The Belgian looked a shadow of his former self while Josko Gvardiol was helpless to stop the electric Mohamed Salah in a disheartening defeat
Manchester City used to relish those top-of-the-table clashes at home to Liverpool, but this was all about enduring a 90 minutes in which they knew they were miles apart from Arne Slot's slick winning machine, who edged closer to the Premier League title with a 2-0 win over the champions.
Mohamed Salah scored the first and set up the second for Dominik Szoboszlai in a manner reminiscent of the way Kylian Mbappe ravaged City and dumped them out of the Champions League in midweek. It was not a virtuoso display like the Frenchman's, but it was befitting of the way Salah has dominated this season, and City had no one who could stop him or compete with him, not least Kevin De Bruyne, who looked utterly out of place in a fixture of this level.
The writing was on the wall from the moment the starting XIs landed, with Erling Haaland not in the squad due to injury and Ruben Dias, Bernardo Silva and Ilkay Gundogan confined to the bench. The crowd were still up for the occasion, and Jeremy Doku's twisting runs down the left and Savinho's pace on the other flank gave them hope, but they were let down by their propensity to give the ball away too often, with the woeful De Bruyne the biggest culprit in that respect.
City were undone by Liverpool's quick-thinking as no one expected Alexis Mac Allister to find Szoboszlai with a floor pass from the corner and for the Hungarian to flick the ball to Salah, whose shot was deflected past Ederson by Nathan Ake. More criticism could be made of how they let in the second, Josko Gvardiol failing to cut out the pass towards Salah or stop the Egyptian from teeing up Szoboszlai, who was picked up by no one as he wrong-footed Ederson to score. In between both goals, City did have the ball in the net from Omar Marmoush, but the Egyptian was clearly offside.
Liverpool had the ball in the net again from Curtis Jones in the second half, but City were spared by a marginal offside spotted by VAR. The decision was greeted by the biggest roar of the afternoon from the home fans, who were stunned into silence by their own team's impotence against the champions elect.
GOAL rates City's players from the Etihad Stadium…
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Ederson (5/10):
Beaten with first two shots he faced and flummoxed on both occasions, despite only one of them taking a deflection. Made a top-drawer save from Diaz in the second half.
Rico Lewis (5/10):
Too slow to reach Salah from the corner. His passing gave City balance in middle, but they will not go far if they keep playing him in defence.
Abdukodir Khusanov (7/10):
An improvement on his harrowing night in the Spanish capital. Cut out a dangerous Diaz ball in the first half and snuffed out a late Szoboszlai effort. Also good on the ball linking defence with attack.
Nathan Ake (5/10):
His deflection helped fool Ederson and he looked in two minds when Liverpool countered for the second.
Josko Gvardiol (4/10):
Made two errors simultaneously for the second goal as he allowed Salah to reach a through ball and then allowed the Egyptian to find Szoboszlai.
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Nico Gonzalez (5/10):
Didn't pick up Szoboszlai, although too much was asked of him trying to anchor the midfield on his own in a game of this magnitude.
Phil Foden (5/10):
Needed to do much more. He had three shots on goal, none of which came close to troubling Alisson, and his efforts to dictate the game from deeper fell flat.
Kevin De Bruyne (4/10):
This felt like his farewell to the big time. He used to make the difference in these games, but here he was a liability, giving the ball away cheaply and in dangerous areas. The ovation he got when he was substituted felt more like a show of sympathy than a recongition for his efforts.
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Savinho (6/10):
Had a good go at Robertson but had no end product.
Omar Marmoush (5/10):
As on Wednesday, he got scant support in attack, and when he did get a shooting opportunity, he timed his run terribly.
Jeremy Doku (7/10):
The one player who gave City's supporters belief. Always looking to create something with his electric pace and trickery, although couldn't turn the flashes of excitement into anything substantial.
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James McAtee (6/10):
Had more energy and confidence than De Bruyne, but never looked capable of leading a turnaround.
Ilkay Gundogan (5/10):
Was never likely to spark a revival. A promising break was halted by his botched pass to Doku.
Ruben Dias (5/10):
Didn't shine in his few minutes on the pitch.
Mateo Kovacic (5/10):
Came on to give Gonzalez some respite.
Pep Guardiola (5/10):
It wasn't clear what he was expecting with such a lightweight midfield, and he must have felt despondent at how his side conceded such cheap goals and looked so lacking in ideas of how to turn things around.
