‘The whole game’: Given says ‘brilliant’ Liverpool man had one Man City player ‘in his pocket’

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James Milner kept Phil Foden ‘in his pocket’ all game, says Shay Given. Liverpool beat Manchester City 1-0 at Anfield.

Liverpool will have had some nerves against Manchester City as they battled a defensive crisis. Trent Alexander-Arnold and Joel Matip were confirmed absentees at the start of the week. Ibrahima Konaté also missed the fixture, however.

That meant James Milner had to play at right-back. The 36-year-old would be up against the in-form Phil Foden – a player who once terrorised him in that position with two goals.

Jurgen Klopp backed his veteran midfielder, though. And it’s safe to say that Milner repaid him with a fine performance against the best-attacking team on the planet.

Shay Given, doing punditry for Premier League Productions, was full of praise for Milner after the game.

“We spoke about the back four of Liverpool today being a weakness but James Milner, for me, had Phil Foden in his pocket the whole game,” said Given. “He was brilliant at the back.”

James Milner vs Phil Foden

Milner deserves all the credit in the world. Was he perfect? Of course not, but you can’t possibly ask for more out of a veteran player in an unnatural position. He went up against the team that is the toughest to defend against on the planet and won.

Not only that but Milner ended up playing multiple unnatural positions. He finished the game as a right-sided centre-back as Klopp changed his formation for the final minutes. He defended with a teenager in front of him, with a wing-back next to him and against different City formations.

There are few players in the world capable of that. We’d argue there are none in his age bracket. Milner was extraordinary at a time when Liverpool desperately needed him to be.

What a player.