It wasn't so much an improvement, but more a complete transformation from Liverpool.
And it is probably no exaggeration to suggest this was precisely what English football so desperately needed, to ensure the Premier League doesn’t become another Manchester City procession. No one at Anfield will be thinking they’re back in the race just yet; 10 points isn’t just a gap, in a season which will be a ridiculous war of attrition, it is a chasm that still looks too vast to make up against a side with such fire power.
Yet for Arsenal, Tottenham and Chelsea, this small sign of vulnerability from Pep Guardiola’s side, the manner in which their defence was exposed ceaselessly by Mohamed Salah and a Reds forward line that was full of desire and belief, will offer real hope of a real contest at the head of the table.
It is a pity Liverpool didn’t show that desire and belief just a bit sooner in a campaign which has only just now fired properly, but it would be churlish to question why they can do it against City, but not lesser teams.
Let’s just give credit where it is due. Jurgen Klopp’s team showed the passion of their manager, they showed the belief of their fans, and they showed even more quality than even their aristocratic opponents.
Klopp was right to point out that no team can try to match the UAE sponsored club when it comes to buying success. Yet what his side showed here, is there is a different way to bring them down.
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You have to outrun them, outfight them, and out-suffer them too. And Liverpool certainly suffered in a truly pulsating contest, that had everything from tactical and technical brilliance in the first half, to a game of sheer end to end emotion in the second.
In the end, it was won by the audacious quality of Salah, and for that, most of English football must be thankful. The pre-match talk was all of Erling Haaland, and what he will do to Premier League defences in rewriting the English football record books this season.
Yet of the two, Salah was the better player, and the more clinical. He was denied an opening goal by the brilliance of Ederson in the City goal, but no matter. The next time he was through one on one, he produced a moment of arrogant brilliance to win the game. Haaland looked dejected at the end, for good reason. By his standards, he was poor.
Salah is back after almost 10 months of appearing a shadow of himself, make no mistake - and Liverpool are too. It is enough to give Guardiola sleepless night, and the likes of Arsenal some proper food for thought.
