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.
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.
Source: BBC
