This week, the 5Times podcast featured Liverpool legends Jan Molby, Ronnie Whelan and Alan Kennedy alongside regular host Jason McAteer. With Liverpool set to host Manchester City this Sunday, the ex-players gave their verdict.
Philippe Coutinho celebrates scoring the third goal against Tottenham. (Pic by David Rawcliffe/Propaganda)
With this tie poised to potentially seal the fate of the Premier League title, host McAteer turned the focus towards tactics, and the way which Liverpool and Manchester City will deploy their charges.
McAteer suggested that both managers will remain stubborn and try to win the game their way: “I see Pellegrini not changing his tactics…but Liverpool are at home, I don’t think Brendan will accommodate Man City”
Whelan remained cautious, worrying about City’s threat in the attack: “Both teams want to attack, don’t they? I think Liverpool are quicker on the break than Manchester City…but City have better players than Arsenal, Everton, [Manchester] United.
“It’s so hard to call, I think Man City…sometimes they all play well together, and if they all play well together you struggle against them – that would be my only worry, that City come out flying.”
However, McAteer continued with his optimism: “Manchester City coming to Anfield and not changing the way they want to play could be a mistake.
“What Liverpool do, and they did it against Spurs, Arsenal and Everton, they caught the opposition playing their way in their own half, and City will want to do the same, they’ll want to play in their own half. We catch them – they’re in big trouble.
Having said that, though, McAteer did concede that City can be a huge threat if they are allowed to play their game: “If they can move the play from their own half into our half and play quick, then we’re in trouble. If they can get through that first bit of pressure we put on them, then we’re in big trouble, because they’ve got excellent players [like] Silva on Saturday.”
The focus then turned to individual players, and the players who can damage Liverpool, and those that will cause a problem to City.
Irishman Whelan suggested that, whilst he is a key man for City, he’d want one of their returning players to start for one reason: “[I’d want Aguero to play] because of the injuries he’s had; not being match-fit.”
Legendary midfielder Molby criticised the work rate of some of City’s players: “You have to say the other players like Yaya Toure, Nasri, Dzeko, and Navas, don’t put enough work in without the ball and that could possibly be their downfall,” whilst McAteer picking out one of the Manchester side’s defenders as a weak point: “I think Demichelis is a little bit of a liability for them. I think Pellegrini likes to play a high line, and as we’ve seen against Barcelona [that’s a problem for Demichelis].”
Elsewhere, Kennedy suggests that flooding the midfield and utilising the great short passing ability that Liverpool’s midfielders have is the key to picking apart City, opining: “You don’t want to sprint 60 yards with Yaya Toure do you? But five yards, that explosion that we have, I think that will hurt them.”
Kennedy also highlighted Liverpool’s Brazilian playmaker, Phillipe Coutinho as a potential main man within this system: “Coutinho is the man for me, he’s a bit like David Silva. He’s great on the ball, he moves well; [now] he’s closing players down, he’s not giving them any chance. Also, Henderson’s doing his work in that midfield, and Steven Gerrard is hopefully pulling the strings, so it looks a good balance.”
All four of the Liverpool icons admitted, perhaps with an inflection of optimism, that this would be a very tough game; but it seems that, in their eyes at least, there are plenty of ways of picking apart the Reds’ title rivals.
This week, the 5Times podcast featured Liverpool legends Jan Molby, Ronnie Whelan and Alan Kennedy alongside regular host Jason McAteer. With Liverpool set to host Manchester City this Sunday, the ex-players gave their verdict.
Philippe Coutinho celebrates scoring the third goal against Tottenham. (Pic by David Rawcliffe/Propaganda)
With this tie poised to potentially seal the fate of the Premier League title, host McAteer turned the focus towards tactics, and the way which Liverpool and Manchester City will deploy their charges.
McAteer suggested that both managers will remain stubborn and try to win the game their way: “I see Pellegrini not changing his tactics…but Liverpool are at home, I don’t think Brendan will accommodate Man City”
Whelan remained cautious, worrying about City’s threat in the attack: “Both teams want to attack, don’t they? I think Liverpool are quicker on the break than Manchester City…but City have better players than Arsenal, Everton, [Manchester] United.
“It’s so hard to call, I think Man City…sometimes they all play well together, and if they all play well together you struggle against them – that would be my only worry, that City come out flying.”
However, McAteer continued with his optimism: “Manchester City coming to Anfield and not changing the way they want to play could be a mistake.
“What Liverpool do, and they did it against Spurs, Arsenal and Everton, they caught the opposition playing their way in their own half, and City will want to do the same, they’ll want to play in their own half. We catch them – they’re in big trouble.
Having said that, though, McAteer did concede that City can be a huge threat if they are allowed to play their game: “If they can move the play from their own half into our half and play quick, then we’re in trouble. If they can get through that first bit of pressure we put on them, then we’re in big trouble, because they’ve got excellent players [like] Silva on Saturday.”
The focus then turned to individual players, and the players who can damage Liverpool, and those that will cause a problem to City.
Irishman Whelan suggested that, whilst he is a key man for City, he’d want one of their returning players to start for one reason: “[I’d want Aguero to play] because of the injuries he’s had; not being match-fit.”
