Schrödinger’s Liverpool is the best litmus test for Manchester City

This round of the Premier League will usher in a highlight. Manchester City, currently ranked second in the Premier League, will play at home against third-placed Liverpool. This is also the 1,000th milestone game in Guardiola's coaching career. I wonder if he can use victory to leave good memories.

01. Schrödinger’s Liverpool: a touchstone for Manchester City

In the previous summer window, Liverpool invested 484 million euros to take over the top three transfer fees (Isaak, Wirtz and Ekitic). It was once famous and had a winning streak.

But soon, Liverpool's failure to integrate new players led to a decline and fluctuation in their record, and they once suffered a five-game losing streak in both teams. After finally stopping the decline in the Champions League, they continued their 4-game losing streak in the Premier League, creating the biggest humiliation in 32 years.

Fortunately, this Liverpool team is still very talented after all. When the outside world began to discuss when Slott would be dismissed and whether Salah would leave the team in the winter window, they defeated Aston Villa, who had just won 4 consecutive victories in the Premier League, and the powerful Real Madrid. It is difficult to figure out how strong this Schrödinger's red army is.

02. Manchester City can win against their old rivals by seizing the key points.

Although they have defeated Villa and Real Madrid in the past two games in a row, showing the offensive talent of this Liverpool team, they still have loopholes. If Manchester City takes advantage of it, they will have the opportunity to take all three points.

As Van Dijk gets older, his control of the landing point of the high ball becomes worse. Liverpool's midfielder pushes forward too hard and easily loses touch with the front and rear.

It can be seen from the statistics after the first 9 rounds of the Premier League that Liverpool is the team that has withstood the most attacks from the opponent's long passes, up to 571 times. Manchester City, which ranks fourth in the Premier League in this statistics, is almost 100 times less than Liverpool.

The key issue is Van Dijk, the core of Liverpool's air defense. He is losing his once superb header control range. In the past few years, Liverpool has dared to spread out its formation and have air-to-air dialogue with its Premier League opponents. This is the confidence given by Van Dijk. However, this season Van Dijk's control over the placement is not as good as before.

Liverpool will lose to Manchester United because of two failures to control the high ball. Manchester United's first goal was Van Dijk's first header, which was not cleared cleanly and was directly turned back by the opponent.

Mbemo moved forward easily from the backbone of Liverpool's defense. Van Dijk turned slower and was losing his ability to track back. If the Dutch central defender is pulled out to fight for the first point of the header, once he cannot reach the feet of his teammates and is hit back by the opponent, he will not be able to come back.

Manchester City's chance to win this game is to use Haaland to attack Van Dijk, and then let the teammates behind him seize the second shot and the second offensive opportunity.

Manchester City has achieved good results this season when using Foden, Cherki and Reinders to advance forward. They may all be a surprise in defeating Liverpool.