It was put to Skrtel that he regularly scores against Manchester City and he joked: “I wouldn’t mind if we played them every week”.
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Roberto Firmino had his best game since his summer move from Hoffenheim, scoring his first for the club, assisting in two others.
It was about Liverpool playing the sort of intense, relentless, swashbuckling football that Jürgen Klopp hopes to make the norm on Merseyside, and a Manchester City side whose capitulation was quite shocking to witness.
Caught up in the atrocites of Paris while on duty with Germany and then denied a run-out against Holland on Tuesday due to the threat of another terrorist attack, the Liverpool enforcer could be forgiven for appearing preoccupied against City.
Roberto Firmino and Philippe Coutinho were instrumental in the dismantling of the Sky Blues.
James Milner feels there is even more to come from Liverpool after their stunning victory at Manchester City. We need common experience so we can work with it.
Liverpool went ahead in the seventh minute after Coutinho dispossessed Sagna and found Firmino, whose low cross was inadvertently scuffed in at the near post by the back-pedalling Mangala.
There was finally a City response just before the interval as Aguero found the net with an exquisite dipping shot from outside the area. “But as soon as you step on the field, it is business time”.
Speaking to reporters at his post-match press conference shortly after, Pellegrini, whose side replied through fit-again striker Sergio Aguero, described the performance as “a complete disaster”.
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp, having won 3-1 at defending champions Chelsea last month, has now taken maximum points from his meetings with two of last year’s top four.
“Today we did it all wrong. It’s not normal (for us) to play in this way”, Pellegrini said. “We try to do similar things but not always the same”.
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The Etihad visit marked the end of the seven-game, season-opening stretch of road games that we expected would define the Reds’ season.
