Arne Slot's moving train and Pep Guardiola's crisis

Liverpool stunned Manchester City with a dominant win at Anfield, leaving Guardiola's side 11 points behind. Can the champions bounce back ?

Mohammed Salah has hinted that his Liverpool career is winding down but is Manchester City in deep trouble? (Photo credit: BBC)

The English Premier League struck again at the weekend with strange results across multiple grounds, including our feature game, the fall of Manchester City at Anfield.

While many did not anticipate an outright victory for the champions away at Liverpool, you would have expected them to compete better than they ultimately did. Given Pep Guardiola's frustration to the extent of reacting to the Anfield crowd, is it time for a panic button at the Etihad?

Liverpool's eleven-point lead over the reigning champions has humbled everyone at Manchester City, with Guardiola acknowledging that the Cityzens must reset and start anew.

Guardiola had the privilege of welcoming Ruben Dias and Jeremy Doku for the trip to Anfield, but the latter was left on the bench, and after seeing how the game panned out, you wonder why the Belgian didn’t start, as he was the major live wire in the second half when he came on.

Liverpool stuck to their guns, aimed at the champions’ jugular from the blast of the whistle, and they didn’t rest until they got the points wrapped. Trent Alexander Arnold and Mohammed Salah combined to set up Cody Gakpo for the opener, and the rest is history.

Manchester City played like a Prime Championship team in the first half; they labored to string passes together and only managed one wayward Rico Lewis effort on goal, while the second half was better. You can’t look past what happened in the first half.

"I congratulate them [Liverpool], and we'll reset and start from zero, which is difficult to believe," Guardiola said. "We will restart and try to make a good run." We accept the reality as it is and recover. I want the team back—the players back.

"I heavily depend on these players; I am aware that they are fulfilling this role." We'll see what happens by the end of the season. I have a feeling that we can build something; you may call me delusional, but I believe we can succeed.

"For the first 15 to 20 minutes, Liverpool was unstoppable; they started so strong. We tried to play with a lot of control and passes, but it was difficult to take it." Nottingham Forest is next in line for Manchester City after what happened at Anfield. Are we expecting the 9^th straight game without a win?