5 major talking points from Liverpool's humbling of Manchester City

#2 Cautious Klopp learns his lessons

Klopp got his tactics spot on

Liverpool may have beaten City 3-0, but this was a game of two halves. The Reds were clearly the better side in the first half, but returned from the break playing a more conservative style of football.

It was a style that gave Manchester City the initiative to dominate the second half, but in truth, Jurgen Klopp knew exactly what he was doing. Having taken a 3-0 lead into halftime, the German set up his side to counter-attack in the second half, whilst closing down the few spaces that City could tap into.

In the last meeting between these two sides in the Premier League, Liverpool took a 4-1 lead but nearly surrendered it late on, with City ending the game 4-3 losers. Klopp certainly wanted to avoid a similar situation and so chose to reign in his side’s attacking intent during the second half.

The former Borussia Dortmund boss simply did not want to repeat his mistakes of old, and recognized the fact that in such games a team must give up their attacking philosophy at some point for the greater good.