Liverpool vs Manchester City now can be called the most anticipated match in an EPL calendar. How did this rise in popularity happen? Why Liverpool suddenly find their arch-rivals in Manchester City?
One thing we get whenever we tune in for Liverpool vs Manchester City is the action, They never miss out on the action, We know both the teams would attack, and we know one will not just sit back and defend for all 90 minutes. We know both will press each other very high in the pitch giving us the best drama possible.
The arrival of Jurgen Klopp and Pep Guardiola
The two arguably the best managers in the world right now have a very deep impact on their respective squads, they are a major force behind the rise of the Liverpool vs Manchester City dialect.
We can estimate the impact Jurgen Klopp had in Liverpool. He took a seemingly dead club into making three Champions League Finals, winning Premier League after more than 3 decades.
Let's be honest the only Premier League team to challenge Liverpool was manchester City, The Etihad-based team had similar ambitions as Liverpool. City group came up with huge money back up to complete that ambition, getting world-class players for hefty fees.
Liverpool however can be said to be much more of a product of man management, Jurgen Klopp didn't have access to the funds Guardiola was having. He had to build a team also focusing on the club's income. We can say that selling players like Coutinho to Barcelona for $150 million was a blessing in disguise for Klopp, as they were able to strengthen their defence with the signings of Van Dijk and Allison.
Both managers were very successful in implementing their ideas of football into their respective clubs.
With Klopp successfully implemented his idea of Gegenpressing in the Liverpool style of play whereas Guardiola was very successful in implementing his philosophy of Possession football in Manchester City, He transformed the club's philosophy into a modern era of high press possession football, which into some extent he wasn't able to implement at Bayern Munich.
We can see the improvement in that Manchester City side when they lifted their first Premier League trophy under Pep Guardiola in 2018
Uncompetitive teams in Premier League
Other Premier League were virtually nowhere in catching the likes of Liverpool or Manchester City when it came to Premier League. Only Manchester United had finished close to manchester City apart from Liverpool in recent seasons.
Arsenal has been in a major rebuilding phase with a major overhaul in the managerial department, Unai Emery could not replicate the success of great Arsene Wegner, Came in Mikel Arteta for their development process, and Frank Lampard had the charges of Stanford who were also somewhat finding their feet after the departure of their main Player Eden Hazard and their manager Maurizio Sarri to Juventus.
With these clubs in virtually a difficult situation, Manchester City and Liverpool had no or very little competition. They both knew they were the major competitors for the premier league.
however outside the Premier League, we saw Tottenham Hotspur challenging Liverpool for the Champions League glory in 2019, and we also saw Chelsea triumph over mighty Manchester City in 2021, making Europe a whole different league.
Both were competing for quadruple for the 2022 season meaning going all in for every trophy they could win, However, neither team could complete the target.
Accumulation of the best players
These two teams possessed the highest quality of players in the Premier League with Liverpool having the likes of Mohammed Salah, Sadio Mane, and Firmino as a deadly attacking front, whereas Manchester City has players like Kevin De Bruyne, Bernardo Silva, Phil Foden, Riyad Mahrez.
With Players like these, it was impossible to miss the action between the two teams, To an extent the players defined this fixture for a long time, Mohammed Salah's goals, Mane's and Ederson's clash, Kevin de Bruyne's Vision, with Bernardo silva's dribbling outclassing half of the Liverpool defence.
Having the consistency to fight till the last game of the league, Both teams have been able to fight for the title till the last game possible for a couple of seasons with the title being decided by the last game of the season.
Growing Fanbase
It is also to be noted given the coverage of the Premier League around the globe, Fans now from different parts of the world tune in for Premier League, There has been a rapid growth of interest in English football, and this humongous growth meant viewings have skyrocketed gaining new fans every day, and these fans are rightly tuning into Liverpool vs Manchester City era.
This growing Fanbase of Premier League football is still estimated to rise further in the coming years.
Comments