Pep Guardiola is without a doubt one of the top managers in world football right now but every time his side comes up against a team managed by Jurgen Klopp, it seems like the German is always one step ahead of his counterpart.
And this was once again the case when Liverpool beat Manchester City in the Premier League on Sunday.
The Citizens started the match on the front foot and it looked like Pep Guardiola was finally going to break his voodoo at Anfield.
Unfortunately, that was not to be as Klopp ensured his players beat Manchester City with considerable ease.
Obviously there were a few key decisions that went against the away side but according to Gary Neville, Pep Guardiola failed to pull the rabbit out of the hat for this particular encounter despite that being his ace move all throughout his carrier especially for the so-called big games.
“I just felt that Pep Guardiola would have something different for us today, something that was unique and unexpected,” Neville told Sky Sports[as reported].
“It’s what we’ve come to expect over the last five, 10, 15 years watching him coach.
“I got what was normal, what was expected, the team the newspapers probably predicted this morning. Stones and Fernandinho at centre-back, I didn’t see anything different about it.
“Man City played well from a football point of view, but that back four and that goalkeeper were never going to be able to play deal with this ground. Forget the team, the strikers, this ground.
“You have to have a toughness and an authority like you would not believe to come and play a big game here, it’s the toughest of places and Man City did not have that in defence today.
“Whether they would have been better with Stones, Fernandinho and [Nicolas] Otamendi in a back three with wing-backs. Whether they could have gone with something completely bizarre, which is what you expect from Pep – innovative, creative, something that shocks you.
“Even if it doesn’t come off, he’s tried to do something, but this was not very Pep-like today.”
The rub of the green obviously did not go Man City’s way on Sunday but despite all the bad decisions, Pep Guardiola did try and play his brand of attacking football all throughout the 90 minutes.
It’s just that Liverpool were clinical on counterattacks as Jurgen Klopp basically set up his team to beat Man City at their own game. And this is perhaps the biggest reason why Pep Guardiola failed to use his lucky charm because a certain German was always one step ahead of him on the other dugout.
