In the Boxing Day battle, Rodgers led the Blue Foxes to a 3-6 defeat at the Etihad, but in the first half, when the Blue Moon was fed four goals in the first half 25 minutes, Rogers only made a slight adjustment after the start of the second half, and then scored three goals in 20 minutes, startling Guardiola in a cold sweat. Rogers clearly deserves the four words "although defeated", not to mention that he still has a hand in the platoon.
In this battle, Vardy, Ndidi, Castagne, Barnes and other main players either did not show up, or only symbolically appeared in the big list of the game. Apparently, Rogers had long since given up on his intention to compete with Guardiola at the Etihad, and his mind was to return to the Palace stadium and Klopp in 3 days.
This is not the first time that Rogers has played the trick of "Tian Ji Horse Racing" in a series of vicious battles, the semi-main squad to deal with the league leader Manchester City, the full main battle is aimed at the championship of Liverpool, Rogers's mind is now in the wisdom of "riding with the king and the other, taking the king and the other".
Sure enough, the curtain opened up the three main players such as Vardy, Endi, and Castagne, and Rogers posed as a duel with Klopp. For the encounter of winning the championship that year and then being swept out of the house, Rogers still can't let go. In the quarter-finals of the League Cup, the Blue Foxes were eliminated by the Reds with a 3-1 lead, which made Rogers hold his breath.
But no matter how fine the abacus is, the football game ultimately has to rely on strength and performance. After the two sides pulled apart, Klopp's extremely oppressive style of play still made Rogers feel like a needle, and the blue fox was in danger in front of the door.
In the 15th minute, Ndidi tripped Salah inside the penalty area and referee Oliver didn't hesitate to point to 12 yards. Rodgers couldn't help but take a breath of cool air, Salah had already hit 15 penalties in a row in the Premier League, the shooting rate was so high, and the stability of the main penalty made this point almost equivalent to a goal. But salah fell on the 16th penalty, and it was twice.
The Egyptian pharaoh's penalty was too close to the middle and was met by Schmeichel, but the ball was too fast, and Schmeichel could only save the ball, and the ball bounced high and bounced above Salah's head. Unfortunately Salah was a little shorter, and his header after jumping up was right on the lower part of the ball, and the ball fell and smashed into the goal frame.
The Blue Fox escaped the disaster, but under the fierce attack of the Red Army, it was still tired of coping.
In a passive situation, Rogers reappeared in a magical substitution. In the 55th minute, Luxmann came on to replace Chowdhury, and 4 minutes later, Lukman took the ball to break through the box and forced his foot to shoot under the defense of Matip and Van Dijk, Alisson was caught off guard, the ball was in the net, and the Blue Foxes magically led in the passive situation.
After taking the lead, Rodgers gave a big hand, the Blue Foxes retreated across the line, and even Madison was replaced by Aulbyton, leaving only Vardy alone in front.
Although the Red Army immediately launched a wild bombardment, but in the face of the shrunken blue foxes, the Red Army could not find the opportunity to make a mouth, 21 shots on goal, but could not be exchanged for 1 goal. While the Blue Foxes were passive in the whole game, 6 shots on goal and 1 foot on target, but scored the winning goal, Rogers can be said to have given the old club a double critical hit damage.
0-1, Liverpool suffered their second defeat of the season and two consecutive defeats at The King Power Stadium, and the gap with the leader Manchester City has widened to 6 points. Five days later, the Reds will visit Stamford Bridge to challenge the Blues, after which Salah, Mane and Keita will leave for the Africa Cup of Nations. It is foreseeable that with the opening of the African Cup of Nations, Liverpool's dream of Premier League title will become more and more elusive.
Klopp was powerless and sighed in vain. Rogers became his judge in his battle for the title with Guardiola, one in and one out, only sad.