Liverpool Expose City's Defensive Frailties in Comeback Victory
Manchester City’s title defence began with a jolt. Not from a moment of Liverpool brilliance out of nowhere, but from a slow, creeping sense that every ball into their box might cause chaos.
By the time Vivien Endemann rammed in Liverpool’s second, that unease had turned into something more serious: a full-blown defensive problem that WSL champions cannot afford to carry for long.
City strike first – and look in control
For 20 minutes, it all looked familiar. Calm. Controlled. City moving the ball with authority, Liverpool forced to chase shadows.
The breakthrough came with a move that showcased the champions at their best. Alex Greenwood stepped out from the back, one touch taking out the Liverpool line and igniting the attack. Carlotta Wamser’s first touch was sharp, her head up, the pass perfectly weighted into the path of Lauren Hemp.
Hemp did the rest, opening her body and picking out the corner with a composed finish. It was “brilliant football and a great finish,” as Chloe Hudson-Jones put it on BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra, and it felt like the start of a long night for Liverpool.
Khadija Shaw then had her first sight of goal, plucking a long ball out of the sky and letting fly, only to see her effort sail well over. City were on top, Liverpool stretched. On the surface, nothing to worry about.
Underneath, the cracks were already there.
Bergstrom turns the tide
Liverpool refused to fold. They pressed, they harried, they forced City into decisions they didn’t want to make.
The equaliser didn’t fit the pattern of play, at least not in terms of possession. It did fit the pattern of pressure. A loose moment at the back, Liverpool snapping onto it, and suddenly the champions were exposed.
Vivien Endemann, already busy and inventive in the final third, pounced on the opportunity and fed Alice Bergstrom. There was still plenty left to do. The goalkeeper came out, angles tightened, but Bergstrom stayed ice-cool and finished with authority.
Against the run of City’s controlled build-up? Yes. Against the run of Liverpool’s aggression and intent? Not at all.
“What a response from Liverpool,” observed BBC Sport’s Alex Brotherton from the Joie Stadium. The goal had come from their pressing, and City’s composure had visibly dipped.
Liverpool sensed it. Fuka Nagano stepped up from midfield and hammered a strike from range, testing Ayaka Yamashita, who held it but couldn’t slow the visitors’ growing belief. Endemann, the provider for the equaliser, kept dragging City’s defenders into uncomfortable areas. Bergstrom, as Hudson-Jones noted, pinned Wamser deep, turning City’s full-back line into a retreating barrier rather than an attacking platform.
The champions were no longer dictating. They were reacting.
Endemann completes the comeback as City unravel
The pressure finally told.
Another Liverpool cross, another moment of hesitation in the City back line. They failed to clear their lines decisively, the ball bobbling and hanging in the danger zone, exactly where no defender wants it and every forward does.
Cornelia Kapocs attacked it first, causing enough disruption to turn a half-chance into a real one. The ball dropped to Endemann at close range. No fuss, no hesitation. She rifled her shot low and hard. Yamashita got a hand to it, but not enough; the ball skidded on and crept in at the far post.
Liverpool’s players wheeled away towards their fans. Those in the away end had seen this coming before City did.
From the touchline, Andrée Jeglertz could only watch his side unravel in the very area he had highlighted in pre-season. He had spoken about tightening up City’s defensive play. On this evidence, the work has barely started.
“That’s shambolic defending from City,” Brotherton reported. “The WSL champions look vulnerable every time the ball gets close to their own box.” It was hard to argue. Wamser, so assured going forward earlier, now looked rushed and uncertain, even getting caught dawdling on the ball and losing possession in a dangerous area. Each Liverpool cross felt like a test City were no longer confident of passing.
Liverpool, by contrast, grew with every duel won, every second ball claimed. They committed players forward, as Hudson-Jones pointed out, and forced errors that the champions simply could not shake out of their system.
This wasn’t a smash-and-grab. It was a calculated squeeze.
Questions for champions, momentum for challengers
By the closing stages, City’s early fluency had vanished, replaced by anxiety whenever Liverpool turned the ball over high up the pitch. Every clearance looked rushed, every touch under pressure.
Liverpool left the Joie Stadium with a statement win, built not on long spells of dominance but on intensity, bravery and a ruthless exploitation of City’s soft centre.
For the champions, the warning is clear. If they continue to look this fragile whenever the ball drops in their own box, how long can their crown realistically stay in place?
