Arne Slot reveals what really surprised him during Liverpool loss against Man City - 'it took 14 seconds'

Arne Slot rued Liverpool’s first-half performance as they fell to a comprehensive defeat against Manchester City.

The Reds suffered a 3-0 loss at the Etihad Stadium, which has effectively ended their hopes of defending the Premier League title this season. The visitors were second-best in all departments and were condemned to a fifth league loss in six matches.

City went into half-time with a two-goal advantage through Erling Haaland and Nico Gonzalez, with the former missing a penalty when the game was at a stalemate. Liverpool had thought they equalised when Virgil van Dijk headed home a Mo Salah corner but it was deemed that Andy Robertson was offside and interfering with City goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma.

Slot was left frustrated on the touchline as Van Dijk’s effort was overturned. But the Liverpool boss had few complaints that his side found themselves trailing at the interval, with Jeremy Doku rounding off City’s victory in the second period.

"First half, they were dominating completely,” said Slot to BBC Match of the Day. “We struggled a lot with the amount of players they bring in between the lines. We went 2-0 behind - then it is even harder - when you come here to change things around in the second half. Again, it was not a good performance from us in the first half. Again, it was a fair reflection of the first half that they were 2-0 up.

"But I cannot agree with the decision being made on that. For me that is a goal. Immediately after the game people showed me the goal City made away at a Wolves last season.

"For me, that is a similar one. I was surprised because the first thing you do when you score you look at the linesman - it took 14 seconds before he raised his flag. These things didn't help us, but again City being 2-0 up at half-time was a fair reflection for the score."