Man City 3 Liverpool 0: Was disallowing Van Dijk header ‘wrong’ as Slot says? What made Doku so dangerous?

Jeremy Doku was the star as Manchester City beat Liverpool 3-0 at the Etihad, but the win did not come without controversy.

Erling Haaland opened the scoring at the end of a great team move, shortly after having a penalty saved, Nico Gonzalez added a deflected second and Doku capped a brilliant individual display with the third. However, Virgil van Dijk had a headed ‘goal’ that would have made it 1-1 ruled out when Andy Robertson was controversially adjudged to have been in an offside position and a VAR review did not overturn the initial on-pitch decision.

The result leaves City in second place at the November international break, four points off leaders Arsenal, with Liverpool eighth, a further four behind.

Jordan Campbell, Andy Jones and Michael Cox break down the action from the Etihad.

Is entertainment back?

There have been plenty of moans — many of them justified — about the quality of football in this season’s Premier League.

A lot of long throws and set pieces, and an absence of dribbling and penetrative passing moves have meant an attritional Premier League season thus far.

But this was more like it: technical football, the ball on the ground, the game played at a good tempo but not just frantic running for the sake of it. Pressing was not the main focus of the game.

City focused on getting players between the lines before threading passes through from defence. Their wide players, Doku and Rayan Cherki, had freedom to move inside or stay wide. Liverpool, meanwhile, have beefed up the centre with three ‘proper’ midfielders in the engine room, but this has meant Florian Wirtz has become more influential, drifting inside from the left and finding pockets of space. He got two opponents booked in the first half, as City looked scared of his dribbling.

OK, Haaland’s headed opener was an old-school cross and header, but it came at the end of a long, flowing passing move, the type we’ve seen little of this season. It featured every City outfielder. It featured patience, precision and a spot of individual brilliance. No complaints here.

Michael Cox

Should Van Dijk’s header have stood?

Liverpool thought that they had equalised when Van Dijk arrowed a header into the bottom corner from Mohamed Salah’s drilled cross. Having been on the wrong end of so many set-piece goals, it looked like the tables had turned — until a flag spoiled the celebrations.

As Van Dijk’s header sailed into the net, Andy Robertson was standing in an offside position. Despite not being in the eyeline of goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma, he was adjudged to be interfering with play.

On X, the Premier League Match Centre account explained the decision as this: “The referee’s call of offside and no goal to Liverpool was checked and confirmed by VAR – with Robertson in an offside position and deemed to be making an obvious action directly in front of the goalkeeper.”

The use of the phrase “directly in front” will cause plenty of frustration for Liverpool because Robertson was clearly not in front of the goalkeeper. The Premier League rules state that a player will be penalised if they are:

Preventing an opponent from playing or being able to play the ball by clearly obstructing the opponent’s line of vision

Challenging an opponent for the ball

Clearly attempting to play the ball which is close when this action impacts on an opponent

Making an obvious action which clearly impacts on the ability of an opponent to play the ball

Robertson was not challenging for the ball or attempting to play the ball as he ducked. He was also not obstructing the opponent’s line of vision, as he was on the other side of the goalkeeper from where the header came in.

The last point is the point of contention, but Donnarumma still dives for the ball, but cannot get to it because of the placement of the header.

A similar incident occurred in the game between Manchester City and Wolverhampton Wanderers last season when Bernardo Silva was in an offside position when John Stones headed past Jose Sa.

The decision was initially ruled offside, but after a VAR review – with Chris Kavanagh also the referee in that game – it was given after Silva was deemed to have no impact on the goalkeeper.

It is difficult to see how that is different from the Robertson situation. Yet one was given and the other wasn’t.

Andrew Jones

What made Doku so dangerous?

When the man characterised as having no end product turns up with a basket full, it is going to be your day.

That is how it proved for Doku, often an enigma but who on Sunday put in such an electric display that it felt cruel for him to run at Conor Bradley and Ibrahima Konate any longer.

The Belgian is the best player in the world over 10 yards, according to Guardiola. He went some way to proving that in his first two seasons in England, but this was the year he had to make the step up and deliver the numbers that matched his dribbling skills.

His levels have still fluctuated this season, but it was he who rounded the goalkeeper for the penalty — even if he should have squared it — and his curling finish from outside the box killed the game as a contest.

He is now on three goals and four assists in all competitions, but this was the level of a player who should scale greater heights this season.

Liverpool tried to contain him and often had two men against one, but he continually demoralised them, this time picking the right option more often than not.

Jordan Campbell

What does this defeat mean for Liverpool?

After back-to-back confidence-boosting victories, this Liverpool performance was night and day from the dominant win over Real Madrid in midweek.

