Man City players digs at Trent Alexander-Arnold totally miss the point

Manchester City stars Erling Haaland and Ruben Dias ramped up the war of words ahead of the showdown against Liverpool this weekend, in response to Trent Alexander-Arnold's comments.

In case you missed it, the Liverpool vice-captain, who won't be involved this weekend due to injury, made the headlines for an interview he gave to FourFourTwo in which he suggested the Reds' achievements under Jurgen Klopp 'mean more' to the fans because of they've had to do it up agains the might of City.

He said: “You’re up against a machine that’s built to win – that’s the simplest way to describe City and their organisation.

“Looking back on this era, although they’ve won more titles than us and have probably been more successful, our trophies will mean more to us and our fanbase because of the situations at both clubs, financially. How both clubs have built their teams and the manner in which we’ve done it probably means more to our fans.”

The comments are fairly standard; the sort of minor dig you might expect ahead of a big game. In some ways, they might even be read as quite complimentary to City.

It means more to win a Premier League title, as Liverpool did in 2019/20, in an era when you have to overcome the challenge of Pep Guardiola's super team, who have taken five of the last six.

City stars bite back

Still, Alexander-Arnold's words caused quite a stir and appeared to get under the skin of a lot of people, including at least two City players ahead of Sunday's clash at Anfield.

Asked directly about Alexander-Arnold's supposed dig, Haaland told Sky Sports: "If he wants to say that, OK.

"I’ve been here one year and I’ve won the Treble and it was quite a nice feeling. I don’t think he knows exactly this feeling."

Meanwhile, stoking the atmosphere ahead of the weekend defender Dias gave his own take, telling BBC Radio Manchester: "We've won a lot in this club, especially last year with the treble. I think it's pretty certain between us, between our fans, how much it meant to all of us.

"At the end of the day you can only have certain emotions if you actually win stuff. A treble is a feeling you can only know how it feels when you actually do it.

"I think in a club like Man City and my previous club [Benfica] our greatness will be shown in a way that these comments don't affect us.

"We know what we've done, we know what we've conquered, we know what we're going for in what's to come. We don't do it for anyone else, we do it for ourselves.

"Other people's success is deserved for their own achievements. What we focus on is ourselves and that's the way to move forward and that's the way to be big, a big club.

"Not trying to comment on other people's success and trying to make it bigger or smaller depending on how convenient it is for you."

While Haaland and Dias have the right to defend their achievements when asked, the treble jibes come across as a little rattled and sort of miss the point.

Alexander-Arnold's whole argument was that it's not about the number of trophies you win, it's how you value your own achievements.

Is it better to win a whole load when you're expected to, or to win a few against the odds?

Liverpool's Premier League success in 2020, and the associated records they set along the way, will be especially highly regarded for the fact that they ended a 30-year drought and were able to break up City's hegemony, without operating at the same financial level.

Fans ultimately are, of course, entitled to enjoy any success their club may have and clearly a treble is perhaps the best thing you can achieve in club football, but it is simply undeniable that City — as consistently brilliant as they have been — have had a leg up from their position under the ownership of the Abu Dhabi United Group. And that's without even bringing to the table the 115 charges for breaches of FFP dating back to 2009.

Still, it all adds spice ahead of Sunday's title showdown.

One thing is for sure, if Liverpool do manage to secure another Premier League title in Klopp's final season, it definitely will mean more.