At The Match: Liverpool left on cloud nine as Man City humbled at Anfield
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Hi Reds, James Pearce here, just finishing up at Anfield after Liverpool 2, Manchester City 0. Coming up, we'll bring you all the best post-match reaction. We'll hear the best bits from Arnaud Schlott's press conference and my colleague Andy Jones will drop in to give us his take on another big victory for this in-form Liverpool side.

Liverpool have this title race by the throat. So it's all over here at Anfield and what a week it's been for Liverpool. They swept the European champions aside in midweek and now they've done the same to the Premier League champions, piling the misery on Pep Guardiola's Manchester City. Cody Gagpo and Mohamed Salah with the goals, Liverpool moving nine points clear at the end of the game.

at the top of the Premier League and of course now their two main rivals directly below them Arsenal and

And Chelsea, it's not City. They're now 11 points adrift. And I think it would be silly to completely rule them out of the reckoning just because of the winning runs we've seen them go on previously. But it is one hell of a long way back for City and Liverpool. Coming into this, I think we talked about it on the podcast in midweek, you just wanted Liverpool to be ruthless. You didn't want any hint of complacency creeping in and almost expecting Liverpool to come here today and City to just roll over and...

it was such an accomplished performance pretty much from start to finish I mean I thought there was two sides to it I thought the opening half hour was as dominant as I've seen Liverpool against Manchester City certainly in this modern era in terms of it was absolutely

It was absolute one-way traffic. It was 1-0 when you thought, how is it only 1-0? It could have been 3 or 4. Liverpool were just first at everything. More energy, more desire, more quality in every single department. It's such an impressive sight.

the fact that Liverpool look so well drilled, so well organised, the structure of the team is so sound that even City just kept passing it sideways and sideways and then quite often 15, 20 passes they'd actually gone backwards.

Quivine Kelleher didn't have a proper save to make until inside the last 10 minutes. And even that came because it was a very rare error from Van Dijk and Kelleher ensured that he came to the rescue to deny De Bruyne. But that was such a ridiculously emphatic victory for Arna Slot's Liverpool side. And it's, what's that now? It's the biggest gap that Liverpool have had

at the top of the Premier League since they won it in 2019-20, which gives you some idea of what kind of territory we're in at the minute. And there hasn't been a bigger gap between first and second in the Premier League after 13 matches since 1993-94 when Man United led...

Norwich City by 11 points at this stage of the season so you have to kind of deliver the usual caveats that there's a hell of a long way to go and a lot of points to be to be battling out for and of course the injury situation is

is a bit of genuine concern for Liverpool. I think it was the worrying sight of seeing Canarte and Simakas on crutches here today. We know that Bradley is going to be out for a few weeks at least as well. So, and yeah, it's a pretty energy-sapping period coming up. It is pretty relentless with Newcastle away, Everton away, and then Girona away. But, you know, they go into that with...

incredible momentum. And it was a day that coming into it, you looked at that team sheet and you thought, wow, that's pretty bold from slot to leave out Nunez, play Diaz as the false nine, like he did against Bayer Leverkusen in the Champions League here. You know, I think clearly he thought that Diaz would probably be more adept at kind of dragging City's defenders into areas they didn't want to be in rather than, of course, Nunez loves that ball in behind Diaz.

so often and I thought his decision to play Zboszlai a fresh Zboszlai ahead of Curtis Jones that worked a treat no reflection on Jones he was absolutely outstanding against Real Madrid in midweek I think that was just about freshness and energy levels and then Joe Gomez

absolutely brilliant you know again filling that Canarte void his first Premier League start at centre back for Gomez since September 2023 against Aston Villa but I thought he did really well alongside Van Dijk and how good was it to see Trent Alexander-Arnold back at right back you know timing again perfect with Bradley being out and a

Alexander-Arnold's passing range was just exquisite in that opening period when Liverpool threatened to just absolutely demolish Man City. By the time they finally got the breakthrough...

Van Dijk had already hit the inside of the post with the headers. The Bosley had forced a couple of saves. And then, you know, what a goal it was. You know, just the vision and the execution of the pass from Alexander-Arnold to send Salah away down the right and in the Egyptian spot in the intelligent run of Cody Gagpo at the far post and just put it on a plate for him. Fabulous ball for Salah. Now Liverpool pull. Three big in.

Gagpo, the third Liverpool player to get into double figures for goal involvements so far this season, joining Salah and Diaz. And it was, you know, for Salah, that was a 75th assist for Liverpool in the Premier League. That saw him overtake Thierry Henry on the list of most assists for a single club in the competition. Henry managed 74 for Arsenal. And again, you were almost expecting

City to just be steamrollered because Van Dijk nodded wide when he looked absolutely certain to score. Gagpo fired over. Liverpool just swarming all over City, winning battles all over the pitch. Alexander-Arnold went agonisingly close from the edge of the box as well. And City didn't even have a single shot until the 39th minute.

which is just crazy. Opta put out that that was their longest wait for a shot in a Premier League game since April 2010. You know, that underlines Liverpool's dominance here. It was 10-1, the shot count at half-time. And then second half, I think we were all probably braced for thinking, you know, City have to improve. And they did somewhat.

