The opener came after seven minutes as Coutinho robbed Bacary Sagna and Mangala turned Firmino’s cross into his own net.
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Sergio Aguero pulled one back for City, but Martin Skrtel smashed home the fourth late on to put the game beyond doubt, with Liverpool serving up arguably their performance of the season.
“It is important also he can demonstrate in every game because I am very happy with the way he is playing so far that he is an important player and will be more important in the future”.
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.
“I am more than angry”, Pellegrini said.
“The good news is that we can do better”.
“At half-time I had a little bit of a feeling some of them were feeling surprised we were in the lead here and that is what we have to learn”.
Manchester City versus Liverpool is a fixture that has brought both goals and points to the sky blue side in recent years however. They had more money but that’s not what’s important.
Sturridge has not played under Klopp and has managed 242 minutes all season because of hip and knee injuries. “We have a fantastic game to play against Liverpool and we need to get back to winning games, though we are expecting a hard match”.
While Klopp couldn’t hide his delight at the performance, he was keen to challenge his side to build upon it.
And Klopp revealed that defender Mamadou Sakho, who sustained medial ligament damage against Crystal Palace, is not as seriously hurt as first thought.
Aguero is widely regarded as one of the best centre forwards in the world game, with City a much more risky proposition with him in their side.
10th place Liverpool will be out to cut the gap on leaders Manchester City when they travel to the Etihad on Saturday evening.
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“Who are our attacking midfielders at this moment: (Jordon) Ibe, (Roberto) Firmino, Coutinho, (Adam) Lallana – they are all in a row with the other guys (at Dortmund)”.
