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Arne Slot acknowledged that his Liverpool team was outclassed by a dominant Manchester City as Pep Guardiola marked his 1000th match in management with a comprehensive 3-0 victory in the Premier League.
However, Slot insisted the responsibility lay with his tactical approach rather than his players' efforts as they head into November's international break sitting in eighth position. The reigning champion suffered a fifth loss in 11 Premier League fixtures.
Strikes from Erling Haaland, Nico Gonzalez and Jeremy Doku delivered City a result that reflected their commanding display in Manchester, though Virgil van Dijk felt that his goal just before half-time should have stood when it was ruled out for offside.
Slot opted for an unchanged lineup from the XI that secured a 1-0 victory over Real Madrid at Anfield in the Champions League on Tuesday, which was no surprise.
But following consecutive wins that commenced with a 2-0 success against Aston Villa last Saturday, the journey to the Etihad proved a bridge too far, with the Reds manager acknowledging his team were outplayed on the afternoon.
"It's easy for players to win their duels if the game plan and tactics are working," Slot explained. "What I did against Villa and Madrid, we struggled now a lot with them bringing so many players into the center of the pitch.
"It was difficult for some of our players then to make the right decisions. It wasn't about my players not wanting to make duels; they had to run a lot because they were so much better on the ball than us. Our players were then sometimes too late.
"I would look to the game-plan first and foremost of us and them and not blame my players at all.
"In the second half, when we were doing better, you could see could us winning much more duels. Then we were more than a few times able to win the ball, which didn't result in a goal for us. But in the second half we definitely deserved a goal.
"Of course, everyone is disappointed. It was a very good start to the week, winning against Villa and Real Madrid.
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"But if you've already faced two strong opponents, and then you have Man City coming at the Etihad, that is always difficult for every team, including us. They were by far the better side in the first half."
Most of Liverpool's players will now head off to play for their countries. They will return ahead of a home game with Nottingham Forest.
"They were in every aspect of football better in the first half," Slot continued. "I saw a lot of similarities between last season and this season, with one main difference in that after we struggled a lot in the first 25 minutes, we scored a set-piece.
"And that changed the game. City kept on outplaying us, but it did us to find some energy to keep defending well.
"Last season they didn't create that many chances, today they created more but it wasn't like they had chance after chance after chance, but this time they were much more effective with the chances they had.
"The first goal, I don't think that's a big chance but is quality; third goal is not a big chance but it's quality; second goal is a set-piece."
Liverpool.com says: Given the gap to the top of the table, the Reds need to focus on getting back into the Champions League at this stage rather than thinking about anything more than that.
A more favorable run of fixtures is on the way after the international break, though, and Liverpool will need to start getting points in those games, making the most of what looks like an easier period, at least on paper.
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