Rodri and Pep Guardiola agree on Liverpool having the higher chances of winning the Premier League
Rodri was heavily involved as Man City won 3-2 vs Newcastle in the Premier League. It leaves Liverpool just two points clear of Pep Guardiola’s side in the table.
Pep Guardiola and Rodri have both spoken about Liverpool recently.
Pep Guardiola and Rodri have both spoken about Liverpool recently.
Earlier this season, Liverpool came from a goal down to beat Newcastle United 2-1, despite being down to 10 men for around two-thirds of the game, thanks to a Darwin Núñez double off the bench. It was a turnaround and a result that confirmed that Jürgen Klopp’s side was a serious outfit again after a summer of change.
Manchester City, inspired by Kevin De Bruyne coming from the sidelines to score and assist, has now completed its own comeback win on the same ground. That says more about the two title rivals than about Newcastle, though.
The run of form that Eddie Howe’s team has embarked on since collapsing against Liverpool, now with 10 Premier League defeats already this year, has made that result look less impressive than it should really be remembered as being. Newcastle, as it showed against Manchester City, can cause plenty of teams a problem, even if Pep Guardiola’s men still won.
Despite the victory, it was clear once more, though, that Manchester City has an issue with dealing with transitions. Despite the presence of Rodri at the base of midfield, the Etihad side has been caught out on several occasions this season in that manner. Anthony Gordon can offer a threat to anyone and did so again here.
Gordon and Alexander Isak proved too difficult for Manchester City’s defense to cope with at St James’ Park, with the pair both finding the back of the net after Bernardo Silva had opened the scoring. Not every team has players of that quality in the final third, but there is a pattern there for teams to exploit against Guardiola.
Conceding twice in a game cannot happen too often for teams going for the title but Tottenham and Chelsea both had joy against Manchester City in the same manner and Michael Olise and Crystal Palace too. Joško Gvardiol is yet to show why Manchester City needed to pay $98m (£77m/€90m) to sign him and there are gaps to be exploited for the brave.
Erling Haaland is still to return of course and De Bruyne is not yet back at full tilt after being injured for several months, but the defense behind them — this time without Ederson, who went off with an early injury — has now conceded two or more goals on four separate occasions in the Premier League this season. Liverpool has done so three times but one of those was the Spurs match where VAR was the true game-changer.
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Liverpool manager Jürgen Klopp.
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Clearly, there is a long way to go in the Premier League title race and there could be many more twists and turns. Manchester City showed here that it is not going anywhere and that will be a surprise to no one. There are 18 more games each for Liverpool and the Cityzens to play — but it is clear that they see one another as their biggest threat.
“If you ask me, our real contenders are Liverpool because they have the experience of winning in the last years,” Rodri told Manchester City’s official YouTube channel ahead of this weekend. “Arsenal showed the level last year they can do and this year they have the experience they didn’t have last time.”
It is clear that Liverpool is on Rodri’s mind and his manager agrees.”In the Premier League we have… a big rival,” Guardiola said (via Manchester World) last week. “Liverpool is back… Arsenal, many good teams are there, Tottenham, it’s important to be there. But at the same time, we know we can’t drop points much or it will be difficult.”
Even without Manchester City dropping more points against Newcastle, there was hope to be found in the defensive gaps. The gap to the Reds in the Premier League table — with both sides having played 20 games — is down to two points. There is a long way to go, but no reason that Liverpool, currently with a narrow two-point edge, cannot compete all the way.
He’s absolutely ridiculous’… Pundit says Man City have a player who can do things no one can in the world
After Manchester City defeated Newcastle United 3-2 at St. James’ Park, Paul Dickov reserved special praise for Kevin De Bruyne.
The pundit emphasised that De Bruyne can produce a level of mastery that no other player can in world football on City’s full-show time (via YouTube).
Pep Guardiola also emphasised that much like Erling Haaland, the 32-year-old is also a true match-winner.
Paul Dickov says Kevin De Bruyne can do things no other player in the world can after Manchester City beat Newcastle
Micah Richards also described the treble-winner’s impact on proceedings as “wonderful.”
Paul Dickov emphasised how uniquely talented Manchester City talisman Kevin De Bruyne is during his analysis of the pulsating encounter against Newcastle.
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Newcastle United v Manchester City – Premier League
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“You know when you need a little bit of gold dust to make the difference, King Kev [Kevin De Bruyne] comes on and I don’t know what to say. He’s just absolutely ridiculous, Dunney [Richard Dunne], wasn’t it”, Dickov said on City’s full-time show.
“Just the difference he makes to the players on the pitch as well, we all know how good he is. We [Paul Dickov and Richard Dunne] were talking before even before [Manchester City’s 5-0 win against] Huddersfield game before we started the show. Everybody lifts their game when Kev comes to the pitch. They realise how good he is.”
Paul Dickov noted how Kevin De Bruyne instils belief in his Manchester City teammates as he broke down his display against Newcastle.
“There’s many times when the ball was wide today and players, I’m not saying didn’t want to get in the box. But as soon as Kev got in the wide areas, it was three, four, five players getting in the box because he knows the quality he’s got. He can do things that no other player in the world can do, we’ve seen that with the goal and we’ve seen that with the assist today”, he concluded.
Kevin De Bruyne is the dream midfielder
In our view, Paul Dickov was bang on the money about Kevin De Bruyne, who exhibited his unrivalled excellence from the middle of the park against Newcastle.
Assessing his profile, De Bruyne is the closest thing to perfection as far as midfielders go.
Technically, the former Chelsea attacker is simply impeccable in every possible aspect.
Physically as well, Kevin De Bruyne is deceptively quick, especially with the ball at his feet and off-the-ball, this trait allows him to recover possession for City effectively.
While De Bruyne’s broad frame allows him to win duels as well.
Capable of offering a helping hand in every facet of the game, Kevin De Bruyne has the dream profile for a midfielder.
As a result, it comes as no surprise why he is in a league of his own compared to other players in his position.
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