Gary Neville: Liverpool v Manchester City will be brilliant to watch
Liverpool v Man City is live on Sky Sports Premier League at 4.15pm on Sunday
Sunday 7 October 2018 10:10, UK
Gary Neville will be in the commentary box on Super Sunday when Liverpool host Manchester City in the biggest game of the Premier League season so far.
Here, he tells Sky Sports why he's concerned about Liverpool's front three, why Pep Guardiola may consider playing three at the back and why this game should be brilliant to watch…
What sort of game can we expect tactically?
I always think about those Liverpool wide players. How do you stop them counter-attacking on you?
When I think about City, they are the best team on the ball.
When we used to play Barcelona and Pep Guardiola you always used to say 'how can we win the ball high up the pitch against them to spring off them because the centre-backs split so wide?' You never could because they were that good on the ball.
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The problem is the Liverpool front three are the best out-of-possession defensive-minded players in Europe, probably. They are absolutely incredible, their reaction to transition after giving the ball away is amazing and they could give City a big problem because they do win the ball high up the pitch.
Every team that plays a back four against Liverpool and splits the centre-backs and pushes the two full-backs on leaves huge spaces and I would be worried to death every time.
Tottenham did it at Wembley the other week and you thought if Toby Alderweireld, on the ball at the back, gave the ball away then Liverpool would be through them.
Against Liverpool it looks like you need to fill the channels. You need three to cover the width of the pitch when they are in possession.
I wonder if Pep Guardiola, who has done it before, will go to three at the back and always have that coverage.
If you've only got two then there are spaces for Mane and Salah to spring into if they give the ball away.
How do you compare their form?
I thought Liverpool were very good against Chelsea last Saturday. Even if they had lost the game I would have said it was a really good performance. They missed several chances to score in the last third and were a little bit sloppy.
However, I would be worried about the Napoli performance if I was a Liverpool fan.
I was surprised when I saw the team sheet against on Wednesday evening and the front three were playing.
When you think about the performance of Liverpool against Chelsea, which was really good, the energy those three put in both into the game was incredible.
Then you've got Napoli away, a really difficult team to play against, and then you've got City who are the best team in the Premier League.
I was surprised that all three played. I thought maybe one or two, but I was surprised all three played.
I referred to their priorities earlier this season, in terms of the Champions League and how important it is to the club, and it wasn't taken to kindly by Liverpool fans.
I do genuinely believe Liverpool have a chance of winning the league and I feel the biggest threat to them winning the league is the potential for tiredness and fatigue in that front three.
If I was a Liverpool fan I'd be concerned about the front three looking a little bit less lively than they normally would do going into a game like Sunday's.
What can we expect? Is it a monumental game in terms of the season?
Absolutely. When you built up to games like this when we were playing, it was an event.
It definitely won't be cagey because it's not in the managers' make-up. Jurgen Klopp and Pep Guardiola don't retreat. They do adapt sometimes, but they always play with an attacking emphasis.
If you look at the games last season they were an absolute thrill, every one of them. Even in the one at the Etihad, which was blighted by the fact Sadio Mane was sent off and it completely distorted the end result, I thought Liverpool were damaging Manchester City in the first half an hour.
City looked like they could score as well and you could see there was a proper game building.
On Sunday you've got two managers who won't retreat, they don't change. You think about how Pep Guardiola will stop those short counter attacks of Mane and Salah in the wide areas. How can Pep Guardiola not send his full-backs forward? It's impossible, he doesn't think that way.
Could he change to three at the back and do other things? You try to second guess Pep in big games and it's a waste of time because he changes things all the time. But it's always a front-foot move, never a back-foot move.
Jurgen Klopp won't change. His team are playing well at Anfield and can only play one way, 100-miles-an-hour. It should be a brilliant game.
I can't see anything other than a brilliant game on Sunday. I can't see anything other than wonderful football and great goals.
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