Manchester City inflicted further misery on Liverpool on Sunday as Pep Guardiola’s side beat Arne Slot’s side 3-0 at the Etihad Stadium.
This victory brings Man City back to second position, four points behind Arsenal.
However, Liverpool are now 8th in the Championship, struggling to perform and get the best out of their new signings, having lost five Premier League games this season.
The defending champions struggled to perform and it clearly showed. Slot failed to integrate the new recruits into his team.
Whether it’s Alexander Isak’s fitness issues or Milos Kerkez’s inexperience, Florian Wirtz’s unfamiliarity with Premier League football or Hugo Ekitike’s inconsistency, nothing is going right for the Reds at the moment.
Mohamed Salah has struggled to perform this season
Even the form of some of their reliable players has been scrutinized.
Virgil Van Dijk has not been his usual self. Mohamed Salah has only scored four goals in the Premier League.
After the win at the Etihad, Guardiola revealed how his side canceled out Salah’s threat in the win over Liverpool.
Guardiola said, as reported by Liverpool Echo:
“We press high to win the ball quickly and I like to see my team make short passes and have the ability to run. The first half was really good offensively and defensively.
“In the second half we talk about the duels and everyone in our mindset is that we have to win the duels. We have talked a lot about the duels in the last few days.
“At the start of the second half we lost a few duels and the game became more difficult for the middle players. But the four defenders and Nico (Gonzalez) were outstanding.
“We felt like we were back in many ways. I didn’t like the second half, definitely not like the first half. But we have to grow as a team. It was an important victory, we are second in the table.”
“Salah has been a nightmare for many years and Nico said he had to be aggressive with him,” the City boss said.
“It helped that whenever Mo had the ball we had three or four players around him.
“You’ll never have a better test as a full-back than going up against Salah. Defensively we were really good, especially in the first half.”
Pep Guardiola had the perfect plan to stop Salah
Salah is usually Liverpool’s biggest threat against Man City.
The Egyptian winger has scored 13 goals and provided 8 assists for the Reds against Guardiola’s side in 24 appearances. He usually likes to play against City.
However, Guardiola had a plan to stop him on Sunday and his players followed that plan very professionally.
20-year-old left-back Nico O’Reilly particularly deserves praise for the way he handled Salah.
‘One of the best’ – Pep Guardiola praises Liverpool star despite poor performance against Man City
