Liverpool 0, City 3: Elliot Anderson Ran Anfield. The Red Card Just Sped It Up

City won 3-0 at Anfield, and every goal came after Ryan Gravenberch walked off. He was booked in the 47th minute for a foul on Elliot Anderson, then got a second yellow in the 62nd for clipping Jérémy Doku, and in the next 16 minutes Haaland, Doku and Cherki scored. That's the headline everyone will run with: the red card decided it. I don't buy it all the way. The card turned a City win into a rout, but City were already taking hold of this game before Gravenberch left, and the reason they were is the best midfielder in the Premier League right now. That's Elliot Anderson, and I don't think it's close.

Start with the card, because it's the honest place to start. Gravenberch was by far Liverpool's best player until he went, and for the first hour he was basically the only one on the pitch doing anything positive. The second yellow is light for me. As a foul on its own, I don't think it's a yellow. What makes it one is the circumstance: Doku was already past him and about to be away on the break, and the referee read the whole play, not just the contact. Andoni Iraola says it wasn't two yellows. Fine. The ref called it, you can't review a second yellow, and it is what it is.

The red card turned a City win into a rout. It didn't turn a loss into a win.

The first half was not pretty. The opening 10 minutes were random and tense, City barely had the ball, and offensively nobody looked on the same page, which makes sense for the first game back from an international break. Then it popped off in the 11th minute. Dias gave away a free kick, players from both sides came running in, and Anderson was right in the middle of it, squaring up to the Liverpool lads like he'd been waiting all week for the chance. Araújo had already been booked in the 8th minute for waving an imaginary card at the ref. That set the tone for Anderson's whole afternoon: he wasn't going to be pushed around at Anfield. City kept growing into it from there. Cherki started finding pockets around the 32nd minute, Enzo got our first shot away from outside the box at 34, and Semenyo skinned Araújo at 14 and again at 49 without anyone getting on the end of it. By the hour mark City had 65% of the ball, and Liverpool finished the game with 0 big chances to our 3. Haaland should have scored before the card too, when Semenyo slipped him through around the 60th minute and he somehow missed it. Eleven against eleven, I think we win this 1-0. Maybe it's 1-1. The red card made it 3-0.

And Anderson was the reason it was heading our way. He was everywhere. He got crunched by Gravenberch for the first booking, he crunched Wirtz himself in the 38th minute, and he made a great run and cross into Alisson at 42. Sofascore has him winning 12 duels, the most of anyone on the pitch, plus the most touches (104) and the most ground covered (11.4 km). He drew 8 fouls, and nobody else on either team drew more than 3. Then he set up Doku's goal. Jamie Carragher, a Liverpool man, called him a bargain for the £116m City paid, and Sky made him player of the match. He's playing at a different level from everyone around him, and he's fighting for the badge while he does it. I love it. My Fanalysis rating had him at 92, the highest on the team.

Then there's the other expensive midfielder. Enzo got a 66 from me, and it wasn't that he was bad. He was in the game. He just wasn't the elite, edgy Enzo I watched at Chelsea, and two poor balls in the 49th and 51st minutes summed up the day. Maybe that's because at Chelsea he had to be that guy every week, and here he's surrounded by enough quality that he can just enjoy his football. That's fine for now. But if he's going to be the £125m player, he needs to get his edge back, because right now the guy next to him is making him look ordinary.

Doku came on for Ndiaye in the 56th minute and changed the game in about 12 minutes. He's the one Gravenberch clipped for the red. His cut-in shot deflected to Haaland, who got in front of Van Dijk and finished on his toes with his left for the opener in the 65th. Then in the 68th Doku cut in from the left and curled a scorcher into the far corner off Anderson's pass. Sofascore gave him an 8.7, the best rating on the pitch, from a little over half an hour of football. Ndiaye earned his starts, especially after that second half at Old Trafford when we were down to 10 men. But if Doku stays fit, he starts the next big game. He's completely unplayable right now, and he's arguably the best winger in the world.

The third goal was the one I'll keep rewatching. Anderson found Cherki, Cherki dummied for Gvardiol, Gvardiol flicked it back, and Cherki finished past Alisson in the 78th minute. That's football for the fun of it, at Anfield, with City running rampant. Cherki got an 85 from me and an 8.6 from Sofascore. Donnarumma deserves a line here too, because he stood on his head around the 48th minute and finished with 6 saves and an 8.4 from Sofascore, after the claiming worries I had against Sunderland. Allan got his Premier League debut late and Bouaddi came on to close it out.

Anderson is the best midfielder in the Premier League right now, and I don't think it's close.

City are 6 from 6 and top of the table, and this was Liverpool's first defeat under Iraola. The red card will get the headlines, and it should, because it changed the scoreline. But it didn't change who was winning the middle of the pitch. That was Anderson from the first whistle.