Liverpool manager Arne Slot felt no sympathy for rival boss Pep Guardiola after his high-flying side piled on the misery for fading champions Manchester City.
An early strike from Cody Gakpo and a second-half Mohamed Salah penalty at Anfield condemned City to a fourth successive Premier League defeat and put the Reds in firm command at the top.
The 2-0 win was a potentially telling blow to City’s hopes of retaining the title, with Guardiola’s team now trailing Liverpool by 11 points and having failed to win in seven in all competitions.
It is the worst run of Guardiola’s glittering career but given the Spaniard’s past successes – 18 trophies with City alone – Slot expects him to come bouncing back.
The Dutchman said: “You feel sympathy or empathy with the managers in a really bad place, they have lost many games or are down at the bottom of the league.
“But Pep has won so many things and shown so many times already – the league is not decided in November or December, so no-one has to feel empathy or sorry for Pep. Maybe other managers, but not Pep.
“He will be able to bring City back.”
Liverpool now have a nine-point lead over second-placed Arsenal but Slot, who also oversaw a momentous victory over Real Madrid in midweek, is not getting carried away.
He said: “Playing against Real Madrid and Manchester City – teams that have been and are so good with managers that have won so many trophies – it is always nice to come out as a winner.
“But the reason they have won so much is they won every three days, so while we are really happy with these two wins we know it is not enough to win at the end of the season.”
One sour note for Liverpool was the loss of defenders Conor Bradley and Ibrahima Konate after the Real game.
Slot confirmed both now face several weeks on the sidelines and the injury to Konate, who was at Anfield on crutches and in a knee brace, looked serious.
Slot said: “It is always difficult to judge how long but both will be out for a few weeks.”
Liverpool fans directed chants of ‘Sacked in the morning’ at Guardiola, who responded by holding up six fingers, one for each Premier League title he has won.
Guardiola said: “I didn’t expect Anfield to start to chant at 0-2 that I would be sacked.
“Maybe I deserve to be sacked with our results or maybe I’m still in the job because I won six Premier Leagues and a lot of titles.
“At Anfield I didn’t expect it but it’s fine. It’s part of the game. When you win, you laugh. When you lose, they laugh.”
Guardiola had no complaints about the result, though, admitting his side had lost their edge.
He said: “We congratulate Liverpool for a well-deserved victory. The first 15-20 minutes we experienced like many other times coming here in our prime – we suffered.
“People don’t like the line-up but we cannot compete against Liverpool and many many other clubs that are transitional teams.
“Our threat is not clear. We feel that we still don’t have the threat that we have always had as a team and defensively we are not solid enough right now.”
Guardiola hopes the defeat proves City’s nadir and they can now start to rebuild from Wednesday’s home game against Nottingham Forest.
He said: “I want the team back, and the players back. I have the feeling that from here we start to build something.
“Call me delusional, but I have the feeling that from here we will start to build back to winning games and confidence.
“This group of players gave me everything – probably the best years of my life as a manager – but I have to find a solution with the players to try to win games.”
