City Crush 10-Man Reds 5-0

Sports - Football - Premier League - MCFC 5:0 LFC

Liverpool were thrashed 5-0 by a ruthless Manchester City at the Etihad after seeing Sadio Mané sent off for a high kick at keeper Ederson Moraes in the first half of the lunch-time kick-off on Saturday.

The game had started competitive, both sides creating chances, putting the pressure on.

The Reds fell behind to Sergio Agüero's cool finish around Simon Mignolet in the 24th minute, the Sky Blues enjoying too much time and space with the ball.

Then eight minutes before the break, referee Jonathan Moss showed Mané red for his high challenge on Ederson, who required treatment for the cut in his face before he was replaced by Claudio Bravo.

The competition vanished from then on, City were all over Liverpool, the second half looking more like a kick-about than an actual competitive match.

Young defender Trent Alexander-Arnold didn't know what hit him, struggling to cover all the sprints, leaks and gaps, no one else marking, closing down or tackling.

Gabriel Jesus doubled the lead for the home side before the break and was handed a second by an unselfish Agüero to make it 3-0 just eight minutes after the restart.

Substitute Leroy Sané added two late goals sweeping in Benjamin Mendy's cross at the near post and curling in a left-footer to complete the 5-0 thrashing, City's biggest win over Liverpool since 1937.

The Reds just folded, collapsed, gave up, dramatically, completely, uncharacteristically.

The red card divided opinions, both managers Jürgen Klopp and Pep Guardiola mouthing their disapproval in their post-match interviews.

It was a high, dangerous tackle, which by the book is red, full stop. And it doesn't excuse such a pathetic performance, total collapse.

After thrashing Arsenal 4-0 at Anfield before the international break, confidence was high.

Ask new signing Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain who came on for Mohamed Salah after the interval: He became the first player to lose 4-0 and 5-0 in two consecutive Premier League games with different clubs.

This was Klopp's heaviest defeat in all competitions as Liverpool manager and his joint-heaviest ever managerial loss since October 2006 when Werder Bremen beat his Mainz 6-1.

As always after such a devastating defeat, lots of critics and protesters suddenly emerge = #KloppOut. Here's another stat:

This was the German's first Premier League defeat away from home to one of the last season's top seven sides (P10 W5 D4 L1).

So, it's not all doom and gloom, still early days. Liverpool will have to pick themselves up and learn from this.

And what better way to do this than in their next fixture, back in the beloved Champions League, group match against Sevilla on Wednesday.

Manchester City goals: Agüero 24', Jesus 45'+6 & 53', Sané 77' & 90'+1.

Liverpool: Mané sent off 37'.

Manchester City line-up: 31 Ederson (1 Bravo 45'+1), 3 Danilo, 5 Stones, 30 Otamendi (booked 6') (15 Mangala 71'), 25 Fernandinho (booked 28'), 2 Walker, 17 De Bruyne, 21 Silva, 22 Mendy, 10 Agüero, 33 Jesus (19 Sané 57').
Subs not used: 8 Gündogan, 18 Delph, 20 Bernardo Silva, 47 Foden.

Liverpool line-up: 22 Mignolet, 66 Alexander-Arnold (booked 19'), 32 Matip, 17 Klavan, 18 Moreno, 5 Wijnaldum (7 Milner 58'), 14 Henderson, 23 Can (booked 80'), 11 Salah (21 Oxlade-Chamberlain 45'), 9 Firmino (29 Solanke 67'), 19 Mané (sent off 37').
Subs not used: 1 Karius, 6 Lovren, 12 Gomez, 15 Sturridge.

Match stats: MCFC-LFC
Possession: 66%-34%
Shots: 13-7
On target: 10-3
Corners: 8-3
Fouls: 10-9
Yellow cards: 2-2
Red cards: 0-1

Referee: Jonathan Moss
Man of the match: Kevin de Bruyne
Ground: Etihad
Attendance: 54,172

Click here for my previous LFC match report.

All pics, stats and facts were taken from the BBC match report, MOTD, SFR and Twitter coverage.