Outside the away dressing room at Anfield, Pep Guardiola could be seen talking animatedly to one of his oldest friends in the game, Manchester City’s director of football, Txiki Begiristain.

Inside the dressing room, the Manchester City manager had been as angry as he can have been in his first Premier League season. As the last hours of 2016 dribbled away, Liverpool had scored the kind of goal Guardiola might have predicted and clung on to their precious points without undue difficulty.

“When you are losing and Liverpool are the better side, it’s not going to be happy at half time,” said Yaya Toure as the veteran midfielder left the ground. “Of course, he was angry and he is a manager who can be angry.

“We knew Liverpool would be waiting when we lost the ball and they did that to score. He will be angry for everything that is happening.”

This was Manchester City’s third defeat in a calendar month. They had not suffered those kinds of results since 2008, the year of the Abu Dhabi takeover.

This new year opened with Manchester City in third place, 10 points adrift of Chelsea, four behind Liverpool and, whether as a player or a manager, Guardiola’s career has never been about being third.

“Normally, I was top,” he said with a thin smile. “I was there a lot of times with Barcelona and Bayern Munich but this is a new chapter in my career but I am willing to try to handle it.

“I was one time at Barcelona nine points behind Real Madrid and after that we recovered. I once won a league after being 12 points behind.

“But the question is: ‘Are we able to reduce the gap on Chelsea?’ We have to focus on the next game and not put a lot of stress on things by saying: ‘If you don’t win the league, that is not going to be a good season’.”

Guardiola must be aware that unless he wins the European Cup – something he did not achieve while at Bayern Munich – anything less than first place at City would be counted a failure.

The worry was that while Liverpool played exactly as their manager, Jurgen Klopp, would have expected, Manchester City looked less of a Guardiola team at Anfield than they have done at any time during the season.

Kevin de Bruyne seemed spent while Sergio Aguero did not touch the ball in the Liverpool box at all.

