Former Manchester United defender Gary Neville has admitted he was left disappointed by Pep Guardiola as Man City lost 3-1 to Liverpool on Sunday.
Man City have been hit with injuries during the early stages of this season with Ederson the key absentee at Anfield with Claudio Bravo taking his place.
Liverpool were able to take advantage as goals from Fabinho, Mo Salah and Sadio Mane saw Jurgen Klopp's side open up a nine-point gap to City.
Neville had hoped to see something unexpected from Guardiola at Anfield as City looked to unsettled Klopp's unbeaten team.
But he believes they set up as everyone expected and paid the price with a vital defeat in the Premier League title race.
Speaking on Sky Sports' The Gary Neville Podcast, he explained: "They were in the corner, they were getting punched.
"Everyone thought Liverpool would win, everyone though this was the moment; Man City haven't got the defenders, Claudio Bravo in net.
"This is when the great teams somehow muster a performance, go in and turn it on its head. And I just had the feeling that Pep Guardiola would have been thinking about this game for the last two or three weeks.
"And I just felt Pep Guardiola would have something different for us, something unique. Something that we've come to expect from him over the last five, 10, 15 years.
"And I got what was normal, what I expected. The team the newspapers and us picked in the morning. Fernandinho and [John] Stones at centre-back.
"Manchester City played well in the game from a football point of view. But that back four and that goalkeeper were never going to be able to cope with this ground.
"Forget this team, these strikers, this ground. You have to have a toughness, an authority to come and play here, it’s the toughest of places - and Man City didn't have that in defence today.
"Whether [Nicolas] Otamendi, [John] Stones and [Kyle] Walker as a back three would have fared better, with wing-backs, whether they could have gone with something completely bizarre and turned it on it's head.
"That's what I've come to expect from Pep: innovative, creative, something that just shocks you like you wouldn't believe. And even if it doesn't come off you think 'well at least he tried to something'. But I didn't think it was very Pep-like."
