Pep Guardiola has navigated arguably the toughest period of matches in world football over the past week, having faced Chelsea, Paris Saint-Germain and Liverpool away from home.
The Spaniard picked up one win, one loss and one draw across the trio of games, having adjusted each of his starting lineups in accordance with the opposition.
Guardiola is having to work without a recognised striker at the moment and that was the case at Anfield on Sunday, with Jack Grealish deployed as the team's central presence while Phil Foden occupied the left of the field.
It is interesting that just one week earlier, the pair had their roles reversed with Foden through the middle and Grealish out wide.
It was a curious move and once viewing how Manchester City performed against Jurgen Klopp's men, it was obvious as to why the 50-year-old had made the shrewd tactical switch.
James Milner was playing in place of Trent Alexander-Arnold for Liverpool on the day, who had suffered a knock in the build-up to the bout.
The ex-City man is a reliable and experienced performer but now aged 36, the seasoned professional isn't quite as mobile as he used to be, especially in comparison to Foden.
With Foden possessing the edge over Grealish in the speed department, he was fielded against Milner to place a spotlight on his flaws, and he caused him problems throughout the contest to the extent that the Reds vice-captain should have been sent off for repeated offences.
Foden regularly darted into the space behind Liverpool's defence and Milner struggled to keep up with him, almost giving away a penalty at one stage. One move in particular involved an expert lofted pass by Ederson into the space behind Milner - as shown above - which Foden retrieved before Alisson Becker intercepted.
On the 69th minute of the game, the City youngster finally scored a deserved goal to level the scoring with an impressive finish.
One week earlier against Chelsea, Thomas Tuchel started with Andreas Christensen as the central defender in his back three - who isn't the quickest - with Reece James out wide, which shows why Foden was used centrally in that case.
Guardiola has a wealth of attacking options at his disposal and although he is encountering issues without a striker in certain moments, he's demonstrating clever tactical nous by tailoring the roles of his forwards according to their opponents.
