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Honestly, I just got sucked into this rabbit hole yesterday. Was scrolling through feeds, saw a graphic about City’s win percentage or something, and it hit me: “Man, these two teams really go at it!” Wanted to see if the numbers backed up that gut feeling or if I was just imagining the drama.
The Starting Point: Absolute Chaos
First thing? Finding decent data. Tried a couple of the big sports sites, you know the usual places everyone chats about footy. Holy smokes, what a mess. Every site seemed to count something different. Was that Cup game counted in the ‘League Head-to-Head’? What constitutes a ‘Premier League Era’ game? Is it since City got rich? Since Klopp arrived? Bloody confusing. Spent ages just trying to figure out what timeframe to even look at. Ended up going broad – Premier League meetings, all competitions, last 10-15 years. Seemed fair.
Started dumping stuff into a simple spreadsheet:
- Date
- Competition
- Venue
- Result (Win/Lose/Draw)
- Goals Scored (Each side)
Seemed straightforward enough, right? Wrong.
Digging Deeper: “Just One More Stat…”
Once I had the basic fixtures and results in place, I got greedy. Wanted more colour. Started chasing other numbers:
- Possession stats (Did City always dominate the ball?)
- Shots on target (Who actually created the better chances?)
- That intense running distance they always show (Proof it’s a sprint for 90+ mins!)
Found bits and pieces, but pulling consistent numbers across seasons? Forget about it. One season had detailed running stats, the next season? Poof, gone. Gave me a headache. Screw it, focused back on the core stuff: results, goals, where played.
The “Aha!” (And “Duh!”) Moments
Plugged the basic data into a chart. Seeing the wins stacked against each other over the years was honestly kinda cool. Confirmed the obvious: when Klopp came in, Liverpool actually started winning these games regularly. Before that? City mostly had their number, especially at home.
But the goals! That was the real kicker. Looked at the average goals per game over the last decade. Even split games? Low scoring snoozefests? Nope. Way higher than other ‘big’ fixtures. Goals galore, for both sides. That instantly screamed “rivalry” to me. Teams don’t go all out attacking like that unless it really matters. Draws are rare because both teams go for the throat. That stat told the real story, louder than anything else.
Wrapping My Head Around It
So yeah, wasted a good chunk of an afternoon on this, probably should have been doing laundry. But was it worth it? Totally. Numbers don’t lie (mostly, if you don’t get lost finding them!). Shows these clashes aren’t just hype. Wins bounce back and forth dramatically since Klopp. Goals fly in far more than other ‘big’ games. High stakes, full throttle every single time. The stats scream “massive rivalry”, even louder than the fans do.
Why bother? Got me thinking about those times everyone gets together for these games – the yelling, the groans, the absolute chaos in the room. It’s not just a game, it’s an event people actually rearrange plans for. Maybe I like digging into why something feels so big, proving the hunch is real with cold, hard numbers. Or maybe I just love overcomplicating things. Either way, there you have it. My deep dive into the numbers showing why City vs Liverpool is pure box office. Cheers!