Manchester City 2, Liverpool 1: First Thoughts

Manchester City 2: Kompany 31', Negredo 45+1'
Liverpool 1: Coutinho 24'

• Manchester City are terrifying. That Liverpool didn't concede in the first fifteen minutes was a miracle, as they poured forward and attacked in every possible way. On the break, in possession, whatever, they were dominant. Silly amount of talent in their squad.
• That offside call on Raheem Sterling was the height of idiocy. Good two to three yards onside, and could have been 1-0 up early against the run of play.
• And then Liverpool found their footing anyway, started to assert themselves in posession, the Etihad got nervous, and they were up 1-0 on a Philippe Coutinho goal. Lovely finish and perfect timing--JOY!
• Conceding a set piece goal again--NOT JOY! Martin Skrtel is an absolute catastrophe on set pieces, and he should have given up another penalty later in the half when he mauled Vincent Kompany. He followed it up with an excellent recovery and sliding tackle, but he's a liability plain and simple.
• That Sterling-Suarez-Coutinho move that ended with Joe Hart's save melted my shirt, my pants, my face, and my teeth. Only my sadness remained, which was compounded in the last minute of the half when City broke, Liverpool's defense didn't defend, and Alvaro Negredo put City 2-1 up. Sads.
• Liverpool started the second half really, really well. Henderson nearly brought down a lovely ball over the top from Sterling but fluffed it a bit, and the visitors had plenty of the ball. As far as "responses" go, it was exactly what you'd have asked for until it became a break-neck back and forth in which nobody completed passes and Mamadou Sakho lost his mind a bit.
• Henderson back-heel holy Fowler what if that had gone in?
• Sterling open goal after a perfect cross from Suarez holy Fowler what if that had gone in?
• Iago Aspas exists, but I'm still not sure that Victor Moses does. His cameo was a complete non-factor and arguably made Liverpool worse than when they had a tired and overmatched Coutinho on. Oussama Assaidi, come on down.
  
• Proud of Liverpool. Should have done better and arguably could have got more from the match, but they had a go, weren't blown out of the water, and can build from here. Roll on Sunday.

We'll be back shortly to take an in-depth look at everything that happened in today's game with the full recap. Until then, let us know your take on the ups and downs of the match in the comments, and if you haven't already, join the community on the Liverpool Offside, where we'll have full coverage and lively in-game discussion for every match this season.