Pep Guardiola's six-word demand ahead of Liverpool clash speaks volumes

Pep Guardiola has demanded commitment from his Manchester City players ahead of their season-defining clash with Liverpool.

The Citizens' five-match losing streak ended in the Champions League on Tuesday night, but their 3-3 draw with Feyenoord would have felt more like a loss. City appeared to have rediscovered their mojo when two goals from Erling Haaland either side of Ilkay Gundogan's deflected strike gave them a 3-0 lead.

But a huge error from Josko Gvardiol allowed Anis Hadj-Moussa to give the Dutch side a route back before Santiago Gimenez chested another in from close range. City's woes were confounded when a mad decision from Ederson saw him fail to reach a lofted pass 30 yards from goal, allowing Igor Paixao to cross for David Hancko to head into an open goal.

In his post-match interview, Guardiola, who had a worrying amount of self-inflicted scratches on his face and nose, issued a clear and concise demand to his players.

He finished one of his points by demanding: "What I want is a commitment." He added: "I have the feeling that this season we will do very good things. I don't give up, and I have the feeling we will be there. You are defending a legacy, a tradition, a success that is so difficult to handle.

"So, that's why I relax. If we don't do it, we don't do it. It's just to try to focus in the short period of time and win the next games. So, what I want is a commitment."

The Feyenoord result means the defending Premier League champions have lost five and drawn one of their last six matches. And things could get even worse as they travel to Merseyside to face league leaders Liverpool in their next match.

Ahead of the trip to Arne Slot's table-topping Reds, who will open up an 11-point gap on the Citizens if they win on the weekend, Guardiola tried to inspire his team in his post-match media duties. He added: "The game was good for the confidence, we were playing at a good level and then for the first time something happened, we have problems.

"Everybody knows the situation, we don't have to adapt anything. Tomorrow [Wednesday] we have to train, recovery then prepare the next game. We have two or three days to prepare for that and go for it. We will learn for the future.

"It has been a really difficult season for us for many circumstances and today, unfortunately, the game was well done, we punished them in the right moments. The team was so committed to so many things. But unfortunately, something happened and we were not strong enough. We have to avoid these mistakes."

City's draw with Slot's former side saw them tumble down to 15th in the Champions League table, two points behind eighth-placed Sporting Lisbon. While they are second in the Premier League, they could end the coming weekend in fifth position, should Liverpool beat them and Chelsea, Arsenal and Brighton overcome Aston Villa, West Ham United and Southampton respectively.