Manchester City secured a big win on Sunday against Manchester United – and Thierry Henry gave credit to Julian Alvarez on last night’s Monday Night Football.
City won 3-1 at the Etihad to get back to just one point behind Liverpool.
Marcus Rashford have United a shock lead, but City showed great character in the second-half to turn the game around, with Phil Foden the star of the show.
It was a dominant performance from City, who could easily have scored more than three goals on the day. Erling Haaland was guilty of one of the misses of the season, but the Norwegian did score later on to his credit.
Most of the talk has been about Phil Foden this week, but Henry made sure to give Julian Alvarez his flowers last night…
Thierry Henry praises Julian Alvarez for his impact for Manchester City against Manchester United
Henry appeared on MNF last night for the Sheffield United vs Arsenal game.
Before that though, there was some talk about Sunday’s derby, and a lot of praise from both him and Jamie Carragher for the performance of Pep Guardiola’s side.
After analysing Erling Haaland, Henry then turned his attention to £14 million star Alvarez, who came on as a substitute in the second-half to replace Jeremy Doku.
He said: “The second goal is the same thing, we see John Stones coming, they like to be on the ball. But I like the way Julian Alvarez came into this game. This is why Pep, more often than not, uses him in this type of area.
“Look at how he’s going to play with Mainoo. The ball is going to come to him, he’s going to come first. Pop it, pretend that he’s not interested in the game, comes back to ask for the ball. This is what you need more often than not from your eight or so-called 10.”
Alvarez impact was key for Man City in derby win
Alvarez has come in for a bit of criticism on social media of late for lacking influence for City.
But on Sunday he played a big role in the 3-1 win, and definitely made a strong impact as he assisted Foden for the second goal.
Alvarez has now started the last three games for City on the bench and it was perhaps to be expected that his involvement would drop a bit following the returns of Kevin De Bruyne and Haaland, and also given the form of Foden.
But he showed on Sunday that he is still a vital player for City.
