Manuel Pellegrini criticises Manchester City side after Liverpool loss

Manuel Pellegrini said Manchester City were "completely wrong" in their 4-1 loss to Liverpool and labelled their game "fake".

City were thrashed 4-1 at the Etihad after strikes from Philippe Coutinho, Roberto Firmino, Martin Skrtel and an own goal by Eliaquim Mangala.

Asked where it went wrong for City, Pellegrini told Sky Sports: "Completely. Today we did all wrong. The performance, the way we defended, the way we attacked, the possession. It was a very fake game for us. It is not normal to play in this way but it happens.

"It is really difficult to understand because you have to do it on purpose to do it so bad. You could not do it the way we did it today.

"We tried to make the changes to try to revolve the ball higher if you can have some options to score but the second half we tried, we tried with a little speed, we tried to attack but we didn't have the football and we made so many mistakes with the ball and without the ball."

City started with Mangala and Martin Demichelis in defence while Jesus Navas and Sergio Aguero were welcomed back into the starting line-up. Nicolas Otamendi, Fernandinho, Vincent Kompany and Wilfried Bony all missed out but the Chilean manager said he stood by his selections. 

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He said the team would switch their attention to the Champions League match against Juventus on Wednesday after Saturday night's result.

"The best way is to forget about what we did today because it was a fake night, a fake game," he added. "After we must think about the game we play on Wednesday. We continue to be near the top of the table.

"When you have so many mistakes with the ball, without the ball, and the way you work and the way you mark and the way you attack, it is very difficult to analyse those things."