Micah Richards admits Man City were “absolutely battered” – “Let Pep down”

Jamie Carragher ruled out a fifth consecutive Premier League title for Manchester City after Sunday’s 2-0 defeat at Anfield saw them fall 11 points behind leaders Liverpool.

City’s struggles continued as they suffered a fourth consecutive league defeat, inflicted by an early Cody Gakpo goal and a second-half Mohamed Salah penalty.

Liverpool fans sang, ‘you’re getting sacked in the morning’ at City boss Pep Guardiola, who responded by holding up six fingers in reference to the number of titles he has won with the club, but Carragher said there would be no seventh this term.

“I don’t see there’s any way back for Manchester City now,” Carragher said on Sky Sports.

“Sometimes you need to lose so people realise what you’ve done so you don’t take it for granted what you have done. And maybe he’s sending a message to the hierarchy, the people above him and the fans.

“But this season Manchester City will not win the Premier League.”

Former City defender Micah Richards said: “I wouldn’t say it’s the end of an era. It’s a difficult time but they’re going to find a way to get back. Some of the players have let [Guardiola] down today. They’re a shadow of their best.

“I said before he’d be looking for a reaction and he didn’t get that today. In the first half Liverpool could have been three or four up.

“It’s just too easy to play them. Defensively they’re not good enough, in the midfield they’re overrun and up front they’ve got nothing at this moment in time.

“In the previous games you could say they played well and dominated the ball but if I’m being honest Liverpool absolutely battered them.

“They’re a shadow of the team we’ve witnessed over the Pep era and it’s strange to see.”

Former Manchester United captain Roy Keane said it was a “huge” result for Liverpool.

“It was a great performance and City obviously look way off it,” he said.

“Liverpool are well ahead of them. Defensively they were rock solid. The energy, the pace, the power. They should have scored a lot more goals.

“There was a real desire to keep a clean sheet. It was an outstanding Liverpool performance. They turned up, particularly their big players.”