Manchester City played a day after Liverpool and Arsenal, were called “the forgotten men” in the race, but they did what matters most: win. Against Brentford on the evening of October 5, the performance was not smooth, but the goals still came - and the key was still Erling Haaland.
Manchester City reminder
The decisive moment was “typical”: Josko Gvardiol flicked the ball over the line, Haaland sprinted past Sepp van den Berg - the centre-back Liverpool sold for around £25 million - and finished coolly. The strike took the Norwegian striker’s tally to nine Premier League goals this season, a reminder that a top-class assassin can cover up a lot of system flaws.
Although not directly related to Liverpool, the match at Gtech was full of “Anfield connections”. Jordan Henderson, van den Berg and Caoimhin Kelleher started for Brentford; Fabio Carvalho came on late in the match. Just for the three direct purchases from Liverpool, “The Bees” spent about 70 million pounds. On the coaching chair of the away team, the image of Pep Lijnders sitting next to Pep Guardiola made the “Liverpool connection” picture even more strange.
In terms of the game, former Manchester United defender Gary Neville’s description of the game as “scruffy” before the game was not far off. Man City only had 4 shots on target in the whole match. In the second half, the clearest chance belonged to Brentford’s Igor Thiago with a face-to-face encounter.
Manchester City’s defence occasionally left gaps in behind for Kevin Schade and Igor Thiago to exploit. In midfield, Tijjani Reijnders and Phil Foden showed potential in the attacking No. 8 role, but the biggest worry was Rodri’s departure from the pitch in the 22nd minute, making way for Nico Gonzalez – something Pep did not want in a busy fixture schedule.
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Liverpool are stalling. |
However, the overall picture shows that no team has “taken off”. Liverpool, Arsenal and Man City have scored quite similar numbers of goals, while Oscar Bobb, Savinho (and Jeremy Doku from the bench) have only created energy, and their output is still unstable.
Two weeks ago, Arsenal were still suspected of “missing something” after a late defeat at Anfield. This week, Liverpool suffered another painful defeat against Chelsea, giving Manchester City the momentum to close the gap to 2 points. In fact, “The Cityzens” still lost 2 games, meaning their overall record is worse than Liverpool; the difference is that they drew with Arsenal, while Liverpool beat Arsenal.
In that context, Pep's statement was like an anchor of reason: "Your (media) work is very brave because you always predict what will happen. I don't. After seven games, it's too early to analyze."
Premier League is too unpredictable
That “too soon” is illustrated by the dizzying emotional swings of public opinion. Just eight days ago, Paul Merson said the race was “almost over” if Liverpool won at Selhurst Park and Arsenal lost to Newcastle. Just one round later, everything reversed: Liverpool lost steam, Arsenal revived, Man City followed closely - the “who will win” story changed hands several times in just 90 minutes.
From Liverpool’s perspective, “Man City won despite not being very good” evokes a familiar image of themselves at the beginning of the season: not needing to play too brilliantly, but always knowing how to strike the decisive blow at the right time. However, that does not mean that all the problems of “The Cityzens” are solved. They still have to face the problem of overloading Rodri, instability on the left wing, and immaturity in decision-making of a group of young players with potential.
The difference is that Erling Haaland is slowly returning to his “cold as steel” self – efficient, ruthless and almost unstoppable. Such a high-performance centre-forward is enough to cover up the shaky periods when the squad is still in transition and refinement.
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Manchester City are back. |
And Liverpool? The picture is not tragic yet. Logic suggests that when Alexander Isak, Hugo Ekitike, Florian Wirtz and Mohamed Salah regain their rhythm and understanding, Arne Slot’s system will be smoother. The Premier League is cruel: just 3-4 days can change the direction of performance.
Virgil van Dijk stressed at Stamford Bridge: “In football, every three or four days, things can change. Whoever loses their temper, remember that.”
Looking ahead, the Liverpool-Arsenal-Man City triangle still holds the game. The difference is subtle: City have a man who can settle games even when the going gets tough; Arsenal have learned to survive in “unpleasant” games; and Liverpool, after a bad week, need to get back to basics: close the space between the lines, reestablish the pressing foundation, and be ruthless in the box.
After all, the “reality of the title race” is not that Liverpool are out of the running, but that no team has yet qualified to call itself the number one candidate after seven games. Man City won but still showed problems; Arsenal were more pragmatic but not yet over the line; Liverpool stumbled but still have many days to fix it. The season will be decided by busy weeks, minor injuries and the ability to survive bad days.
The rest is patience - and on this point, Pep is right: don't rush to judgment in October. In the Premier League, the champions are not the team that makes the most noise today, but the team that makes the fewest mistakes between now and May.
Source: https://znews.vn/pep-da-dung-post1591116.html
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