Guardiola makes statement as Man City thrash Liverpool without Haaland

Man City V Liverpool: Pictures

Pep Guardiola hailed Manchester City’s 4-1 thrashing of Liverpool as the “best performance in my seven years” but refused to single out any individuals after the statement win at the Etihad Stadium. Julian Alvarez, Jack Grealish, Ilkay Gundogan and Kevin de Bruyne all got on the scoresheet, but Guardiola was keen to focus on the overall team performance as his side closed the gap to five points on Arsenal in the Premier League title race.

City were without 28-goal top scorer Erling Haaland and winger Phil Foden for the clash at the Etihad Stadium, but Guardiola’s men stepped up to plate to deliver a devastating second-half performance against struggling Liverpool. De Bruyne scored 53 seconds into the second half before Gundogan made it 3-1 seven minutes later, and Grealish added a fourth late on to complete the rout.

In particular, Alvarez – drafted in to replace Haaland in the frontline – caused the visitors a host of problems and ended up with a goal and an assist for his efforts.

Grealish also proved to be difficult to handle on the left with his twisting runs and finished off the rout with the fourth goal, having set up the Argentine earlier in the match.

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Guardiola was beaming after the final whistle after hailing his side’s performance as the best of his seven-year reign at the Etihad, but stopped short of crediting individuals – despite the magnificent displays from Alvarez and Grealish.

He told BT Sport: “From the first minute until the 93rd minute, it was almost the perfect performance. Even 0-1 down, we were playing well and Jack [Grealish] made a good save to stop a potential 0-2. We play really, really good and this is one of the best performances we had in seven years.

“The players know we are not playing bad and we go 1-0 down, we continue to do it. We discuss at half-time our process and of course, we are unlucky to score the second goal. At 1-1 and 2-1, the game was so still over the 90 minutes.

“Jack, he saved the 2-0, whether it was 0-0 or 1-0 at that moment. The free-kick was a big transition and Jack help us, but with the ball, Riyadh was exceptional too. I cannot name one better than another one, all of them were exceptional.”

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He also said to BBC Match of the Day: “The way we played, the way we found our spaces for how they defend. Our intensity, high pressing.

“As a part of that, you have to perform the way we performed. We were so stable and stuck to the plan. All the players were magnificent.”

City are now five points behind Arsenal, who face Leeds at the Emirates Stadium later on Saturday, with the Premier League set to go down to the final weeks of the season.

And Guardiola cranked up the heat by suggesting his players are ready for the fight.

“Of course, we fight to chase Arsenal and they are not used to being in this position – always in the last few years, they fight to win the Premier League and all the competitions. Last season they were two games from a quadruple and now they are playing to be in the top four – it would be incredibly difficult for us as well.

“Always we have fought against Liverpool, the way they defend, the way they play is so difficult for us. But today the players were magnificent. We played really well in all departments so hats off to our players.”

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