‘The rest aren’t on their level’: How Liverpool and Man City lifted each other to supremacy

When Sir Alex Ferguson declared Manchester United’s meetings with Liverpool to still hold status as the biggest fixture in British football last month, there was an immediate objection from supporters of the team that have quite a strong counter-argument.

While England’s most successful clubs remain premier in terms of drawing a global audience and being historical reference points for the game in this country, their encounters have not been of great significance in recent years. 

Under Pep Guardiola, Manchester City have redefined what it takes to win the division. They reached the unthinkable 100-point mark, contributed to an insanely close, relentless title race and ultimately helped push Liverpool to near-perfection in ending a 30-year wait for the title.

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It is duels between these two teams that have come to reshape the Premier League and, in large part, they have each other to thank for setting new benchmarks. 

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“In terms of history, of course,  Manchester United against Liverpool means so much,” Joleon Lescott, who won two titles with City tells The Independent. “But it's a different time and both these teams play to win. They have to win because of the standards they’ve set.  

“To get the title now, you need to have it in you to go and pick up maximum points 10-plus games in a row, which is what City and Liverpool are capable of.

“That's why I only believe Liverpool or City will win the league, they are the only teams to have that in them. And they have driven each other on. If one raises their game to new heights, the other is forced to match it. I just don’t believe the rest of the teams are on their level yet.”

After City blitzed through the division in 2017-18, collecting a century of points while smashing in 106 goals and being breached 27 times, there had been a concession from the Big Six that while Guardiola was in charge at the club, the title’s home would be the Etihad.

Arsenal were in transition after Arsene Wenger’s exit, Maurizio Sarri had replaced Antonio Conte with Chelsea 30 points off top spot, Ole Gunner Solskjaer walked in at Manchester United tasked with wiping away the toxic stench of Jose Mourinho’s final months, and Tottenham could only perform miracles under Mauricio Pochettino for so long. 

Liverpool, however, had ousted City 4-3 at Anfield in the Premier League in 2017-18 and eviscerated their European ambitions 5-1 on aggregate in the quarter-finals of the continent’s major competition.

There was conviction that having added Mohamed Salah and Virgil van Dijk, if the spine could be further fortified, the Merseysiders could transform their good days against Guardiola’s juggernaut into a more sustained threat. 

Enter Fabinho and Alisson to tick that off and Liverpool matched City’s variety in attack with an elite defence to provide us with a high-quality title chase that broke all convention. 

Off the pitch, City’s excellence also saw the Reds improve their operations, staff and maximising of marginal edges like deadball situations.

Ceding the title to City by a point in 2018-19 only hardened Liverpool’s resolve to unseat them and end a three-decade wait for the title.

Andy Robertson revealed that on the first day of pre-season ahead of their historic campaign, the squad declared that the league would belong to them and the sheer focus they displayed up until the pandemic, spoke to that. 

Guardiola’s charges, meanwhile, have reacted and adapted too. City, 18 points off the pace last time out and having navigated a taxing start to the season with a shortened break due to European commitments while also dealing with a Covid outbreak, have removed their glass jaw. 

Their vulnerability losing the ball in transition and being susceptible to the counter is gone. Ruben Dias has been transformative and John Stones reborn. 

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City’s redesign to build from their defensive steel - their 13-match winning streak has produced 33 goals with only three conceded - is in part due to the consequences of pandemic football. 

Greater games with a shorter turnaround, limited recovery and training time, heightened fatigue along with the sharpest spike in injuries has dictated a change. 

But more pertinently, City have wanted to be champions of Europe, England and the world - the feat managed by Liverpool last year - and recognised their flaws without the ball were impeding them, especially on the continent. 

As Gareth Barry detailed on these pages: “Previous years, you knew they’re going to dominate the ball, but if a team was good on the counter-attack they’re going to cause problems. That Spurs game highlighted that. 

“Now, Pep’s changed the way his full-backs approach when they’re dominating the ball. They’re both coming inside centrally, almost guarding against the counter-attack. 

"They’re not bombing on as much as in previous years. Generally, you don’t see teams counter-attacking Man City as regularly. That’s a credit to Guardiola. Teams are hardly getting an opportunity to score from open play against them.”

City have let in only 13 league goals this term, nine fewer than any other club - with four of those coming from the penalty spot. 

They are in ominous form for any other team harbouring title aspirations and Liverpool have been right to admit that bar the match at Anfield on Sunday, Guardiola’s machine are not their current focus, which needs to be consistency and remedying the breakdown of their system owed to an unforgiving injury list.

But to use that to lessen the rivalry between City and Liverpool would be myopic. These are two teams that hold each other in the highest esteem.

“I think they have so much respect for each other because they take a similar approach in playing to win, taking the initiative, going and dominating opponents in their own way. 

“In the last few fixtures between them, you’ll have noticed how respect is shown tactically, with both manager’s tweaking things. 

“I don't think that was the case before when they both just went, ‘let's just go at it and see which approach comes out on top’. 

“The last few matches have been more measured, looking to minimise the other’s strengths. And that is probably the biggest respect that they can pay each other by doing that. Um, but again, watching games like that, that teams are trying to win rather than not lose is what it's about.”

In the boardroom and in the stands, however, there is sharp animosity between the clubs, stretching from Financial Fair Play to the attack on City’s team bus, the alleged scouting breach from Liverpool that was settled for £1 million without admission of guilt and Guardiola’s players singing a disparaging version of Allez, Allez, Allez.

The managers have largely been removed from that, appreciating the force the other has built. Klopp has emphasised there is no challenge like facing City, they are unique opponents. Guardiola has extolled Liverpool’s brilliance in transition. 

Yet in the build-up to this game, they’ve taken swipes at each other over the German’s erroneous comment about the opponent’s schedule.

There is no team Liverpool want to beat more than City and vice versa. It is the fixture both clubs first mark out in the calendar. 

It is the one, no matter how much they insist otherwise, filters through their thoughts in the games immediately before and after. 

Liverpool and City have fuelled each other to achieve levels previously unimaginable. 

“They have definitely driven each other on, pushed the other to go further,” Lescott says. “And that's what you want that, that healthy competition. 

“They are both so strong in what they do. I don’t think Liverpool would be as comfortable dominating possession in the patient way that City do and I don’t think City would be as comfortable playing Liverpool’s transition game. 

“They are masters of their approach and they have forced each other to evolve.”

Whatever happens on Sunday or this season - and Liverpool have their work cut out in trying to get close to City - it is undoubtable that these two remain the sides that the others look up to and are fighting to get out of the shadows of.