The Manchester City: As Liverpool and Manchester City will renew one of the Premier League’s biggest rivalries at Anfield on Sunday, Liverpool manager Andoni Iraola said his side “needs to be compact” as a unit to defend threats from Manchester City, whose attacks are “very dangerous.”
The Liverpool defensive unit have been excellent with three clean sheets in the last three Premier League matches. Van Dijk added to his clean sheet points with two defensive contribution points for registering 13 defensive contributions in the match.
Sunday’s match will be the first back after an extensive international break, with City running out 5-3 winners over Sunderland at the Etihad Stadium in a wildly entertaining game just before the players joined their national sides. Meanwhile, Liverpool won 1-0 at Bournemouth in their last game before the international window, taking them to seven games unbeaten across all competitions at the start of the new season.
Notably, this will be the first Premier League fixture between Liverpool and Manchester City since March 2015 with neither Jurgen Klopp or Pep Guardiola in the dugout.
“We’ve been unbeaten so far this season, but Man City have won their first five games, so it makes a big difference on their side. We need to be very, very good if we want to beat City because they’ve been very strong offensively, scoring a lot of goals lately and the names that they have in their attack are very, very dangerous,” Iraola said on JioStar.
“But we’ve shown good defensive improvements lately and I hope we can defend the threats that they have and hurt them on the counter-attack. We know we will not have the ball as much as we do in some other games, so we have to stay compact as a unit. When we win it back, we have to be quick and direct because there will be spaces to attack. Set pieces could also be important in a game like this. We have to take our chances when they come, because against a team like City, you don’t get many,” he added.
City hammered Liverpool 4-0 in their last meeting, when the sides played an FA Cup quarter-final at the Etihad Stadium in April. Moreover, City have won all three meetings with Liverpool last term, winning 3-0 in the league meeting at the Etihad before a dramatic late, late turnaround at Anfield in February.
Speaking about the advantage of playing at home against Manchester City, Iraola said Anfield crowd can make a real difference when his side against the team that is “right now at the top of the league.”
“The Manchester City game is definitely a big one. Everyone wants to be involved, whether they are playing, watching, or just part of the occasion. We are playing against the team that is right now at the top of the league. So, it is an important game for us, and we know we will have to be at our best. I also know that the fans be looking to help the team.
Speaking about the advantage of playing at home against Manchester City, Iraola said Anfield crowd can make a real difference when his side against the team that is “right now at the top of the league.”
Article Source: IANS
