Liverpool had the babalaas beaten out of them by City

● How do you beat the bloody babalaas out of champions?

You give them one hell of a hot klap and send them spinning with their tails between their legs all the way to the Kop to get a chest bump from Klopp.

No sooner had they given the guard of honour, then Pep Guardiola and his Manchester City put on the gloves and visited grievous bodily harm on

Liverpool.

It was a swift, brutal and merciless bollocking.

Each goal a direct stab in the heart as the citizens of the blue half of Manchester bloodied the nose of the Scousers.

It didn’t matter much.

Football finished last week in England when Liverpool ended the wait of landing their hands on what had eluded them for three decades without even kicking a ball.

Wink wink Chelsea.

When their turn to kick the ball at the Etihad came, they had the mother of all hangovers and were hung out to dry.

The mishmash of outmoded groupies like ManUre and the misfiring, powderpuff Gunners are in a race for their lives to reach European places.

There is Liverpool and City and an ocean-wide gulf between them and the rest of the 18 teams.

We are fortunate to live in a time when two great managers pit their wits against each other and keep pushing the margins of excellence.

City gave a masterclass response.

From their first game they were sleek and played with panache as if they had never stopped for the coronavirus-enforced break.

The German and the Spaniard have revolutionised the game and put together teams that bring elevated enjoyment to watching football.

At the Etihad they had the mother of all hangovers and were hung out to dry

Their teams are mirrored in their intense personalities with fit-for-purpose players who grind in a superior work ethic.

United have been in dire straits.

They have some fine players at their disposal and a raft of fine youngsters.

However, they are still suffering from the effects of a long-serving manager who oversaw their glory years.

But as soon as Alex Ferguson took up his seat in the stands to chomp that chewing gum, a succession of managers have come and left without having succeeded in making a meaningful contribution.

They all battled to breathe life back into the beast. The incumbent Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is a likeable guy.

But the Baby-faced Assassin does seem to have bitten off more than he can chew.

Coaching Cardiff City is one thing but taking charge of one of the biggest sporting brands in the world is quite another.

Ditto Arsenal.

The house that Arsene Wenger built is in tatters. Mikel Arteta has a hell of a job on his hands to restore the north Londoners to a force they once were.

It is a massive mission which will be made even more challenging by the not so well stocked playing staff.

While in the past they had a galaxy of stars in every position, they struggle these days to count real superstars on one hand.

A sad Arsenal friend is worried sick that his club is going to lose their most potent weapon, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, who has less than a year on his contract.

If the captain were to refuse to sign a new contract, it will be a departure that will deal a huge blow to Arteta’s rebuilding project.

To prove his significance, the 31-yearold former Borussia Dortmund frontman has banged in 19 goals, despite the indifferent form of his team.

And he was one of the three joint top scorers last season. If he leaves Arsenal will struggle to attract top players.

And their twitter feed keeps posting contract renewals of players of lesser light. Much to the frustration of the greybearded, long suffering colleague.

Twitter: @bbkunplugged99