Share
9th April 2018
01:20pm BST
Before the second-leg on Tuesday, Fernandinho and Guardiola spoke to the media, and the City midfielder managed to leave Liverpool supporters perplexed with his comments.
The Brazilian told reporters that Klopp's team "like to play long balls."
https://twitter.com/JamesPearceEcho/status/983301207203700736
https://twitter.com/neiljonesgoal/status/983301060071690240
https://twitter.com/_ChrisBascombe/status/983301052626817024
https://twitter.com/MarkOgden_/status/983301480290582529
Liverpool certainly aren't a long-ball team. All three of their first-choice forwards - Roberto Firmino, Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah - are under 6ft and would, therefore, make terrible target-men. It's also rare to see any Liverpool player hit an aimless long ball and their own defence has often come undone by this tactic.
When reading Fernandinho comments, it's worth keeping in mind that he's not speaking in his first language, and his concept of a "long-ball" might not be the same as ours. It's possible that the City midfielder meant that Liverpool are good at winning second balls, as they were often first to loose balls during the match last week - Oxlade-Chamberlain's goal came after James Milner won a tackle on the edge of City's penalty area.
It's highly unlikely that Fernandinho actually believes Liverpool are a Tony Pulis-style long ball team. But, his comments sparked an inevitable reaction.
https://twitter.com/TheKopHQ/status/983304834689454080
https://twitter.com/LeviHartley/status/983308637409071104
https://twitter.com/AnfieldEffect/status/983303043000172544
https://twitter.com/JSealeaf/status/983304567986294784
https://twitter.com/AndyTheRed83/status/983306935318597632Explore more on these topics:
