Just under an hour before kick-off, Pep Guardiola came out of the famous Anfield tunnel and sank into his seat on the Manchester City bench.
None of his players were on the pitch yet but the City boss sat there alone, as if he were seeking a small island of sanctuary amid the chaos of uncertainty that has suddenly enveloped him and his club.
The television cameras zoomed in on him, fascinated by him, enthralled by this story of greatness under pressure, this story of the best manager of his generation suddenly brought low,, this story of the most dominant team in English football history suddenly facing a humbling.
Guardiola sat there, largely impassive, smoothing down the stubble that covered his top lip and stroking his beard over and over again. He stayed there for half an hour or more, as if it were putting off the moment when he had to confront the reality of the situation that he and his team are facing.
But there was no escaping it. Five minutes from the end of the match, with his champions 2-0 down, with his champions looking like a team that has grown old and ordinary overnight, with his team being outplayed by the Liverpool side that is best placed to take their crown, Anfield began to serenade Guardiola.
‘You’re getting sacked in the morning,’ the stadium sang. ‘Sacked in the morning, you’re getting sacked in the morning.’ Guardiola looked up and managed a thin smile. He held up the four fingers and a thumb on one hand and one finger on the other to signify the six titles he has won at City. The stadium jeered.
Liverpool beat reigning champions Man City 2-0 in the Premier League at Anfield on Sunday
The result left Liverpool nine points clear at the top of the table and ELEVEN points above City
City have now lost six of their last seven games in all competitions – drawing the other one
And when the final whistle went to signal what looks like the latest stage in City’s demise, their sixth defeat in their last seven games, their fourth Premier League defeat in succession, the crowd sang the song again and Guardiola smiled again. This time, he applauded all four sides of the ground as he walked off.
City deserved their defeat. They looked, once again, a shadow of the team they once were. And Liverpool deserved their victory. They were magnificent against the team that thwarted their ambitions so often during the Jurgen Klopp era.
City look like a team on the edge of a precipice. Liverpool look like the team most likely to shove them into the abyss.
This win was Liverpool’s sixth in succession and it moved them 11 points clear of City and nine clear of Arsenal and Chelsea, who sit second and third. City, unbelievably, are fifth. The way they are playing at the moment, it is hard to see them forcing their way back into the title race even with so long to go.
Liverpool were brilliant to watch. They commanded the game from start to finish. They were better in every department. They were more hungry than City. They were quicker, sharper, more clever, more accomplished on the ball and more effective off it. Their appointment of Arne Slot to replace Klopp looks more and more like a masterstroke.
Not much could have gone better for them. They won with a first half goal from Cody Gakpo that was created by Mo Salah and with a second half penalty from Salah. Virgil van Dijk snuffed out Erling Haaland into nothing, City’s midfield was made to look invisible. Their defence was lucky to get away with conceding only two goals.
‘We need to use our circumstances as fuel,’ the City defender Rico Lewis had said before the match but their circumstances seem to be paralysing them. Guardiola dropped goalkeeper Ederson and replaced him with Stefan Ortega but it was only tinkering around the edges of a crisis.
Liverpool were utterly dominant in the first 15 minutes. City lost the ball time and time again as they tried to play it out from the back. Manuel Akanji and Ilkay Gundogan were the main culprits. Liverpool’s pressing was relentless and when they had the ball, their threats came from everywhere.
Cody Gakpo (left) scored Liverpool’s opening goal on Sunday with a finish from close range
Dutch forward Gakpo has now scored six goals in his last seven appearances for Liverpool
Liverpool’s second goal on Sunday was scored by Mo Salah when he converted a penalty kick
Dominik Szoboszlai unleashed a piledriver from the edge of the box that Ortega kept out with an outstretched boot and Virgil van Dijk powered a header across the City goalkeeper and off the face of the post.
But a goal was coming. Everyone inside Anfield knew it. The move started in the 12th minute with a brilliant, raking pass from Trent Alexander-Arnold that freed Salah down the right. Salah ran at Akanji, checked inside and curled a low cross to the back post.
Kyle Walker and Ruben Dias watched it, as if frozen, but Gakpo stole in between them and tapped it across the line.
City were being overwhelmed. Van Dijk should have made it two a couple of minutes later when he rose majestically to meet an Alexis Mac Allister corner but directed his header narrowly wide.
City finally managed to douse Liverpool’s fire for 10 or 15 minutes with a spell where they kept possession and forced the home team into some mistakes.
But they did not create a chance. Even in that spell, City still had reason to be grateful to Akanji for blocking a stinging shot from Alexander-Arnold that had been destined for the bottom corner.
City summoned their first shot six minutes before the interval when Rico Lewis tried to bend a shot around Kelleher with the outside of his right boot but mishit it and watched it roll gently wide. Even in the context of their current woes, it was sobering to see a City side outplayed so completely.
Liverpool started the second half strongly, too. Five minutes in, Kelleher threw the ball out to Andy Robertson, Robertson set off down the left wing and played a beautiful pass behind the City defence for Gakpo to run on to.
Salah, whose current contract is due to expire in June next year, celebrated with Liverpool fans
Dutchman Arne Slot (right) has now won 18 of his first 20 games as manager of Liverpool
Meanwhile, City boss Pep Guardiola has overseen six losses in his team’s last seven games
Gakpo got his shot away but Matheus Nunes, who had otherwise had a wholly unremarkable game, had tracked back with him and produced a crucial, goal-saving block. A minute later, Van Dijk came close again with a glancing header from a corner that was just too high.
A few minutes later, Liverpool should have doubled their lead. Bernardo Silva left a pass for Akanji carelessly short and Salah nipped in and set off for goal. Salah only had Ortega to beat but as Ortega stood up to him, Salah curled his shot past him but a few inches over the bar.
City were restricted to a few flashes of intent. Akanji tried to float a ball over the top to the sprinting Haaland but Van Dijk, who had been imperious throughout, intercepted it as it fell and brought it down effortlessly before starting another Liverpool attack.
Fourteen minutes from the end, Dias and Walker lost the ball to the determination of Luis Diaz and when he sprinted into the box and lifted the ball past Ortega, Ortega brought him down.
Salah stepped up to take the penalty. He had blasted one wide against Real Madrid last week but this time he made no mistake. He fired it low past the despairing left hand of Ortega and ran over to sit on an advertising hording to celebrate with the fans.
City mustered their first shot on target eight minutes from the end and they should have pulled one back a few seconds later. Van Dijk, who had been flawless, dawdled on the ball and allowed Kevin de Bruyne, just on as a substitute to take it from him. De Bruyne tried to force the ball through Kelleher’s legs but Kelleher smothered the shot. Van Dijk held up his hands in apology.
The stage was set for Anfield to serenade Guardiola. City rarely win here anyway but rarely can a defeat have felt more miserable for their embattled manager.
