Just like playing the champions of Europe, Real Madrid, it isn’t supposed to look this easy when hosting the champions of England, Manchester City.
Arne Slot’s side, though, are the most in-form team in Europe and dispatched their domestic rivals in the same manner as they dispatched their European rivals four days earlier.
Same scoreline, same atmosphere. Real Madrid was the rehearsal before the one that really mattered. Going 11 points ahead of Pep Guardiola’s side on the 1st of December was an opportunity nobody had expected, and it proved too good to turn down for Liverpool.
Liverpool winning 2-0 actually flattered Manchester City
Such was the home side’s dominance - and Manchester City’s inability to handle the explosive start from the Reds on the pitch and in the stands - the visitors’ first shot of any nature didn’t arrive until the 40th minute. “Today stood out when it comes to the energy we delivered on the pitch but also the energy the fans delivered for us,” praised Slot.
In all honesty, the 2-0 scoreline flattered City. Liverpool should have made it far more comfortable had Virgil van Dijk buried either his three free-headers from set-pieces or Mohamed Salah taken his chance when through on goal at 1-0. In the end the misses didn’t matter, with Cody Gakpo’s goal and Salah’s penalty providing a solid win.
‘Sacked in the morning’ came the chant from the Anfield crowd towards Guardiola, who returned by holding up six fingers. It wasn’t clear if this was signalling the number of defeats his side have had during their seven-match run without a win.
Guardiola acknowledged post-match how dominant Liverpool were in the first 20 minutes, highlighting how his side had struggled at Anfield too when in their prime - which they are a long way away from at present.
“The first 15-20 minutes we experienced like many other times coming here in our prime,” he told reporters. “We suffered, they deserved their goal.”
The Spaniard explained his lineup, with Rico Lewis and Matheus Nunes starting in wide roles in what was principally a 4-4-2 shape, was in an attempt to stop Liverpool’s transitions out wide. “We cannot compete against Liverpool and many, many other clubs that are transitional teams,” he said.
"We wanted more control"
“I love wingers but we wanted more control because we know when they lose it they immediately contact with Salah or Luiz or Gakpo or later Nunez. They are so fast, quicker, stronger than us in that position in a game.” It wasn’t the only area of the game in which Liverpool were stronger than their northwest rivals as Liverpool controlled the game, mixing the calm of Slot’s style with the speed on the transition of Jurgen Klopp’s.
Slot was asked if he had sympathy for Guardiola and the Dutchman delivered a calm and measured without the hyperbole. “You feel empathy for the managers who are in a really bad place,” he said. “Pep has won so many things. He has shown so many times already, the league is not decided in December. Nobody has to feel empathy or sorry for Pep.”
Slot isn’t somebody who will let his team get carried away. “If you want to win anything, it’s more about consistency,” he declared.
After Salah dispatched the second and made the result comfortable, Anfield breathed a sigh of relief and broke out into party mood. It had an atmosphere similar to when the Reds beat Man United 2-0 at Anfield in January 2020 en route to lifting their 19th league title. That day, Klopp’s side moved 16 points clear and The Kop, for the first time that season, declared “We’re going to win the league…”. Before then, no such Kopite had dared utter the words.
And no such words were delivered here. December 1st is too premature to make such declarations, but moving 11 points clear of City and nine ahead of Arsenal does mean it may be only a matter of time before The Kop are trading their ‘Liverpool, top of the league’ chants for ‘We’re going to win the league’ proclamations.
