Only with the breathing space afforded by four goals and 70 largely commanding minutes did Manchester City supporters finally feel comfortable goading Arne Slot about his dawn-based Liverpool demise.<\/p>\n
But in reality this FA Cup quarter-final was done long before Slot was informed he would be \u201csacked in the morning\u201d<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n While Liverpool started well enough at the Etihad, they capitulated \u2013 as this team so often has this season \u2013 at the first sign of momentum turning. The visitors had more shots and possession in the opening 15 minutes before succumbing to the sort of blitz they used to blow Pep Guardiola away with under Jurgen Klopp.<\/p>\n Liverpool scored three goals against Manchester City within: 25 minutes of a 4-1 win in November 2015<\/strong><\/a>; 23 minutes of a 3-0 win in March 2016; nine minutes of a 4-3 win in January 2018<\/strong><\/a>; and 19 minutes of a 3-0 win in April 2018<\/strong><\/a>. For a time, they were masters at rocking an otherwise unshakeable heavyweight with one blow before raining down punches.<\/p>\n This was a stark reversal of those roles. Manchester City scored four within 18 minutes either side of half time and a shellshocked Liverpool never recovered.<\/p>\n There was, mercifully, no second-half injury time. Antoine Semenyo shot from the centre circle at one point in trying to beat Giorgi Mamardashvili. Rayan Cherki was reprimanded by someone off-camera for putting a Hugo Ekitike shirt on. The commentators speculated that Slot decided not to substitute Mo Salah for fear of the mockery the Egyptian would sustain on the woefully botched first leg of his farewell tour.<\/p>\n Salah was eventually taken off for his own good, having spurned a couple of excellent opportunities before seeing a consolation penalty saved by James Trafford<\/strong><\/a>. He might not have minded being thrown under a bus here; it would at least have offered an easy way out.<\/p>\n And there was no sign of Liverpool parking one either. They seem entirely incapable of deploying any defence-first tactics on afternoons such as these, when captain Virgil van Dijk is fooled into giving a penalty away by the 21-year-old Nico O\u2019Reilly before being taken for a dog walk by Erling Haaland<\/strong><\/a> for his hat-trick goal.<\/p>\n The third Manchester City goal came directly from a Joe Gomez throw-in, to the presumed shame of Thomas Gronnemark<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n But the second was exceptional, capped off by a pass from the phenomenal Cherki, a cross from the glorious Semenyo and a header by the uncontainable Haaland.<\/p>\n This might be the stage of the season when Arsenal\u2019s hard work in establishing a nine-point lead over Manchester City comes into play and is appreciated more, because Guardiola\u2019s side looked brilliant and inspired by their Carabao Cup win<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n Yet for Liverpool, there is an increasing need to find an adjective beyond chastening for these games. After Ekitike and Florian Wirtz\u2019s positive early combinations this was a risible team effort and embarrassing managerial response.<\/p>\n In the same week one of the club\u2019s icons described some of their performances<\/strong><\/a> as \u201creally dire\u201d and noted that \u201cit\u2019s very difficult to get them back around\u201d once the fans have turned on a manager, this was not the time to surrender so meekly.<\/p>\n There is an unavoidable sense that the road for Slot is certainly no longer than Salah\u2019s, and very possibly much shorter. Liverpool are on unstable ground in the Champions League race and it is not worth wondering what sort of damage Paris Saint-Germain might inflict if Manchester City can tear them apart like this.<\/p>\n The added humiliation against City, of course, comes in the form of Marc Guehi. He has beaten Liverpool five times in a season in which the Reds bungled his signing in the summer before being reportedly rejected because of uncertainty over the manager in January<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n