Liverpool's 'Slot machine' hits top gear as Haaland's, Man City's crisis deepens

Liverpool moved nine points clear at the top of the Premier League and opened up an 11-point gap between themselves and Manchester City after sending Pep Guardiola’s crisis-hit champions crashing to a sixth defeat in seven games with a 2-0 win at Anfield.

Cody Gakpo‘s opener in the 12th minute and a 78th minute Mohamed Salah penalty sealed a victory which was more comfortable than the scoreline suggests. Liverpool could have won by a much heavier margin.

Having dropped first-choice goalkeeper Éderson in favour of understudy Stefan Ortega, City boss Guardiola had hoped to inspire a change of fortune for his faltering side. But Liverpool dominated from the opening stages and the win puts Arne Slot’s team in a commanding position in the title race ahead of a midweek fixture list that sees them travel to Newcastle.

City, meanwhile, have now dropped out of the top four and face Nottingham Forest at the Etihad on Wednesday after setting an all-time worst winless run for Guardiola with this defeat. — Mark Ogden

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Liverpool’s Slot machine hits top gear

A banner in the Liverpool crowd heralded “Arne’s Slot Machine” and you had better get used to Arne Slot’s team being described that way because in less than six months, the former Feyenoord coach has taken Jurgen Klopp’s team and made it his own in emphatic fashion.

The early-season assessment of Slot’s Liverpool was that the new boss had injected pragmatism into the team and that they were less exciting to watch as a consequence. But don’t believe any of that because against City, Liverpool showed that they are just as dangerous and eye-catching under Slot, but the new Liverpool does it with more organisation.

In the first half especially, Liverpool’s front three pressed as ferociously as they ever did under Klopp — it was the same when Darwin Núñez robbed Rúben Dias to create the move which led to Mohamed Salah’s second-half penalty. City could not cope with the intensity and Liverpool should have been three or four goals clear by the interval.

The determination was also evident in midfield, where Ryan Gravenberch and Alexis Mac Allister have formed a formidable double act in the centre of the pitch. They are both tenacious ball-winners, but they can also set the tempo when in possession, while in front of them, Dominik Szoboszlai brings energy, passing and drive that offers a real link between midfield and attack.

But it is the energy that Liverpool expend that is most impressive. This is a team of winners, players who have won all the big honours, but Slot has been able to take them to another level by making just the slightest of tweaks.

This was Klopp’s team, but it is now the Slot machine. — Ogden

Gundogan embodies City’s aging problem

Ilkay Gündogan lasted 57 minutes of this game before being substituted by Pep Guardiola, and the Manchester City manager ended the former Germany midfielder’s Anfield ordeal by taking him off.

Gundogan is a bona fide City legend, having been a key figure in the club’s biggest successes under Guardiola. He captained the club to the treble in 2023, and also famously delivered the 2021-22 Premier League title with a late winner in the final game against Aston Villa.

But Gundogan is now 34 years old, and he looked like a player who was well past his prime against Liverpool.

It seems that Gundogan’s year at Barcelona last season has taken a toll on the player because he has returned to the Premier League and is now incapable of coping with the pace and intensity of the league. At Anfield, he was chased down endlessly by Ryan Gravenberch and Alexis Mac Allister and forced into a series of mistakes, repeatedly losing possession.

But Gundogan, who has made 17 appearances in all competitions since returning the club, is not the only City player who looks as though time has caught up with them. Kyle Walker, Nathan Aké and Bernardo Silva were also off the pace at Anfield, but with an aging Gundogan at the heart of midfield, it is no surprise that City are struggling. — Ogden

Gakpo keeps delivering

Few players have benefitted more from Arne Slot’s arrival than Gakpo. Despite making 53 appearances in all competitions last season — the second-highest of any Liverpool player — he was often relegated to a supporting role within the squad, entrusted with filling in across the forward line and even, on occasion, in midfield.

He started the campaign as the Reds’ fifth-choice attacker, with Luis Díaz, Nunez and Diogo Jota all ahead of him in the pecking order. But an injury to the latter has opened the door for Gakpo to impress in recent weeks and the Dutchman has seized that opportunity.

Under Slot, Gakpo has played almost exclusively on the left; the position he excelled in for PSV Eindhoven and usually occupies for the Netherlands. Reverting to a role on the flank has paid dividends for the 25-year-old, whose goal against Manchester City was his sixth in seven games and his second in a matter of days following his superb header against Real Madrid in midweek.

It is telling that, in what was arguably Liverpool’s biggest game of the season against Pep Guardiola’s side, Slot opted to start Gakpo on the left with Diaz through the middle, rather than deploying Nunez as an outright No.9. And it didn’t take long for that decision to be vindicated, with the Reds’ No.18 diverting Salah’s sumptuous pass into the back of the net after an electric opening 12 minutes from the hosts.

Gakpo could have added to his tally later in the game were it not for an excellent block by Matheus Nunes but, as City started to turn the screw after the break, the Netherlands international did not shy away from his defensive duties and rightly received a standing ovation when he was substituted in the second half. — Beth Lindop

Haaland offers nothing when he doesn’t score

Manchester City’s winless run has coincided with star striker Erling Haaland scoring just two Premier League goals since the end of September, and he never came close to ending that miserable sequence against Liverpool. Haaland has previously been criticised for offering little to his team if he doesn’t score, but the 24-year-old has been so prolific in a City shirt that his quiet games tend to be quickly forgotten about, especially if his side win anyway.

But City aren’t winning right now and Haaland isn’t scoring, so it is a bad combination and one that gets to the heart of the team’s struggles. Against Liverpool, the Norway international was anonymous. He touched the ball just 15 times in the whole game and only had one chance.

Haaland’s xG of 0.11 tells you just how ineffective he was against Arne Slot’s side, but if City are to emerge from their slump, they absolutely need more from Haaland than goals in easy wins.

The true mark of a great striker is when they score to settle the tightest of games against the strongest opponents. Haaland isn’t doing that, but he’s also not doing it against the weakest teams right now. — Ogden

Salah makes Liverpool believe again

As Salah left the pitch late in the second half — having added yet another goal and assist to his already mind-boggling list of accolades — the Anfield crowd rose to applaud a player who now surely warrants a place alongside Sir Kenny Dalglish and Steven Gerrard as one of the club’s greatest ever players.

The Egypt international has barely been out of the headlines this past week after following up his match-winning turn against Southampton with a rare interview about his Liverpool future, as his current contract is set to expire at the end of the season.

“We are almost in December and I haven’t received any offers yet to stay in the club, [so] I’m probably more out than in,” Salah told reporters after the 3-2 win at St Mary’s Stadium.

On Sunday’s evidence, Liverpool can ill afford to lose a player who has already registered 13 goals and 11 assists in all competitions this term. Once again against City, Salah proved to be the difference-maker, teeing up Gakpo to score the opener before converting from the penalty spot after Díaz was felled inside the area.

It was not a flawless showing from the 32-year-old, who spurned a great opportunity when through on goal in the second half. But his overall performance was another timely reminder of his enduring brilliance, with the celebrations that greeted his spot-kick reminiscent of the euphoria inside Anfield when he scored against Manchester United in the 2019-20 season to put Liverpool 16 points clear at the top of the table.

That season ended with the Reds lifting the Premier League trophy for the first time in 30 years. If Salah keeps performing at his current level, Slot’s side almost certainly won’t have to wait as long for the next one. — Lindop