As the last great manager of the once-proud team that now masquerades as Manchester United said, now it really is squeaky bum time.
This was not just another humiliation of old enemies who no longer occupy the same footballing space as Liverpool, this was an emphatic message to Manchester City and Pep Guardiola.
The City manager said he would be watching events at Anfield avidly and what he saw must have worried him. What he saw was the exciting Luis Diaz, scorer of the first, terrifying United’s back line.
What he saw was Sadio Mane, the man who tormented City at Wembley on Saturday, in his glorious pomp, assisting and scoring. What he saw was Mohamed Salah returning to goalscoring form at the double.
What he saw was Thiago running the show. What he saw was a fully-fit supporting Liverpool cast treating a supposed Big Six rival with something verging on contempt.
Yes, City’s fate remains in their own hands but this was a statement performance from Liverpool. And that statement said City will not get away with ANY slip-ups between now and the end of the Premier League season.
The only caveat, of course, was that this was only Manchester United. Ahead of the game, Ralf Rangnick said his squad had tested out the system he intended to use and were very comfortable with it. And he was fooling absolutely nobody.
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Harry Maguire, Victor Lindelof and Phil Jones could not have looked any less comfortable had they been playing in flippers. Quite what they were doing for the opening goal is anyone’s guess, a half-hearted offside ploy easily sprung by Salah whose first-time assist was smashed in by Diaz.
From that point onwards, it was a case of damage limitation for a very ordinary United team. The gap between these teams is scary but, to be fair, most defences would have been unlocked by Liverpool’s second, a glorious passing move that ended with Mane’s wonderfully cute pass being collected and converted by Salah. And that, pretty much, was that.
United did make a better fist of things after the break but they could not have done much worse. And there was a suspicion some of these Liverpool players are becoming very adept at conserving energy for the many challenges ahead.
That is where they appear to have an edge over City, enjoying a clean bill of health and options galore. And as City and United have found out in this past week, Liverpool can win a game in one half of football.
They also have Thiago settling into supreme form. Now and again, he springs a surprise and actually plays a standard, undisguised pass. But even he found it hard to get going in a second half which was, at least, more competitive than the first.
Jadon Sancho made a difference after coming on for Jones and Marcus Rashford threatened to cause some discomfort to a strolling Liverpool back line. But Liverpool have so much attacking threat, a goal is always around the corner.
And so it proved when Diaz set up Mane for the goal the Senegal striker’s performance deserved and Salah wrapped things up with his second from a Diogo Jota pass.
Quite simply, Liverpool look unstoppable. It is still in Pep’s and City’s hands but as Sir Alex Ferguson once said …