Legendary midfielder Molby criticised the work rate of some of City’s players: “You have to say the other players like Yaya Toure, Nasri, Dzeko, and Navas, don’t put enough work in without the ball and that could possibly be their downfall,” whilst McAteer picking out one of the Manchester side’s defenders as a weak point: “I think Demichelis is a little bit of a liability for them. I think Pellegrini likes to play a high line, and as we’ve seen against Barcelona [that’s a problem for Demichelis].”
Elsewhere, Kennedy suggests that flooding the midfield and utilising the great short passing ability that Liverpool’s midfielders have is the key to picking apart City, opining: “You don’t want to sprint 60 yards with Yaya Toure do you? But five yards, that explosion that we have, I think that will hurt them.”
Kennedy also highlighted Liverpool’s Brazilian playmaker, Phillipe Coutinho as a potential main man within this system: “Coutinho is the man for me, he’s a bit like David Silva. He’s great on the ball, he moves well; [now] he’s closing players down, he’s not giving them any chance. Also, Henderson’s doing his work in that midfield, and Steven Gerrard is hopefully pulling the strings, so it looks a good balance.”
All four of the Liverpool icons admitted, perhaps with an inflection of optimism, that this would be a very tough game; but it seems that, in their eyes at least, there are plenty of ways of picking apart the Reds’ title rivals.
We spoke to goalkeeper Simon Mignolet at the launch of the new Liverpool home kit for next season, discussing his first season at the club and how he’s coped with adapting to life under Brendan Rodgers.
EXCLUSIVE
The 26-year-old Belgian arrived from Sunderland for £9m and immediately established himself as Rodgers’ number one goalkeeper, with a memorable debut seeing him save an injury time penalty against Stoke City on the opening day of the season.
Mignolet has taken over from Pepe Reina, a goalkeeper renowned for his ability to distribute play from the back, so is that side of the game something that he has found difficult to adapt to?
“It is something different than what I was used to for example at Sunderland but with the Belgium national team we play something similar,” explained Mignolet at Liverpool FC’s very-first live kit reveal.
“Also through the youth ranks in Belgium a lot of emphasis goes on the goalkeeper playing out from the back, so I was growing up in the same environment.”
As with any move though, he admits there are always adaptations required, but a full pre-season certainly helped with that process.
“When you arrive you have to adapt and learn, you have to see what the gaffer wants from you and what the other defenders want from you.
“I was lucky that I arrived at the club before pre-season started and had the chance to train long enough and adapt and had the time to do that in games. You get six, seven weeks [in pre-season] before the season started to feel comfortable with the other lads and what the gaffer wants from me.
“It’s something that I enjoy doing and it’s going really well.
“Because I grew up with it [playing from the back] it’s something that’s probably more natural to my game anyway.”
Asked about whether he had any influence on the new kit, Mignolet laughed “No, no, but it’s obviously something for the club to decide and I’m happy with that.
“I’m pleased with the kit and it feels really well. I wore purple as a second choice a few times this season already.”
The new outfield playing strip takes inspiration from the Roger Hunt MBE era in the 1960s where he was a major factor in the Club’s success, including promotion to the First Division and the team’s very-first FA Cup win and was unveiled by Mignolet, Kolo Toure, Jordan Henderson and Philippe Coutinho in front of a thousand supporters in Liverpool city centre.
We spoke to goalkeeper Simon Mignolet at the launch of the new Liverpool home kit for next season, discussing his first season at the club and how he’s coped with adapting to life under Brendan Rodgers.
EXCLUSIVE
The 26-year-old Belgian arrived from Sunderland for £9m and immediately established himself as Rodgers’ number one goalkeeper, with a memorable debut seeing him save an injury time penalty against Stoke City on the opening day of the season.
Mignolet has taken over from Pepe Reina, a goalkeeper renowned for his ability to distribute play from the back, so is that side of the game something that he has found difficult to adapt to?
“It is something different than what I was used to for example at Sunderland but with the Belgium national team we play something similar,” explained Mignolet at Liverpool FC’s very-first live kit reveal.
“Also through the youth ranks in Belgium a lot of emphasis goes on the goalkeeper playing out from the back, so I was growing up in the same environment.”
As with any move though, he admits there are always adaptations required, but a full pre-season certainly helped with that process.
“When you arrive you have to adapt and learn, you have to see what the gaffer wants from you and what the other defenders want from you.
“I was lucky that I arrived at the club before pre-season started and had the chance to train long enough and adapt and had the time to do that in games. You get six, seven weeks [in pre-season] before the season started to feel comfortable with the other lads and what the gaffer wants from me.
“It’s something that I enjoy doing and it’s going really well.
“Because I grew up with it [playing from the back] it’s something that’s probably more natural to my game anyway.”
Asked about whether he had any influence on the new kit, Mignolet laughed “No, no, but it’s obviously something for the club to decide and I’m happy with that.
“I’m pleased with the kit and it feels really well. I wore purple as a second choice a few times this season already.”
The new outfield playing strip takes inspiration from the Roger Hunt MBE era in the 1960s where he was a major factor in the Club’s success, including promotion to the First Division and the team’s very-first FA Cup win and was unveiled by Mignolet, Kolo Toure, Jordan Henderson and Philippe Coutinho in front of a thousand supporters in Liverpool city centre.
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