Manchester City V Liverpool

AN ARTICLE BY SUPERSUB

The archaeologists trembled with excitement, as they started to  remove the covering from a newly discovered mummified body, that they believe had been buried around 3,000 years ago.  When the covering had been removed from the upper part of the body, they all stepped back in shock, as they saw what could only be described as a pronounced look of despair & horror on the face of the body they’d found, making it appear that this man had died in the most agonising circumstances.  Like he’d let out one last scream of despair & terror, just before he died.One of the archaeologists looked down & noticed a small scroll of parchment, grasped in the hand of the man.  They carefully removed the parchment, unrolled it & when they read it, they understood the reason for the expression on the dead man’s face.   It was a betting slip & on it was written, ‘500 gold pieces, Goliath to win’.

Now, when it comes to Liverpool & man city, the David & Goliath analogy has two sides to it.  When we consider the history & pedigree of the two clubs, Liverpool are undoubtedly the ‘Goliath’.

19 titles, 6 x champions of Europe, FA cups, League cups, other European trophies, world club cups (we’ll leave the Charity shield counting to the other set of desperate mancs).  City have nothing.

We’ve won what we won, they bought theirs.   Their European conquests are on the same level as Fulham, Newcastle & West Ham.

But, when it comes to the financial resources available to the two clubs, we’re very much the ‘David’.  City are an oil-state owned, oil-rich club, who can splash almost unlimited amounts of cash around, whilst we’re just a well run, financially viable football club, living within our means.  I know which one I prefer to support.

If anything could be used to sum up the difference between the two clubs in this respect, we only need to look at Jack Grealish, a player they splashed out £100m for & who spends most of his time warming his arse up on the bench.  We, however, paid less than that for Diogo Jota, Thiago Alcantara & Luis Diaz, three ‘Goliaths’ for less than the price of a ‘David’.

When the fixtures for this season were released, many of us looked at this one & felt that it might be of some significance when it eventually came around.  Little did we know how significant & not even the most optimistic amongst us predicted that we’d be in the running for all four trophies.

I’ve been accused at times, of wearing rose-tinted glasses when it comes to this club & I’ll be honest & say that it’s an accusation  that I’m extremely proud of.  My continued optimism is not based on any form of delusion btw, it’s based on a realistic assessment of where this club is right now & the complete confidence I have in Klopp & the lads.  If I was gonna be completely honest, I’d have to say that, if Klopp & the lads don’t inspire you with confidence, then you’ve not been watching very closely for the last few seasons, where we’ve improved year upon year, and I’m still adamant that last season counts for nothing when it comes down to football, except for the fact that we secured our CL qualification for this season.   Everything else was irrelevant.

We’re living in extraordinary times as far as this club is concerned & we have the best manager on the planet (an opinion I’ll refuse to change for anybody) and we also have an amazing squad of players, arguably the best in the world right now & definitely the best that I’ve seen in the (quite a few) decades that I’ve been supporting this great football club.

As for this particular match, it could realistically go either way.

For me, the biggest influence on how this game will be approached (more so by city than us) doesn’t come from within the two clubs.  The baffling decision not to award Everton a penalty in their game recent against them, means that city will be happy with a draw in this game & we really do need the 3 points.  IF that had been given & IF Everton had scored (76% conversion rate in the PL), then that would’ve changed the dynamics of this game completely.  They’d need the three points & that would mean they’d have to come at us looking for a win and, if they did that, I believe that we’d rip them apart. But that’s just a load of ifs & buts really.

Prediction…?  I believe that we’ll beat them.  We’re the team with the better current form.  We’re also the team with the more unified squad & we’re the team with the greatest hunger.

Having said that, we NEED to win this, as far as winning the title is concerned.  If we don’t, I really can’t see city slipping up anywhere else & there’s a ’18/19′ feel to this season, where we’re just that one point behind & hoping that they drop points somewhere else. 

We came close that season, very very close. 

All things considered, this is now down to us.  The destination of this title is in our hands.   If we beat city, I believe that we’ll win the title & if we don’t, I believe that city will edge it again.  Whichever of those two scenarios plays out, my pride in this club, the manager, the squad & what they’ve achieved this season, will not be diminished in any way whatsoever.  I’ll be singing their praises on Monday morning, come what may.

And, whilst on the subject of the title, I really believe that fans of the other 18 clubs in the PL should be down on their hands & knees, thanking Klopp & our lads, for the fact that we’re still having a conversation about who’s gonna win the title at this stage of the season.  Nobody else is standing toe-to-toe with city and, if it wasn’t for us, the PL would just become a replica of the French league, where an oil-rich club can simply splash the cash around and therefore, in the vast majority of seasons, ensure that the title is a procession rather than an actual contest.

But they’re all a bunch of ungrateful b*st*rds, so f*ck everyone else.

Team selection…??  Who knows…?  Klopp will choose what he thinks is the best starting XI for the game & I’ll just go along with the genius.

Tactics….??  Heavy metal football.  All systems go. We’ve hardly been out of third gear in some games recently, but still secured the results that we needed, and I believe that this is part of the overall plan from Klopp.  Do what we need to do to win.  This one is different though.  Right from the off, I reckon that we’ll be at them full pelt and, with our terrifying forward players, they’re in for a helluva struggle to keep us from scoring & the travelling support will be behind the lads all the way too & that makes a huge difference.

This scenario right now, is what exactly what Klopp’s been planning for all along.  He said during the pre-season, that the aim was to be challenging for silverware when April comes around (we certainly are) and the other aim was to have as many of the the squad as fit & strong as possible, to cope with the fixtures that would come up around this time (which we certainly have).  Compared to last season, it’s team/squad selection due to specific circumstances, rather than team/squad selection due to injuries and/or necessity, which is precisely what he was aiming for, even before the season started. 

Klopp’s decisions may baffle some at times, and it’s often fun to try & second guess what he may or may not do (maybe not so much fun for opposing managers tho), but we have to concede that the guy knows what he’s doing and, to steal a quote from Sun Tzu & relate it to Jurgen Klopp, “All men can see these tactics whereby I conquer, but what none can see is the strategy out of which victory is evolved”.  We honestly couldn’t be in more capable hands, than we are with Jurgen Klopp.

It should be a cracker.  Bring it on.