Danny Higginbotham highlighted the key role Manchester City defender Benjamin Mendy played in suffocating Liverpool’s attacking trio on Sunday.
The Sky pundit, regularly seen on Sky Sports’ Daily and Sky Sports’ The Debate, shared that the 24-year-old who earns £90,000-a-week (Source: Spotrac), was used a ‘filler’ to deal with the Reds’ counter-threat.
Higginbotham also shared that he thought Man City copied the way Napoli played against the Reds in midweek to leave Anfield with a point and that Pep Guardiola will be happier than Jurgen Klopp after watching their two sides draw 0-0.
“Man City did their homework to suffocate Liverpool’s attacking front three — just like Napoli did to them in the Champions League,” wrote Higginbotham for The Sun.
“The Italians had three at the back in possession and used Mario Rui as an extra midfielder so that when they lost the ball, Liverpool saw the pathway to their front three blocked through a high press.
“City copied this, using Benjamin Mendy as the filler before returning him to left-back when the counter-threat was gone.
“Pep Guardiola will definitely be the happier manager despite the missed penalty — finally containing Liverpool at Anfield after a poor recent record against them.”
OPINION
Mendy did keep leaving his position of left-back to help Man City win the battle for the ball in midfield and was an attacking threat for them down the left-flank at times. The 24-year-old clearly was an important factor in his side getting a point from their showdown with the Reds on Sunday and the gameplan clearly worked. The Reds’ attacking trio, Roberto Firmino, Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane, all struggled to have any sort of positive impact so clearly Man City successfully neutered them. Salah arguably had the best game out of the trio as did some glimpses that he was able to get behind Man City’s defence using his pace but that didn’t happen often enough in the game. Hopefully for the Reds’ sake a pattern isn’t developing among their opponents as if Man City stopped Klopp’s front three the same way Napoli did, then it implies that it is a tactic that can undo the Reds.