Arne Slot stuck with the same team, but they lacked the same intensity and aggression that had typified their victories over Madrid and Aston Villa. It began with City allowing Konate to have the ball and both his distribution and the lack of hold-up play from those receiving the ball never allowed the away side to gain any territory.

Mohamed Salah and Wirtz both struggled to impact the game, and Hugo Ekitike was largely anonymous due to a lack of service. Liverpool’s midfield three also didn’t have the zip in and out of possession they have in the last two games.

This was the Etihad, one of the toughest games of the season, and Liverpool were going to have to suffer during periods of the game. But this performance fell way below the standards that have been set since Slot arrived last season.

They do not look like title challengers, and while it is still very early in the season, it is difficult to see how Liverpool finish above either Arsenal or Manchester City.

Andrew Jones

How good was City’s opening goal?

If neither Robertson nor Wirtz could remember to close down the cross for City’s opening goal, it was likely because City had passed them into submission.

Haaland headed home the cross from Matheus Nunes, and it meant that every single outfield player had touched the ball in the build-up to the goal. Twenty passes led to Nunes crossing for the Norwegian and it encapsulated how City dominated the first half, resisting any pressure Liverpool applied by somehow always having a man spare.

It was a more rudimentary route to goal for the opener as, after gradually swapping passes with Cherki and Bernardo Silva on the right flank, Nunes was afforded plenty of time to deliver to the back post.

Ibrahim Konate looked favourite to win the ball, but he got caught under it. Still, he actually managed to get the first contact on the ball as it grazed the top of his head.

It did not influence Haaland’s attempt to head the ball, though, as he towered above him and still guided it into the far corner. The subtle deflection made the finish all the more impressive.

If it were anyone else, it would be reasonable to suggest an element of fortune played its part, but this was his 14th goal in just 11 games, the joint-most any player has managed in Premier League history — equalling his own record in 2022-23.

His brain may actually be so hardwired to the goal frame that it accounted for the deflection.

Jordan Campell

Redemption for Mamardashvili?

From zero to hero, Mamardashvili’s biggest moment of his short Liverpool career came at the Etihad Stadium.

On 10 minutes, a terrible clearance from Konate hit City’s Doku and put him one-on-one with the Liverpool goalkeeper. The Georgia international was out of his goal quickly, as Doku tried to skip past him to make his shooting angle better.

Although his outstretched foot did not appear to make contact with the winger, Mamardashvili’s knee did in the following through, and after a VAR review, a penalty was given.

Despite being faced with the league’s most in-form striker in Haaland, Mamardashvili guessed the right way, diving to his left to make the save.

Any questions of potential encroachment were waved away with Mamardashvili’s foot on the line, and only part of a Liverpool player’s boot over the line.

It is his speciality. Since the start of 2023-24, no goalkeeper has saved more penalties in Europe’s big-five leagues than Mamardashvili’s six.

The 25-year-old arrived from Valencia in the summer — a year after a £25million deal was agreed — as the long-term successor for Alisson. After the Brazilian international picked up a hamstring injury against Galatasaray, Mamardashvili has been thrown in at the deep end. He has made some good saves, but also faced some questions during his seven appearances since his debut.

After successive clean sheets against Aston Villa and Real Madrid, this felt like a big moment for him – even with what came after.

Andrew Jones

What did Guardiola say?

Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola told BBC Radio 5 Live after the match: “They are the champions of England. We performed really good. Second half was a little sloppy but I am really happy with that.

“The team played good and sometimes you don’t play good and you find the goal. But we played really good anyway, and today I am so happy to celebrate it with my family like old times. When they come, it is so special for me.

“From my experience, the season is so long. The teams that don’t give up will be there. Then maybe we will be champions but we have to keep going.”

What did Slot say?

Speaking to Sky after the match, Liverpool manager Arne Slot said: “It’s been a very good start of the week with a very bad end of the week. City away is difficult for everyone. We won here last year because we scored a set piece and then had to defend really hard.

“Today I don’t think it was ever going to be our game. We need to improve. I didn’t need this game to know this.

“Last season when we were eight points clear it never felt like we were done already. The performance needs to be better but this week gave me a lot of positives to take into the games after the international break. In moments like this you could only focus on the negatives but there are lots of positives as well.”

On Liverpool’s disallowed goal, Slot said: “It’s difficult for me to give my view but it’s obvious that the wrong decision has been made. He didn’t interfere at all with what the goalkeeper could do. The same referee allowed the same type of goal for City against Wolves last season.”

What next for City?

Saturday, November 22: Newcastle (Away), Premier League, 5.30pm UK, 12.30pm ET

What next for Liverpool?

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