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Much of the discourse around Liverpool's disastrous 3-0 loss to Manchester City on Virgil van Dijk's disallowed first-half header due to Andy Robertson being in an offside position.
The Van Dijk equalizer would have changed the contest and equalized proceedings at 1-1 — coach Arne Slot noted in a post-match interview that the entire complexion of the contest would have been different.
Still, the incident glossed over a rather tepid Liverpool performance that saw the side only attempt seven shots, and six of them came from Mohammed Salah. Former Premier League striker Dion Dublin, speaking on the BBC Radio 5 commentary, slammed Liverpool for showing "nothing."
"Everyone in a light blue shirt is doing enough to get over the line," he said. "They are sitting in and saying, 'just show us what you have got' and so far Liverpool have shown nothing."
"[Pep] Guardiola has got his team where he wants them again. This is the City of old. This is the City that we remember, dominating games.. No tired minds. There should be no excuses at all [for Liverpool]. Your motivation should be that you are playing Manchester City."
Liverpool held 51% of the possession in the match, but most of the game was played in the second half with Manchester City already in control 3-0.
Including a missed Erling Haaland penalty, the Cityzens still won the xG battle 1.61 to 0.71 and led in shots 14-7, many of which coming in the first 30 minutes.
Haaland bullied beleaguered center-back Ibrahima Konate for the match's first goal. The French defender seemed to have control of the tall Norwegian in the box before Haaland outleaped him to nestle home the header.
Van Dijk reflected on the performance post-match. “The first half was difficult, and they were much more comfortable on the ball, and it was difficult for our guys to put pressure on them," he said.
"I don’t think there was a lot of danger, but Doku had a good game, and it was difficult for Conor [Bradley] in the one-on-one at times. I don’t think we were much in trouble, but we could have done better. We had to dig deep in the second half. We got more momentum in possession, but our pressing wasn’t good enough."
Liverpool rebounded from a stretch of four straight losses (and six in seven) with consecutive wins over Aston Villa and Real Madrid. The Reds will look to bounce back midweek after the international break against Nottingham Forest.
Dublin, 55, spent 1992-2004 in the Premier League, where he scored 111 league goals for Manchester United, Coventry City, and Aston Villa.
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