Rio Ferdinand believes Man City will spot a problem Liverpool had against Rangers last night. The Reds host City on Sunday.
Rio Ferdinand is convinced that Liverpool still showed a weakness against Rangers, despite winning the game 7-1. It’s something Manchester City will look to exploit against them on Sunday.
“I see chinks in the formation, the way they’re playing,” said Ferdinand on BT Sport. “The goal they conceded today was a replica of one of the goals they conceded at Arsenal. I’m sure that’s what Man City will be looking at.
“We spoke before the game about the two centre-midfielders. As good as they are, they are given problems when the midfielders of the opposition team play behind them.”
Man City will spot Liverpool problem
We know City will see this as a weakness because we spotted it after one outing in the 4-4-2. Arsenal then promptly took advantage inside a minute at the Emirates.
Liverpool’s 4-4-2 means playing with a flat midfield and that allows space between the lines. Not only that, but using just two midfielders means that when they shift across, there’s a lot of space on the opposite side of them.
Elite playmakers will take advantage of that. Kevin De Bruyne is the best playmaker in the world right now. To say he worries us is an understatement.
On the plus side, it isn’t a problem that Erling Haaland can take advantage of. He’s not someone who wants to drop deep between the lines and that might be what convinces Jurgen Klopp to stick with the system.
That and the chaos his front-four can provide. As they emphatically showed at Ibrox, Liverpool can run riot if you leave them space to play in with four forwards on the pitch at once. City aren’t a team that will sit back and play compact – the space will be there.
Pep Guardiola needs to play risk-reward, then, much as Liverpool will do.
