captain he’d be speaking to players, taking them out for food, which he said he has done. Clearly if he’s felt he’s done that, if he had to do that, there’s something not right,” Rooney added.
He framed the concern in stark terms for the defending champions. “As champions, you can’t lose four games in a row. If you lose one game, there’s questions, and if you lose four in a row, there’s something not quite right,” Rooney continued.
The 40-year-old also criticised Van Dijk’s involvement in outside commentary. “I think getting involved too much in the outside noise—that’s our job [as pundits], focus on your game,” Rooney sniffed. “As a younger player, I’d be looking at Van Dijk and how he reacts to this—how is it going to help them? You have to get on with your game and speak internally.”
Rooney did acknowledge he may have overreached in past remarks about contractual security and standards. “They’ve signed new deals but I don’t think they’ve really led that team this season,” he said last month of Van Dijk and Mohamed Salah. “The one thing where I maybe went a bit too strong is where I said he’s downed tools since he signed his new contract,” Rooney admitted. “That’s a big thing to say, and maybe I was wrong on that.”
Liverpool
Robertson: Relaxed Over Contract Questions as He Reclaims Starting Role
Robertson says he is relaxed about his Liverpool future after summer uncertainty and restored roles.
Andy Robertson says he is calm about his contract situation as he returns to Liverpool’s starting XI after a period on the bench. Atlético Madrid expressed interest in the Scotland international, but Robertson remained and has been restored to the starting lineup for five of the team’s last six games following Kerkez’s slow start.
Robertson has made regaining his enjoyment of football the immediate priority while accepting he may be entering his final six months at the club. He was candid about the uncertainty that followed a testing summer and where his focus lies now. “Whatever happens will happen behind closed doors and I’m relaxed about the whole situation,” he explained. “If it is my last year [at Liverpool], then it’s my last year. If it’s not, then so be it.
“But I think obviously I had a bit of a stressful summer in terms of decisions and things like that. And I’ve said to myself to just try and enjoy the next few months and then obviously it will start probably taking over my life. I’ve got no doubt about that. That’s what happens when you go into your last six months. I’m just trying to focus on football now.
“Delighted to be back on the pitch, delighted to be back playing the last few games. That’s important and let’s see what happens. But I’m relaxed about the whole thing and the club has been amazing for me.”
Off the field, Liverpool have endured a year dominated by contract uncertainty. Last season saw Mohamed Salah, Virgil van Dijk and Trent Alexander-Arnold subject to prolonged speculation as their deals wound down. The latter departed for Real Madrid on a free transfer, with Los Blancos later paying to bring the deal forward.
This season Robertson is now among the club’s principal contract questions alongside centre back Ibrahima Konaté. On his relationship with Liverpool, he was clear. “I think last season everyone was bored of talking about the three lads [Salah, Van Dijk and Alexander-Arnold], but for me the relationship between me and the club has been a wonderful one,” Robertson continued. “They’ve done everything for me in terms of me and my family.
“I think I’ve not been too bad for them in terms of signing from Hull for £8 million [$10.5 million] and what I’ve done.”
Liverpool
Howard Webb Defends Disallowed Van Dijk Header as Slot Protests Inconsistency
Howard Webb defended the disallowed Van Dijk header; Arne Slot called the decision wrong. Justified.
PGMOL chief Howard Webb has publicly defended the decision to rule out Virgil van Dijk’s header against Manchester City, responding directly to Arne Slot’s complaints about inconsistency.
After an unusually long delay, the assistant referee raised his flag, judging that Andy Robertson was offside and “deemed to be making an obvious action directly in front of the goalkeeper.” Neither Van Dijk nor Slot were impressed. VAR stood by the on-field call.
Webb set out the officials’ reasoning in detail. “As the ball moves towards Robertson—three yards out from goal in the middle of the six-yard box—he makes that clear action to duck below the ball,” the referees chief explained on Match Officials Mic’d Up . “It goes just over his head and finds the goal in the half of the six-yard box where he is.
“The officials have to make a judgement, did that clear action impact on the goalkeeper and his ability to save the ball? That’s where the subjectivity comes into play. They looked at that action so close to the goalkeeper and formed that opinion.
“I know that’s not a view held by everybody but it’s not unreasonable to understand why [the officials] would form that conclusion when the player is so close to the goalkeeper, the ball is coming right towards him and he has to duck to get out of the way.
“They form the conclusion that it impacts [Gianluigi] Donnarumma’s ability to dive towards the ball and make the save.
“Once they’ve made that on-field decision, the job of the VAR is to look at that and decide, ‘Was the outcome clearly and obviously wrong?’ Only Donnarumma truly knows if he was impacted by this and we have to look at the factual evidence.”
Slot was shown a previous case by a member of Liverpool’s staff. “Immediately after the game, someone showed me the goal that the same referee allowed—City against Wolves last season,” he crowed. That Molineux incident in October 2024 saw John Stones’s 95th-minute winner stand despite Bernardo Silva moving out of the ball’s path while stood in an offside position. On that occasion the on-field decision was overturned. As the Premier League explained at the time: “VAR deemed Bernardo Silva wasn’t in the line of vision and had no impact on the goalkeeper.”
Webb rejected the comparison. “There’s a clear difference here in that the ball goes directly over Sá’s head and doesn’t go over the head of Silva,” he sniffed. “He is in an offside position, importantly he moves away from the flight of the ball. ]”