But I think part of that was Liverpool were quite happy to just let them have the ball and then hit them on the counter-attack. And again, Liverpool still created much, much the better of the chances. What a pass it was from Andy Robertson to put Gagpo through. He couldn't convert on that occasion. Van Dijk could have walked away with the match call. He could have had a hat-trick.

Early in the second half, that header flew just over the bar. He caused absolute mayhem from set pieces today. You think Salah was through 1v1. Again, usually so reliable in that situation that he lifted it over the bar. But, you know, despite the fact that City had more of the ball second half, they just didn't really lay a glove on Liverpool. I thought Van Dijk was absolutely supreme today in terms of just...

Kept Haaland so, so quiet. Yes, he made that one error late on. Yes, he probably should have scored a few goals. But in terms of his all-round display, I thought that was Van Dijk. It is kind of dominant, elegant, best in terms of reading danger and dealing with it. And you were just waiting for that second goal, I think, just to ensure that things didn't get nervy. And then thankfully it arrived. Again, brilliant. Darwin Nunes coming off the bench today.

And his pressing led to Liverpool winning it high, high back up at the top end of the field. And then Diaz sent tumbling Boya Ortega and Salah may have missed from the spot in midweek, but this time making absolutely no mistake. And that's the 36th time in the Premier League that Salah has both scored and assisted in the same contest. That's the most, the joint most by a player in the competition's history, equaling Wayne Rooney. So another, another little bit of history there.

for Salah and then yeah there was a standing ovation for Salah late on when he came off Curtis Jones coming back on and the Liverpool fans enjoyed it and we had the olays ringing out around this place those chants of you're getting sacked in the morning in the direction of Pep Guardiola which he responded to with a six fingered salute now I think that was him talking about his Mr Premier League title triumphs rather than just reminding Liverpool fans about their collection of European Cups

But yeah, I heard there were some comments from Guardiola afterwards saying that he was surprised that Anfield would kind of mock him in that way. But I don't know what he expected. But let's not forget that Liverpool have suffered at the hands of City for so much of this modern era. You think of those two agonising title races where they got...

they got edged out by a solitary point. You know, if you can't enjoy it when your rivals are really struggling, then there's something wrong. So I'm not quite sure what Guardiola was going on about it there. There was bound to be a high degree of glee, the fact that Liverpool had piled on the misery for him. They're stuck in a real rut city at the moment. They still haven't won at Anfield in front of supporters since May 2003, when Nicolas Anelka scored both goals in a 2-1 win, which again,

is a crazy, crazy stat. And yeah, I thought, you know, there was a great moment for me right at the death there where Darwin Nunes slides in on Daku, you know, full-blooded, fully committed, winning the tackle, clenched fist in front of the Kop and the fans absolutely lapped it up. And that just epitomised what Liverpool were all about today. Controlled aggression on the front foot,

and really showcased that there's a golfing class between these two teams currently. 20 games into slots, we're in 18 wins. We're in dreamland at the minute. What a week. Real Madrid, Manchester City swept aside. Now they've got to go and do it all again at St James' Park on Wednesday night. This is Walk On, your dedicated Liverpool podcast from The Athletic.

So first up in his press conference, Arne Slot was asked what a dream week it had been for him and his players with two huge victories against Real Madrid and Manchester City. It was. Playing against Real Madrid, playing against Man City. Teams that have been and are so, so good. With managers that have won so many trophies. It's always nice to come out in both situations as a winner, but...

The reason why these teams won so many things is that they weren't able to win once or twice, they were able to win every single three days. So we're really happy with these two wins, but we also understand that if we want to achieve more than this, then winning once or twice, even against these big teams, is not enough to win anything at the end of the season.

Well, next up, Slot was asked whether he thought that was the performance of potential Premier League title winners with Liverpool going nine points clear at the top. I think if you want to win anything, and that's what I just said, it's not about what are you able to do, but it's more about the consistency. So, so many teams have, well, not so many, only a few teams maybe have won from City or from Real Madrid once in a while, but it's not about winning once.

or twice again, if you want to win anything it's all about consistency. These teams, like Madrid, like City, but I saw Arsenal yesterday and I saw Chelsea today, they are all capable of getting the same winning streak as we had. So let's not get carried away by one or two wins, it's all about consistency till the end of the season, keeping the players fit, keeping them playing with this much energy. And like you probably saw today, I only had five defenders available,

to win something in the end that's such a long way to go and so many challenges you have to take. But it's good that we are

capable of winning against these teams in our own style. The conversation then turned to that breathless opening 45 minutes when Liverpool absolutely dominated Manchester City in every single department. Slot was asked whether that first half was as close to perfection as we've seen since he took over from Jurgen Klopp in the summer. I've experienced already a few nice moments here as a manager. Wednesday night was definitely one of them, but I think today stood out.

when it comes to the energy we delivered on the pitch, but also the energy the fans delivered for us. Yeah, then probably what we all saw is that being only 1-0 up at half time, we would have loved to see a bigger margin, but I've said it in many interviews already, I've watched this game so many times. If I had to play myself, I watched it back, so I always made sure I could watch this game. And it's always been great games, so maybe it's...

