‘Liverpool have NO DIFFERENCE MAKERS’ 😳 Wirtz & Barcola struggle in 3-0 loss to Man City | ESPN FC

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ESPN FC: Liverpool lack difference makers as Wirtz and Barcola struggle in 3-0 loss to Man City

The panel reviews Liverpool's 3-0 defeat to Man City, arguing that big-money signings Wirtz and Barcola were anonymous and that Liverpool have no difference maker. The discussion then turns to Man City's title credentials, Arsenal's unconvincing form, the limited impact of City's off-field charges on players, and Manchester United's troubles under Michael Carrick.

Craig Burley, Steve Nicol and Nedum Onuoha join Dan Thomas on ESPN FC to react to Man City’s 3-0 win over Liverpool and the disappointing performances of Florian Wirtz and Bradley Barcola. ✔️ Subscribe to ESPN Unlimited: https://plus.espn.com/ ESPN ESPNFC

Transcript

It's like with everything that's going on, it's where you want your Verts and your Barka to step up. This is where you want your 100 million plus players to really put in a performance and they were anonymous. >> Barker had Bararka had Matz Nunez backed up a couple of times in the first half who's not really a fullback. We know that he's played there in the last 18 months, but he's not a fullback. So, he's not a natural defender. He's quick, but he's not a natural defender. and and he made a he did things that you never really certainly to my mind didn't see him doing at PSG. He was super hesitant. He he made a complete hash of trying to cut the stepovers on Matias Nunes who easily just shielded the ball out of play. It's a kind of weird scenario at the moment that that these people come into to Liverpool it seems off the back of stellar performances for their for their previous clubs >> and it's for whatever reason it's just taken them >> unreal >> so much time I don't I don't have the answer to it >> this is a lovely stat goodness me >> that's your two that's your two best >> that's 200 million plus correct >> and you buy you buy baka for that very thing Craig was talking about to get oneonone on in the wide areas at the corner of the box to either go past somebody, pick somebody out, pick the goal out. That's why you spend the money on that guy. And it's the very same thing for Verts. You you spend the money on verts, not necessarily to be scoring goals, but absolutely to be in the middle of everything and controlling it and making passes and again the amount of times he gave the ball away just Yeah. So, and again, you add the fact that the three most significant players this season aren't playing either. >> Then on paper, on paper, before the ball was kicked, if you really looked at it, you'd go, "This has got 3-0 written all over it for City." And in the end, >> yeah, >> kind of we it was deserved on on both sides. City deserve to win a game 3-0 at the end, and Liverpool didn't deserve to get anything out of it by the end as well. So yeah, I I mean Liverpool are just they're just >> So what happens now, Steve? They they've just listen, you got to keep going, right? You got to keep believing. you got on. >> I mean, >> the manager has to try and figure something out and get a a result in a way that that lifts everybody and makes them feel better and stronger, but you just don't see where it's coming from cuz there's not a player really that you can hang your hat on hat on and say he's either going to be the difference maker or he's going to make everybody else better. Right now, we don't have one. And if you watched Arsenal against Leeds and previously against Brighton before the break, but certainly for an hour against Leeds, they're not it could change, but they're not putting their hand up and saying there's not nobody going to catch us. >> They they they look as if they they're dealing with their own uh issues. Yeah, they've got a bigger squad and yeah, they are still the best team uh in in the country, but they're not. I mean, Leeds gave them a a lot of problems for a long time in that game. Such was I mean they leads actually pressed Arsenal. Uh they never sat back. They pressed Arsenal because they felt that Arsenal were were vulnerable and only when Arteta was about to make all the changes calf scored and it was a hash from James Traford. They should have saved it and that turned that particular game in fair play to Arsenal the steamroll of the last 30 minutes and one but they're not exactly convincing. So it is out there for some now I don't nobody knows what the hell the Premier League are going to do with Man City. There's no point speculating about that. All they have to do is try and win games, is try and make it a title uh challenge. It looks that there's going to be two teams. Liverpool look unlikely. I think Chelsea are probably unlikely. So, and and you know, Man United are definitely unlikely are definitely out. So, it's going to come from from City and then then then everybody worries about what the Premier League are going to do. That is out of the control of the players. But at the moment, those two are very much going to be in a title race. Are you more bullish about City's chances of winning the title than you were at the start of the season, Nathan? >> Um, I'll be honest, I didn't expect them to be top of the table at this stage. Yeah. So, I think looking at the Community Shield, you don't want to overreact to that game as such, but you sort of wondered how long it would take for them to sort of hit the ground running. Then they played that hope home game against Bournemouth and it looked imperfect. They got the win. I think in the end they probably deserved it, but it looked imperfect. Then it was say 3 weeks ago they conceded in all those goals