Continuing the series
where I look back at my five favourite wins the Liverpool’s next
opponents. This Boxing Day Liverpool
travel to the Etihad to meet Manchester City and here are my five favourite
wins from past encounters.
26th August 1978
MAN CITY (1) 1 (Kidd 23)
LIVERPOOL (2) 4 (Souness
15, 48, R.Kennedy
34, Dalglish 56)
MAN CITY: Corrigan; Clements, Booth, Futcher, Donachie; Keegan,
Owen, Hartford, Power; Channon, Kidd
LIVERPOOL: Clemence; Neal, Thompson, Hughes, A.Kennedy; Case, McDermott,
Souness, R.Kennedy; Dalglish, Heighway
Having retained the European
Cup the season before, Liverpool were desperate to regain their League title
this time round and had started with wins over QPR and Ipswich. City’s season had begun with two 1-1 draws
against Derby and Arsenal.
This was to prove a magical
season as this Liverpool moved up a gear and the purchase of Graeme Souness was
proving to be a masterstroke. The Scot
opened the scoring with a move very familiar to Reds fans. McDermott would get the ball just inside his
own half on the right, he’d look up and both strikers either came deep or pushed
wide, allowing one of the other midfielders to move into the space created. This time it was Souness who was able to run
onto the ball and fire past Corrigan. It
was a simple move, yet so effective. Trawl
through youtube and you’ll find plenty of examples of this type of move, yet
oppositions were just unable to cut it out.
City weren’t undaunted and hit back 8 minutes later as Channon put Power
through to beat the offside trap and as Clemence came out, he squared it for
Kidd to equalise.
10 minutes later Liverpool
restored their lead with another example of the pass-and-move play which tore
sides apart. McDermott was again
involved, just inside the City half on the right. He played a quick pass to Heighway, just
outside him and then charged forward unnoticed by the home side. Heighway held the ball up, waited for
McDermott to get into position and then found him with a simple ball
forward. McDermott, on the edge of the
area then played it square where Ray Kennedy was now the runner and he finished
as calmly as Souness had. These days it
would be said Liverpool were playing without a recognised striker as Dalglish
played so deep, and in an age where sides were so rigid in their formation,
City just didn’t know how to deal with it.
Much of Liverpool’s
success was their ability to manoeuvre opponents around the pitch and soon
after the break, Liverpool were at it again.
Neal found Heighway wide on the right and as he knocked it back to Case,
McDermott simply ran into the space created ahead of Heighway and he was able
to cross into the area where Dalglish helped it on for Souness who fired in his
second goal of the game. Clemence then
pulled off a brilliant save after a Paul Futcher shot from 35 yards took a
deflection and the England goalkeeper was at full stretch to push it onto the
bar.
Soon after Liverpool had
a 4th, as Alan Kennedy’s mishit pass found Dalglish in far too much
space on the right of the area. He rounded
Corrigan to slide the ball home for a 4-1 lead.
At the time you could be forgiven that Liverpool could go on and rattle up
a cricket score, but they actually took their foot off the gas and City came
back into it. Channon went close on a
couple of occasions but in the end Liverpool were easy winners.
Liverpool won the League,
8pts clear of Nottingham Forest.
Manchester City ended down in 15th
27th October
1979
MAN CITY (0) 0
LIVERPOOL (2) 4 (Johnson
12, Dalglish 31, 67, R.Kennedy 86)
MAN CITY: Corrigan; Ranson, Futcher, Caton, Power; MacKenzie, Reid,
Viljoen, Deyna; Bennett, Robinson
LIVERPOOL: Clemence; Neal, Thompson, Hansen, A.Kennedy; Case,
Souness, R.Kennedy; Johnson, Dalglish, Heighway
Liverpool, defending
champions, had only won once in 5 matches away from home by the time they had
their trip to Maine Road. Man City had
recovered from a really poor start of 3pts from their first 6 matches. They were now unbeaten in 6.
David Johnson opened the
scoring after 12 minutes. This was his
best season for goals as he hit 27 in all competitions. Just after the half hour, Kenny Dalglish put
the visitors 2-goals up. Liverpool were
dominant all over the park against a young Manchester City side managed by
Malcolm Allison.
Allison had splashed the
cash on several players yet they were given a real lesson here. It was barely a month after he broke the
British transfer record on Steve Daley from Wolves, someone few had heard of. Daley wasn’t in the starting line-up for this
game although he’d yet to influence them in a game. Two goals up at the break, Dalglish then
scored his 2nd of the game midway through the second half. The scoring was rounded off by Ray Kennedy to
give Liverpool a comprehensive 4-0 victory.
Liverpool moved up to 3rd
in the table as City fell to 13th.
Liverpool ended up winning the title for a second successive year.
10th April
1982
MAN CITY (0) 0
LIVERPOOL (2) 5 (Lee 8, Neal pen 42,
Johnston 58, Kennedy 59,
Rush 73)
MAN CITY: Corrigan; Ranson, Caton, Bond, McDonald; Ryan, Reid,
Hartford, Wilson; Reeves, Kinsey
LIVERPOOL: Grobbelaar; Neal, Thompson, Hansen, Kennedy; Johnston,
Lee, Lawrenson, Whelan; Rush, Dalglish
When Liverpool turned up
at Maine Road in the 1981-82 season they were in a rich vein of form and City
were certainly not alone in being taken apart, as they were in the middle of an
11-game winning streak. This was a great
week for Liverpool fans as they’d just been to Old Trafford and won by a Craig
Johnston goal. At Maine Road three days
later, they were soon into their stride as Sammy Lee gave them the lead inside
the opening ten minutes with a brilliant free-kick. Liverpool could’ve been 3 or 4 up by
half-time but it took a penalty from Phil Neal just before the break, to add to
Lee’s opener.
