Finally, there is a glimmer of hope for the teams desperately clinging to Manchester City s coat-tails. Only a tiny glimmer, maybe, and nobody should really imagine it will change too much when it comes to the destination of the championship trophy. Yet it had been 284 days since Pep Guardiola s team last experienced a defeat in the Premier League. The run stretched 30 games and at least now the other teams towards the top of the table have been reminded the champions-in-waiting can be beaten, after all.
It has certainly been a long time since City appeared this vulnerable and in that nine-minute blitz when Liverpool rattled in three second-half goals it was remarkable to see the way the most accomplished team in the country disintegrated. More fool us, perhaps, for thinking that City had eradicated the shortcomings that troubled Guardiola in his first year at the club. Liverpool were not flawless either but, equally, let s not be too critical when they can conjure up this much fun. It was a breathless afternoon and on this evidence, Jürgen Klopp must be pained that there is still a 15-point gap between the two teams.
This was Liverpool s first game since Philippe Coutinho s move to Barcelona and it was some response from Klopp s players bearing in mind the obvious questions about how it would affect the team. Defensively they are still far too accident-prone, Loris Karius s goalkeeping can spread anxiety and Liverpool, winning 4-1 as the clock ticked into the 84th minute, came perilously close to throwing it all away. Bernardo Silva and Ilkay Gündogan had set up an almost implausible feat of escapology but Sergio Agüero had strayed offside with City s last chance, four minutes into stoppage time, and the game was denied a final, dramatic twist.
Ultimately Liverpool had sufficiently weakened their opponents with the burst of goals from Roberto Firmino, Sadio Mané and Mohamed Salah in the 59th, 61st and 68th minutes. Guardiola can think back to that moment, at 1-1, when Nicolás Otamendi headed against the crossbar from a corner but it must have alarmed City s manager to see the way his team were thrown off their stride by opponents who played a high line, chased them down and refused to be cowed. Or as Klopp put it: “Pressing from another planet.” It was City s first league defeat of the season and, with the Champions League resuming next month, a lesson for all their potential opponents – albeit with the rider that Guardiola s team were still the first away side to score three at Anfield in a year.
As vibrant as they were going forward, Liverpool certainly looked susceptible in defence and Leroy Sané s goal to make it 1-1, beating Karius at his near post, was just the latest reminder that Klopp s men will continue to be held back until they have a goalkeeper who is suitable for a club of their ambitions. Karius has previous, of course, and the only possible mitigation was that most of the blame should be apportioned to Joe Gomez for leaving Sané with the chance in the first place.
