Shaky City defence needs cool head
PEP GUARDIOLA’S reputation for ploughing through the cash is on a par with his reputation for winning trophies.
Those may be relentless and mind-boggling in equal measure, but it is the pounds he refused to spend that could well cost him dear in the long run.
Twelve months ago Guardiola was keen on signing Virgil van Dijk, but he refused to get drawn into an auction with Liverpool when the price started rising faster than mercury in the desert.
He pulled out, allowing the Reds to go ahead and sign him from Southampton in a £75m deal.
It made him the most expensive defender in the world and since going to Anfield, Van Dijk has now matured into the best one in the world as well.
His reading of the game, his anticipation and coolness under pressure are unrivalled and were in a different league to anything on show in the opposite defence last night.
His influence in Klopp’s side has been so significant that his mere presence in the team has made the likes of Andrew Robertson and Trent Alexander-Arnold raise their own games to another level.
City used to have a world-class centreback of their own in the shape of Vincent Kompany.
The stalwart was a surprise inclusion in the home side for this titanic showdown at the Etihad and it was a determined show of faith from Guardiola.
The last time Kompany started a game against one of the top five sides was at Tottenham in April, 2017.
Kompany will be 33 in a few months and his influence and power within Belgian football has been so great down the years that he’s known as ‘The President’.
But on this evidence his time in office appears to be coming to an end.
This felt like the changing of the guard for more reasons than one as Van Dijk showed his ageing rival the perfect example of what a modern defender should be.
While the Dutchman was calmness personified to help the Reds withstand a fierce, opening onslaught from the hosts, Kompany found himself brutally exposed twice in the opening 20 minutes.
First when a blistering Reds attack saw Mo Salah glide past him and then when Sadio Mane drifted in behind him to meet Alexander-Arnold’s cross and power a shot straight at Ederson’s goal.
It could have been much, much worse for Kompany in the 30th minute when he escaped with a yellow card instead of a red one following a desperate two-footed lunge into Salah as he threatened to charge clean through on goal.
Title-winning sides are built from the back. This is where the foundations of a champion team are laid.
Arsenal proved this. So did Chelsea. So did Manchester United and so did the current champions last season.
Now the Reds are following suit – despite decisive strikes from Sergio Aguero and Leroy Sane last night – while the case for City’s defence is anything but watertight.
Heading into this clash, the 10 goals the champions had conceded in their last six league games was two more than the Reds had lost all season.
There was nothing even the super-human powers of Van Dijk could do to stop Aguero’s 250th league goal of his career five minutes before the break, but there was much more Kompany could have done to stop Roberto Firmino from equalising.
No defence is perfect but had Guardiola exploited his financial muscle to sign Van Dijk to partner John Stones then his would have been damned close. He didn’t – and the next five months will tell us all if the Spaniard made a huge mistake.