Clyne: Pressing game got us the victory
Nathaniel Clyne believes Liverpool's relentless pressing was the decisive factor in their 4-1 victory over Manchester City on Saturday.
The Reds stunned Manuel Pellegrini's men at the Etihad Stadium, taking a three-goal lead with just over half an hour on the clock before seeing out a comfortable win over a team who had gone into the game as Barclays Premier League leaders.
It was the visitors' refusal to let City settle that most pleased Clyne, who put in a faultless display at right-back over the 90 minutes.
And he suggested after the game that Jürgen Klopp's team were unfortunate not to have more than four goals to show for their efforts.
"We came right out the blocks and were on the front foot," the defender told Liverpoolfc.com.
"We took the game to them, we didn't give them any time on the ball, pressed them high up the pitch and that's what got us our win.
"You could see [the tactics]. We can't let teams like Manchester City have the ball, that's why we press so high up the pitch.
"We can't give them time on the ball and that's what we did. We profited from that and got our goals and we probably could have scored more goals - Joe Hart made a number of great saves and on another day we could have had seven!
"But we'll take the 4-1 and the three points and move onto the next game."
Roberto Firmino played a key role in the win over City, grabbing a goal and an assist as well as forcing Eliaquim Mangala to put through his own net for the opener.
Clyne was full of praise for his Brazilian colleague, whose strike was his first for the club since a summer move from Hoffenheim.
"He's a quality player, he can play anywhere really; up front, on the wing, the No.10 position," the Englishman added.
"You saw he played as a No.9 and he was great. He had great hold-up play and lots of tricks, he was a real threat."
The England international is confident the Reds will continue to climb the standings if they can replicate the weekend's performance in the coming games.
His hopes are also boosted by the imminent return of the likes of Daniel Sturridge, who was named in the squad at the Etihad having recently returned to training following a knee injury.
"We take the confidence from it," Clyne continued.
"If we keep putting in performances like that, we can keep pushing up the league. We take this three points and move onto the next game now.
"We've got a lot of players coming back from injury, the likes of Studge and a few more players coming back.
"You can see that the bench is ever so strong and we can make a lot of changes and still have a good team out there."