Guardiola, Man City gets the better of Slot, Liverpool in Doku’s coming-out party as Konate stinks

Man City, not Liverpool, are Arsenal’s main title challengers as Pep Guardiola bossed Arne Slot and Ibrahima Konate was as bad as Jeremy Doku was good…

Having beaten Aston Villa and Real Madrid in a matter of days, Arne Slot and Virgil van Dijk smugly responded to Wayne Rooney and other haters in the media, while it’s been prematurely proclaimed that Liverpool are back. But they are really not.

At the Etihad on Sunday, Liverpool had an opportunity to extend their unbeaten record against Man City to five games and move to within five points of table-toppers Arsenal after they gave their rivals hope to their rivals, though the visitors’ inept performance swiftly evaporated their newfound optimism.

Gary Neville said that the Reds were “lacking confidence and authority as if they had come for a point”, with this sentiment ringing true as Slot’s side had no intensity to their play and placed far too much emphasis on trying to keep Man City at bay rather than cause problems of their own.

Liverpool sat back and gave Man City too much respect and the rampant hosts took advantage, with Pep Guardiola getting the better of Slot in his 1000th game as a manager.

A key component of Man City’s game plan was made evident by an alarming stat: Ibrahima Konate had more touches than any other player in the first 15 minutes.

READ: Would Arsenal be the ‘biggest bottlers’ in PL history if they fail to win the title from here?

While Man City were on the front foot and pressed Liverpool’s other players when they were in possession, they allowed Konate to delay on the ball with the feeble centre-back not comfortable with the ball at his feet for long stints. So, these moments put Slot’s team under even more pressure as they could not get out.

Konate was also at the fore as Liverpool conceded a penalty in the opening 15 minutes, as he needlessly came bounding over to intervene with a weak challenge as Conor Bradley valiantly stuck to his difficult task of defending Jeremy Doku.

This contributed to Liverpool’s messy conceding of a penalty, which Erling Haaland failed to convert as Giorgi Mamardashvili dove the right way and saved with the ball not close to the corner.

However, this undeserved reprieve for Liverpool did not alter the game’s trajectory as Haaland got his goal around the half-hour mark.

There has been a great debate over the anti-Guardiola focus on set-pieces, but Man City have largely stuck to their ways under the Spaniard as they are yet to score a non-open play goal this season, and every outfield player had a touch en route to Haaland’s header finding the bottom corner.

This initially looked like a superb header from Haaland, but it came via good fortune as Konate, who was not strong enough, flicked the ball onto the striker, who inadvertently directed it into the net.

As alluded to above, Bradley did a pretty solid job as Liverpool’s only bright spark in an otherwise rotten half, though they were unlucky not to equalise from nowhere as Andy Robertson was not blocking Gianluigi Donnarumma’s eyeline for Van Dijk’s header.

Like the missed penalty, this provided Liverpool with a moment to kick on and build momentum, but they did the opposite and were punished as City smelt blood.

The seven additional minutes before the break gave City plenty of time to assert control and Nico Gonzalez scored a rare goal via a deflected shot from the edge of the area as Liverpool were too slow to react.

Three separate pieces of good luck went Man City’s way with their two goals and Van Dijk’s disallowed header, but Liverpool could have no complaints about being 2-0 down as they were asking for trouble with how they approached the game, while far superior hosts deserved a commanding lead due to their endeavour and moments of quality.

READ: Premier League records which could be broken as Arsenal hunt ‘sh*t on a stick’ Chelsea and Liverpool

Liverpool were not as bad in the second half, but they left themselves too much to do, and it was game over with half an hour remaining as Doku rounded off his coming-out party performance with a stunning goal.

This was a particularly electric performance from Doku, who left multiple markers in his wake on many occasions, and he had the often-lacking final product to his game today, too.

For his goal, Doku dribbled inside and had the freedom to get a clean strike away as Konate could get close enough to the winger, who beautifully curled it home into the far corner of the net.

This was the level of performance everyone knows he is capable of, and one he needs to produce more consistently if he’s to be classed as one of the world’s best wingers and add another string to Haaland FC, with this match reinforcing the view that this imperfect Man City side is best-placed to put pressure on firm title favourites Arsenal.

Liverpool, meanwhile, head into the international break placed eighth in the Premier League table, and they look miles off it.

Aside from Bradley, Liverpool’s back five was incredibly frail and Konate was their weak link. Mo Salah’s struggles continued as he was bossed by Nico O’Reilly, Florian Wirtz was ineffective in his new wide role, Hugo Ekitike was not in the game, and their midfield looked leggy.

Liverpool are very much not back as they face a fight for Champions League qualification rather than the title this season, with more heavy spending required to fill holes at centre-back and in wide areas in the next two transfer windows.