Henry, let’s start with City’s form. What have you made of our recent performances?
I think they have done well. They have got new players settling in and I’m a big fan of Ruben Dias. I think he has that strength, and you can see the right-left balance with him and Aymeric Laporte.
I’ve interviewed Nathan Ake at Watford and Bournemouth down the years and he’s one of the nicest guys you can meet. Very articulate and thoughtful about English and Dutch football and a very good player. He can easily play left back, he can play the left side of central defence and he could even play as a holding midfielder – a very, very versatile player and I thought he was a very cute signing.
And then there is Ferran Torres. We’ve always associated him playing out wide, Pep has used him a couple of times through the middle very effectively. His sharpness and movement, the relationship with other players – he’s strong and will only get stronger.
Then there’s Kevin De Bruyne who, for me along with Lionel Messi and Robert Lewandowski, is the best player in the world at the moment.
I had couple of chats with Roberto Martinez during the first lockdown and one was about Belgian players and, inevitably, we talked at length about De Bruyne.
I was talking with Martinez about if he had a fast track for players who could go into management and he said Kevin would definitely make a great manager because of the way that he sees the game.
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I also quite like the fact that when he comes off - even if the game is won - he always looks a bit angry. It’s just that he loves playing and probably felt that in the remaining 90 seconds he would have scored!
It’s a strange season with the amount of games and Pep’s almost had to do his pre-season on the hoof bedding players in. I think De Bruyne only had eight days break in the summer.
One player who never ceases to amaze me is Raheem Sterling. We’ve almost come to accept that his standard is so exceptional that people aren’t really commenting on it anymore.
We should say that Raheem is in the top 10 players in the world and his standard is just phenomenal week in, week out.
I have so much admiration for him on and off the pitch – for me he is England’s most important player. Maybe if he were foreign, we’d be raving about him even more.
And then is Kyle Walker who is the best full back in the country right now and I don’t think I’ve ever seen him play this week with his pace to get forward and back.
Watch our Kevin De Bruyne documentary Made in Belgium on CITY+
Likewise, what have you made of Liverpool going into Sunday’s game?
Virgil Van Dijk is a huge loss. He came runner up to Lionel Messi in the Ballon D’or and if the only person ahead of you is Messi you are in a fairly good place!
He is a huge miss as a leader too as he is a good talker – also it’s a bit like when Vinny Kompany left City. If you are the opposing team and come off the coach and see that Kompany and Van Dijk are playing, it’s like ‘wow these will take some getting past.’
Thiago Alcantara I’ve been a huge fan of ever since I saw him for Spain’s Under-21s when he mesmerised England – he’s a wonderful player. Diogo Jota has come in and settled, and it’s interesting that Roberto Firmino has not been at his best in scoring goals, though he is still creating space.
Liverpool are not pressing with intensity of old - whether that is because they haven’t got the Kop urging them on, whether they are pacing themselves I’m not sure, but they have still Sadio Mane, a leader like Jordan Henderson, and two absolutely hungry full-backs who can switch play.
Trent Alexander-Arnold and Andy Robertson are both exceptional players.
Liverpool can be got at, but every team can as Leicester showed when they came to City.
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Obviously, we are all living in unprecedented times due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and football is no different with games being played behind closed doors. How do you assess the impact of that on the two teams looking both to Sunday and beyond?
There are plusses and minuses. I think refereeing decisions have evened out as they don’t have the pressure of home fans on them.
It’s also fascinating going to games and being able to hear the managers and players.
It’s awful that fans aren’t there – its soulless and fair play to the players as they are delivering even without the extra kick that we all know fans give the players.
Also the way the clubs have handled it – from 24 hours beforehand when you get the initial safety protocols and the health forms, the moment you arrive at the ground with the stewards showing you where to park, the one way system to get your accreditation, the medical checks… and all of this is so important for when we want fans to come back.
The clubs have done everything and the protocols at City are just fantastic. The clubs have done everything, and we have to trust the fans.
You could get 10,000 fans into the Etihad socially distanced after lockdown. It would be good for the players, good for the fans’ mental health, good for the clubs, it would be good for finances, and good for viewers watching to see people in the ground and some semblance of normality.
What the players have done in terms of delivering is tremendous. You see their concentration – and I admire their professionalism even more. We have seen so much of the qualities of the clubs – they have been so impressive, and I do think the politicians should listen to the clubs a lot more.
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Pep Guardiola has spoken passionately of his concerns about the demands on players given the way the schedule has had to be squeezed. And injuries have already affected both teams significantly. Could that be a key factor in the title race?
I’m sure survival of the fittest will be a headline that is used in February and March as football comes out of the long winter months.
The UEFA stats show you are four times more likely to suffer to a soft tissue injury in the Premier League than you are in the European Leagues which have more established winter breaks. There will be injuries and it will be down to big squads.
And I did completely understand the other day when Guardiola said maybe we need a rethink about the number of substitutes. Initially I wanted it kept at three as I thought five would help the bigger teams.
But essentially footballers are flesh and blood and you wouldn’t treat a racehorse like this... and these players are thoroughbreds.
We want our teams to do well in Europe and to win the Champions League - you don’t want them knackered come the knockout stages.
Pep talks a lot of sense about the schedule, the subs, and the workloads on players and English football needs to listen to one of the most respected coaches in the world who has worked in three countries and react.
Given the heavy workload, will the relative strengths of each side’s squad be a determining factor? And if so, how do you measure City and Liverpool’s respective strength in depth?
You looked at Liverpool last weekend against West Ham and they brought Shaqiri and Jota on and that was two pretty good players.
