MARTIN KEOWN: City MUST stop Van Dijk from pinging long balls to Salah

The start to Arne Slot’s Liverpool tenure could hardly have gone better, the way he has taken over from someone as loved as Jurgen Klopp to place his own stamp on the team.

Manchester City will know from their analysis that they cannot allow Virgil van Dijk any time on the ball when the clubs meet in Sunday's blockbuster.

The Liverpool defender loves a diagonal ball to Mohamed Salah, missing the whole of midfield by sending those 40-yard passes straight into the winger.

We saw that on Wednesday against Real Madrid, who were made to look very ordinary by their opponents.

Ryan Gravenberch has been so impressive sitting in front of the defence. He is the player City just don’t have right now.

Gravenberch will be the deep midfielder with Curtis Jones, who is playing the best football of his career, and Alexis Mac Allister, a wonderful talent, playing slightly higher.

Conor Bradley was magnificent versus Kylian Mbappe, putting in a mature performance while still making his own runs inside into central positions.

That was key to his side’s opener as Jones played a pass to Mac Allister, who exchanged a one-two with the advanced Bradley before scoring. It was such a high level of technical skill at speed.

There can be no sloppiness from City. They must dig deep and find their best display of the season to end their winless run with the biggest victory they could ask for.

You have to rewind to May 1963, before I was even born, to find the last time Manchester City conceded at least two goals in six consecutive games.

They have indeed looked Rodri-less while matching that unwanted record, and I can guarantee you Pep Guardiola will be embarrassed by the idea their aura has disappeared because of a single absentee, even if that player is the Ballon d’Or winner.

All top teams — and I was certainly in one of those — have to prove they can cope with missing players. At Arsenal, we went to Old Trafford in May 2002 without Thierry Henry and Tony Adams but won 1-0 to secure the Premier League title.

As they visit the noisy home of their own rivals on Sunday, it is now time for City to stand up as a collective. It won’t be easy, as this is a side clearly shaken.

Even Ederson has been making mistakes, when he usually seems so impervious to errors, as his side let a 3-0 lead slip to Feyenoord on Tuesday.

Often, managers learn more about their players when they are losing rather than when they are winning. Guardiola will know who it is he can rely on for this next challenge — and he needs to bring back his big hitters.

Kevin De Bruyne, Ruben Dias and Kyle Walker — these three have to be in this team to strengthen the spine.

It needs to be Total Football from City. They have to take the game to Liverpool and press high up the pitch. With Bernardo Silva’s quality, I’d even be tempted to use him at the base of the midfield instead of Matheus Nunes.

Fill the team with ball players, who can keep possession to try to do damage to Liverpool. City need to see this trip as an opportunity in disguise — a chance to claw back three points from the eight they’re trailing their rivals.