Was Pep Guardiola a feeble imitation of Arsene Wenger? As Manchester and Liverpool kicked off their match, a bespectacled and hooded Jurgen Klopp, his face peeping up from his jacket, looked drenched in the pouring Manchester rain, but Guardiola was struggling with the multiple zippers of his black, bombastic coat. The managers’s touchline demeanour projected little on-field tactical wit.

City-Liverpool was fast and furious, but without much precision - perhaps the world’s best league is just one great fallacy - at least the Champions League seems to indicate so. The football was not very academic, but propelled by plenty of box-to-box action - two teams attacking with verve, but with little coordination at the back.

Fast paced action

Guardiola’s eleven lined-up with Fernandinho at right-back and Yaya Touré in front of the back four. At times, they bypassed Liverpool’s press with diagonal passes to Leroy Sane and Raheem Sterling. David Silva and Kevin De Bruyne offered vertigo, but, perhaps Liverpool got the best chances, with Roberto Firmino and James Milner coming close just before the break.

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But in a match, rich in intensity and poor in quality, manic but error-strewn, it was little surprise that the opening goal came from a penalty. In the first half referee Michael Oliver had struggled to control proceedings. Touré lunged into Emre Can and Sterling was perhaps denied a penalty.

Milner scores, Aguero equalizes 

But when Gael Clichy, beaten to the high ball, brought down Firmino, the referee didn’t hesitate. He pointed to the spot in the 51st minute for Clichy’s clumsy high boot. Milner coolly converted, picking the left corner. City’s players continued to debate Oliver’s decision and herein lay a danger of Guardiola’s XI loosing their composure.

The Spanish coach reacted - Bacary Sagna subbed Touré, with Fernandinho moving to the centre of midfield. De Bruyne migrated to the right, hugging the touchline. From his new position the ginger Belgian dictated City’s game. With one pass - a low, hard cross - he carved open Liverpool’s defense as Sergio Aguero shrugged off Klavan to equalize in the 69th minute.

Missed chances

In a game of swings and roundabouts, De Bruyne hit the woodwork, Adan Lallana failed to tap in a gilt-edged change and Aguero squandered an injury-time chance from close range. Guardiola, now in his suit, sank to his knees - but there was to be no winner in a labored, but pulsating, 90 minutes.

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And so, for now, until Arsenal play again, the crisis baton remains with Guardiola. The apparel problems at the start of the match apart, there was another pertinent question: is Pep Guardiola still a disciple of Johan Cruyff? In his almost apologetic pre-match comments - “I never promise titles, never in my life. Never. Just work” - Guardiola sounded like a copycat of Egil Olsen, who, on the eve of the 1998 World Cup finals in France, predicted that football would evolve to 4-6-0 formations.

Champions League Blues for City

The Scandinavian was right. Football did. In fact, Guardiola played something of a 4-6-0, with De Bruyne as a false number nine, against his Barcelona in the Champions League. The result was a confounding 4-0 defeat. Guardiola was vilified. Last week City suffered elimination in the European Cup at the Cote D’Azur against a young and dynamic Monaco.

Cue lengthy postmortems and traduced obituaries. Guardiola was lambasted and crucified as the failed ticket to fast track European success. The nob of coaches, with his tactical iterations, singular vision and philosophical straight jacket, hadn’t delivered, allowing for peculiar Schadenfreude in some quarters. Every other failure by Guardiola, including the draw with Liverpool, is followed by a howling mob of non-believers questioning the City coach.

City still an incomplete team

Is Guardiola sclerotic? Does the aesthetic excellence of his team always take precedence over expediency? Does Guardiola never want to break china on the road to an important goal? In the Premier League and on the British isles, coaches, who ideate and theorize no longer seem appreciated. Yes, they are fashionable, but in the revolving-door-circus of the English League, with Middlesbrough’s Aitor Karanka the latest victim, short terminism is prevalent.

The game against Liverpool was proof yet again that Manchester City under Guardiola are still very much a work in progress. The Spaniard may want to reinforce defensively in the summer, but, for now, his predicament is clear: he needs more time, but, no matter what, a top four Premier League finish and a possible FA Cup triumph will still be a disappointing result for a deified coach.