Premier League: Manchester City thrash Liverpool, Top 4 sorted already then?

Take a look at the Premier League table after two games and already it has an inevitable feel about it. Chelsea, Arsenal, Manchester United and Manchester City are all in the top four. And there are still 36 games remaining.

While 6-0 was the scoreline of the weekend, perhaps the most significant scoreline of matchday 2 came at Eastlands and involved just the three goals, as Manchester City saw off Liverpool 3-0. Clearly one cannot read too much into any result at this early stage of the season, but this game had a certain resonance about it, a sense of gravitas that felt hard to shake off. The stark contrasts in performance lent the occasion a feeling that, far beyond the three points, we were witnessing two clubs moving in distinctly different directions to each other.

The ease of Manchester City’s victory was, ultimately, quite remarkable. Ahead after 13 minutes, 2-0 up just after the break and nicely wrapped up seven minutes after the hour mark, there was never really a point in the game in which you felt Liverpool could genuinely summon the swagger and energy to overturn their deficit.

System of a down

Roy Hodgson’s decision to play a 4-4-2 away from home, even with their most effective midfielder for such a setup sat at home checking his phone for text messages from Catalunya, was the wrong one. It left Steven Gerrard hamstrung by having to concentrate more on defensive duties alongside Lucas Leiva, Liverpool overrun in the centre of the park, City’s strongest area, and had the knock-on effect of leaving Fernando Torres and David N’Gog at sea. The pair, who aren’t used to playing together, barely linked up at all – as told by the incredible statistic that after the 3rd minute of the match neither completed a single pass to each other.

Hindsight is 20-20 of course and it would be easy to criticise Hodgson or the system. But whilst deriding the former Fulham boss’ decision to play 4-4-2 at Eastlands let us not forget that the last time Manchester City lost a Premier League home game was to Tottenham, 1-0 back in May – to a 4-4-2 formation.

Time has moved on since then though, and City have also had the benefit of spending well over £100 million, and while Liverpool showed worrying signs that they really have regressed to the status of a ‘top 7′ club rather than a serious title challenger, City look like a team on the up.

Alan Hansen described Roberto Mancini’s side as “a million miles away from winning the Premier League” on the evidence of their 0-0 draw at Spurs on the opening day, and generally speaking pundits have been quick to write City off as a band of individuals and mercenaries, rather than a united front. Beating Liverpool 3-0 was the perfect retort, although numerous challenges remain.

Made in England (sort of)

That a sizeable number of the orchestrators in City’s stroll were English will also please those agonising about the bruising English football’s ego took in South Africa over the summer. Six of Manchester City’s starting eleven against Liverpool were English, and not mere bit-part players in the win but genuinely influential.

James Milner was imperious on his debut. He looked, dare I say it, Bellamy-esque roving down the left hand side of a three-pronged attack in sky blue. Two assists barely told the tale of a first outing packed with vibrancy, drive and bite. Was it mere coincidence that City looked so good in his presence, Aston Villa so abject in his absence?

Elsewhere Joe Hart continued his fine form with another commanding display in goal, Gareth Barry looked much improved, Andy Johnson gave Daniel Agger nightmares cutting in from the right and Joleon Lescott and Micah Richards gave competent displays.

Consider the substitutes Mancini had at his disposal – Given, Zabaleta, Wright-Phillips, Adebayor, Silva, Vieira and Jo, while £40 million pounds worth of talent in Mario Balotelli and Jerome Boateng sat at home injured, and City’s assured, confident performance suggests they are gelling far quicker than anyone could have imagined.

Contrast that with Liverpool on the other hand; the haunted look on the face of Fernando Torres, Mascherano nowhere to be seen, new manager looking weary as he defended his club’s heaviest defeat to their opponents since 1937, and it is hard to escape the feeling that Monday night’s game saw the hosts leapfrog their despondent visitors in more ways than one.

English Premier League, James Milner, Liverpool, Manchester City