‘For the first time, I have real concerns about Manchester City’ ahead of massive Liverpool game
Alan Shearer says he has ‘real concerns’ about Manchester City ahead of their trip to face Premier League leaders Liverpool – and that those issues go far beyond merely losing Rodri’s enormous midfield presence.
A four-goal defeat at home to Tottenham means Man City have fallen to five straight defeats in all competitions and have given Liverpool the chance to go eight points clear ahead of the two sides going head to head next Sunday afternoon, as long as they are able to maintain their excellent form against bottom side Southampton.
That is the worst run Pep Guardiola has had in his managerial career, let alone just at Manchester City, and he will need to conjure up something special once again to get his side back into form after finding themselves all too vulnerable on the counter-attack since losing Rodri to a season-ending knee injury in September.
Looking ahead to next weekend’s big clash at Anfield, Alan Shearer told Match of the Day: “It’s a massive game. For the first time, I would have real concerns about Manchester City.
“Over the past couple of weeks, I’d say, alright, fine, no problem, they’ve been in a similar situation before were they’ve lost games, they’ll still bounce back.
“But I’m seeing too many worrying signs where you think if Liverpool win [against Southampton on Sunday] and again beat Man City next week, I think [City] would find it really, really tough.”
Shearer further expounded on City’s issues, saying: “There are so many things and it’s not just a ‘not having Rodri’ situation. It’s defenders not defending properly in one-v-one situations, and they haven’t got quite the the press right, so they’re not right all over the park.
“There’s no protection and [it’s] not good enough. There’s players not tracking their runners … the way [Timo Werner] goes past [Kyle Walker] with ease (for the fourth goal) – and I know he’s fresh and he’s come on as a substitute – that would be a worrying sign as well.
“So there’s plenty to work on. As I said, there’s no protection. They’re too open, no presence and far too easy to play against at this moment in time, and you can tell.”
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