Pep: 'We are far from Liverpool's level"

As long as there is even the slightest danger—practically until mathematics confirms there is no chance that Liverpool won't take the throne—Arne Slot will deny that they are close. He will focus on the tight schedule, talk about tough opponents. But on Sunday it was clear who has the champion’s mentality, who remains unfazed by anything, and who is charging toward the title. Manchester City is no longer untouchable at the Etihad for Liverpool in the Premier League; they have been knocked down, and this blow might be fatal. This kind of victory had been missing for Jurgen Klopp all these years in the league, but it has now arrived with Arne Slot, and the Citizens no longer have anything to look for in the title race.

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Right now, the Reds are in another galaxy compared to them, and even Pep Guardiola does not deny it. His team is miles away from Liverpool—at the moment.

"We are far from their level; we will see in the future. What we did in previous seasons was good, but now we are far behind. We knew that. However, the way we played was actually good. I saw many things—Manchester City has a bright future. I know people don’t believe me, but I have experience; I recognized my team against Newcastle and Liverpool. The rhythm, the pressing, the solidarity—it was really good if you analyze the match. We lost, and when you lose, there isn’t much to say, but we played well" said the Spaniard.

He also broke down the tactical approach. With Erling Haaland unavailable due to injury, he never even considered relying on crosses—it wouldn’t have made sense.

"The tactic was to enter the final third, get to the byline, and push all the way in, but we didn’t score. It was impossible to rely on crosses because they are a very tall team. We played very well; maybe we could have been more productive, but we were facing a fantastic team. In the second half, we tried some things we haven’t often done before, entering their penalty area and trying to break them there" he explained.

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Even after a big victory, Arne Slot stuck to his usual approach.

"Three days ago, we drew against Aston Villa, and people told me it wasn’t good for us. Then we won again, and everything changed. We work hard every day—there’s no secret to it. We have an 11-point lead, but Arsenal has a game in hand. You always have to adapt to the challenge in front of you. I remember how tough our match against Wolves was a week ago, and the next one will be just as challenging," said the Dutchman.

Given how dominant Manchester City has been in recent years, the primary focus was on defense—shutting down their chances completely. From that, many positive things emerged. After all, there are never doubts about Liverpool’s attack, as it is rare for Mohamed Salah, Luis Díaz, or Cody Gakpo to all have an off day. All of them struggling at the same time? Nearly impossible.

"This result was more about what we did in defense than in attack. The most important thing is to stay composed. If you want to win a big match, you need balance—you must not concede from set pieces, and you need to score one if possible. We kept them away from our goal and made sure they didn’t create as many chances as they usually do" said Slot.