Jamie Carragher makes Liverpool and Man City comparison as Pep Lijnders' influence is laid bare

Liverpool managed to start their 2025-26 Premier League season off with a bang.

Even though there were times throughout Liverpool’s 4-2 win against Bournemouth that the Reds felt like they were on the back foot, they managed to pull through and secure their first three points of the season.

Some of the Reds’ players didn’t exactly live up to expectations in their opening game, but with the amount of change that has occurred, there’s bound to be some teething issues here and there.

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However, even with Liverpool spending a hefty chunk of change on new arrivals, that hasn’t stopped some of their rivals from copying their ideas.

Jamie Carragher believes Manchester City were showing signs of Liverpool’s Jurgen Klopp era against Wolves

One thing that some may have missed this summer is that Pep Lijnders chose to become a part of Pep Guardiola’s coaching staff at Manchester City.

The Dutchman initially tried his hand at management with RB Salzburg, but when that didn’t go to plan, it seems like he fell back into doing what he does best, coaching a first-team squad.

And, while live on Sky Sports’ Monday Night Football, Jamie Carragher gave his thoughts on City’s performance as well as the influence the Dutchman has had on the Cityzens.

“There’s been a lot of change on the pitch and also off the pitch in terms of Pep Ljinders coming. In [at Manchester City],” he said.

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“He was a big influence on Jurgen Klopp and Liverpool’s style of play, and I just thought, did I see little instances of that Liverpool team?”

Liverpool could have a challenge on their hands to win the Premier League this season

Although the Reds may have dominated the Premier League last season, the start of the 2025-26 campaign has shown that they still have a long way to go regarding the way their team plays together.

Indeed, Arne Slot and Richard Hughes have spent over £250million to improve Liverpool’s first-team squad, but with the way things panned out against Bournemouth on Friday, there were certainly a couple of worrying moments.

As mentioned, it’ll likely take a while before the team are fully ready to get the best out of one another, but as long as they keep at it and continue playing with one another, the link-up between the defence, midfield and attack should become much stronger.

There are now just under two weeks left of the transfer window, and, with the amount of rumours that have surfaced since it opened, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see more change at Anfield.

At the moment, it’s anyone’s guess what could happen, but if Man City end up playing similarly to the way Jurgen Klopp had Liverpool playing at their peak, Slot could be in for a season of trouble this term.

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