Liverpool boss Arne Slot has said no one should feel sorry for Pep Guardiola despite his Manchester City side having suffered a fourth consecutive Premier League defeat at Anfield on Sunday.
Liverpool won their clash against City 2-0 thanks to goals from Cody Gakpo and Mohamed Salah, to go 11 points clear of fifth-place City on the table.
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Guardiola’s side is now winless in seven games and is on its worst losing streak in the league since August 2008 — a month before Sheikh Mansour took over the club.
However, Slot was quick to point to Guardiola’s impressive record during his time as City boss when asked if he had any sympathy for the visiting manager.
“You feel sympathy or empathy with the managers that are in a really bad place,” Slot said in his postmatch news conference.
“They’ve either lost many games or they’re down at the bottom of the league but Pep has won so many things and he’s shown so many times already.
“That’s why the league is not decided in November. Last season they were eight points behind Arsenal I think in February. No one has to feel sorry for Pep, maybe for other managers but not for Pep.
“He’s won so many things and he will be able to bring City back.”
Arne Slot’s Liverpool beat Pep Guardiola’s Man City 2-0 in the Premier League. Photo by Andrew Powell/Liverpool FC via Getty Images
It has been an impressive week for Liverpool, who now have a nine-point cushion at the top of the table, having already beaten Real Madrid on Wednesday to continue their perfect run in the Champions League.
But Slot has insisted that his team should not get carried away and instead must look to keep delivering on the pitch.
He said: “Playing against Real Madrid, playing against Man City, teams that have been and are so, so good with managers that have won so many trophies, it’s always nice to come out in those situations as a winner.
“But the reason why these teams won so many things is that they weren’t able to win once or twice, they were able to win every few days. We were really happy with these two wins but we want to achieve more than this. Winning once or twice, even against these big teams, is not enough to win anything at the end of the season.
“I saw Arsenal yesterday and I saw Chelsea today, they are all capable of getting the same winning streak that we have so let’s not get carried away with one or two wins. It’s all about consistency to the end of the season, keeping the players fit and keeping them playing with this much energy.”
Keeping players fit will be paramount if Liverpool are to go on to clinch a 20th league title this term, with Slot’s defensive options already depleted owing to injuries to Ibrahima Konaté, Conor Bradley and Kostas Tsimikas.
“Conor Bradley and Ibrahima Konate will both be out for a few weeks,” Slot said. “They will not be in the team this week for sure. I don’t think Kostas will be with us in the upcoming week as well.
“These players that we have available now, it’s important even more than normal for them to stay fit. That’s also why I took Trent [Alexander-Arnold] off after 70 minutes.
“He was able to play longer, he played a very good game, defended really well again and was a major threat in attack but knowing that we play Newcastle on Wednesday and then the Merseyside derby on Saturday with only five [defenders] available, we have to take care of them.”
