Pep Guardiola and Jurgen Klopp meet in the
Premier League as Manchester City travel to
Liverpool on Saturday. Here are five questions
ahead of one of the most eagerly anticipated
games of the season.
Could this be the start of a great rivalry?
Guardiola and Klopp have faced each other
eight times in competitive games. All of those
came in Germany. And while the Catalan has a
slight edge (four wins to him, three to Klopp,
one draw) it's fair to say he was fairly
impressed with Klopp's Borussia Dortmund side.
"They're like a steamroller, unstoppable,"
Guardiola said in Marti Perarnau's "Pep
Confidential" book. "There are other teams who
counterattack brilliantly, like Real Madrid, for
example. But Dortmund are unique. I've never
seen anything like it."
Klopp's Liverpool are not quite the same as
Klopp's Dortmund, but after a little over a year
at Anfield, they look like his team. Guardiola has
not had time to make his City side his own yet,
and they are clearly nowhere near the level that
Bayern were under him.
Klopp has a headstart on his rival, but even if
we assume Guardiola will spend just three years
at City, as he did in Munich, this could still be
the start of a great Premier League managerial
rivalry. Their personalities are so different that
the two are never likely to be great friends, but
the mutual respect between them is clear,
meaning this could be a rivalry based entirely on
football rather than personal squabbles.
Will Klopp adjust Liverpool's style?
It was interesting this week that, upon learning
that Guardiola was in the stands for Liverpool's
win over Stoke, Klopp made it fairly clear that
close opposition scouting was not at the top of
his priority list.
"I respect them a lot, but I was not in the City
stadium this season or last season -- only to
play games," he said. "Maybe he was here to
watch good football. I have no idea." Klopp was
speaking in the afterglow of a fine 4-1 victory
over Stoke and could well have been expressing
his confidence, but it did also underline that,
unlike his opposite number, Klopp does not
often alter his team or formation to combat his
opponents.
You can be fairly sure how Liverpool will
arrange themselves for most games, and you
could probably name nine or 10 of the starting
XI too, the odd injury question aside. But this is
a special case, against a rival team and
manager: Klopp will obviously have watched City
and have scouting reports, so will he alter his
approach to target a particular weakness of
City, or simply concentrate on getting things
right in his own team?
Will Sturridge start for Liverpool?
It would be harsh indeed for Divock Origi to be
dropped for this game. He hasn't found the net
in the last two outings, but he did in the five
before that, and his game is perhaps best suited
to pressing the Manchester City defence into
making the mistakes they often do.
But as compelling as the argument is for
keeping him in the side, almost as persuasive is
the argument for bringing Daniel Sturridge back.
He has come off the bench in Liverpool's last
two games, since returning from one of his
regular injury absences, and he contributed
telling moments in both.
The striker engineered a shot that was
eventually converted by Sadio Mane against
Everton, then anticipated a mistake by Ryan
Shawcross to score against Stoke, something
that can't be described as a fluke given he tried
the same thing a few minutes earlier.
Sturridge does things that few others can, which
is not a slight against Origi. But given the news
that neither Philippe Coutinho nor Joel Matip will
be fit for the City game, it means this
represents Klopp's biggest selection decision.
Perhaps the best way to go is to stick with
Origi, then use Sturridge as an option from the
bench. The good news for Klopp is that this
dilemma doesn't seem to have a wrong answer.
How will Guardiola set up his defence?
It's been an interesting game to try to guess
what defensive system Guardiola will select this
season. Three or four at the back? Specialist
centre-backs or full-backs pulled into unfamiliar
duty? Expensive summer recruit in the XI or on
the bench?
Since the calamity of the Chelsea defeat (3-1),
a flat back four has been the favoured solution.
But Guardiola is a man who can spring an
unexpected change and, in the hours he spends
squirrelled away with his laptop trying to figure
out the best way to defeat an opponent, who
knows what he might cook up.
A three-man defence might have some degree
of logic: Liverpool's forwards are not natural
wide men, so packing the middle of the park
could be one way of combatting them as they
drift inside. The place of John Stones is another
question: Can he be risked given the relentless
pressing of the Liverpool forwards and the
nervousness of his distribution so far? Until the
team is out on the pitch, nobody will know, but
the underrated appeal of having Guardiola in the
Premier League is that his team selection is
usually something worth waiting for.
Will this game live up to the goal-filled hype?
A nice hypothetical question you could ponder is
how many goals would Liverpool's attack score
if they played Liverpool's defence? And the
same goes for Manchester City. Both teams
generally look as potent going forwards as they
do flimsy at the back, and while neither's
defensive record is horrendous, they're not
much good either.
City and Liverpool have conceded 20 and 21
goals, respectively, comparable to some rivals
(Arsenal and Manchester United have let in 19
and 18), but Chelsea have allowed just 11.
Tottenham have 13, while Middlesbrough, in
15th place and four points off the relegation
zone, have conceded 20.
Conversely, they've managed 84 goals between
them, a remarkable figure that suggests we
could be in for some fun on Sunday. Of course,
the rules of tempting fate mean a 0-0 draw is
now inevitable, but in a season when some
absurdly hyped-up games have been colossal
disappointments, could this one actually live up
to expectations?