But I look at City’s bench and it’s terrific. For me, Phil Foden starts for England and we are seeing more and more of him for City and what a special talent he is. You have also got Liam Delap coming through and some other really good prospects and that is so important for fans even when they are not in the stadium. To see that they have homegrown players stepping up is so good.
I think Foden should be on every poster at the Etihad as he symbolises what Manchester City should be about – him and say Aguero and De Bruyne – that illustrates bought-in class and developed class as well.
There is so much strength on the bench – and the thing about Pep Guardiola is that he always comes up with a solution.
People have spoken about the COVID effect given the number of eye-catching results already this term. Is that a pattern you believe could continue throughout the remainder of the campaign?
I think the wobbly defending we saw initially was possibly COVID related given the truncated pre-season and if you looked at the protocols at the the training ground it means squads can’t properly go at it so there are bound to be issues.
I think that will settle down, but squads will be hit. I saw Leicester at Leeds the other night and they were missing half the squad.
Ultimately, I do think it will be about the survival of the fittest.
Of course, it’s not just a matchup between two great teams, but also arguably the game’s two most successful and charismatic managers. How would you compare Pep Guardiola and Jurgen Klopp?
Klopp is a rock star. He is a charismatic and is far more extrovert than Pep but you wouldn’t to want to cross either of them!
In the press box at the start of the season we have a debate about the manager you would most want to go for a drink with and the manager you would most want to have with you in a fight ( not that I’m advocating violence!) and Klopp features high on both of those.
He is a very engaging character, but he is hard as nails. You wouldn’t want to cross him – and like Guardiola he leaves nothing to chance.
If you go behind the scenes at Melwood and the CFA and see the sport scientists and the dieticians at work, its extraordinary. I went to Raheem’s house once and talked to him about food and you can see why they are such super athletes. It comes from the individual, but it comes from the manager as well.
Look at what Pep achieved as a player and as coach and yet he almost looks like he will collapse in emotional fury if City concede a corner let alone a goal.
When he arrived here in England I wrote to the FA and said we are so privileged to have him here in this country, if there is any way they could get him to give a lecture to the UEFA Pro Licence coaches at St George’s Park it would be the hottest ticket in town.
Talking to opposition coaches invariably the talk comes down to what has Pep done now?
The tweaks he has made, the nature of the man who when he was at Barcelona rang up Messi in the middle of the night to say I’ve worked out how we can beat Real Madrid, come over now.
I love that hunger and drive. He could be sat in the Bahamas with his lovely family sipping cocktails and yet he is out in the rain living every moment and Klopp’s emotional engagement with his players is similar.
They are very demanding of their players but also very paternal too which is the essence of the best managers.
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The dynamic is also different to last term in that Liverpool arrive as champions and City as contenders. Will that have a psychological effect on either side?
Having spoken to some Liverpool players they are depicting themselves as chasers. I think they quite liked it when City were made favourites by the bookies – it’s that thing of circling the wagons, everyone is against us.
You look at the rivalry between them and whoever wins will be worthy winners. I’ve been doing this job for 35 years and I think this is the most enjoyable of title races to cover as they are both such wonderful teams. Go and watch Liverpool and you get the adrenalin, go and watch City you get the beauty of the passing and their movement.
We are very privileged and lucky in this country to have two such fantastic teams and two managers who are pushing back the boundaries in terms of their tactical development.
I just hope it rubs off on homegrown coaches and, from a selfish point, on the team I most want to do well – England. We’re so lucky to have Raheem Sterling stepping up for England now – a lot of it is his own development but a lot of it is down to Pep and Mikel Arteta
To see Guardiola‘s impact – just look at Arsenal now since Arteta has gone in there
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Supporters love to reflect and debate on famous sides of the past so how would you compare City’s Centurions title winning team of 2017/18 with Liverpool’s title winning squad from last term?
It’s so difficult. If you were going to take a composite team of the two, off the top of my head you would have Kompany and Van Dijk, De Bruyne and Aguero, definitely Sterling, and then you can juggle around with positions. Robertson at left back, Henderson is a leader and he makes Liverpool better.
I would just love to see the two play and all their constituent parts – it’s safe to say they are two of the top five domestic teams I’ve seen in the past 30 years.
Who would win? – tell me whose refereeing and I might let you know!
In terms of the overall title race, how important do you think Sunday will be?
It’s really important as I don’t think it’s going to be a high points tally in the league this year. I don’t think anyone will touch 100 points.
We’ve seen already with injuries and defensive wobbles, and I can see Leicester taking points off Liverpool, I can see Chelsea and Arsenal taking points off people, Manchester United occasionally taking points, Spurs as well.
We have a top two but we have some good teams below that who will provide some shocks.
WATCH: Guardiola: We must be clinical against Liverpool
Finally, the title race has been all about City and Liverpool for the past couple of years. Do you think that pattern will be repeated this season, or do you expect any other sides to provide a sustained challenge?
I live just outside Leicester and the people there are still celebrating 2016 - the moral of which is that anything is possible.
But no one team is really firing this season because of the slightly uncertain atmosphere with no fans, the lack of pre-season and the relentless nature of games.
You’ve had Everton up there, Leeds, Southampton, Leicester are doing very well. Spurs have got Harry Kane, Son and now Gareth Bale and Arsenal under Arteta look far more resilient but I’m sure, in the end, it will come down to City and Liverpool.
In the final furlong I do think it will come down to the top two - partly because of their squad but also due to the quality of their starting 11s, though I think it will be more open until then.
