Liverpool pull off stunning win to thwart City title push

Manchester City manager Manuel Pellegrini admits his side were a complete disaster and unrecognisable to him in the 4-1 defeat at home to Liverpool. City managed to get a goal back just before the interval through Sergio Aguero, but the Reds were too good for the Sky Blues and Martin Skrtel sealed the victory with a stunner.

The injured City captain looked on grim-faced from the stands as Mangala and Martin Demichelis floundered – although they were by no means the only offenders in what was a shocking display from Pellegrini’s team.

So here are three things we learned from that incredible Liverpool win at the Etihad…

“It’s always special, not only for Raheem, to play against a team (where) they spent a lot of years, for James Milner the same, that is part of the career of the player and they are now defending another shirt”, Pellegrini said.

Pellegrini told BBC Sport: “Do I understand?”

Sturridge could make his comeback from a knee injury when Liverpool head to City.

Klopp’s faith in the forward has seemingly now paid off following his decision to start him in a more advanced role against City, and the Liverpool manager revealed that Firmino’s hard work in training was one of the reasons for his superb performance on Saturday.

Coutinho then -released Roberto Firmino in the penalty area and the pounds 28?million signing from Hoffenheim saw Mangala open the scoring by bundling his pull-back past the helpless Joe Hart in the City goal.

“How many times do we see players shoot in that position and we say, ‘Why didn’t he pass there?’ Liverpool, it seemed, played the right pass so many times in the final third”.

The Etihad visit marked the end of the seven-game, season-opening stretch of road games that we expected would define the Reds’ season.

“I hope Coutinho is well enough”.

Klopp’s side, beaten 2-1 at home by Crystal Palace in their previous outing, have now won away at Chelsea and City, although they rose just one place in the standings to ninth.

“We lost so many balls in attack, we did not create chances and we could have conceded three or four more”.

Firmino twice went close to compounding City’s misery, first seeing an effort blocked by Hart and then hooking inches wide from Coutinho’s flick.

“We tried to make a few changes, we tried to attack but we made so many mistakes and it was impossible to come back”. “The good news is that we can do better”, Klopp said post-match.