Gary Neville has described Liverpool as "scruffy" during their 4-1 defeat to Manchester City as Pep Guardiola's side were praised.
The Citizens applied pressure on Premier League leaders Arsenal in the early kick-off with a resounding win over the Reds. For Jurgen Klopp, it was another chastening defeat and their ninth of the league season as their Champions League qualification hopes were dealt a blow.
Mohamed Salah put the visitors ahead after being teed up by Diogo Jota but Jack Grealish and Julian Alvarez combined before the break to restore parity. A seven-minute sequence at the beginning of the second-half, including a goal just 57 seconds after the interval, brushed Liverpool aside.
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After playing well in parts, Neville believes six key figures of Liverpool's structure became 'stretched' which allowed City to click into gear.
Speaking on the Gary Neville Podcast, he said: "With Liverpool you just never know, they've got the quality to go to Manchester City - they've not got Haaland - so I watched that game with interest.
"I thought Manchester City played very well... They really picked Liverpool apart although Liverpool went 1-0 up. I thought Liverpool in the first half-an-hour played well. When I say they played well, I don't think they played well on the ball - they were scruffy on the ball.
"The back four pushed up the pitch, Fabinho and Henderson, Salah and Gakpo kept really close together with Van Dijk and Konate which meant the City midfield players weren't quite getting the joy. But all of a sudden, it started to open up a little bit, the spaces started to get bigger between Salah and Gakpo, Henderson and Fabinho then Van Dijk and Konate.
"De Bruyne and Gundogan started to move wider a little bit which stretched Henderson and Fabinho and they didn't know whether to go on to Stones or Rodri then they ended up a little bit in between."
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