Pep Guardiola said he felt his Manchester City side played well against Liverpool, despite the 2-0 defeat at the Etihad.

The Reds moved 11 points clear at the top of the table thanks to goals from Mohamed Salah and Dominik Szoboszlai, while City now trails the leaders by 20 points. But it was a game in which the hosts amassed 66 percent possession and registered double the number of shots.

Other numbers tell a different story and City managed just 0.73 expected goals as they struggled to create meaningful chances against a Liverpool side that absorbed pressure using two no.10s rather than a conventional striker, and picked its moments to attack perfectly.

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Guardiola, a manager renowned for his offensive footballing principles, was keen to reference Liverpool’s more disciplined approach when speaking post match.

“We played really good,” the City boss told Sky Sports. “We arrived, I don’t know how many times in the byline really good, and we have to be more productive with our shots from our people in the middle.

“We played against a fantastic team and a really good performance. The game in the first half was more open; it was 50/50 and they scored from a set-piece. The chances we had we could not convert and in the second half they defend so deep, are dangerous on transitions but we controled it really well, expect one or two actions.

“The target was to drop them and arrive many times in the final third and the byline and it happened a lot, but we missed a lot,” Guardiola added. “It’s difficult when a team defends so deep.

“We make a good build-up but we missed the next bit a little bit - it’s not easy with 10 players in the box. With the crosses it is almost impossible to do it because of the size of their central defenders. We could not find the next step that we tried to find when we dropped.

“If you lose, you have to lose the way we lost today. I saw many things that this club has a bright future with the players that we have.”

Guardiola also said City didn’t specifically target Trent Alexander-Arnold despite Jeremy Doku repeatedly bypassing the Liverpool full-back during the game.

The result leaves the reigning champions fourth in the Premier League table but sitting just five points clear of 10th-place Fulham.