Pep Guardiola celebrated his 1000th senior match as a manager by thumping a longtime rival as Manchester City beat Arne Slot’s Liverpool 3-0 at the Etihad Stadium on Sunday.
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City got the benefit of a couple tight early calls, earning a Erling Haaland penalty that was saved before overcoming a Virgil van Dijk goal when Andy Robertson was adjudged to have interfered with Gigio Donnarumma’s shot-stopping.
Slot’s words will be pointed on those notes, though perhaps not-so-pointed because of what happened the rest of the way; City were the superior team over 90 minutes and Liverpool could not find the same vigor that propelled them to wins over Aston Villa and Real Madrid over the past few days.
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Both will be asked about the Premier League title, especially after Arsenal dropped points earlier this weekend. Only one will be feeling good about it, and goodness knows he won’t tip his hand.
Below will be the reaction from Pep Guardiola and Arne Slot, as soon as we get it.
Pep Guardiola reaction — Managers speak after Manchester City vs Liverpool
Thoughts on the game? “Good especially in the first half. We forgot a little bit to play in the second. They had one or two chances, Cody Gakpo, but in general we were outstanding with the right tempo to play with the ball. Nico O’Reilly was amazing was against our nightmare beast in Mo Salah. But in general everybody was great with a good point against the champions.”
Thoughts on Nico O’Reilly: “Sometimes with the fullbacks inside, he has been a No. 10 or No. 8 so that’s why he can play. He’s fast, with the ball he’s clever. He’s playing really good and he can attack outside. He’s been doing really good, not just today.”
What has Jeremy Doku done differently this season? “Listen, I know I’m good but don’t overestimate me. We don’t do that to the players. The players do that. Do you think I teach him to dribble through opponents? This is his natural talent. He was outstanding against right now one. of the best fullbacks in the Premier League.”
To what do you credit the performance? “Our defensive structure was really good. With the ball especially in the first half we were really good in the middle.”
On winning his 1000th game: “Just want to say thank you to the players and the staff. I’m so proud to do it here in Manchester with my City. Now we take a break, it’s good after a difficult week with Bournemouth, Champions League, then Liverpool.”
“I’ve had incredible battles with Robertson, with Virgil, with Mo. It’s nice that the universe dictated that the game would be against them. It could not be more perfect.”
Arne Slot reaction — Manager speaks after Manchester City vs Liverpool
Thoughts on the game: “Very, very difficult first half for us. I would almost say you can expect if you go here with their high pressing, we struggled a lot in the first half. We were hoping to get to the end of the first half, 1-0 behind. Then there 5-10 minutes that were influential to the game. Second half I saw a much better performance from us.”
Thoughts on the disallowed Virgil van Dijk goal: “It’s difficult for me to give my view. I think it’s obvious and clear that the wrong decision has been made because he didn’t interfere at all with what the goalkeeper can do. Immediately after the game I saw a video showing the referee allowing a similar goal last season for Wolves. That could’ve influenced the game in a positive way. A set piece can make a difference and we conceded 2-0 at the difference. That was maybe a fair reflection of where the first half was, 2-0, though.”
“We would’ve been lucky going 1-nil down at halftime, let alone 1-1 or 2-nil down. It was an influential decision which is not to say it would’ve changed the game because it was obviously and clear that City were a better team.”
Why were Liverpool ‘really poor’ in the first half? “Either really poor or they were really good. They were dominating the game. They were better than us. We were having a lot of trouble bringing the ball out from the back. That didn’t lead to chance after chance after chance. The goals, the first one was a cross where we were in the right position.”
Was Man City penalty correct? “In the moment you try to make it obvious and clear that it’s the wrong decision. There was contact I cannot disagree from that but after the contact he was able to put his foot in exactly the position he wanted to put it. But these moments are sometimes given by referees.”
Will this color the international break? “It’s been a very good start of the week with a very bad one. But City away is for everyone a very difficult game including for us. Last year we were able to win here because we scored on a set piece and then we had to defend really well. Today, in general they were the better team and we need to improve. If there’s anything to like today it was our second-half performance. A lot of teams that go down 3-nil here give up. That is not what I saw today.”
Title defense in trouble, eight points back after 11 games? “Last season when we were eight points clear it never felt like it was done already but I don’t think at Liverpool now we should talk about the No. 1 position we should talk about our own performances which have to be better. This week gave me a lot of positives to take into the games after the international break. You could focus only on the negatives but there were a lot of positives this week.”
