Pep Guardiola makes Erling Haaland admission after Man City vs Liverpool FC

Pep Guardiola was left wondering what might have been if Manchester City had been able to call on two of last season's stars against Liverpool.

Ilkay Gundogan and Kevin De Bruyne both scored in the 4-1 win over Jurgen Klopp's side here last season as City stormed past Arsenal to claim their fifth Premier League in six years. Saturday's draw provided more evidence that the Blues are equipped to challenge for a sixth in seven, yet they had to settle for a draw after failing to hold onto a lead that Erling Haaland had given them.

Guardiola was delighted with the overall performance but admitted that his team perhaps hadn't been able to connect their midfield with attack as easily without the qualities that Gundogan and De Bruyne brought to their side. Gundogan left in summer to join Barcelona on a free transfer, while De Bruyne has been injured since the opening night of the campaign.

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"Our left side was a little bit better than our right side," said Guardiola. "Maybe we missed a little bit of contact with Bernardo [Silva] and Julian [Alvarez] because they have incredible talent but it is different from Kevin and Gundo who have the ability to contact with Erling and the wingers in those positions.

"We don't have Kevin, when against Liverpool this has always happened. How we went backwards, how we defended set pieces, the amount of corners that we had ... everything was really high standards.

"After eight years winning what we won, performing against Liverpool in that way. They are happy, we are a little less happy, it's football and nothing else. I'm really really pleased.