Daniel Sturridge and Roy Keane were critical of Liverpool’s defending for the goal which gave Manchester City a 2-0 lead just before half-time on Sunday evening.A few minutes after Virgil van Dijk had an equaliser controversially disallowed for an offside call against Andy Robertson, the home side doubled their advantage when Nico Gonzalez’s shot from 25 yards deflected off the Reds captain and flew past Giorgi Mamardashvili.It summed up the complete absence of luck that Arne Slot’s side had at the Etihad Stadium today, but some pundits had little sympathy for the Premier League champions over that sucker punch in first-half stoppage time.Keane and Sturridge bemoan Liverpool defendingSpeaking on Sky Sports as he analysed the goal, Keane – who described Liverpool’s overall performance as ‘dreadful‘ – was scathing of the Reds’ defence for being too slow to push out from their line just in front of the six-yard box.He fumed: “Where’s the intensity? This is coming up to half-time, big moments, and players aren’t getting out. Defenders will probably say Van Dijk might be unlucky; he’s not unlucky. You’ve gotta get out! Squeeze up, put pressure on the ball.”Image via Sky SportsSturridge was left to lament the deflection off the LFC captain, saying: “It’s not good to see. The shot wasn’t even good, if we’re being honest, but if you hit the target, these are the types of things that could happen. “Of course he [Gonzalez] could’ve done better, but you get your rewards sometimes when things go your way.”Gonzalez got lucky, but Liverpool were slow to reactWas the second Man City goal a sheer fluke, or should Liverpool have defended the passage of play considerably better?Gonzalez certainly had a huge dollop of luck with the deflection off Van Dijk – as Sturridge said, the Spaniard’s shot wasn’t all that powerful and initially appeared to be sailing out for a goal kick.However, Arne Slot will have nightmares over the defending for the goal. Less than 10 seconds before the ball flew past Mamardashvili, every Reds player was in the penalty area, compared to just four for the home side (each of whom was marked, as we can see below, with the goalscorer circled).Image via Sky SportsWhy, then, was the Man City midfielder given so much time to take a touch on the ball and shift it into his right foot before shooting? Why were Liverpool so slow to push up when they had so many bodies back?Gonzalez bought a ticket and won the raffle, but the champions could still have done so much better to make life that bit harder for the 23-year-old to double his team’s lead at such a crucial juncture in the game.You can watch Slot’s full post-Man City press conference via Empire of the Kop on YouTube:The post ‘Not good to see’ – Daniel Sturridge laments Liverpool lapse which had Roy Keane spitting fire appeared first on The Empire of The Kop.