Pep Guardiola continued to raise six fingers. The Liverpool fans were ecstatic, and the Liverpool players were celebrating wildly on the field. Meanwhile, Guardiola's own players had gone over to applaud the away supporters, which is truly the least anyone deserves after attempting to travel across northern England on a Sunday. Yet, Guardiola kept raising those six fingers: proudly, almost incredulously, as if discovering the concept of fingers for the first time. What did it signify? The number of defeats since their last win? The position they most desperately need reinforcements in January? The number of touches Erling Haaland had in the final third over 90 minutes?
A new empire may yet rise, but this one is done. Before discussing what's next, we should reflect on the sheer speed of the collapse. A collapse that was believed not just improbable but inconceivable as recently as two weeks ago. Should we be more shocked that a dynasty this impregnable can implode in three weeks? Or more shocked at the feat of sustaining such an impregnable dynasty in a world where it can implode in three weeks?
Perhaps the ultimate measure of City's standards over the past four seasons was what happened when they briefly let those standards slip. Nobody noticed how fast the Titanic was going until it stopped. Nobody realized just how hungry the chasing pack was until it finally found something to devour. And on a riotous Anfield afternoon, it was Liverpool who came to feast. No mercy and no brakes. They scored early, a dazzling flourish to an electrifying opening act in which they essentially disdained the idea that anyone might want to resist them. City barely did. Manuel Akanji stood off Mohamed Salah, Kyle Walker lost track of Cody Gakpo, and right at the start of the move, Trent Alexander-Arnold delivered an incredible 70-yard long pass that—remarkably—will not be his best 70-yard pass of the half. But he did so from the base of midfield with absolutely no pressure on him: five City players close, but none willing to engage.
This isn’t tactics. You cannot remotely conceive of a scenario in which Guardiola would want his players to stand off in that situation. But either they cannot or they will not, and either way, the responsibility still probably lies with the coach. Whatever levers Guardiola is pulling—refinement, renewal, cajoling, confrontation—he is not getting a response. For Arne Slot, it helps that the messages are still fresh, that the structures are already drilled and honed, that he inherited a squad finely balanced between experience and youth, that he is so clearly prepared to change what does not work (the Brighton and Bayer Leverkusen games the clearest examples of this), that this team is so clearly a meritocracy.
Contrast this with Guardiola’s decision to drop Ederson, presumably as punishment for the rush of blood against Feyenoord in midweek, while doubling down on the 4-4-2 system that led directly to that comeback. It helps, too, that there are leaders in the dressing room who can feel their own careers sharpening to a point. Perhaps it was not simply coincidence that Salah, Alexander-Arnold, and Van Dijk were probably Liverpool’s three best players here. All of their contracts are up in the summer. Salah has already started taking his shirt off a lot more when he scores, which is a clear statement of intent to potential suitors. Right now, it feels unlikely that all three will still be at the club next season.
And if, on some level, Liverpool can be accused of a certain carelessness in allowing three of their biggest stars to run down their contracts at the same time, with the possible consequence that they will again forget to replace Andrew Robertson, then in the short term at least there is a certain alignment of mission here. Slot’s first season will probably also be the final hurrah of the great Jürgen Klopp team before it is finally broken up for parts. There is an urgency and a romance there. That team really deserved more than one title. Well, here’s your chance, and it’s probably the last.
Ironically, there is in all this a potential solution for City. The vultures are circling; the lawyers are grappling; a fifth title in a row is probably gone but there is still plenty to be salvaged from this season. What’s missing is the “why”. Why flog your guts out for another league title? The treble has been won, the post-treble slump avoided, every critic answered. What’s the big idea now? Perhaps Guardiola squandered that idea when he announced he was staying for two more years. But it’s not too late to recant, not too late to give this season some shape and meaning, to give his players a reason to fight. Pep’s last season. The legacy of a legend. And to the club for whom he gave everything: one final heartfelt act of love.
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