Amar Zukancic
Wow… just wow. Did you really think Pep was going to disappoint us in his 1000th career match… at the Etihad… against Liverpool? In his 550th match in charge of City, and 1,000th overall, Pep added yet another jewel onto the crown that is his career. Sunday night under the lights of the Etihad City demolished the champions in an emphatic 3-0 win to officially put the rest of the Prem on notice that we’re coming back for our trophy.
The match was electric from the get go, and Pep’s blues never took their foot off of the gas. After absorbing a few minutes of pressure, City won a penalty after a surging run into the box from Jeremy Doku. Unfortunately Haaland missed the penalty, but a few minutes later made up for it after heading the ball home from a beautiful Matheus Nunes cross to put us 1-0 up. After Virgil Van Dijk’s equalizer was chalked off because of an offside Andy Robertson, Nico Gonzalez had a Rodri esque finish from outside the box to double the advantage and extend the lead going into the half. The second half started very well for Liverpool, but in the 60th minute the two Nicos connected and the ball eventually fell to the feet of Jeremy Doku. The Belgian then took on his defender and curled a beauty into the top corner from outside of the box to solidify his man of the match performance. From then on City were on cruise control and had the scousers at their mercy. It was a calm routine match for the last half hour, and you wouldn't bat an eye if you photoshopped Preston North End kits onto the Liverpool players. City came out victorious and closed the gap to Arsenal to only 4 points with 27 matches left to play in the league.
This match was ecstasy to watch, and probably the best performance City had produced since the 2nd Leg vs Real Madrid in 2022/23. Every single player played nearly flawlessly, they all rose to the occasion, and they all showed their title winning quality. Donnarumma was quiet today, but great when we needed him. The center halves were just amazing, although Gvardiol may have been a bit sloppy with the ball they were rock solid defensively and Ruben Dias is in the best form he's been in since his debut season. Foden and Cherki were good, but Liverpool did a good job of marking them and quieting them down. This transformation of Foden into an 8 has been a pleasure to see and the game truly does run through him now… this is his team. Bernardo and Haaland both showed their class. Bernardo showed he can still do at the highest level and shows why he is our captain and should be one of the first names on the teamsheet in big matches. He was disrupting everything, moving the ball up the pitch, and of course getting under every single scouser's skin as he always does. Erling Haaland was Erling Haaland. Yet another goal this season, and that’s 31 g/a in 31 matches vs the Big 6 in his career. The Ballon’Dor is coming soon.
Then were the four standouts. The fullbacks are the first two. The way that Nico O’Reilly and Matheus Nunes have stepped up and improved their game cannot be understated. They are arguably our two most important and in form players at this current moment. They both got an assist today, and have constantly been showing their quality going forward all season. They are amazing with the ball in possession and haven't been sloppy giving it away in the midfield, and have been even better defensively. They’re going to open their pockets when they get home tonight and take out their wallets, keys, an assist each, and then Salah and Wirtz. They truly have been at another level and have been two of the best fullbacks in the world so far. The next standout is Nico Gonzalez. I feel like at this point we’re harping over the same points. He blocks off everything, moves the ball, finds the right pass, is always progressive, and now is scoring goals. If he keeps up this world class form he'll find himself getting a lot more recognition in the coming months just like Rodri got.
The last standout is Jeremy Doku. There is no other way to put it other than he has been world class this season. We always knew he had what it took to be a top player, but he never put it all together. This season he has done just that. We saw glimpses at the Club World Cup in the Juventus and Al Hilal matches, but now it's on full display. He is an alien in terms of dribbling statistics, and there are very few players in history with the volume of dribbles and successful dribbles that he completes. He is constantly putting the ball in a dangerous spot like with his assist to Haaland in the week against Dortmund, and frankly he could've had one or two today. And now he's starting to take quality shots and find the back of the net. His goal today was one of the best we scored all season, and the things he did to Conor Bradley shouldn't be legal. He was doing whatever he wanted and was gliding across the turf in one of the best winger performances I've ever seen at this club. A true man of the match performance.
This will go down as a monumental win. Just as I said in the Dortmund review, this is our win at Stamford Bridge in 2017. It was what we needed, and there's no way to put into words what this means for the lads. The vibes around the squad seem to be at an all time high, and everyone is performing and executing at an elite level. You saw today that Cherki and Doku both got taken off without a single gripe and it is all positivity within the locker room. There is a long season ahead of us, we still are in the early rounds of the cups, are only halfway through the Champions League League Phase, and have 27 more Premier League matches to go, but these should all be seen as opportunities to leave our mark and make history. We're playing the best football we have in a very long time, and we are truly witnessing something special.
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