Manchester City gets thrashed at home by Liverpool

A furious Manuel Pellegrini tore into his Man City players after they were thrashed at home by Liverpool, as Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool made a stunning statement of Premier League intent. “I didn’t ask because it was logical for me, we never had to think about whether Henderson was the right captain”, he said at the time.

While there were several examples over the weekend of the high pressing that the German tactician adopts, with City put under pressure immediately every time they had possession in defence, there are other instances where it hasn’t worked so well.

That is what beat City today but also the passivity of Manchester City; their thought that this was The Etihad, where we dominate, where we keep it at our pace, where we play our kind of football.

The scan on Monday revealed that Coutinho has injured his hamstring, but thankfully the Brazilian shouldn’t be out of action for a lengthy period of time. We tried to make changes and [create] options to score.

Out of the possible 12 points they could’ve picked up from these games, the Reds have picked up an impressive seven points, and under new manager Jürgen Klopp, Liverpool are looking a side to fear again.

“It was a fake night, a fake game”, added a bewildered Pellegrini. One example of those will be West Brom in just under three weeks; Tony Pulis loves nothing more than frustrating sides on their own patch and picking up a clean sheet for a good afternoon’s work.

Despite Sergio Aguero pulling one back just before half-time, the visitors entered the interval with a commanding lead and a number of their players appeared in disbelief at what was occurring.

Liverpool have already played Arsenal, Manchester United, Manchester City and Chelsea already away from home this season, but sit only six points off the top four spots. “That’s the first step in a game and we did it”. It’s a good day for us. “I am more than angry, it is unbelievable the performance we had”.

Liverpool had both Benteke and Sturridge on the bench – starting with the attack minded trio of Coutinho, Firmino and Lallana.

“We need to continue like this and keep our focus because we have so many games in front of us”.

“It’s normal in football that former players play against their old club and nothing special”, said Klopp.