Now rampant Reds must show this is no flash in the pan

APART from a nervous last 10 minutes, Liverpool gave Jurgen Klopp the statement performance he wanted. What his team must do now is finish second in the Premier League. Ahead of next season, that would deliver a much firmer message in terms of Liverpool’s prospects.

We can consider this title race done already. This result cannot change that. Manchester City were as ragged as Liverpool were brilliant here. However, City remain the best team in the country by some distance. What this result does is suggest that things could be closer next time round. For all of our sakes, we hope so.

But Liverpool’s problem under Klopp has been consistency. The challenge now is to use this result and this performance as fuel for a dominant second half of the season.

Klopp’s Liverpool have been here before. They won 4-1 at City in November 2015. They beat them at Anfield last season. There have been impressive performances against other big English teams.

There have also been periods of regression, times when Liverpool have fallen flat against teams they should beat in second gear. That is what has held them back and as Liverpool move into a future without Philippe Coutinho, it must not happen again.

Liverpool, in terms of their capabilities, are the second best team in the Premier League. Manchester United, Chelsea and even Tottenham cannot play football of the level reached by Liverpool at times. But if United avoid a three-goal defeat at home to Stoke City tonight, they will stay ahead of their great rivals in the table.

There are signs of progress in Klopp’s team. They are now on their longest unbeaten run since the days of Rafael Benitez and that feels important.

Here, for the most part, they were excellent. Missing new defensive signing Virgil van Dijk and of course Coutinho, there were questions to answer. If this had gone wrong, the conclusions swiftly reached would have been obvious.

As it was, they overcame the loss of their playmaker through sheer hard work. Here Liverpool did to City what City are used to doing to others.

They pressed them with an almost manic fervour, never letting them settle on the ball or build play. At times, City’s players — usually so unflappable — retreated into panic and the malaise spread.

By the end, goalkeeper Ederson, flawless since his arrival, looked as though he was in need of a lie down. Preferably somewhere warm and somewhere that Mo Salah would no longer be in his field of vision.

Liverpool were clinical, too. The way they seized upon 10 minutes of chaos in the City defence to score three times and hit a post once was reminiscent of great teams. No let-up, no mercy.

Early on, as Liverpool hustled City across the width of the field, it was tempting to wonder if they could possibly keep it up for 90 minutes. By the same token, it was easy to fear for them if and when those levels dropped.

But, on the whole, they did not drop. When Joe Gomez pursued Leroy Sane from the edge of the Liverpool penalty area all the way back into his own half before dispossessing him and sending Roberto Firmino away, many of those early questions were answered. At that time there were only eight minutes left.

The closing moments were nervy. The two goals conceded late on were dreadful, as indeed was the one shipped at his near post by Loris Karius late in the first half. We should not expect Van Dijk to solve all that on his own.

But Liverpool have a platform now. They have proved one thing by beating City in this fashion but a much bigger question stands before them.

We know they are very capable but are they ready to build on this and come at City for the long haul next season?

English football needs someone to do it and if it does not turn out to be Liverpool, they should ask themselves why.