Liverpool’s confirmation as Premier League champions has drawn much praise for Jurgen Klopp’s work at Anfield, and much soul searching in the name of Manchester City’s failed title defense. But not everything has been fair.
Much of the attention paid to Liverpool has been deserved. His form over the past two seasons has been that of the Premier League title winners, and the improvements made by Klopp in the past four and a half years have been incredible.
In truth, only the City has undergone a similar rebuild at the time, and now both clubs have league titles to prove it.
However, some coverage of the Liverpool season has slightly overstated their situation, especially compared to City. This is not a David vs. Goliath title win against all odds, it is a brilliant team beating another brilliant team. And to be a brilliant team today, you have to spend a lot of money, something both clubs have done.
So when former Liverpool player Stan Collymore wrote that Pep Guardiola couldn’t have done the same job as Jurgen Klopp, he was simply wrong, because he did it!
Collymore told him Mirror : “What Klopp has done in such a short time in Liverpool is incredible.
“In the likes of Mo Salah, Bobby Firmino and Sadio Mane, he has made world-class players absolute machines, and in Virgil van Dijk you are talking about the best central defender in the world.”
“He has transformed Trent Alexander-Arnold and Andy Robertson, a homegrown boy and a constant £ 8 million ‘Eddie’ signing, into possibly the best full-backs in the world. I’m not convinced that Guardiola could have done what Klopp would have done if things were the other way around.
“I still want to take off my cap from Guardiola and City because it has been a great effort from them again this season. They have been an admirable enemy and it is not easy to come back after winning consecutive titles in which you have accumulated 100 and then 98 points.
“But for the winner, the loot and they deservedly belong to Liverpool this time.”
The argument here is that Liverpool’s recruiting has been better than City’s. So why does Guardiola have two Premier League titles in four seasons compared to Klopp’s only title in five seasons?
Since arriving at Anfield, Klopp has built a ruthless side for Liverpool by reviewing the troubled goalkeeping department, three-quarters of the defense, midfield, and three forward positions. Only James Milner remains in the opening XI of Klopp’s Liverpool team’s first tab in a review that has cost just over £ 400m since Klopp arrived.
At City, spending has been higher, but Guardiola has also improved most of his team in all positions. The city’s current team may have cost around £ 720m in transfer fees, but Guardiola has spent around £ 530m of that.
The point is that both managers have improved areas of their squads by spending money, and as a result have earned silverware. It shouldn’t be a competition as to who has been best recruited.
And when City’s record in the Premier League over the past three seasons is compared to Liverpool’s, their total points earned are remarkably similar. Since the start of the 2017/18 campaign, City have accumulated 261 points, just five more than Liverpool (256).
In all competitions, City have eight trophies at the time and Liverpool have four. When considering City’s internal dominance and Liverpool’s European success, it is difficult to separate these two fantastic sides.
Klopp and Guardiola have created squads that are much better than when they arrived, and we are lucky to see the pair compete against each other. It should also be said that the two managers have nothing but mutual respect, something that the rest of us should follow.
If Guardiola only has a year left in City, we should embrace the world’s top two managers who fight for the same trophies instead of earning trivial points on who’s better.
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