For the fans that were neutral, they liked it that it stayed 1-0 and it was tight till the end. Slot was also asked if he was any clearer now in terms of the timescale that Ibrahima Kanate and Conor Bradley are looking at as they recuperate from those injuries they suffered against Real Madrid in midweek. Yeah, they were both out for a few weeks. And I've said many times before, it's always difficult to judge how many weeks this exactly is.

because you can think in the beginning, "Oh, it's probably going to be like this," and then the end stage of an injury process can always differ a bit. But they will not be in the team this week, for sure, both of them. And actually, I don't think Kostas will be with us in the upcoming week as well. So, yeah, these players that we have available now, it's a big...

It's important for them now, even more than normally, for them to stay fit. And that's also why I took Trent off after 70 minutes. He was able to play longer, he played a very good game, defended really well again, and was a major threat in attack because I think he was the one that played the ball towards Rameau, which led to the 1-0. But knowing that we play Newcastle Wednesday and Saturday at the Merseyside Derby with only five available,

We have to take care of them. And that's why it was so pleasing to see that the ones that came in, Joe and Jarrell, did so well. Even Jarrell on an unfamiliar position for him. And finally, Slot was asked whether he had any sympathy for Pep Guardiola and the situation that the Spaniard finds himself in now. You feel sympathy or empathy with the managers that are in a really bad place. So they're either... They've lost many games, they're down at the bottom of the league.

but Pep has won so many things and he's shown so many times already. That's why the league is not decided in November or December. Last season there were eight points behind Arsenal, I think somewhere in February. So no one has to feel empathy or sorry for Pep, maybe for other managers, but not for Pep. He's won so many things and he will be able to bring City back

and they're actually still in top of the table but even more than they are now What I read is Andy here back from an ecstatic Anfield after a great performance and a great result for Liverpool beating Manchester City and extending that gap to nine points now at the top of the table and 11 to Manchester City but I think I wanted to sort of talk about and highlight the sort of the tandem I guess the pair of

of Luis Diaz and Dominic Sobislai. I'll admit I was a little bit surprised by Sobislai's selection in a sense because I thought, I thought Jones had done so well in midweek that I thought, you know, Slott might keep it the same but he's certainly looking to rotate those two a lot and you also felt that in sort of the transition moments which City were going to give you because they've given it to everyone recently that Sobislai could be really

really important. I had a sense that he'd probably go Diaz as the number nine because of, not to say Davon Nunes isn't a discipline pressure and isn't becoming a discipline pressure, but I thought, you know, Diaz's energy is just infectious and, you know, he's so clever and so switched on to those situations and those two of them worked really, really well together and, you know, Diaz has been exceptional this season. You know, it seems incredible now that there was, you know, talk a little bit about

whether Liverpool should look to move him on or question marks about his future with his form, goal contributions, etc. But I thought they really set the tone for Liverpool. They were really, really important, especially that first 20 minutes when Liverpool

you know they effectively you know put man city in a bit of a washing machine you know they were unable to get out they didn't really know how to build from the back and and so i was lying and the azra was superb um they do drop off and you know there was an expect an expectation the intensity was you know they wouldn't have been able to stay at that intensity but you know they were still constantly looking to intercept to block the passion lane to make it as difficult as possible for city to to progress it through the center of the pitch and and you know even when city were dominant they were restricted

in the chances they were able to create and a lot of it, you know, they were having to play the ball down the flanks. And then you see Diaz's energy, you know, he never seems to not have the energy to continue into the next sprint and obviously wins the penalty with, you know, putting in another long busting run, if you like. And so obviously I was very similar in trying to get Liverpool up the pitch and really, you know, exploding into spaces. So I just thought the two of them really set the tone for Liverpool and really...

the report to control the game in those early stages and get the lead and then were able to pick the moment I guess in transition to spring and you feel like Sobbes probably was unfortunate not to get a goal when Salah probably should have just squared it to him but obviously Salah misses but makes up for it for the penalty but yeah I just thought those two were excellent and

Again, you tip your hat to Juan Aslop because there was a number of combinations he could have gone with and he went with Diaz and Zobber's line. It was the perfect choice and the perfect result.

For the latest subscription offers, head to theathletic.com forward slash LiverpoolPod. Well, that's it for me here at Anfield. For plenty more match reaction and analysis, check out The Athletic. I'll be back with Tony Evans and the rest of the team for the Walk On podcast this week. Thanks for joining me and I'll catch you then. The Athletic FC Podcast Network.