“To be a big team in England...you have to win more”, implored Pep Guardiola in the week following Manchester City’s historic title run in the Premier League. Sifting through the emotions and intensity of 38 matches, the 2018 season can be distilled down into two record breaking numbers: 100 and 32. The former is the number of points Manchester City won this season, breaking the previous record of 95 set by the 2003-04 Chelsea side. The latter is the number of goals Mo Salah scored for Liverpool, the most in a 38-game season. City’s point total and Salah’s goals were a byproduct of two distinct playing styles, each reflecting their manager’s ideas of creating chances through pressing opponents or through possession. And with Guardiola renewing his contract for two more seasons and Jurgen Klopp signed to Liverpool through 2022, each side represents two distinct, opposing visions of how to win in the Premier League in the upcoming seasons. 

How does a team improve upon history? You could list the long records that this Manchester City side broke this season, from biggest point differential in a title winning season, to most goals scored, to the highest average possession at 71% per match. There is the idea that the most dangerous time for any side is the moment after they’ve achieved success as trophies paper over potential long term cracks in the foundation. But Guardiola broke his own personal three-year managerial rule extending his contract with City, and he reflects upon how he brought the average age of the squad down to 23 years old. This combination of Guardiola’s long term approach with the squad’s youth has perhaps already shown a tangible effect with Max Allegri turned off by the Arsenal position when examining City’s upcoming dominance. 

And City could still improve this summer in replacing Yaya Toure and signing a successor for 33 year old Fernandinho at the base of midfield. The Brazilian represents a vital piece of City’s approach in both setting tempo and sniffing out opposition counter attacks high up the field. The latest rumor has Napoli’s Jorginho, who says he prefers a game of “the ball always being on the ground” and “constantly imposing our game on the opposition”, as a seamless fit for Guardiola’s style. Adding another quick passing, tempo setting midfielder would further move City towards the edges. The 71% possession mark could be smashed again next season, with more goals, and more league-wide dominance. 

Guardiola describes how a match against Tottenham last season was the turning point of his Premier League career, saying how much he suffered when experiencing the physicality of a match at White Hart Lane for the first time. His response this season to the physicality and second balls that define the league was in putting center midfielder Fabian Delph at left back, thereby adding both athleticism and a calming presence to that area. Whereas Klopp’s high pressing style is born out of physicality, Guardiola had to adopt it. And that both sides lined up in a 4-3-3 shape highlights how a playing style isn’t inherently in a shape, but in philosophy and tempo. Each manager took the framework of physicality to draw differing conclusions: for Guardiola, it was for control. For Klopp, it was for destruction.

The two sides met four times this season in England and in Europe, with Liverpool winning three matches. Guardiola mentions how much he suffers when playing against Liverpool, and their January match that ended 4-3 reflects each side’s strengths and weaknesses. Tied at halftime, Liverpool scored three goals in a nine-minute burst in the second half, then gave up two late goals as City took control. When adding in their two Champions League matches, they were even at nine goals a piece on the season. 

The broader assumption is that Liverpool’s energetic style is more suited to win over two legs in the Champions League knockout rounds while City’s controlling, possession style is designed to dominate the marathon of 38 league matches. Guardiola insisted that he would rather win the Premier League than Europe, while Klopp said he’d rather chase a Champions League trophy than a domestic title. Perhaps we should leave the final word to Jose Mourinho, who observed that the most important trophy was whatever a manager won that season.

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“He can be whatever he wants to be,” wrote Klopp in his tribute to Salah after the striker won the Football Writers’ Association’s Footballer of the Year award. Then, echoing Guardiola’s sentiments about pushing his squad after their historic season, Klopp challenged Salah to maintain his high level next season. City has a direct path of improvement as their early-20’s core improves and through additions in the transfer market. How does the 25-year-old Salah improve upon his record breaking season?

While the narrative focused on his low transfer fee from Roma, Salah reaped the benefits of the Premier League’s international branding reach. A replica of his adidas cleats sits next to Ancient Egyptian sandals at the British Museum, telling the story of a “modern Egyptian icon...with a truly global impact”. His New York Times profile speaks of his ability to bridge the gap between religion and culture in England. Klopp emphasizes Salah’s humility and low-key nature as much as his on-field impact. 

Talk of goals and tactics seem frivolous by comparison, but Salah’s combination of pace and off ball instincts are tailored made to lead Klopp’s press and counter attack. His interplay with Roberto Firmino and Sadio Mane creates space for Salah to get behind defensive lines and cut onto his left foot. The chemistry between the two sets of trios in attack and midfield are vital. On the forward line, Firmino drops off as the creator in the middle. Mane is the dribbler who draws in defenders. Salah is free to poach.

Similar to City’s rumored transfers, Liverpool look to double down on their own high pressing style. There is a thought to balancing the midfield through a deep lying controller like Jorginho, but the addition of Naby Keita only adds to the steel of James Milner, Gini Wijnaldum, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain. Klopp’s response in replacing Coutinho not with another playmaker but with Oxlade-Chamberlain’s directness was also telling as both the English midfielder (when he returns from injury) and Keita can drive through midfield and score goals. Fleet footed passers like Ruben Neves are rumored with Liverpool and represent an ability to break down a backline like Coutinho. But if this past season was the clearest view we’ve seen of Klopp’s rock and roll football since his time at Anfield, the move for Keita only turns up the counter attacking volume for his front three.

Guardiola already downplayed expectations for next season, saying that replicating their league dominance will be an impossible task. He goes on to say that he doesn’t expect any more $300 million summer transfer windows, and that his focus has shifted to developing the his young roster. Both Guardiola and Klopp endured the struggles in their initial period of turning over their previous roster to build their own vision of a side. And they each have an achievement that eludes the other manager, from City proving themselves in Europe, and Liverpool cutting into a 25-point deficit in the league. As Liverpool and City build upon last season’s foundation to become an even more extreme version of what brought them success, the rest of the Premier League is caught in the middle in more ways than one.