Midway through the second
half and Craig Johnston made it 3-0. At
the start of the day, Liverpool were 2pts clear of Ipswich Town but the Suffolk
club were losing 0-1 at Tottenham and with Liverpool now rampant at City,
things were going as well as they could be.
Within 60 seconds of Johnston’s goal, Alan Kennedy had made it 4-0. Kennedy had won the European Cup the previous
season with his late goal against Real Madrid and he was very pleased to join
in on the action. As the game moved into
the final quarter of an hour, Ian Rush then completed the scoring with his 27th
of the season.
This win gave Liverpool a
5pt lead at the top of the table and they maintained this lead all the way to
May, winning the title by 4pts from Ipswich.
They retained their League Cup title too. Manchester City finished 10th in
the table.
2nd December
1989
MAN CITY (0) 1 (Allen pen, 59)
LIVERPOOL (1) 4 (Rush 9, 88, Beardsley 48, McMahon 58)
MAN CITY: Dibble; Seagraves, Hendry, Redmond, Taggart (Oldfield);
Bishop, Brightwell, Lake; White, Allen, Morley
LIVERPOOL: Grobbelaar; Hysen, Gillespie (Tanner), Staunton (Marsh),
Ablett; Houghton, McMahon, Molby, Whelan; Rush, Beardsley
Liverpool were top of the
table when they travelled to Maine Road in December 1989. Determined to avenge their narrow failure to
win the title in the previous season, they’d begun with an 8-game unbeaten
run. Since then they’d stuttered
slightly, losing 4 out of their next 7 games, but this one would see a return
to form. In contrast, Manchester City
had won just 4 matches all season, losing 8 including an opening day defeat at
Anfield. Mel Machin had recently been
relieved of his managerial post and the team was under the joint care of Tony
Book (yet again) and John Deehan.
Despite the absence of
Barnes, Nicol and Hansen, Liverpool were first out of the blocks and soon in
front. Beardsley started the move, then
Rush put Molby through but Dibble blocked his shot just outside the area. The ball fell to Rush and he calmly put it in
to open the scoring. City should’ve been
level after 25 minutes when Lake dragged his shot wide when he really should’ve
hit the target. The game was alive by
now as both sides went at each other, but it was City who looked the more
vulnerable. Staunton and Beardsley went
close for the visitors and then just before half-time, Beardsley hit the post.
Early in the second half,
Beardsley was to be denied no more as he ran at City from the inside-left
position, beating Redmond and then finishing with a shot which flew past
Dibble. Then as the hour arrived, Whelan
pierced the home defence as he played a pinpoint pass to put McMahon through
and he finished well to put the visitors 3-0 up. Virtually immediately, City went up the other
end and forced the issue when Grobbelaar pulled down Morley and Clive Allen
stepped up to beat him from the spot.
Mike Marsh came on as Liverpool re-organised at the back and he almost
scored as Lake managed to clear off the line.
Rush then had a shot saved by Dibble, but was soon on the scoresheet
again as McMahon, clean through, unselfishly gave him the ball and Rush wasn’t
going to miss.
It was a long season for
City who finally ended up in 14th just 5pts above the drop. Liverpool won the title by 9pts from Aston
Villa.
5th October
2008
MAN CITY (2) 2 (Ireland 18,
Garrido 41)
LIVERPOOL (0) 3 (Torres 55, 72, Kuyt 90)
MAN CITY: Hart; Richards, Dunne, Kompany, Zabaleta; Elano (Petrov),
Ireland, Garrido, Wright-Phillips; Jo (Gelson), Robinho (Evans)
LIVERPOOL: Reina; Arbeloa, Skrtel, Carragher, Aurelio (Dossena);
Gerrard, Mascherano (Keane), Alonso, Riera (Benayoun); Kuyt, Torres
Liverpool began 2008-09
season in great form and by the time they turned up at The Etihad, they were
unbeaten in their 6 matches thus far. They’d only conceded in just 2 games,
including a home win against the champions, Man Utd. Manchester City, managed by Mark Hughes, had
just come off their 3rd defeat of the season already when they were
beaten at Wigan. However, their three
wins had yielded 12 goals. This was the
best attack against the best defence.
City, the newest members
of the Millionaires club, raced to a 2-0 lead in the first half. Stephen Ireland volleyed them into the lead
after 18 minutes. With Elano running the
game, they doubled their lead just before the break when Javier Garrido curled
a free-kick past Reina. At the break
City fans could be forgiven they had sent a message to the top four that they’d
arrived. Within 10 minutes of the second
half it all changed.
Steven Gerrard played in
Arbeloa and his cross was turned in by Torres.
At 2-1 City started to implode.
Zabaleta was sent-off for a poor challenge on Xabi Alonso, for which
even his manager agreed with. The effect
it would have on the home side was clear almost immediately as Gerrard’s 72nd
minute corner was headed in at the near post by Torres and the game was level.
With the home fans
becoming increasingly edgy, substitute Benayoun, put Torres through and his
shot hit Dunne, where Kuyt pounced to score the winner. It was a classic comeback during a season
where Liverpool were able to turn draws into defeats with a mixture of
persistence and luck. For City it was
further evidence of the heights they still had to reach to be considered real
contenders for Champions League football.
This was the 2nd
in a run of 5 straight wins for Liverpool as their unbeaten run stretched to 11
matches from the start of the season.
They would lose just once more as they pushed Manchester United all the way
to the title, only to miss out by 4pts.
City were consistent in their inconsistency and finished 10th.
HEAD TO HEAD at Maine Road/ Etihad
Matches: 77
Liverpool win: 29
Man City win: 26
Draws: 22
Liverpool goals: 114
Man City goals: 109
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