Dynamic Doku delivers the Dagger to Liverpool’s title hopes.

The Mercurial Manchester City winger sank the sorry reds at a soggy Etihad Stadium

Forget about VAR - on this occasion Liverpool were just BAD. A fifth Premier League defeat of the season in just 11 games left Arne Slot side in eighth place - eight points adrift of Arsenal at the summit and four behind their hosts Manchester City. Pep Guardiola’s 1000th game in management was one to remember as Erling Haaland, Nico Gonzalez and the imperious Jeremy Doku delivered a knockout punch that halted Liverpool’s mini revival in its tracks.

Along with any realistic hopes of defending their crown, Slot’s side also lost their proud record of consecutive league games with a goal - the streak ending at 44. Virgil Van Dijk thought that he’d extended that run but his header was disallowed as the away side fell foul of a pair of marginal VAR decisions. Had they levelled the scores the game may have gone in a different direction, but in truth Liverpool looked a long way off their great rivals of title races gone by.

This is the point of the season where the picture usually begins to get clearer - 10 games is the staging post that tells you what kind of season to expect. And yet, as Liverpool kicked off in sixth place, the only certainty was that they wouldn’t remain in that position. Level on points with four other teams, the best case scenario would be to enter the final winter international break as Arsenal’s closest challengers, five points adrift. The worst would be falling to ninth place, courtesy of the kind of heavy defeat that could eliminate the good work of the last two results.

These were typically Mancunian conditions, and the familiarity didn’t end there. Liverpool have been beaten badly on this ground more than most in the last decade, and as the champions trudged back to Merseyside, the pain will be on par with those dark days in 2017 and 2023.

Slot had been keen to build on a good week, naming an unchanged side from the victory over Real Madrid, with the not insignificant addition of Alexander Isak on the bench. Guardiola freshened up his side with Rayan Cherki, Ruben Dias & trusted lieutenant Bernardo Silva. No one has played more City games under Pep than their captain, and number 422 saw him line up alongside Gonzalez at the base of the midfield, allowing Cherki and Foden the freedom to roam and seek out the weak points in the Liverpool defence.

The first weak point was entirely self-inflicted. Conor Bradley looked to have dealt with the threat of Doku until Ibrahima Konate came across and clattered the ball against the Northern Irishman’s shins, giving the Belgian a free run at Giorgi Mamardashvili. The goalkeeper came flying out, and although the contact was minimal, VAR insisted referee Chris Kavanagh take a closer look, and he decided it was a penalty. Haaland has been inevitable in front of goal this season, but Mamardashvili enhanced his growing reputation as a penalty expert by guessing right to deny the Premier League’s top scorer.

The Liverpool fans enjoyed their reprieve but momentum remained with the home side. Doku was giving Bradley plenty of work, and unlike previous seasons, goalscoring chances were created. It might seem ridiculous to suggest when there’s another man with 19 goals in 15 games, but Doku has a strong claim to be City’s best player so far this season. The version of years gone by who flattered to deceive by dribbling down blind alleys has evolved into a menacing matchwinner. His bag of tricks isn’t as vast as a winger such as Vinicius Junior but his turn of pace and ability to get defenders off balance are devastating. If you aren’t on the opposing team he’s a joy to watch.

The other flank wasn’t as consistently dangerous, but just before the half hour it was the genesis of the first goal. Matheus Nunes was a more adventurous makeshift right back than Fede Valverde, and Florian Wirtz allowed him acres of space to float a cross to the back post. Haaland maneuvered himself into a dominant position behind Konate, cleverly leaning into his man as the centre half attempted a back header. The striker stooped to plant the ball beyond the reach of Mamardashvili. Inevitable.

Guardiola had the tactical upper hand, playing through the Liverpool press with ease and preying on Konate’s frailties with and without the ball. The Frenchman has become the whipping boy for fans and opponents alike, and when he’s off form it can look particularly ugly. Plenty of his teammates were also below par, and on days like this it feels churlish to spend too much time picking apart individuals. All over the pitch they were second best.

Liverpool thought that they had taken advantage of City’s frailties minutes later. The home side have begun leaking goals from set pieces in recent games, and Virgil Van Dijk planted a gorgeous header into the far corner. Unfortunately, the officials decided that the offside Andy Robertson impeded the dive of Gianluigi Donnarumma.

Like the penalty, it was a marginal call that fans and coaches of each side would no doubt see differently. Donnarumma was still able to see the line of the ball, and indeed made an attempt to save it. The line from VAR was that Robertson was deemed to be making an obvious action directly in front of the goalkeeper, but had the left back not been there it’s hard to see how the dive would have looked any different.

If that was bad luck, further was to follow. Those two lengthy VAR checks produced seven minutes of injury time, and City put it to good use. With the away side camped in their own area, a speculative shot from Gonzalez deflected off of Hugo Ekitike and then Van DIjk to squirm underneath the late reacting goalkeeper.

Half time was met with jubilation by the Etihad crowd, and frustration from the Liverpool head coach. The major moments hadn’t gone his way, but the scoreline was a fair reflection of the gulf between the two teams, something Slot admitted himself in his post-match press conference. Barely able to retain possession in the attacking half, no shots on target and no plan for how to stop Doku, Slot needed another of his magic intervals that transformed so many games last term.

The first discernable difference was the influence of Mohamed Salah. After two early runs at Nico O’Reilly that threatened to produce a shot, he was played through on goal by Ryan Gravenberch. Before he could deliver a strike, a combination of Dias and Donnarumma bundled the ball away. In lightning quick time, Doku was marauding through the red defences once more, leading Bradley on a merry dance that ended in the referee’s notebook. The 22-year-old was holding his own, but the sheer volume of dribbles he had to deal with was becoming insurmountable.

Some respite for Bradley was in his growing presence at the other end, combining with Salah to flash a dangerous ball across the face of goal. The newly-introduced Cody Gakpo could only blaze over with the goal at his mercy, sending Liverpool heads to the sky as the rain came teeming down. That was the moment the lifeboat floated away, as the best player on the pitch soon sank Liverpool once and for all. A long ball out of defence was transferred to Doku on the edge of the area. One more dainty hip swivel took him away from Konate to wallop the ball into the far corner. It was a finish to admire, and the kind of moment of quality that no man in red threatened to produce.

As the Poznan bounced around the stands, Slot stood on the touchline, fists likely clenched inside his pockets. His team had produced a greater attacking threat since the break, but couldn’t take the chances they created. Salah ran clear a second time but could only flick his effort despairingly wide of the far post with Donnarumma in his face. Isak kept his coat on as Milos Kerkez, Curtis Jones, Joe Gomez and Federico Chiesa came into the game without making any kind of impact.

One of Slot’s great qualities is that he’s never too high or too low after the game, but this was a result that will sting for the next fortnight at least:

“They were in every aspect of football better in the first half. The second half was a different game. I saw a team trying to come back into the game, but it wasn’t enough today and that is clear.”

Once club football reconvenes, the fixture list looks a little more manageable. Six of the next ten fixtures are at Anfield, after six of the last ten coming on the road. Should Slot’s men head to the San Siro with wins under their belt over Nottingham Forest, PSV, West Ham, Sunderland & Leeds, the picture will surely look more rosy. Whether they can make ground on Arsenal in that time is another matter, but Slot has much more pressing concerns right now:

“The last thing I should speak about now is the title race. We should focus on getting results.”

Their ability to do exactly that will determine whether or not this season can be saved. After as chastening defeat as this, it’s hard not to think that can only be achieved on the continent.