Five goals, injury worries and a red card had the keyboards clattering in the Etihad Stadium press box, so let’s take a look at results...
First to the Daily Telegraph’s Sam Wallace, who wrote: “Kevin De Bruyne was the game’s outstanding performer, much of what he did perfectly executed and the epitome of City’s general capacity to sniff out weakness in their opponents.
“His pass made the first for Aguero, a threaded throughball taken around Simon Mignolet by the Argentine striker. By the end it was brutal, and Pep Guardiola subtly pointed out that with ten men at Goodison Park last month, his own team had almost won the game.”
The MEN’s Stuart Brennan noted the rarity of the scoreline, reflecting: “Manchester City racked up their biggest win over Liverpool for 80 years to claim top spot in the Premier League - temporarily at least.
“Two goals each for Gabriel Jesus and Leroy Sane, and another for Sergio Aguero demolished the Scousers, who haven’t been treated in this manner by the Blues since 1937 – when they lost 5-0 and 5-1 in the space of three days.”
The Guardian‘s Daniel Taylor was particularly impressed with Leroy Sane’s perfectly placed fifth.
“City were already winning, courtesy of Sergio Agüero, by the time the referee, Jon Moss, decided that Mané’s collision with Ederson 25 yards from goal constituted an automatic sending-off eight minutes before half-time,” he wrote.
“Gabriel Jesus headed in a second in the time added on at the end of the first half and when the same player made it 3-0 early in the second half it was almost a surprise City restricted themselves to two more. Leroy Sané, one of their second-half substitutes, scored them both and Ederson had just arrived back in the stadium to see the final one – the game’s outstanding moment – fly into the top corner.”
Finally the Daily Mail‘s Rob Draper felt that Belgian ace De Bruyne was the star man in a devastating attacking display.
“Given an opportunity to show their attacking prowess, which is considerable, they took it,” he declared. “Kevin de Bruyne ran the game; Sergio Aguero flourished; Gabriel Jesus scored twice as did Leroy Sane, who added a glorious footnote with two superb goals... City remain, as they were last season, an extraordinary attacking phenomenon when given the chance. All of their front players shone but none more so than Kevin de Bruyne.”
There’s also some transfer gossip floating around this morning.
The Sun’s Mike McGrath believes City have placed Tottenham defender Toby Alderweireld high on their wanted list.
“Alderweireld has not agreed a new deal at Spurs yet, with his adviser Stijn Francis last week insisted “he deserves either a correct contract from Tottenham or a transfer”,” McGrath writes.
“City are likely to make a move next summer if fresh terms with Spurs are not agreed. He has a contract with the north Londoners until 2020.”
That’s all for today, Blues. Keep your eye on mancity.com throughout the day for more reaction to Saturday’s win.
