How Liverpool Shut Down Manchester City’s Erling Haaland and Kevin De Bruyne on Sunday

• Liverpool effectively nullified Erling Haaland and Manchester City on Sunday en route to a much-needed win
• The Reds reduced the supply to the lethal striker by isolating Kevin De Bruyne, who has built a devastating partnership with his striker
• Although Haaland got chances, they were of poor quality as Joe Gomez and Virgil Van Dijk occupied the young striker making things difficult

Liverpool devised a master plan to stop Manchester City's best players and executed it perfectly on Sunday evening.

The Reds not only got the important win against Pep Guardiola's men but also successfully nullified Erling Haaland and Kevin De Bruyne, who've wreaked havoc on the Premier League this season.

In the build-up to the mouth-watering showdown, Liverpool fans were concerned if their depleted and out-of-form defences could handle the free-scoring Man City side.

Jurgen Klopp gave a detailed plan on how they would stop Haaland, the bulldozing striker who had steamrolled the league this season. The Norwegian was looking to extend his excellent goal-scoring record, but Liverpool were resolute, according to Sky Sports.

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Klopp said in the press conference that stopping the striker wasn't the only problem. Cutting the supply to him was another concern, according to the Manchester Evening News.

The young striker identified Joe Gomez as Liverpool's weak point in defence, considering he was playing on the right side next to 36-year-old James Milner.

Therefore, Liverpool crowded City's left-hand side, where Bernardo Silva and Phil Foden wanted to exploit the supposed weakness.

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Fabinho, Thiago Alcantara, and Harvey Elliott joined Gomez and Milner to crowd Man City's left-hand side, which isolated Silva and Foden, thereby significantly diminishing their impact on the game.

Furthermore, this move greatly reduced the quality of City's crosses from the left, giving Virgil Van Dijk and Gomez time to occupy Haaland.

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Kevin De Bruyne was also isolated on the right side while Mohamed Salah pushing up high the pitch prevented Cancelo from making overlapping runs into Liverpool's box.

With Foden and Silva outnumbered and De Bruyne playing in unfamiliar territory, the supply to Haaland was greatly inconsistent.

Haaland still had six shots at goal, four of them on target. However, most of those chances were difficult, plus having a world-class goalkeeper in Alisson helped. After the game, Van Dij said it was a team effort.

“Everybody from the outside world wanted to put everything on the one vs one battle, but it was all about doing it together and stopping the service.”

Although the game was close, the blame ultimately falls on Pep Guardiola, known to over-experiment with his players. For instance, Jack Grealish's hold-up skills and ball-carrying abilities would have been useful at Anfield.

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Sports Brief earlier reported on Jurgen Klopp explaining how his side would stop Erling Haaland and Manchester City.

Klopp said they had to ensure the Norway striker doesn't get many opportunities. However, he reiterated that they needed to work as a unit to stop the destructive opponent, who could equally be as devastating without Haaland.