How Liverpool mixed best of Klopp & Slot to beat Man City
Liverpool brought the chaos then the control. The perfect mix and match of Jurgen Klopp’s heavy metal football then the calmer symphonies of his successor Arne Slot.
It was Manchester City, the great domestic power of the modern era, who found themselves trapped in this perfect storm, surely tossed and blown out of contention for a fifth successive Premier League title.
The trademark of Slot’s Liverpool has been a more measured, composed strategy when set against the wilder elements of Klopp’s emotion-charged approach. This was an unstoppable combination of the two that Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City simply could not handle.
Liverpool’s 2-0 victory margin did City a kindness, the result leaving them 11 points adrift of their conquerors, who have a nine-point advantage over Arsenal in second place.
December may have only just been ushered in. The Premier League season may only be 13 games old. Even so, it seems impossible to imagine anyone overhauling Liverpool in this mood.
Guardiola and City have suffered in their run of seven games without a win and four straight league defeats, but they have rarely been as buffeted as they were in an opening salvo from Liverpool that had an almost savage beauty.
Liverpool tore into City, sensing blood in their reduced rivals. Goalkeeper Stefan Ortega, in for the dropped Ederson, had already been in action several times and Virgil van Dijk had headed against the post before Cody Gakpo bundled home Mohamed Salah’s perfect pass at the far post.
This was after only 12 minutes.
It is no slight on Slot to flag up the first 25 minutes as reviving memories of Klopp’s era at its best - in fact it is a compliment – while the next 65 minutes showed how the Dutchman has brought more tactical control and composure to the multi-talented squad inherited from his predecessor.
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Liverpool's early siege left City visibly bewildered
Speaking afterwards, even Slot conceded his side were "close" to perfection.
"At the end the result is the most important, but the performance was great," he told BBC Match of the Day. "If you want to win against a team like City you have to be good at every part of football. So high defending, low defending, build-up, high, low, everything. They bring so many challenges to you.
"In every game you want to start in the best possible way, but we did start the way we wanted it. That always helps because if you start poorly the fans are against you.
"If you start like this it gives energy to the players. And also with the crowd behind you that also gives you extra energy."
There was no doubting the excitement inside Anfield, which was brought to a frenzy by Liverpool’s early siege that left City visibly bewildered by what had hit them.
In that opening quarter Liverpool enjoyed 61% possession and had seven shots to none from City. In fact, it took Guardiola's side 39 minutes to muster an attempt on goal of any description - their longest wait for a shot in a Premier League game since 2010.
Up until that point it had been one-way traffic, wave after wave of attack.
Such was the scale of Liverpool’s first-half domination that goalscorer Gakpo had as many touches in the opposition box, eight, as the entire Manchester City team combined in the first half.
Across the entire game Liverpool made City do more running, Guardiola’s side getting through 111.1km compared to the hosts' 107.2km. And it certainly felt like City were running to stand still in what was, for the large part, a harrowing Anfield experience.
Cocktail of old Klopp and new Slot
When Liverpool streaked away to their only Premier League title in 2019-20, they had 37 points from 12 wins and a draw at this same stage, leading Leicester City by eight points and Manchester City by nine.
The season turned into a procession, ending behind closed doors, and it already looks like it will take something very special from the chasing pack to change that narrative in this campaign.
Liverpool’s nine-point lead is their biggest margin at the top since the final day of that triumphant campaign, when they won the title by 18 points.
This Liverpool performance carried a more direct and frantic air, a tendency to ease themselves into games replaced by a full-on barrage then left City reeling, defensive pair Kyle Walker and Ruben Dias engaged in animated discussion early on as to how they could stem the charge.
They never really found the answer, Dias robbed by Liverpool substitute Darwin Nunez, leaving Luis Diaz to race clear before he was brought down by Ortega. Salah completed the formalities 12 minutes from time.
The numbers certainly suggested Liverpool went for the more direct, pressurised approach, with 14.8% of their passes going long, compared to their season average of 9.1% before this game.
This was certainly a slight departure, a cocktail of old Klopp and new Slot.
Liverpool’s successful transition from Klopp to Slot carried a qualification early on. Namely, that it was all well and good, but who of consequence had they played?
The answer has been delivered most emphatically at Anfield in the space of five days as first Champions League holders Real Madrid then reigning Premier League champions Manchester City were over-powered, identical 2-0 scorelines no reflection of Liverpool’s vast superiority.
Slot’s imprint all over squad Klopp left him
In the final moments, Guardiola responded to taunts from Liverpool fans that he would be "sacked in the morning" by raising six fingers to indicate the number of Premier League titles he has won.
He could also have been signalling the amount of Anfield defeats he has had as Manchester City manager in his 10 visits, with three draws and only one win, a 4-1 victory behind closed doors during lockdown in February 2021.
Anfield has always been the most unforgiving place for Guardiola and so it proved once more, with City now remarkably not even in the Premier League’s top four.
In contrast, life could not be better for Slot, with a remarkable record of 18 wins from his first 20 games.
Defender Joe Gomez, in for injured Ibrahim Konate, was full of praise for Slot – and Klopp – as he told BBC’s Match of the Day: “I think the biggest thing is that he is not trying to fill Jurgen’s shoes or be Jurgen.
"Jurgen’s legacy is stamped in the history of this club and cannot be changed. He [Slot] has been himself. It has been refreshing and all the coaching staff have been positive.
"The work is not done. We have not won anything. It’s a great start and he’s constantly reminding us about going again. He knows we have experience in the squad and he is just on us."
Slot’s imprint is now all over the squad Klopp bequeathed him – and on this raucous, triumphant day Liverpool and their supporters enjoyed the best of both of those worlds.
