Pep hits back at Anfield after Liverpool widen chasm to listless Man City
Pep Guardiola admitted he was surprised to be taunted as Liverpool poured more misery on his Manchester City team and extended their lead at the top of the Premier League on Sunday.
Goals in each half from Cody Gakpo and Mohamed Salah earned the leaders a 2-0 win and put them nine points clear at the summit but did not do justice to Liverpool’s dominance.
Anfield rubbed it in with a rendition of “You’re getting sacked in the morning”, to which Guardiola responded by holding up six fingers – one for each title he has won with champions City.
“All the stadiums want to sack me. Maybe they are right with the results we’ve been having,” said the Catalan, whose side are now 11 points off the top.
“I didn’t expect it from the people from Liverpool but it’s fine, it’s part of the game, and I understand completely. We’ve had incredible battles together. I have respect for them.”
Hesitant City never looked like avoiding losing four straight league games in the same season for the first time since 2007. They have now lost six of their last seven in all competitions.
Salah laid on Gakpo’s opener after just 11 minutes and scored himself for the sixth fixture in succession, converting a penalty 12 minutes from time after Stefan Ortega felled Luis Diaz.
The Egypt forward ran straight to the crowd to celebrate in what appeared to be a pointed reminder of his popularity amid an ongoing contract stand-off with Liverpool chiefs.
“In my head, until now, this is the last City game I will play for Liverpool [at Anfield] so I was just going to enjoy it,” said Salah.
“The atmosphere was incredible so I will enjoy every second here. Hopefully we just win the league and will see what will happen.”
Liverpool manager Arne Slot’s only gripe was that they could and should have scored more. Virgil van Dijk hit a post before Gakpo’s opener and Salah blazed over later on.
“We came close to perfection,” said Slot. “We weren’t perfect but we came close to perfection. That’s the only way to beat a quality team like City.”
Despite the chasm opening up between the sides – City aren’t even in the top four following their slump – Guardiola declined to concede the title to Liverpool after 13 games.
“The season is long,” he said. “We have to think about making results, then some players will come back and we’ll be better. There are many things to fight for and we’re going to try.”