Gary Neville thinks a key change in Liverpool's game under Jurgen Klopp can be attributed to the influence of Manchester City coach Pep Guardiola.
At Barcelona, Guardiola took world football by storm as he won the Champions League in his first year as a coach and added a second two years later as well as winning three La Liga crowns in four seasons.
The importance of that Barcelona team and the way they changed football has only grown over time, and former United defender Neville saw them as introducing something new to the sport that has filtered through.
"The game’s changed completely in terms of perception. I have to say Pep Guardiola, everyone described it as the greatest team of all-time and I think rightly so, with [Gerard] Pique, [Carles] Puyol, Xavi, [Andres] Iniesta, [Sergio] Busquets, [Lionel] Messi. That team I think redefined football," he said.
"You rarely see new things in football but the way in which they pressed when they lost the ball, the possession, the skill, everything was just out of this world over a three or four year period. No one could get near them.
"And I think it’s just transformed everyone’s mind to how they see football and even clubs that don’t maybe adopt the tactics of pure possession like Pep does."
For Neville, that includes Klopp's Liverpool.
The champions-elect of the Premier League are not built like the Blues side that has claimed the last two titles but the increasing level of calm and control that has developed in the Liverpool team over the last few seasons has been noted by the Skysports pundit.
"Liverpool in the last few years, when Jurgen Klopp came to Liverpool I thought they were a brilliant team, but they pressed a lot, they were very frantic," Neville added.
"You look at the control in their game now, its adapted, they’re a more rounded team, so I think the influence of Pep Guardiola is enormous and obviously the coaches that he was inspired by are enormous on our game.”
