Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola has singled out a Liverpool player as ‘top-of-the-line within the Premier League’ in his position.
Guardiola’s side thumped Liverpool 3-0 on Sunday because of goals from Erling Haaland, Nico Gonzalez and Jeremy Doku.
The result has moved City as much as second within the Premier League table, 4 points behind leaders Arsenal.
Despite Liverpool’s defeat on the Etihad, Guardiola was left impressed by the performance of their right-back Conor Bradley.
‘[Doku] had an excellent game against top-of-the-line full-backs within the Premier League,’ Guardiola said after the match.
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‘[Bradley] is so quick, I saw his game against Vinicius Junior [vs Real Madrid on Tuesday]’.
Pep Guardiola hails ‘amazing’ Nico O’Reilly
Guardiola also heaped praise on his own player, Nico O’Reilly, following the win over Liverpool.
‘Nico O’Reilly was amazing,’ Guardiola added. ‘Normally, everyone was extraordinary because they (Liverpool) are still the champions. Sometimes we put a full-back inside, sometimes he has been 10 or eight.
‘He can play. His presence in set-pieces within the long balls is fast. He’s clever – he plays really good. I believe he was really good, he has been doing really good.’
Metro @ The Match: Wirtz ghosts again
Evaluation from Metro‘s Head of Sport James Goldman after Man City’s 3-0 victory over Liverpool…
Be careful Arsenal
Any suggestion that Mikel Arteta’s previously relentless winning machine would sleepwalk their method to the title was at all times fanciful prior to this weekend. It’s pure folly now after a few familiar failings reared their head on the Stadium of Light on Sunday, before City laid down an emphatic marker against Liverpool. City have hunted down the Gunners from less promising positions up to now and although the personnel is perhaps different, Arsenal’s failure to go course and distance up to now is more likely to haunt them until they finally recover from the road. Nothing about City’s recent form suggests they’re going to offer them a straightforward ride.
City’s wing wizards
While they’ve still got to go some to emulate a few of their illustrious predecessors, there’s definitely shades of Riyad Mahrez and Raheem Sterling concerning the current City widemen. Jeremy Doku gave Conor Bradley an infinitesimally more testing time than Vinicius Jnr in midweek and his electric dribbling style now, more ceaselessly than not, culminates in end product. On the other flank, Rayan Cherki’s magnetic first touch and inventiveness neatly complimented the qualities of those around him before he was withdrawn early within the second period.
Nico shows why he’s been called up by England
England’s left-back position is definitely up for grabs given the variety of options Thomas Tuchel has experimented with over the course of his tenure. Myles Lewis-Skelly’s relative inactivity for Arsenal has handed a possibility to Nico O’Reilly and it’s one the City teenager looks primed to take. Tasked with taming Mohamed Salah, the 20-year-old hardly gave Liverpool’s talisman an inch and his poise on the ball, a pre-requisite for any City player in Pep Guardiola’s system, helped his side navigate its way out of several tight spots and spring dangerous attacks.
Wirtz ghosts again
Doku’s improvement this season and man of the match display served as a timely remind that it continues to be way too soon to put in writing off one among Liverpool’s two headline summer signings, but this was one other concerning performance. So infrequent was his involvement in the sport that it was difficult to find out the role he had been assigned. Either way, he looks in poor health relaxed with the playmaking responsibilities he has presumably been charged with, irrespective of which combination of midfielders and forwards Arne Slot selects. Lightweight, indecisive and short on confidence, Wirtz and his manager have major issues to unravel.
Guardiola reflects on one thousandth game as a manager
Quizzed about City’s win over Liverpool being his one thousandth game as a football manager, Guardiola said: ‘My players gave me a great present with this performance against the champions.
‘We needed to perform good and plenty of good things happened, all of them performed to the best level.
‘Defensively it was really good. We all know their threat in behind with Mo [Salah] and the standard of [Dominik] Szoboszlai and [Florian] Wirtz and we have now incredible energy with our people.
‘Playing at home and winning is sweet for the international break.
‘Gigi [Donnarumma] made the saves he should. Each the full-backs were outstanding.
‘The midfielders gave us a whole lot of passes and control. After all the specter of Jeremy [Doku] was outstanding alongside Erling [Haaland].’
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