Manchester United hero Gary Neville has aimed a dig at Pep Guardiola ahead of Manchester City’s FA Cup third-round clash against Salford City. City, FA Cup runners-up last season, have been in miserable form in recent weeks and have gone seven games without a win across all competitions.

The fans at Anfield riled up Guardiola in the final minutes of the game. The crowd serenaded him with a vicious "sacked in the morning" chant, suggesting that Manchester City's billionaire owners should fire their head coach.

In the last two summers, City have postponed much of the rebuild; two of the six recruits in that time are now in the band of 30-somethings. And while Guardiola said it was harder to be stable defensively without a quartet of centre backs and two holding midfielders, arguably he only has one: Mateo Kovacic does not covet that role.