I wonder what Pep learned from his "spying mission" in yesterday's game. I think his biggest headache will be how to escape our high press, since even against lesser pressing sides City has shown themselves somewhat vulnerable when building attacks from the back. Stones and Bravo didn't really solve the problem and the likes of Otamendi or Kolarov are perhaps not quite as comfortable with the ball as Barca's back line in Guardiola's time there. If City play their usual game against us, trying to build from the back, they will play right into our hands – that's what Carra has alluded to in the post-match reaction yesterday. Their build-up play will be severely disrupted and Aguero and co. will not see much of the ball.
Guardiola's Plan B when trying to bypass a high press has been using an old-fashioned target man up front – at Bayern he sometimes put Javi Martinez up front and at Barca he bought Ibrahimovic mostly for that purpose. The problem is, I don't think City have anyone who quite fits this purpose either – unless Pep asks Yaya to play up front, which would be quite a surprise. A third way, and probably the more likely one (knowing how Guardiola dealt with these kind of challenges in the past), would be to sacrifice a striker in order to flood the midfield – so leaving Aguero on the bench (to the outcry of pundits and City fans, no doubt) and playing De Bruyne as "false nine."
In any case, I'm sure Guardiola will try to spread the pitch as far wide as possible by placing fast wingers (Sterling and Sane/Navas/Nolito) 1 on 1 against Milner and Clyne (also hoping to prevent them, especially Clyne, from venturing as far forward as they usually do now). Klopp, in contrast, will keep all our attacking players as centrally as possible. I think the pattern of the game will be LFC having over 55% possession and building attacks patiently through the middle, while City will try time and again to play the ball forward into De Bruyne or Silva, who will then try to turn and quickly spread the ball diagonally between our CB and full-back into the path of Sterling/Sane. We have to be careful with this, but overall I like our chances.
Guardiola's Plan B when trying to bypass a high press has been using an old-fashioned target man up front – at Bayern he sometimes put Javi Martinez up front and at Barca he bought Ibrahimovic mostly for that purpose. The problem is, I don't think City have anyone who quite fits this purpose either – unless Pep asks Yaya to play up front, which would be quite a surprise. A third way, and probably the more likely one (knowing how Guardiola dealt with these kind of challenges in the past), would be to sacrifice a striker in order to flood the midfield – so leaving Aguero on the bench (to the outcry of pundits and City fans, no doubt) and playing De Bruyne as "false nine."
In any case, I'm sure Guardiola will try to spread the pitch as far wide as possible by placing fast wingers (Sterling and Sane/Navas/Nolito) 1 on 1 against Milner and Clyne (also hoping to prevent them, especially Clyne, from venturing as far forward as they usually do now). Klopp, in contrast, will keep all our attacking players as centrally as possible. I think the pattern of the game will be LFC having over 55% possession and building attacks patiently through the middle, while City will try time and again to play the ball forward into De Bruyne or Silva, who will then try to turn and quickly spread the ball diagonally between our CB and full-back into the path of Sterling/Sane. We have to be careful with this, but overall I like our chances.
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