against Sunderland. So again, it looks imperfect, but they're finding ways to win games of football. And I think for me, the sort of the biggest moment really was when it went down to 10 against Man United, but it still managed to show a level of grit and determination and character to be able to find something from that game. And yes, you could say that the goal is contentious. But the fact is I thought when it went down to 10 as early as it did, this is just going to be them getting rolled over because I think in years gone by maybe that would have been the case. So yes, I I don't know if I'm necessarily seeing them as being, you know, people challenging for a title. You know, obviously before we talk about the Premier League punishment, but I think it's just shown that Arsenal losing that game against Brighton reminded everybody that no side is perfect. And with that being the case, I suppose you never really know what's going to happen next. Nadium, do you think all the noise that was been around this for the last couple of weeks, rightly so, obviously given the gravitas of the charges, but everyone who's come on the show and say, I don't think it's going to affect the players that much. And we did we see that today? Are we going to see the example of of the pantoime that's going to be around city wherever they travel? But really, these are professionals and you mention it. You've got people like Enzo who get stick wherever they go anyway. That isn't actually going to make that difference to these players more than it will, for example, the fans. >> Yeah, I'll be honest with you. Like, not every player, for example, is good at sort of standing in front of a microphone and talking to a crowd of people about the geopolitics of what this these charges mean, say, for the city of Manchester, for the country and so on. You know, understanding the levels of punishments, the sanctions, you know, this president, that president. But what they can do is play football really, really well. And for the most part, that's what they did in these previous three weeks of the international break. You know, again to mention the likes of Ellie Anderson who played four games and was excellent for England in what looks like, you know, one of the best England sides we've seen in a while. So for those guys, yes, there's lots of noise, but they're not having to talk about it every single day. They're not looking to learn more about it every single day. They're not reading articles on Athletic or wherever. They're just going to see >> Yeah. They're not Listen, let's let's make it very very clear. They don't care what Mark Ogden has to say about it. So when it comes down to it, they will go go to training. They will they will play those games. They will see their peers. They'll get ready for a game of football and just do what they do best until they hear more. And from that point when more is heard and maybe the atmosphere changes at the training ground and so on, they'll react to that. But till that moment comes, for them it's just going to be business as usual. >> Uh meanwhile, uh as you're on, Nam, I've been asked to ask you about Manchester United. uh to sum up what has been a good weekend I suppose for you in the fact that City won and United obviously have had their worst start to the season in 40 years. >> Oh, no way. I can't believe it. No way he would have seen that coming. But um I think to be honest from this Man United perspective, I keep thinking that they'll find the win. They'll find some form. They had Ble coming into the squad. He's fit now. Obviously someone like Cesaro was injured, but mainly there. The energy is going to be good. It's always 70,000 at Old Trafford. But then you watch that game start against Spurs and Spurs felt like they were the better side. Not by a little bit, by country mile. So much so that United didn't know how to press. They didn't really know how to be keeping the ball themselves. Weren't really creating a ton of chances. And Spurs didn't look like the team that is bottom of the Premier League. And in some ways, that is alarming, especially to have, as I say, the home advantage against a side who many would expect that to just roll over and then the red card comes. You know, you're taking the lead. So surely that's it. Everything's fine. Everything is great. But then the way they conceded that goal at the end and the fact that Spurs even had a belief that they could go on and do that. You know, this is a far cry from the Old Trafford that say we all played in in the in the ' 90s and so on where that was essentially a fortress. You go down to 10 and basically the game is already done. But I think for many you're starting to see some of the weaknesses that these guys sort of like have now and craziest still for all the critique they say we'll give about Spurs. Spurs are three points behind United. So if Roberto Deserby is under pressure than what is Michael Carrick, you know, with essentially a better squad and at this moment in time, more belief that they should be more successful. I think the booze at say halftime and the booze at the end of the game are really, really telling because for as much as they want to focus at times on the bigger issues at United with the ownership and so many other issues like that in terms of signing players and so on, the fact is the football on the pitch right now is probably as bad as you've seen in a long time. And that isn't probably what they expected given the way that he finished the last season. Uh the guys weren't pulling any punches on this subject on yesterday's show. You can check that out over on YouTube. What next for Manchester United and Michael Carrick. Be sure to check that out.