Roy Keane delight at ‘world class’ Ortega despite Man City collapse at Liverpool
Stefan Ortega was hailed as “world class” by a delighted Roy Keane for his performance against Liverpool despite Man City struggling again at Anfield.
Pep Guardiola’s side were looking to end a run of six games without a win when they travelled to Merseyside on Sunday (1st December).
It was the hosts who dominated the opening exchanges though, and they went ahead 12 minutes in, when Mo Salah set up Cody Gakpo to score from close range.
Things could have been even worse for Man City though, had it not been for a crucial touch from Ortega that tipped Virgil van Dijk’s header from a corner onto the post and away to safety.
Speaking on Sky Sports about that save at half time in the match, Keane was full of praise for the goalkeeper’s intervention, with the ex-Man United man saying: “It’s a good opportunity, a good delivery, and if you look at it the keeper does get a touch on it so it’s a world class save, absolutely brilliant.
“Van Dijk’s been a danger, we know how aggressive he is but there’s a touch and certainly it makes a difference.”
Stefan Ortega a surprise start over Ederson for Man City
Football Insider Opinion
This was a first Premier League appearance of the season for the German goalkeeper, with Ederson well established as first choice for the defending Premier League champions.
Many, Guardiola included, will therefore no doubt have seen it as a big call to make this change between the posts, even with some talk emerging around the Brazilian’s future.
There was seemingly not a great deal Ortega could do about the opening goal, and this save did also help to keep Man City in the game for a time, which made this look like the right call.
However, it was also a poor challenge from the German goalkeeper that gave away the penalty which Salah scored to make it 2-0 in the second half and secure the points.
Ortega though, will point to the fact that there was some calamitous defending by the likes of Kyle Walker and Ruben Dias that left him badly exposed in the lead-up to conceding that spot kick.
Man City can therefore certainly cannot consider this defeat to be all down to their change in goalkeeper, with issues throughout the side at present.
Even so, after a game of both positives and negatives, it is going be intriguing to see if Guardiola starts Ederson or Ortega against Nottingham Forest on Wednesday night (4 December).
In other news, Kyle Walker could be facing an uncertain future at Man City, it has been claimed.
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