‘Pep who?’ – Keane hails ‘fantastic’ Man City in ‘statement’ win over Liverpool
Roy Keane insists Man City were “fantastic” as they beat Liverpool in a “statement” 3-0 victory at Anfield in the Premier League on Sunday.
The Citizens players had to cope with huge amounts of noise over the international break, as the club was found guilty of 114 of their 115 charges after being accused of breaching the Premier League’s financial fair play rules.
But Enzo Maresca’s side showed brilliant togetherness to overcome a tough trip to Anfield in which Liverpool were their equal for the first hour.
Ryan Gravenberch’s sending off on 62 minutes flipped the match on its head as the Liverpool midfielder was sent off for a second yellow card after bringing down Jeremy Doku.
Erling Haaland, Doku and Rayan Cherki went on to score the goals as Man City made it six wins from six in the Premier League this season and Keane hailed it as a “statement” win in the circumstances.
Keane said on Sky Sports: “There have been lots of statements made over the last few weeks, but the team made a statement today.
READ: Carragher slams Liverpool star who was ‘all over the place’ in loss to Man City
“The sending off was a big help but you still have to show your quality. The three goals were fantastic.
“It will be a big boost to City. They have had a good start to the season, great for [Enzo Maresca].
“You’re thinking, ‘Pep who?’ at this stage. It’s not even been mentioned the concerns we had when Pep left or Rodri.
“Doku made a big difference going at people. He basically changed the game [off the bench] on top of the sending off.”
On the Gravenberch red card. ex-Liverpool striker Daniel Sturridge added: “The game changed on the red card. We have to be truthful about that.
“City delivered after the red card changed the game. Prior to that, it was very even.”
On Man City’s performance after a turbulent couple of weeks, Micah Richards continued: “I said before, in terms of their attitude coming into this game, all they (City) could do was play their football to the best of their ability.
“They wanted to go out there and put on a show, and that is exactly what they did today.
READ: Liverpool 0-3 Man City: Pundits address game’s ‘big moment’ as Doku changes everything
“As a group, I think they really deliverd today – we talked about how they were going to react to all the noise.
“That was a perfect performance.”
‘We’ve shown real togetherness and fight’ – Anderson
Speaking to Sky Sports after the match, Man City midfielder Elliot Anderson said: “We’ve shown real togetherness and fight. It’s a tough place to come and it’s challenging.
“We really stuck together out there, fought for each other and played well.
“We’ve shown courage and three points is good.
“I thought we did really well to quieten the crowd.
“We struggled in the first half a little bit, but in the second half we were a lot better.”
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