Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has spoken of his relief that Manchester City were unable to sign a traditional centre forward this summer.
City were interested in bringing Tottenham striker Harry Kane to the Etihad Stadium, but were not able to meet Spurs' demands and the England captain ended up staying in north London.
Instead, Pep Guardiola has resorted to using a number of wingers and attacking midfielders through the middle of City's attack once again, and Klopp is thankful that Liverpool's title rivals are still without an out-and-out striker.
“I know they didn’t score 500 goals and the world is talking about they how need a No.9. Yeah, imagine if they had a No.9 on top of that! It’s a luxury problem, let me say it like this," Klopp said (via the Mirror).
“It was like that last year and then Ilkay Gundogan arrived like 500 times in the box and scored from close range. So we thought, ok, how is that possible?
"If in football it would be that easy – mark the No.9 and he cannot score – that would be really great!
“It is the decisive area in and around the box where City traditionally, at least since I’m in England, always have enough options.
“Which number they have on their back is really not important. They bring in players in all the moments – the wingers are influential like ours are, I don’t know how many goals City scored from close range with a square ball in the six-yard box.
“So you would think playing against City, the whole world is defending against City, so there is one area where always a defender or more than one defender should be, that is in their own six-yard box. But in the end they just square the ball and at the second post is completely free.
“And that’s not because all the other teams are dumb, it is because they do it really well, they pass the ball at the right moment, the positioning is close to perfect. That is why it works out that often.”
Klopp's Liverpool host Man City on Sunday, with the chance for the victor to enter the international break sat top of the Premier League table.
Source : 90min