The sizable gap between Manchester City and Liverpool was for the world to bare witness to as the hosts won 2-0 at Anfield in a game where they ran riot.
Pep Guardiola could only sit back and watch his City side suffer at the hands of Arne Slot’s domineering Reds team.
Guardiola predicts Manchester City to redeem themselves in their forthcoming games despite having endured a seven-game streak where they are yet to have won a single match.
Gary Neville pinpointed Manchester City’s decline while claiming that if they were to go on and win the Premier League title now, it would be the greatest in the Catalan’s illustrious career.
Arne Slot commented on Pep Guardiola by stating that he does not demand “empathy” due to Manchester City still being in contention to win the league as well as the legendary career he has had.
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While Guardiola has plenty of credit in the bank even if City fail to win the title this season, it is also important to note that he made three tactical mistakes that played a part in his side’s loss to Liverpool.
Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola shouts at Matheus Nunes during the Premier League match between Liverpool FC and Manchester City FC at Anfiel...
Photo by Visionhaus/Getty Images
Man City’s midfield was a recipe for disaster vs Liverpool
It was a surprise to see Pep Guardiola opt for a midfield trio of Ilkay Gundogan, Bernardo Silva and Rico Lewis against the hosts, considering how physically imposing the likes of Ryan Gravenberch, Dominik Szoboszlai and Alexis Mac Allister are in the middle of the park.
Unsurprisingly, Manchester City were bullied in midfield as they could not cope with Liverpool’s intensity with and without the ball.
Arne Slot’s side found it seemingly easy to dispossess the likes of Gundogan and Bernardo in particular, who seemed to come second-best in duels time and again.
Gravenberch and Szoboszlai looked like they were having a field day when they pressed Manchester City’s midfielders as they would outmuscle them, win back the ball and launch a dangerous counter-attack.
Often, Liverpool simply bypassed the likes of Lewis, Bernardo and Gundogan as well, who also lack the pace, athleticism and defensive nous to be able to compete in such high-intensity affairs.
Considering the same midfield trident started for City when they were hammered 4-0 by Tottenham Hotspur, one wonders why Pep Guardiola felt their dynamic could do the trick against the league leaders.
The fact that the Sky Blues conceded an xG (Expected Goals) of 3.38 on Sunday indicates how easy their midfield was to play against for the Merseyside-based team.
Pep Guardiola’s bewildering Matheus Nunes left-wing experiment
Matheus Nunes showed Pep Guardiola how he could thrive in midfield in Manchester City’s 3-3 draw against Feyenoord where he even assisted one of Erling Haaland’s goals.
The Portuguese international was energetic, dominant in his duels and covered ground with ease.
Yet, Pep Guardiola decided to play Nunes as a left-winger, despite him being tailor-made to be able to go toe-to-toe with Liverpool’s midfield on Sunday.
The former Wolves dynamo had a game to forget, as indicated by his statistics from the clash.
NUNES STATS VS LIVERPOOL
KEY PASSES 0
POSSESSION LOST 9
ACCURATE CROSSES 0/1
SUCCESSFUL DRIBBLES 1/3
FOULS 2
TOUCHES 32
via Sofascore
Trent Alexander-Arnold was barely tested by Nunes who was dispossessed by him on several instances as the 25-year-old brought little to no threat from out wide.
It would be harsh for one to be too critical of the versatile attacker, considering he was playing out of position against one of the most in-form teams in the world.
However, for Pep Guardiola to have taken such a tactical risk against Liverpool when Nunes could well have helped Manchester City’s cause in his natural position in midfield was a bizarre decision from him.
Why did Guardiola start no wingers against Liverpool?
Guardiola had the choice to start one of Savinho, Jack Grealish or Jeremy Doku against Arne Slot’s side but instead, he decided to opt for a side with no natural wingers.
With Phil Foden often drifting into central areas, City lacked any width on the right-hand side while Nunes struggled as a makeshift left-winger.
Considering Doku instantly gave Alexander-Arnold a tough time with his pace and trickery upon coming off the bench demonstrated Pep Guardiola’s blunder for not starting a direct wideman like him.
If the Belgian had started from the off, he could have given the Liverpool vice-captain a tough evening while Savinho was also not given the opportunity to test an out-of-sorts Andy Robertson as well.
If Pep Guardiola’s rationale was to start wingers who would retain the ball, Grealish would have been an ideal candidate for such a role but instead, he opted for Nunes, who often struggles to keep possession.
Manchester City’s threat from wide areas was virtually non-existent as Liverpool’s full-back pairing largely had one of the easiest games they will have this campaign.
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