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Klopp and Guardiola\u2019s respectful rivalry has been renewed this season <\/p>\n
Whether that will change, in the January market or just with the progression of the campaign and a chosen starting group of 14 or so emerging, remains to be seen. De Bruyne\u2019s return will be an obvious and incredible boost, bringing goals and a different type of unpredictability to the team.<\/p>\n
Guardiola has opted for a tighter collective, but will certainly need more big performers and match-winners from those around the fringes than he was able to call upon against Liverpool.<\/p>\n
For the Merseyside club themselves, it\u2019s a slightly different matter. Jurgen Klopp has numbers and options in some areas, while other parts of the rebuild still look incomplete. But while Salah and Darwin Nunez have been effective, for example, Cody Gakpo is yet to show what level he can reach with any consistency. Diogo Jota has been clinical but erratic, and more than once injured. It appears he is so again, too.<\/p>\n
There remain questions of impact and consistency, cohesion and quality over the younger players further back, too: Harvey Elliott, Ryan Gravenberch, even Curtis Jones \u2013 excellent on their day, but all with improvements to make to seal starting spots, let alone be considered on a par with the undroppable few.<\/p>\n
Games between the top teams sometimes enthrall, sometimes feel as though they cancel each other out. The latter can be down to the best players being of a near-equal standing when the stakes are highest. But across the course of the campaign it will, as it often is, be who can call on the rest of the gang most frequently, most reliably, most impactfully, who likely wins out in the race for the title and beyond.<\/p>\n