Pep Guardiola is certainly not in two minds that Liverpool are still Manchester City’s biggest challengers in their the Premier League title defence, despite Jurgen Klopp’s side seemingly having a troubled start to the season.
Just before a meeting between the two sides at Anfield on Sunday, Liverpool sit13 points adrift of the defending champions and 14 behind leaders Arsenal after managing only two wins out of their opening eight games. At this juncture even Klopp himself has played down any talk of Liverpool realistically winning their second league title during his seven years in charge. However, be that as it may, Guardiola is still insistent that in a season interrupted by an impending winter World Cup, change is invariably a major constant.
“Always has been, always it is and always will be,” he said. “Because I know the quality they have, they know the quality we have.
“If I was asked this question with five or ten games left, I will say I think Liverpool cannot catch the top of the league – in that case, Arsenal. But being in the position that we are, with the World Cup, everything can still happen.”
Guardiola added: “The table didn’t play ever play the game. Not just against Liverpool, in every single game. The game will be dictated by what happens on the beach, not because we are in front or we are behind or these kind of things.”
“The opinion I have about this team, nothing changed because of the situation in the table. Not one second.”
For what it’s worth, Liverpool although experiencing a cumbersome start did still get to savor victory over City in the season’s traditional curtain-raiser by winning the Community Shield when they beat Guardiola’s side at Wembley in the FA Cup semi-finals in April.
Guardiola admitted to being unhappy with his side’s performance in both of those most recent encounters, describing his players as “too soft”.
“I had the feeling always in Anfield we have played really well. In other games, maybe in the last two games we were a little bit soft for different circumstances.
“You have to behave at a top level with and especially without the ball, and in being active in a second balls and many many things. At Anfield, winning or losing, we’ve always played with an incredible personality.
“You have to win duels. When they push you, you have to push. When they are there, you have to be there. The semi-finals of the FA Cup, it was a tough to recover the incredible effort we had done in Champions League.
“In the Community Shield, still we were not ready. They were in one pace higher than us and without that, against that team, you cannot compete.”