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Arne Slot hailed Pep Guardiola as an inspiration and said he is expecting the Manchester City manager to come up with a “brilliant idea” to end their winless run and show why he is the “best in the world” ahead of facing Liverpool at Anfield on Sunday.
Liverpool welcome their Premier League rivals with the chance to increase their lead over the champions to 11 points, with City without a win in their last six and enduring their worst run of results under Guardiola.
Slot pointed to Rodri’s absence and further injuries as a reason to explain their slump, but the Dutch coach explained that he believes City’s performances have not been as bad as their results and they remain a “very, very good team”.
He hailed Guardiola as an inspiration to coaches around the world as he highlighted the Spaniard’s ability to come up with solutions to his team’s problems mid-season, which he has done several times while leading City to six Premier League titles in seven years.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if he came up with another brilliant idea,” Slot said. “I think he was the one that started playing inverted full-backs, then he was the one that started playing a centre-back as a six, so I don’t think it will be a surprise if he comes up with something nobody has ever thought about before to make his team even stronger.
“It is one of the reasons why he has inspired so many managers around the world. When he came up with it we thought it was crazy and then we all tried the same because it was a brilliant idea.
“It wouldn’t surprise me if he came up with something again but let’s wait and see because many things have been done in football now but if there’s anyone in the managerial world that can come up with something new, it’s definitely him.”
Slot’s team claimed their 16th win from 18 games in all competitions this season by beating Champions League holders Real Madrid on Wednesday night – after City blew a three-goal lead to draw against Feyenoord.
Liverpool have been hailed as the best team in Europe on current form and are the only Champions League team to still have a perfect record in the competition – but Slot offered a warning ahead of the visit of City to Anfield on Sunday.
“Everybody is looking at their results but if you face them and you analyse it, you see they were 1-0 up against Brighton and could have scored one or two more, they could have been two or three goals up against Tottenham and weren’t, and against Feyenoord – that has not happened many times – they were 3-0 up and completely dominating the game,” Slot said.
“They are still a very, very good team and one of the reasons why I think Pep Guardiola is one of the best managers in the world – I think he is the best – is that he always comes up with solutions for his problems. And his problem now is that Rodri is out. But we all know he will come up with a solution and their form will go again. But hopefully after Sunday.”
