preface
The FA Cup semi-finals were played at the New Wembley Stadium in London, England, against Manchester City, who is at the top of the Premier League rankings, and Liverpool, who are second in the rankings.
This is the second meeting between the two sides in the last 10 days, their most recent meeting was in the Premier League (Manchester City drew 2-2 at home to Liverpool), and it did not take long for both sides to gather in London, England, to prepare for the single-match final of the Fa Cup.
In the end, Manchester City lost 2-3 to Liverpool and missed the FA Cup final.
Manchester City extreme rotation, Liverpool main players
Klopp rotated the main players of the team in the second leg of the Champions League knockout round, so in this game, Liverpool played in the starting lineup, and the main players all appeared.
And Manchester City, due to the last game in the away game at Atletico, caused some of the main injuries, Guardiola strategically relaxed the expectations of this game, lined up a set of semi-main lineup to meet the opponent.
In the whole game, Guardiola also only made one substitution, which also shows that his desire for this game will be much lower than Klopp.
Rotations were made from Steffen in the goalkeeper position to Zinchenko at left-back and Fernandinho at no. 25, and Guardiola brought several players to positions he was not good at.
This set the stage for a poor start for City.
The major changes in The structure of Manchester City have led to difficulties in playing the ball at the back
Liverpool took advantage of a corner kick opportunity to score in the opening nine minutes by centre-back Conat and assisted by left-back Robertson.
In the 17th minute of the game, Mane stole the ball from Manchester City's substitute goalkeeper American Steffen and shoveled the ball directly into the net, and the game came to 2:0.
One is a set-piece attack, and the other is a low-level mistake that should not have occurred at all, which seems to be two very isolated goal events, but in fact, it reveals that Manchester City's team has not been able to complete the stealing of the opponent's set-piece and high position due to the strangeness of the entire system after the opening, and the backfield "missing contact" is not working well, resulting in too much pressure on the backcourt, thus repeatedly giving the opponent the opportunity to complete the steal with the set-piece and the high position.
No. 20 Bernardo Silva appeared in this game to drag a single back position, obviously he is weak in this position, lack of protection, at the same time his attribute of breaking through with the ball also gives the opponent a lot of opportunities to take advantage of, in the key position of the back, Liverpool specifically targeted the B seat, resulting in a large number of loss of ball phenomenon.
The No. 11 Zinchenko, due to a long period of failure to play, showed a very strange and seemingly unawakened state on both ends of the left-back position.
No. 25 Fernandinho due to a sharp decline in physical and physical confrontation and other qualities, he also frequently inserted assists on the right side of Bernardo Silva, resulting in many actions that could not be completed according to the pre-match requirements, and the success rate was not high.
Cancelo is City's "tactical fulcrum"
No. 27 Cancelo was originally at left-back, but this game he came to the right-back position, and this adjustment limited it was obvious that it limited Cancello's play.
Many of Cancelo's unexpected moves and creative diagonal passes could not be seen at right-back.
It has to be said that Cancelo is a "tactical fulcrum" of Manchester City on the left side, and he can comb the direction of attack for the team's attack through his own dribble and inward cut, while also being able to form a good echo with his teammates on the flank.
Liverpool's defence is not entirely without problems, and Alisson's importance cannot be underestimated
Although Liverpool led 2:0 early and even scored three goals at half-time, it seemed to end the suspense of the game early, but in fact, it is not difficult to find that when Liverpool is empty behind the ribs when attacking high, Conat and right-back Arnold, as well as No. 4 Van Dijk and No. 26 Robertson need to strengthen their care and contact with each other.
Thanks to Alisson, an excellent goalkeeper, he has repeatedly defused many single-knife balls and semi-single-knife balls for Liverpool, and Alisson's active selection of positions and counter-heavenly reactions and saves have helped Liverpool successfully solve many problems.