Spotlight is on Liverpool and I am not convinced they can hold it together
EVEN if Liverpool were to beat Manchester City 5-0 at the Etihad on Thursday, I’d still have Pep Guardiola’s men down as my favourites to win the title.
A Reds win, of any size, would mean Jurgen Klopp’s merry band well and truly had the Indian sign over their rivals. Especially taking last season’s Champions League quarter-finals into account as well.
But City have the capacity and capability to easily put together a run of 15 games unbeaten.
And while Liverpool are unbeaten in 20 Premier League matches, it still nags me that a 10-point lead, as it would be by Friday, could quickly be eroded with so much football still to be played this term.
That’s largely because City have had their wobble now and we know they have such a good squad. But also because they have completed this course before and we know that counts for plenty.
Liverpool, on the other hand, haven’t encountered any problems yet this season and, when the inevitable slip does come, we don’t know how they will respond.
Positively, I’d imagine, but none of us can say for sure.
I’m not necessarily talking about losing two games back-to-back, as City did either side of Christmas Day.
Because a slip could manifest itself in three draws on the spin at the same time as City are winning their respective fixtures.
That would close the gap by six points and, in the blink of an eye, the whole title race would be wide open again. I know Klopp doesn’t believe Liverpool’s lack of title-winning experience counts against them, but I’m not so sure.
Guardiola’s men know how to close out a season and they know they’re capable of doing it, so the pressures on whichever side is leading in March or April will be significantly different.
City’s only pressure will come from within and, while that’s still a big deal, it’s not the same sort of weight the Reds would encounter, with it coming from every angle.
Spotlights will be turned on Liverpool’s players from all corners of the globe and no one can say with any certainty they will respond in the best possible way.
Hopefully, they will. What I can say for sure, at this stage of the season, is that I prefer watching Klopp’s Liverpool at their best to Guardiola’s City at theirs.
City in full flow are metronomic – it’s pass, pass, pass, pass, pass, goal. It’s economical brilliance, like a hockey team, when it’s all on the deck and it’s stick, stick, stick, stick, stick, finish.
They remind me of the great Spain teams from 2008-2016, in that after a while, if you’re a football purist, you go, ‘Yes, this if great, but give me something more, something extra’.
Liverpool are doing that, they have a swagger, a joy, a happiness.
Whether or not it will be enough to win them the title is still too early to tell, even with a win on Thursday.
But if my old club are still 10 points clear come mid-to-late March or into early April, I might just allow myself to think it really is going to happen.