RHYME AND REASON
You’ll Never Walk Alone. Superbia In Proelio. This Means More. Blue Moon Rising. Red v Blue. Kopites v Cityzens. For the last time in Our League, Jürgen Klopp will take on Pep Guardiola. Cue intro: the Liverpool poet, celebrating Jürg via the medium of folksy verse, and sound-clash that with a braggadocio Manc rapper in big coat employing a groin-led swagger. Next: zoom in on Anfield. (Any TV execs looking for a freelance director, get in touch with Football Daily.) Cliche aside, this is a big one. It’s way too early in the season to be the title decider, not least because Arsenal are racking up big wins as the Third Way, but it holds historical significance. It has been the most glorious Liverpool era since Bobby and Sheila Grant were household names, and yet, even if they win the title come May, the Klopp era will conclude with two titles compared to Guardiola’s five. And from one of Liverpool’s greatest teams.
Perhaps the leading reason why Klopp “thought my energy level was endless and now it is not”, as he explained the leaving of Liverpool, was City. Guardiola’s City, specifically. If Klopp felt he could not do the job “again and again and again and again”, the Spaniard has always looked as if he could do his job again and again and again and again. And again. Though perhaps there comes a time when the lack of a peer, a manager who can stare him in the face to be just as proud of their achievements, might change Guardiola’s extra-terrestrial motivation levels. The pair have driven standards in the Premier League higher such that, with Liverpool being in Big Vase this season, there seem to be few capable of stopping City winning Big Cup again.
Of course, there are caveats, 115 thrown around liberally by those suspicious of the blue machine. Klopp has only rarely strayed into the territory of pointing to City being able to cash out petrodollars while he relies on Bostonian venture capitalist dollars. “They can do what they want,” he lamented in 2022. “We cannot act like them, it is not possible.” That led to an almighty hoo-ha between the club’s PR departments, followed by uneasy truce. Klopp has lately tempered his view. “If you want to blame anyone for not winning [Big Cup] three more times then it’s me,” he parped during that farewell announcement. He and Pep keep their respectful distance. It has been a rivalry without personal beef.
So, thank you, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Erling Haaland, for stoking the fires in, er, a tactic-titled magazine interview the Liverpool man probably did last month, via a fairly tame riposte from the Norwegian. “How both clubs have built their teams and the manner in which we’ve done it, probably means more to our fans,” roared Alexander-Arnold. “I’ve been here one year and won the treble and it was quite a nice feeling, I do not think he knows exactly this feeling,” howled Haaland. Phew! Fire up the montages! This IS MASSIVE.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“This weekend sees the return of the Women’s FA Cup with the quarter-finals and the chance for eight clubs to get a step nearer to a prestigious Wembley final. This should be a key weekend in the calendar but many fans won’t realise it is happening” – Kelly Simmons used to be director of the women’s game, so we should probably listen when she assesses how to soup up the competition.
FOOTBALL DAILY LETTERS
Re: FFP issues (yesterday’s Football Daily). I feel for Big Website’s undoubtedly more talented journalists. Hunter Davies got to sit in a dressing room and observe the complex psychological interactions between Mike England and Cyril Davies. Your modern football hack usually has to write about issues every bit as fascinating as an offset mortgage” – Jon Millard.
Re: Leicester City’s simultaneous here/not here strategy of attempting to avoid potential FFP punishment. Schrödinger’s Fox?” – Steve Malone.
With all this tea-timely chatter about Colorado, our local pro club (Football Daily letters passim), it feels worth sharing with readers that the Rapids’ home stadium was closed for a while in 2019 by a bunch of groundhogs carrying the actual plague” – Ivan Maddox.
Send letters to the.boss@theguardian.com. Today’s winner of our prizeless letter o’ the day is … Steve Malone.
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