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'It can't go on' - how Liverpool's tactics helped brilliant Doku run riot
Jeremy Doku was absolutely brilliant for Manchester City in their 3-0 win on Sunday, but Liverpool's tactics were the reason he was able to run riot down their right.
Without Mohamed Salah tracking back, Arne Slot's side were always so vulnerable down that flank and I felt sorry for Conor Bradley, who was trying to stop Doku but had Nico O'Reilly to worry about too.
Even if Liverpool had found some better balance, and had a winger who gave Bradley more defensive support or condensed City's space, then with the way Doku was playing he would still have been almost impossible to stop.
Doku was a pleasure to watch, irrespective of who you support and who you wanted to win. You had to admire his skill, pace, strength and bravery - and his goal was just amazing.
The way Liverpool were set up, though, actually helped him shine.
He was electric and the game's star man. This was the best I've seen him play in a City shirt, but Salah not being asked to defend made it so easy for him.
It became a really productive area of the pitch for City, and was one of the reasons they won so comfortably in the end.
I am really surprised Liverpool's potential problem down the right was not identified before the game.
Since he broke into the team a year ago, O'Reilly has been a real positive for City from an attacking perspective and frequently ends up in left wing or even centre-forward areas.
So City were always going to look for an overload from him and Doku down that flank, and it was down to Liverpool to deal with it.
But because Salah stayed high up the pitch when O'Reilly was flying forward, it left Bradley isolated, and with a dilemma - did he commit and stick with Doku, or drop off him and pick up O'Reilly charging forward instead?
As I explained on Match of the Day, Bradley was caught in between both players a lot because he was unsure what to do, but whatever he did it felt like there was always so much space over there for City to exploit.
It was hard for Ryan Gravenberch to do much about it, because if he went out there too early he was only leaving space centrally instead, where the likes of Phil Foden and Rayan Cherki were looking for pockets to get on the ball.
Ibrahima Konate tried to help Bradley too, but he was having to cover a lot of distance to get over to support his right-back, and being dragged across meant he left space behind him in the middle as well.
Liverpool ended up being pulled part and, like I say, they must have been aware it could happen before the game.
The best opposition, with the best players, find your weakness. Chelsea deliberately targeted Liverpool down the right in the same way a few weeks ago, because they knew the problem with Salah existed - but Sunday turned into an even bigger expose of the issue.
It is something that cannot go on. Liverpool cannot allow this to keep happening when they play the top sides, especially away from home where they see less of the ball and have less control of the game.
A lot of people will say that Liverpool have had success for years without Salah tracking back.
While Salah did defend more under Jurgen Klopp, he spoke last season about not being given so much defensive responsibility by Slot and how much he was enjoying that. Let's remember Liverpool won the title with him playing that way.
But there's a difference between never doing it and sometimes doing it. Last season, when Liverpool won at Etihad Stadium, Salah's defensive performance was among the best I've seen from him.
This time, I think it was maybe down to him to look at how Bradley was having a tough time and decide 'I am going to help him out', even if it was just for 15 minutes or half an hour, to help Liverpool get back in the game.
I am not saying Salah should now become a completely different player - you don't want him running back every time you lose the ball, because sometimes you want him ready for the transition where O'Reilly is out of position. Salah almost got in a few times like that on Sunday, because of his pace, but there has to be balance.
In a game like this one, where you are 20 minutes in and Doku has been running your right-back ragged, then you could drop in for a spell even if you've been told you don't have to. I don't understand why he didn't do it at all.
That failure to try to fix things during the game was another disappointing part of Liverpool's display, but there were plenty of other things that must have concerned Slot too.
Especially in the first half, they did not press particularly well. They lacked tenacity without the ball and seemed slow when they were in possession. In both areas, they were well below the level we saw in their previous two games against Aston Villa and Real Madrid.
Now, of course they played a huge game on Tuesday against Real, one of the best teams in Europe, and put every bit of effort in to get a positive result.
I get that, but City also played in the Champions League, a day later, so I don't believe Liverpool can use the Real game as an excuse.
If Virgil van Dijk's equaliser against City had been allowed to stand then I suppose things might have been different - Liverpool had started really poorly but moments like that can change momentum in games.
I still think it was a poor decision, even when you break down the laws behind it, because Andy Robertson did not affect Gianluigi Donnarumma, but I would emphasise that decision did not cost Liverpool the game - City dominated them in all departments.
This result meant a good week for Slot ended badly, especially regarding the Premier League title race.
The defeat is not quite as damaging as it could have been, because leaders Arsenal drew on Saturday and dropped points.
But Liverpool are still eight points behind the Gunners and the biggest observation for me so far this season is that they are not consistently playing well enough to be able to think they can close that gap.
This is a challenging time for Slot and his players but it is so early in the campaign, and there is plenty of time for them to bounce back and find some balance and rhythm, and cut out the mistakes.
At the moment, though, all that feels like it is a long way off.
City were not just the better team on Sunday who created the better chances, they were dominant for most of the game. Since their blip in August when they lost back-to-back games, they have looked really strong.
At the moment Pep Guardiola's side are the ones who look most likely to compete with Arsenal for the title, while Liverpool need to find a way of becoming harder to beat.
Danny Murphy was speaking to BBC Sport's Chris Bevan.
Source: BBC
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