Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola was musing about the difficulties of implementing a different way of playing as new eras began. The advantage, he felt, lay with sides who were more attuned to their coach's thinking.
"All the teams have to improve," he said on Monday. "Especially when the managers are new. When you see Liverpool or Tottenham with [Mauricio] Pochettino, they are clear what they do in 90 minutes. The new managers like [at Manchester] United, or us, or Chelsea, I realise how tough it is."
Guardiola's point may be proved on Friday. He had stressed how impressed he was with Chelsea's performance [in the 2-2 draw] against Swansea, but their meeting with Liverpool is a clash of teams at different stages of their development.