Milner: Liverpool defeat will hurt Manchester City

“It’s only okay that you ask this (about top four) if you ask it as well after Crystal Palace”.

Martin Skrtel has hailed Jurgen Klopp for instilling a winning mentality in the Liverpool players following the Manchester City win. We can celebrate this victory, and then from Sunday onwards we’ll work to make sure we’re ready for Bordeaux, which is going to be a massive one at home again. It is unfortunate but it is football, it is the way things go, and we have got a top-class replacement in.

Milner brought his five-year stay with City to an end in August, signing for Liverpool on free transfer in a desire for more game time and promises he would be played in central midfield. “There were reasons, it wasn’t because of the weather or something like this, it (before) wasn’t what the owners or the supporters wanted”, Klopp explained.

The German replaced Brendan Rodgers, who was sacked last month, and has already revitalised a squad that were struggling under the Northern Irishman.

“Every manager is different, and he is different to the old manager, but the longer we are together the better we will get”. “I can’t say that we are good enough but if you want to write it you can”.

The result lifts Liverpool into ninth place in the Premier League but they remain six points adrift of a Champions League place.

Liverpool’s next eight league games are against Swansea City, Southampton, Newcastle United, West Bromwich Albion, Watford, Leicester City, Sunderland and West Ham United.

It was City’s heaviest defeat since they moved to the Etihad in 2003. We started the game really well but we conceded a goal quite quickly and we were both involved in the first goal so it’s never easy [after that].

“It’s very important to turn the page as soon as we can”, said the Chilean, whose side fell behind to an early Eliaquim Mangala own goal. “I was speaking to the boys, and they were disappointed, and were complimentary about how we played, but they know they can play a lot better than that. But you saw at 3-1 the game could have changed”, Klopp said.

When Klopp was revealed as a Liverpool manager, he had straight away said that it won’t be an overnight process and will take time to change.