Jeremy Doku wasn’t exactly effusive with praise about Liverpool’s performance in their 2-0 win over Manchester City on Sunday.
The Reds secured a first Premier League win at the Etihad Stadium since November 2015 to go 11 points clear at the top of the table, capitalising on Arsenal’s defeat to West Ham on Saturday with a clinical and controlled performance against Pep Guardiola’s side.
The home team had twice as many shots as the Merseysiders and almost double the amount of possession, but Alisson Becker was rarely troubled this evening as City registered an xG of only 0.63 (Sofascore).
Doku issues unflattering Liverpool verdict
Speaking to Sky Sports after the match (via BBC Sport), Doku claimed that Liverpool weren’t vastly superior to his side on the day.
The Belgian winger said: “To be fair, if I look at the game I don’t think that they were much better than us. Two goals, one set piece and the second goal was a long ball, so well done to them.
“We know their qualities and that they like to play in behind. They did well and after it is hard to come back against a team that defends well like that.
“We played well but the situations that we had we could have dealt better with them. Today we played better against them than we did away. Of course there is a gap in points but today you can’t say that they ran over us.”
A bit sour from Doku…
To us, this feels like a touch of sour grapes from Doku, who performed impressively up against Trent Alexander-Arnold but couldn’t conjure a moment of magic to bring City back into contention.
The corner kick routine from which Liverpool broke the deadlock through Mo Salah was brilliantly worked, and the Reds’ vice-captain’s pass for the move which led to Dominik Szoboszlai’s strike was a majestic ball.
If you hadn’t seen the match but only heard the Belgian’s comments, you could be forgiven for thinking that LFC resorted to Tony Pulis-esque pragmatism to get the win today, but in truth we were composed both in and out of possession and created decisive moemnts of quality.
It wasn’t a day for putting on an all-singing, all-dancing performance like those which saw off Bayer Leverkusen, West Ham and Tottenham Hotspur earlier in the season. Liverpool played brilliantly in a different sense against City, exerting an enviable level of control over proceedings at the Etihad.
Doku will simply have to acknowledge that the result was fully deserved and that there’s a good reason why 20 points separate the teams in the current Premier League table and why numerous pundits believe the title is on its way to Anfield.
