COMMENT
Pep Guardiola arrived at Anfield in a charcoal flat cap and would have departed his Main Stand seat with a catalogue of mental notes on Liverpool’s authoritative front foot play.
If the Manchester City manager wasn’t already fully clued up on the attacking juggernaut his men will face at this ground on New Year’s Eve, the Reds’ 4-1 victory over Stoke City provided a three-dimensional picture.
This was not Jurgen Klopp’s side at their blinding best, nor even close to their commanding apex, but they were still formidable against a team drafted to make them rough it out.