Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp has conceded that it is difficult to predict how Pep Guardiola will set up his Manchester City team tactically ahead of their crunch encounter at Anfield on Sunday.
Guardiola made the surprise decision not to sign a striker to replace Sergio Aguero this summer after the Argentinian left on a free transfer to join Barcelona.
The Catalan made public his desire to sign Harry Kane over the summer transfer window but Tottenham refused to sell, leaving Guardiola with an abundance of attackers — but no focal point.
That has given Guardiola some room to experiment with his side, deploying Ferran Torres through the middle, while Gabriel Jesus has been utilised as a wide forward on the right-hand side.
But against Liverpool, he handed a start to Phil Foden in the ‘false nine’ role, with the English starlet expected to swap positions with Bernardo Silva and Kevin De Bruyne throughout the game.
The 50-year-old’s named the same lineup that beat Chelsea 1-0 with a masterful tactical performance and Klopp admitted that after watching them in action, he had no way of knowing how to prepare his side against them.
"You never know,” Klopp replied when asked about Guardiola’s lineup.
“You never know because Pep is pretty creative in these type of things. It looks like the same line-up from Chelsea and they won that game, they played really well.
“They did not so bad against PSG but I think that’s what we should expect, that’s what we can expect in this moment. If that something changes we have to react on that.”
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Klopp rarely deviates from his favoured 4-3-3 formation but, with the Reds arguably staking a claim as one of the most dangerous attacking sides in Europe, there is no real reason to change it.
The German has insisted that his side can produce a tactical "surprise" every now and then — but stressed that a good performance is more important than making life difficult for their opponents.
“I think we can be surprising as well, a lot of things for us people take for granted,” he said.
“We can do different things in different situations but what we have to be is really good.”
Gary Neville questioned whether Guardiola would be able to implement his favoured style of play due to Liverpool’s tendency to press high up the pitch.
"The intensity of Liverpool, this crowd, Anfield, can City play their passing game here?” He said.
“We’ve seen in the past they’ve been disturbed and disrupted when they play out from the back.
“You still look at City in certain games, they played an absolutely brilliant game City against Paris Saint Germain in the Champions League and end up not scoring a goal, not winning. Is that going to be the problem this season?”
Looking at how Liverpool should set up to limit the influence of City’s fluid three-man attack, Neville urged Klopp to keep his aggressive approach.
"They have to have a right go at City,” he added.
“The only way I’ve seen them beat City in the past is when they’ve got right in about them pressed them high, go for it. They’ll do that for 25-30 minutes, City will know that’s coming.
“Pep Guardiola will try play through the lines and they’ll try take the steam out of the game.
“Look, it’s been the best game for about three or four years some of the quality in this match has been unbelievable and I can’t wait today."
