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Pep Guardiola names five ‘so fast’ Liverpool players who he admits Man City just couldn’t deal with
To think, Manchester City’s frontline was once the envy of all of Europe, let alone the Premier League. These days, that honour belongs to Liverpool.
The contrast could hardly have been more dꦅramatic.
With Erling Haaland and Phil Foden marked out of the game, the lack of inspiration from Matheus Nunes and Rico Lewis – stationed wide on the left and💮 the right – was in stark difference to Liverpool’s combustable cocktail of intensity, speed and explosiveness.
At times, Liverpool’s 2-0 win ov꧑er Manchester City extending their lead over the champions to 11 points, it looked like two teams playing completely differenꦚt sports.
Like an overzealous kid in the local park walloping his football st🔯raight into Pep Guardiola’s chess table and scattering his pawns and bishops off in a🔜ll directions.
Mo Salah scored one and assisted another. Cody Gakpo’s early tap in was his seventh 🐬in nine matches for club and country.ﷺ
The ferocious pressing of Dominik Szoboszlai and Luis Diaz – not to mention late substitute Darwin Nunez – battered Man City into submission. Liverpool doing to Guardio♌la what Guardiola so frequently did to others ov꧂er the years.
Pep Guardiola highlights threat of Mo Salah, Cody Gakpo and co at Liverpool
“The first 50, 55 min♈utes we [stru൲ggled], like many other times coming here in our prime. We suffered, they scored the goal, we are 1-0 down,” Guardiola explains, speaking at a press conference.
“We cannot compete against Liverpooꦬl. Not just Liverpool but many other clubs, the transitional teams [who can hit us quick on t♏he counter-attack].
Not for the first time recently, Guardiola’s team selection came under the microscope as Man City suffered a sixth defeat in seven games. He left wingers Jeremy Doku, Jack Grealish and Savinho on the bench alongside Kevin de Bruyne, with Nunes and Lewis starting inste🐎ad in the wider roles.
Guardiola’s ex📖planation was that he wanted more control over possession. He felt that keeping the ball was the best defence against Liverpℱool’s dynamism on the counter.
It was a tactic which didn’t really bring about the desired results, of course, even if City did domꦓinate 57 per cent of the possession on Sunday afternoon.
“I love wingers but I wan൲ted more control🙈 because we know, when they lose [the ball], the counter-attack with Salah, with Szoboszlai, with Luiz, with Gakpo and [after that] Nunez,” Guardiola adds.
“They are so fast. Stronger, quicker, faster than us in that posit🐬ion.”
Stronger, quicker, faster andꦯ, most importantly, better.
Arne Slot ready for Newcastle United challenge at St James’ Park
There is surely no finer team in European football righ༺t no🦩w than Arne Slot’s rampant Reds.
L🐈iverpool swept aside Real Madrid in the Champions League only a few days earlier, after all, while Manchester City were vanquished in s⛦imilarly dismissive fashion by a side reminiscent of the Jurgen Klopp team which had the Premier League title pretty much wrapped up by Christmas day back in 2019/20.
Their record under Slot now stands at a remarkab🍨le 18 wins from 20 ꧙games.
Liverpool will hope to maintain – or even extend – their nine point advantage over Arsenal on Wednesday night. While Mikel Arteta’s outfit host Rꦛuben Amorim’s revitalised Manchester United, Liverpool travel to an inconsistent Newcastle.
“I think iꦅf Liverpool is number one, two, three or four [in the table], it’s always a very special game for the teams we face,” Slot said during his Tuesday press conference. “It doesn’t ma🔴tter that much what the league table tells you.
“If Liverpool comes, then their stadium is sold out and everybody wants to pl🀅ay us and wants to have the best game against us – like they have against Arsenal, Man City and all the others.
“[My players] also ൩know that it’s a long season. And, to win the league against the likes of Chelsea, Arsenal and City, because I see those three as our main competitors at the moment, they all know that we have to be for ninඣe, ten months on top of their game.
“If you let down for a second, these clubs show up immediately. They also ꦗsee the quality of Chelsea, they’ve experienced the quality of Arsenal and als♑o of City already. They know we have to stay on top of our game.
“And then now facing Newcastle, they don’t need me to tell them how difficཧult the game tomorrow will be.”