Liverpool vs Manchester City player ratings Show all 23 1 /23 Liverpool vs Manchester City player ratings Liverpool vs Manchester City player ratings <b>Liverpool:</b> Alisson: 6 out of 10 Not his busiest afternoon. Looked uncomfortable in possession a couple of times but nothing egregious. REUTERS Liverpool vs Manchester City player ratings Joe Gomez: 6 out of 10 More of a centre-back than a right-back and Liverpool missed Trent Alexander-Arnold’s ability to get forward on the right. Defensively solid, as you would expect. EPA Liverpool vs Manchester City player ratings Dejan Lovren: 8 out of 10 Perhaps fortunate not to concede a penalty on Aguero in the first half, and on Jesus in the second, but otherwise a good performance with some crucial challenges. Rewarded his manager’s bold call to bring the Croatian in. REUTERS Liverpool vs Manchester City player ratings Virgil van Djik: 7 out of 10 Probably a leading contender for man of the match until his late transgression. A fairly needless challenge on Sane with the German likely running the ball out of play. Otherwise magnificent (again). REUTERS Liverpool vs Manchester City player ratings Andrew Robertson: 6 out of 10 Kept Riyad Mahrez virtually silent throughout the game, but wasn’t his usual self in terms of attacking threat. REUTERS Liverpool vs Manchester City player ratings Georginio Wijnaldum: 6 out of 10 Hard work as ever from the Dutchman. Unable to impact the game going forward. REUTERS Liverpool vs Manchester City player ratings Jordan Henderson: 7 out of 10 Lead from the front with a battling performance in midfield. Composed on the ball and tackled excellently. AFP/Getty Images Liverpool vs Manchester City player ratings James Milner: 6 out of 10 Substituted in the first half with a hamstring injury. Impressed early on, and Liverpool perhaps missed his experience and delivery when he went off. AFP/Getty Images Liverpool vs Manchester City player ratings Mohamed Salah: 5 out of 10 Still doesn't look himself. Wasted a couple of opportunities and the front-three’s lack of cohesion will be a concern for Jurgen Klopp. Getty Images Liverpool vs Manchester City player ratings Roberto Firmino: 6 out of 10 Pressed superbly and tracked back notably well. Not a vintage performance from any of Liverpool’s star offensive trio against a tough Manchester City defence. PA Liverpool vs Manchester City player ratings Sadio Mane: 6 out of 10 See Salah and Firmino. Mane was similarly ineffective getting forward but worked hard. AFP/Getty Images Liverpool vs Manchester City player ratings <b>Substitute:</b> Naby Keita: 6 out of 10 Tidy performance after coming off the bench in the first half. Positionally very solid. REUTERS Liverpool vs Manchester City player ratings <b>Manchester City:</b> Ederson: 6 out of 10 No major errors, which is a positive given what happened last season. Liverpool’s press worried him early on but otherwise comfortable with the ball at this feet. No real saves to make. PA Liverpool vs Manchester City player ratings Kyle Walker: 6 out of 10 Restricted going forward aside from one moment where he bizarrely chopped back inside. Defensively solid. EPA Liverpool vs Manchester City player ratings John Stones: 7 out of 10 Overcame early nerves to perform well alongside Laporte. Salah only really got beyond the pair once and Stones used the ball nicely when stepping out of defence. Getty Images Liverpool vs Manchester City player ratings Aymeric Laporte: 8 out of 10 Perhaps his best performance in a Manchester City shirt. Virtually faultless after the aforementioned early shakiness. Several superb challenges and interceptions. AFP/Getty Images Liverpool vs Manchester City player ratings Benjamin Mendy: 7 out of 10 Guardiola will be very pleased to have Mendy fit again. Showed his defensive steel, not giving Salah and co. an inch. Looked one of Manchester City’s more dangerous players when he got forward. A couple of poor passes but otherwise a strong return to action. Getty Images Liverpool vs Manchester City player ratings Fernandinho: 6 out of 10 Somehow escaped the game without a yellow card despite several booking-worthy challenges, but broke up play well and sparked several attacks for his team. Shielded his defence well. AFP/Getty Images Liverpool vs Manchester City player ratings Bernardo Silva: 7 out of 10 Probably the best non-defender on the pitch. Playing in what was, for all intents and purposes, a two-man defensive midfield pairing, Silva was excellent, breaking up play and playing clever little passes. Showed his electric dribbling ability more than once, too. Impressive performance from a man who continues to show his versatility. AFP/Getty Images Liverpool vs Manchester City player ratings David Silva: 6 out of 10 An intriguing tactical switch from Guardiola to deploy David Silva in a different role just in behind Sergio Aguero. Silva was less influential than he typically is, but worried the Liverpool midfield and knocked them off rhythm. REUTERS Liverpool vs Manchester City player ratings Raheem Sterling: 5 out of 10 Quiet and struggled to make an impact in the final third. Sterling didn’t look entirely comfortable on the left wing. Substituted with 15 minutes to go. PA Liverpool vs Manchester City player ratings Riyad Mahrez: 4 out of 10 Awful, awful penalty miss, and in truth it characterised a lacklustre showing from Mahrez. He hasn’t really found his place in this Manchester City team and used the ball poorly in the final third throughout. AFP/Getty Images Liverpool vs Manchester City player ratings Sergio Aguero: 5 out of 10 Continued his lean run against Liverpool and was anonymous for most of the 65-or-so minutes he was on the pitch. Contributed little. AFP/Getty Images

“I don’t think you can overlook the performance of Liverpool or detract from it,” said Toure. “They deserved the three points. They are improving, they have a good manager, they play good football and they do it well. They are a counter-attacking team, very fast, very dangerous.”

Assessing Manchester City was rather more difficult. When asked when City would start looking like the kind of teams he was usually associated with, Guardiola replied: “I don’t know. I can’t tell you that. Jurgen has been here more than one season, I have been here just six months and the way we want to play in the league is not that simple.

“We need more time but I am an optimistic guy so I am going to try.”

Gabriel Jesus arrived at City in the early hours on Sunday morning (Getty)

In the small hours of the new year, after Klopp had finished walking his dog and gone to bed having skipped any kind of partying, Manchester City received their first reinforcement when Gabriel Jesus arrived from Brazil.

In Pele’s judgement, the 19-year-old from Sao Paulo is a greater natural talent than Neymar and he may have to be used sooner rather than later. Manchester City now require a string of victories.

Toure pointed out that New Year’s Day 2014 saw City produce a thrilling sequence of results – eight wins and a draw from nine games with 33 goals. “We have the team and we have the squad to do something similar,” he said.