Since Pep Guardiola joined Manchester City, the face of the Premier League has changed. Ditto the arrival of Jurgen Klopp.
The latter has one over on his rival having won last season’s Champions League, and one particular pundit believes that the German is now streets ahead in terms of tactics, style and execution.
Jason Cundy, speaking on The Sports Bar on talkSPORT radio and cited by talkSPORT, clearly doesn’t have time for Guardiola now that Klopp has burst onto the scene in his own, inimitable way.
“Guardiola’s Barcelona side in the mid-2000s was probably the best club side we’ve ever seen, they were exceptional,” he said.
“They played in a way, the fluidity, the movement, you couldn’t live with them… but I’ve got to say that football now doesn’t work the way that it used to.
“Klopp has overtaken Pep, and it’s happened […] in about 18 months. We’ve seen everyone lauding Pep, but if you gave me a choice of a season ticket between Man City or Liverpool over who I’d prefer to watch, I wouldn’t go to City, I’d go to Liverpool.
“The energy, the tempo, the ruthlessness, the way they go forward… City need to move the ball from back to front quicker, they overplay and it’s easy on the eye and they can tear you apart, they tear bad teams apart because they’re technically better.
“But Pep, are we looking at Pep now and actually the game has passed him by a little bit?
“That tiki-taka football… the way the game is played today is speed, pace. Lyon’s second goal where they burst through and broke the lines, that’s how you beat City, with pace.
“I just think Klopp’s overtaken him. Now Pep is second by some distance – it’s not even close.”
Whilst there’s little doubt that Klopp has been hugely successful at Anfield playing a remarkable brand of football, to suggest that Guardiola is second ‘by some distance’ is a little disrespectful from a player that never really scaled the heights himself.
Indeed, looked at in isolation, Cundy’s rant could be seen as nothing more than a controversial statement designed to make him appear more relevant than he actually is.