Troy Deeney believes Man City’s daunting clash against Liverpool is the ‘perfect’ opportunity to turn things around – despite their atrocious form.
City looked poised to end a five-game losing run when they led Feyenoord 3-0 with 15 minutes remaining in their Champions League tie on Tuesday.
But instead of celebrating three points, the Etihad Stadium sat in stunned silence at full-time after Feyenoord scored three goals to salvage a point.
It was the first time Guardiola had failed to win a game when leading by three goals in his trophy-laden, 942-game managerial career.
Not only that, but it extended City’s winless run to six games across all competitions.
The fixtures don’t get any easier for City as they travel to league leaders Liverpool, who are riding high after dominating Real Madrid in the Champions League
Despite City looking their most fragile in the Guardiola era and Liverpool on a 15-game unbeaten streak, Deeney is adamant a shock result is on the cards when the two sides meet on Sunday.
“I think City are going to be better organised,” Deeney told talkSPORT.com.
“I think this is the perfect game for them. I know that’s a weird thing to say.
“But Liverpool just beat Real Madrid, so their fans are expectant. But this is the first time Man City have been underdogs in a game for the betting companies. So everyone is writing them off.
“I think they will be more together, more solid. I can see them nicking it, 2-1.”
Deeney added: “People were telling me today, Arsenal are more favourites to win the league than Man City, and Man City are second. I don’t know what’s going on.
6
“And they still have the best striker in the world, right? I’m confused.”
How Deeney would have loved to face this version of City as a player.
During the 36-year-old’s time at Watford, the Hornets lost all 11 of their encounters against Guardiola’s side, with Deeney registering one goal and two assists.
Watford found a way past City’s then-watertight defence just six times.
On the flipside, City smashed a staggering 50 goals against Watford, which works out to an average of 4.5 goals per game.
In Deeney’s words, Watford got ‘d***** royally’ when he came up against City.
6
But had Watford taken on City now, their team meetings would be brimming with optimism rather than dread.
“When you’re going into the games on Saturday, you’d have a team meeting on Friday and you’d come out of it going, ‘Oh my God, how are we going to stop these,'” Deeney said.
“Whereas now, the footage over the last few weeks would be, ‘OK, there’s holes there, there’s weaknesses there, they’re missing chances.’ You just don’t want to be the team they come good against.
“The defenders would be thinking, ‘Right, we’ve got a chance’, and the strikers would be thinking, ‘If we can get crosses in or hit them on the counter-attack, we’ll have an opportunity to score.'”
One area of the field Liverpool will feel confident exposing is City’s right flank.
Kyle Walker, who was named in the PFA Premier League Team of the Year last season, has looked especially shaky.
6
The City right-back has posed many problems for rival managers over the years given his rapid speed, which allowed him to motor up and down the right side of the field.
But against Tottenham last Saturday, Walker was left for dead despite having a number of yards on Timo Werner as the German outpaced his marker and squared the ball for Brennan Johnson to seal a 4-0 victory for Ange Postecoglou’s side.
The tests don’t get any easier for Walker, who will come up against either Luis Diaz or Cody Gakpo on Sunday.
However, Deeney launched a passionate defence of Walker and felt the criticism directed his way was ‘unfair’.
“Because now he’s all of a sudden old because he’s been ran twice by (Antoine) Semenyo, who’s not exactly slow, and Adama Traore, who is basically Usain Bolt. So it’s not fair criticism I would say.
“I think there’s a lot of people like (Manuel) Akanji, who gets away with murder in that regard. He’s not really defended that great. Then Kyle’s the one we dig out. But that’s the role of being a big player, he gets just as much adulation as he does negativity.”
6
Deeney is adamant Walker isn’t ‘anywhere near done’, but the ex-Watford man believes the right-back could be in line for a big change sooner than later.
“I think maybe him as a right-back could be moving on from this year,” Deeney said.
“He could go into the centre-back position, where he doesn’t have to sprint as much and make as many repeated sprints.
“But he’s still quick and he’s still very, very good.”
Another intriguing subplot going into Sunday’s blockbuster clash is the future of Liverpool superstar Mohamed Salah, whose contract expires at the end of the season.
Salah made headlines when he spoke after the Reds’ 3-2 win against Southampton and declared he is ‘probably more out than in’ given he had not received any offers of a new deal.
6
A ‘very disappointed’ Jamie Carragher described Salah’s comments as ‘selfish’, sparking debate among football fans.
Deeney didn’t agree with Carragher’s verdict, but feels Salah could easily put the saga behind him, at least momentarily, with a big game on Sunday.
“I can understand both sides of the argument,” Deeney said.
“Is it selfish? Not really. It’s business. It’d be selfish if he stopped playing and said he had a back injury, but everyone knew he was fine. Then got his contract and all of a sudden, he’s back again.
“He’s playing, he’s scoring, he’s still the key component as to why they are winning games. Even at Southampton when they were poor, he was the factor in getting them over the line.”
Man City and Liverpool’s next five games
Man City and Liverpool’s next five games
Manchester City: Liverpool (a), Nottingham Forest (h), Crystal Palace (a), Juventus (a), Manchester United (h)
Liverpool: Manchester City (h), Newcastle (a), Everton (a), Girona (a), Fulham (h)
