Liverpool brutal title reality now clear as Pep Guardiola words prove to be true

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Liverpool Echo IconSportFootballLiverpool FCIan Doyle with the main talking point after Liverpool go down 3-0 at Manchester City in the Premier League on Sunday afternoonPep Guardiola knows a thing or two about winning championships. And while the Manchester City manager’s pre-match proclamation titles can’t be won in November but only lost is almost as old as the game itself, it will surely be ringing true for Liverpool counterpart Arne Slot now.Heavy defeat here at a dreary Etihad has effectively signalled the end of his team’s title defence less than a third into the current Premier League season.The players and head coach will talk about never giving up their crown until it’s mathematically impossible to retain, and given runaway leaders Arsenal’s lack of experience at getting the job done there will always be a slender chance.READ MORE: Virgil van Dijk disallowed goal leaves Arne Slot 'rightly fuming' in Man City vs LiverpoolBut modern-day prospective champions rarely lose five games all season, let alone that amount in their first 11 games.

Liverpool last term were downed only four times and half of those were after the title race was over.And it is over now, at least for Slot’s side. And, it must be said, so has Slot himself, the Reds boss perhaps a little often coming across as questioning the strength of last season’s performance in an attempt to justify the rate of change within the squad over the summer.But this was always, through both necessity and design, going to be a transitional season for Liverpool, at least operating from a strong position after last season’s deserved but unexpected record-equalling 20th championship triumph.Losing at City in isolation isn’t a major concern.

Indeed, beating City, as the Reds did home and away last season, is usually a prerequisite for any team wanting to lift the title.Slot, though, was right to term the recent run of defeats as “scandalous” and not befitting a Liverpool team of any vintage, let alone reigning champions. This is a wounded Liverpool.Ian DoyleIan Doyle has covered Liverpool for more than 25 years, following them across Europe in multiple Champions League and Europa League finals and as far afield as Thailand, Singapore, the United States, Hong Kong and Qatar, and has reported on the Reds winning every major honour.