Why Man City might change identity to nullify biggest Liverpool FC threat

It’s the 76th minute at Anfield. A tight contest between Manchester City and Liverpool has been enthralling both fans in the ground and at home.

The game is a stalemate, thanks to a controversial VAR decision to rule out a City opener. Pep Guardiola’s furious reaction to the decision, in which Erling Haaland was deemed to have pulled back midfielder Fabinho, has only poured fuel onto the fiery atmosphere.

The ball is played into the Liverpool box, which is calmly claimed by goalkeeper Alisson. It’s his subsequent long kick that finds Mohamed Salah sprinting away. A few seconds later, Joao Cancelo has been turned and the ball is in the back of the City net. 1-0. The Blues are forced to go back to Manchester after their first defeat of the season, ruing what might have been.

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If they’re to avoid another scenario like this on Saturday, then City are going to have to find a way of preventing the Liverpool counterattack - their key strategy, utilising the pace of Salah, Darwin Nunez and Luis Diaz.

Anfield has never been the happiest of places for City to visit, which meant the result was almost one fans have come to expect. And since then, City have pushed on, still challenging for the title, whilst Liverpool’s struggles have left them fighting for fourth place.

But, as the Reds make the trip to Etihad on Saturday, City can’t afford to slip up again. Defeat could leave them 11 points behind Arsenal by the end of the day, a gap that even a team as formidable as City may struggle to overcome.

To nullify the big Liverpool threat, City may have to abandon a large part of the identity that has made them so successful. Their usual style of play