The genius of Pep Guardiola: Eight things he has done to make Man City so frighteningly good
It's agreed: Man City are not bad. But how has Pep Guardiola managed to oversee this turnaround in fortunes? And speaking of which, does he owe much of the early season's successes to said fortune? Without the players, Guardiola wouldn't have such a talented team, after all.
Last season they didn't win anything, this season they might win it all. What's different?
The goalkeeper fiasco
Ederson de Moraes was clearly a heavily scouted, well-researched purchase. At 24 years old, he has potential to develop and form a long-lasting back line with John Stones and whoever happens to partner him, but crucially, is already one of the best ball-playing goalkeepers in European football. An instant improvement to the City defence.
He offers more than shot-stopping though. Man City dominate possession by stretching the pitch and playing a high defensive line to force the opposition back deep in their own half, something opposition teams counter with balls over the top. In this system, Guardiola's goalkeeper has to play as a sweeper, racing off his line proactively to deal with passes aimed near the penalty area.
Napoli did exactly this during their two Champions League games, with Ederson equal to most sent his way.
In this example, Dries Mertens broke the offside trap and looked to be through on goal, Ederson flew off his line and headed away. With this safety net, City can push higher up the pitch.
To control the game, City must keep the ball, which is why goal kicks aren't lofted forward even when it seems the safer option. Ederson is as comfortable on the ball as many of City's midfielders, which is especially useful considering he is required to play short passes under constant pressure next to his goal.
Without this key component, Guardiola's team cannot build from the back and forgetting Claudio Bravo's dreadful attempts at preventing the ball hitting the back of the net, his inability to pass when pressed was what upset the rhythm last season.
Dealing with second balls
"Many times the ball is more in the air than the grass, and I have to adapt," said Guardiola shortly after arriving in the Premier League and he maintained his position on the matter in a recent BBC interview with Gary Lineker:
"In Spain the value of the ball is so important, in Germany it's physically strong and counter-attack there is a strong weapon. Here the defender is here (points left) and the striker is here (points right) - so the ball don't (sic) travel with the team. This kind of ball if you win is good, if you don't it's counter-attack. But it's attractive for the people."
Guardiola believes that you can only control the game if you have the ball and builds his sides to keep it. Contesting aerial battles in the centre of the pitch is like throwing a dice, and though you can increase your chances with bigger players, it leaves too much to random selection.
"It's boring to train," he continues. "All the time long balls and I like to train the things I like."
This season City are better at dealing with long balls because they have trained to deal with them, but also because they have increased their already enormous amount of average possession - an average of 70.5 per cent, as opposed to 65.47 last season. As a result they've had to make fewer tackles (193 to 148), fewer interceptions (157 to 114) and have also conceded fewer goals.
"It's possession with a meaning," said Kevin De Bruyne in a recent Sky Sports interview. After 11 games last season, City had made 6545 passes. This season that number is 7924.
Learning how to divide the pitch
No more than three players can occupy the same horizontal space, and no more than two can be in the vertical at the same time. These are the rules Pep's players must adhere to maintain the team's structure while allowing freedom of movement. If someone switches position, someone else must take their place. It takes time to learn, with players having complained in past that they leave training sessions with a head-ache, but this season the lessons have sunk in.
It took time too at Bayern Munich, just as it did at Barcelona, with Guardiola rolling out different aspects of the big picture in smaller bite-size portions to help everyone understand. Some get it quicker than others.
This is what it should like on a pitch (Stones is out of frame to the right in this picture):
Developing an intuitive sense of where to be and when takes time and might not come naturally to many players. City tried to play like this last season but were obviously still learning, reacting to a teammate's movement instead of being able to predict it. Without these passing options, players like John Stones can be caught in possession while waiting for them to open up - that's when mistakes happen.
The idea is that there are always open passing lanes in triangle shapes, to allow the ball to be played forward instead of sideways, something Guardiola hates. "Tiki-taka is a load of s***. It means passing the ball for the sake of passing, with no real aim or aggression. I will not allow my brilliant players to fall for that rubbish".
Fernandinho is the central pivot, the wide players stretch the pitch, the attacking midfielders play in the space between midfield and defence and Stones or Otamendi act as a (really) deep playmaker while the other sits tight. Everyone has license to swap position and roam but only because there is a fundamental on-pitch understanding that his place will be covered.
Keeping the shape
In his playing days, Guardiola was a number four, the holding midfield pivot position that links defence and midfield, and was coached into the Barcelona first team by Johan Cruyff, who he attributes as the mentor behind his meteoric playing and managerial career(s).
Guardiola always nominates one player to operate in that crucial role, almost as a human embodiment of himself on the pitch. An avatar. At Barcelona it was Sergio Busquets, at Bayern Munich he had Phillip Lahm, Thiago Alcantara or Xabi Alonso and now Fernandinho has become the main man.
Last season City struggled without someone capable in this position. They tried Yaya Toure but as a naturally more advanced, creative attacking midfield player, he didn't quite suit and would occasionally leave his crucial position vacant - the pivot must act as a weight bearer for the team and as soon as it goes missing, the ceiling is liable to fall in.
