3rd January 2019. Etihad Stadium. Manchester, England. Title rivals Manchester City and Liverpool clash. A win for Liverpool sees them increase their advantage at the top of the table to 10 points. A Manchester City win and the lead would be down to just four points. Manchester City would go on to win the match 2-1 and ultimately go on win the title that season by one point, whilst Liverpool would go on to win the UEFA Champions League. Fast forward 18 months and Liverpool travel to Manchester as Premier League Champions. The Reds having already sealed their 19th league title with a record seven games left to play. This match, although irrelevant in terms of deciding who would become champions, presented an opportunity for both teams to make a statement of intent.
To lay down a marker for next season. This match was dubbed by many pundits as ‘the first match of 2020/21’. A chance for Liverpool to stamp their authority over the second-best team in the league, to show the world exactly why they were 23 points clear at the top of the table. For Pep Guardiola’s Man City, it represented a chance to show Liverpool that they were not a spent force and to win the mental battle in advance of next season. Fireworks could be heard outside the Etihad on Thursday evening presumably in support of the newly crowned Champions of England. Yet the only fireworks on the pitch were all in favour of Man City. The ‘Citizens’ were respectful and welcomed the Champions to the pitch with a guard of honour. Once the match started, City were rabid and driven. Determined to prove a point following their loss to Chelsea last week.
In this tactical analysis, we will delve into the tactics of the match and provide an analysis of how Guardiola was able to out-smart Liverpool’s Jürgen Klopp and ran away deserved 4-0 winners.
Lineups
There were no surprises with Liverpool’s team selection. Klopp opting to field without a doubt his preferred starting 11. Alisson Becker lined up with the usual back four of Trent Alexander-Arnold, Joe Gomez, Virgil Van Dijk, and Andrew Robertson. Fabinho was deployed in the defensive-midfielder role, or number six. Georginio Wijnaldum lined up alongside captain Jordan Henderson, and the usual front three of Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mané and Roberto Firmino completed Liverpool’s customary 4-3-3.
Man City did spring a surprise though. Guardiola has long been an advocate of a 4-3-3 and has had limited success versus Klopp and Liverpool when using it. The change to 4-2-3-1 and the deployment of Kevin De Bruyne in the number 10 was a masterstroke by the Spaniard. A back four of Kyle Walker, Eric García, Aymeric Laporte and Benjamin Mendy sat in front of Ederson in the City goal. A midfield double pivot of Rodri and İlkay Gündoğan supplied De Bruyne, Phil Foden, Raheem Sterling, and striker Gabriel Jesus, completing the City 4-2-3-1 – A formation that City have had success with against Liverpool in the past.
Liverpool started brighter but failed to capitalise.
The Reds flew out of the gate and had some early success creating chances with long balls over the top of the City defence. Most typically from Van Dijk or Alexander-Arnold looking to pick out out-in runs from Salah or Mané. If we look at the example below, we can see Van Dijk look to clip a ball in behind for Salah to run onto.
Li
![Juventus Vs Benfica [2–0] UEFA Champions League 202526](https://totalfootballanalysis.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/Juventus-Vs-Benfica-2–0-UEFA-Champions-League-202526-1-350x250.png "Juventus Vs Benfica [2–0] – Champions League 2025/2026: Luciano Spalletti Second-Half Tweaks Secure A Crucial European Win – Tactical Analysis 5")
