Man City have unexpected Arne Slot issue before Liverpool trip

Pep Guardiola paid Jurgen Klopp the ultimate compliment as a coach as the German bowed out of English football.

The Manchester City manager first declared his counterpart his best ever rival for the way he had pushed them to greater heights during their great battles together, then got emotional on the final day of the season as he reflected on their journey. "I will miss him a lot," he said.

"Jurgen has been a really important part of my life. He brought me to another level as a manager. We respect each other incredibly.

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"He helps me with his team, he has been a huge competitor in my life. I didn't discover the way I can punish them like I can find for other teams. With him it has been so difficult."

There are plenty of Liverpool fans who miss Klopp, and the heavy metal football that he brought to the pitch. The former Dortmund coach was larger than life and wore his heart on his sleeve, and his teams were an embodiment of that.

Winning has been Arne Slot's best quality so far, but while his football does not have the crescendos that Klopp's had, the new man at Anfield did give supporters a thrilling time at Old Trafford - a ground where they suffered painfully last season. Taking away the drama of the occasion, Liverpool played as if it were a training sessions and United players were the cones in a one-sided 3-0 win.

As if that wasn't good enough, Slot then stood on the pitch and delivered such a measured yet brutal takedown of United's deficiencies on camera that Sir Jim Ratcliffe was probably screaming for Ed Sheeran to be pushed on screen to interrupt. The fact that it was so matter-of-fact made it all the more emphatic.

Wounded from an injury crisis and an incredible six-game run without a win that has got worse and worse, City head to Anfield praying rather than expecting that they will come out of the game still in the title race. And if the worst does transpire on the pitch, there is every chance things could get worse if Slot then gives chapter and verse for everyone on how to expose the weaknesses in Guardiola's side.

Klopp tortured City like no other team could, yet the mutual respect built up between the two teams over time often meant that the matches helped to build up the legacy of the rivalry as each side praised the other one. Slot may not have the reputation or the charisma that Klopp did, but his abilities coming in from the cold could be far more damaging for City in the long term.

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