Ilkay Gundogan got injured, Fernando was more of a ball-winning, box-to-box midfielder and Fernandinho was used at right-back to cover for a shocking lack of options. Even Pablo Zabaleta had a go at being a midfielder.
This season it's a different story. However Guardiola has managed it, or perhaps just realised it, Fernandinho is the right player for the job. His positional awareness, tactical acumen and intelligence of movement makes him perfect for maintaining that position, while his ability to play in a number of different roles means he can cover for others in defensive situations when required. De Bruyne, Silva, Aguero and the rest of the goal-getters might take the headlines, but Fernandinho is the key to Man City maintaining their incredible momentum for the rest of the season.
Made the squad smaller (and younger)
The massive outlay on wingers and younger players by Guardiola was entirely necessary. To compete at the top level clubs need to pay the big bucks to import footballers good enough. City's wage bill went up 25 per cent in Guardiola's first season alone.
Man City's first team squad is made up of 20 players with an average age of 26.75, compared with 25 (to have appeared at least once in the Premier League) last season at an average age of 27.6, which doesn't look an initially staggering difference at first glance. Clearly there is a marked difference in signing Walker, 27 and at his peak, instead of Bacary Sagna, 34, still a free agent. Younger means room for potential and at full-back, improved physical attributes. The blistering pace of Walker and Benjamin Mendy (for a while) on either flank is devastating.
Signing the likes of Raheem Sterling, Leroy Sane and Gabriel Jesus as youngsters instead of ready-made talent means City have players who haven't learned the bad habits that might have to be coached out of them in later years. It's not that old dogs can't learn new tricks, rather that it takes them longer and they might already think they know better. By developing an understanding of Guardiola's methods while still themselves developing, the team improves as a whole.
Additionally, Guardiola has said that he hates telling squad members they won't be playing on match day and keeps the squad small as a result. Does a lighter squad encourage improved morale? With more playing time to share around there are fewer unhappy individuals.
Staying patient
Man City stick to the gameplan no matter what. Napoli pushed them hard over two Champions League matches but never once did they deviate from the plan of build from the back, press from the front.
Guardiola admits the frenzied pace of Premier League football has an impact on his players. "We want to be patient but sometimes we cannot control it," - everyone in that team has control over their emotions this season.
John Stones has been vastly improved, adding defensive steel to his composed nature. The difference to Stones is that his teammates are actively looking to be in the space he needs to pass the ball to.
That picture is Stoke making a half-hearted attempt at closing down Ederson. Fernandinho has passed the ball and will move back into his little circle immediately after, just as Nicolas Otamendi will move wide right once Stones gets the ball from the goalkeeper. That triggers Walker and Delph to move higher up into the next division of the pitch, giving Stones options when he is closed down by more/other players.
Improving individuals
Raheem Sterling, like most humans, is far better at his job when confident in his own surroundings and abilities. At times in the past, his finishing and choice of final pass wouldn't look out of place on a League One substitutes bench but with Guardiola's guidance Sterling has become one of the top scorers in the Premier League this season.
Delph has been a revelation at left-back, while Fernandinho and Stones are two of the most improved players in the league. Kevin De Bruyne is probably the very best of them all, with David Silva not too far behind. Jesus continues to improve, having already been described as one of the best players in the world by Dani Alves.
The system suits the players who suit the system. With defensive stability and total tactical understanding, the forwards are free to create. It has resulted in gluttony of goals.
"If you ask me the difference between this season and last season," said Guardiola, "we have the feeling when we get there (the box), we're going to score a goal. In the past last season we didn't have that. We create a lot but didn't score goals. That's so tough."
Sergio Aguero has eight goals in all competitions, Gabriel Jesus seven, Sterling seven and Sane six. Midfielders and defenders have chipped in too - the team isn't reliant on just one performer and the quality of chances has improved too, with expected goals at 27.55 this season compared to 22.75 last season.
Wing-backs who can play in centre midfield
The huge outlay on wing-backs might have seemed excessive at the time, but it has proven to be entirely necessary. Mendy was excellent before injury ruined his season and Kyle Walker has proven an inspired buy, adjusting to Guardiola's tactical setup like a duck to complicated water.
"It’s just flowing, there’s a lot of one-two touches and creates a flow to the way we are playing, and everybody is moving gradually, and (then) you can do whatever you want," said De Bruyne in an interview with Jamie Redknapp.
When De Bruyne moves out to the wing, he does so to create space for someone else. One of Sane or Delph might move inside, Jesus might drop deep. If the wide players overlap first, it creates space for De Bruyne to attack. This is all done without communication, it is learned and requires technically proficient players with tactical understanding. This stretching of play and switching of position is exactly what allowed De Bruyne to score the only goal in a 1-0 win over Chelsea.
City's players have freedom to do as they will in the final third but they must get there having followed the blueprint instructions laid down by Guardiola. At the moment, it looks unstoppable. Someone should steal those plans.
