Pellegrini: City all wrong

Manchester City boss Manuel Pellegrini says he is completely baffled by his side’s poor performance against Liverpool.

An own goal from Eliaquim Mangala was followed by efforts from Philippe Coutinho and Roberto Firmino as City conceded three league goals in the first half for the first time since February 2003.

“Today we did it all wrong – the performance, the way we defended, the way we went forward”.

Victory moves Liverpool to within a point of the top five, but more important to Klopp is the growing belief within his squad that they can compete with the top teams in the division.

“We are responsible, as a team, that nobody should want to miss a second of our game!” We wanted to be in their faces.

“It was very, very good”.

“There are always areas we can improve”.

“The way we played in the first half was brilliant”.

“It feels ideal, but the good news is that we can do better”.

Brazilian duo Philippe Coutinho and Roberto Firmino were central to Liverpool’s success, but it was bruising defender Martin Skrtel who had the last word with this thunderous late volley.

Coutinho then made it two by sweeping home Firmino’s right wing centre, before Firmino added the the third from close range after a pass from Coutinho.

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Fortunately, Klopp has a rejuvenated squad to call from, with Daniel Sturridge, Jordon Ibe, James Milner and Kolo Toure all returning from injury and available for selection ahead of the short trip to Manchester.

“I think that we must think about what will happen in the future, we have an important game on Wednesday”, he said in reference to City’s midweek Champions League encounter with Juventus. “Hopefully we can keep keep the confidence going”.

“It was a fake night, a fake game”, Pellegrini said in a television interview. We must turn the page, you can not analyse a performance as bad as that.