{"id":398906,"date":"2025-09-05T03:17:19","date_gmt":"2025-09-05T03:17:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/398906\/"},"modified":"2025-09-05T03:17:19","modified_gmt":"2025-09-05T03:17:19","slug":"manchester-city-need-time-to-adapt-to-pep-guardiolas-ambitious-overhaul-manchester-city","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/398906\/","title":{"rendered":"Manchester City need time to adapt to Pep Guardiola\u2019s ambitious overhaul | Manchester City"},"content":{"rendered":"

Few clubs embody ambition quite like Manchester City<\/a>. They have won 18 trophies in nine years under Pep Guardiola but, for just the second time in his tenure, they finished last season without a trophy. Given that City had won the previous four Premier League titles, it was easy to downplay it as a mere stumble, a season disrupted by injuries and a cloud of legal issues.<\/p>\n

They have responded by investing \u00a3320m in the squad in 2025 \u2013 including a staggering \u00a3180m in the January window, almost matching the rest of the Premier League\u2019s combined spend \u2013 so the ambition for this season was clear. City were supposed to regain their aura of invincibility and win again. On the opening day of the new season, they looked every bit that side. Their 4-0 dismantling of Wolves<\/a> felt like a warning sign. The message seemed clear: Guardiola\u2019s six-time champions were back to their ruthless best.<\/p>\n

But football moves quickly. Fast forward a fortnight and the mood could hardly be more different. A 2-0 loss at home to Spurs<\/a>, followed by a 2-1 defeat at Brighton<\/a>, has already upended the narrative. It has been a long time since a team won the title after losing two of their first three games. You have to go all the way back to the first season of the Premier League, in 1992-93, when Manchester United lifted the trophy despite taking just three points from their first three games. It is Guardiola\u2019s lowest points tally at this stage of any league season. Is this simply a slow start, or does it point to deeper problems?<\/p>\n

Rodri has returned from injury but will take some time to get back to his best. Photograph: Justin Setterfield\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

City started last season as clear favourites to win the title but Rodri\u2019s cruciate knee ligament injury, sustained against Arsenal last September<\/a>, kept the Ballon d\u2019Or winner sidelined for most of the season and played a major role in the team\u2019s struggles. They were unbeaten and top of the league when he suffered his injury. Without him, they lost nine of their remaining 33 games, their worst return since the 2015-16 season under Manuel Pellegrini.<\/p>\n

Guardiola had already warned of Rodri\u2019s importance, calling him \u201cirreplaceable\u201d and saying he would \u201cplay two of him if I could\u201d. After the midfielder had stretched his unbeaten run to 55 games in February 2024, Guardiola was blunt: \u201cWith him, we are a better team. No doubt.\u201d City\u2019s slide last season proved him right.<\/p>\n

A key part of Guardiola\u2019s defensive style is controlling possession and anticipating danger. When City lose the ball, Guardiola expects his players to win it back quickly, preventing opponents from exploiting open space. When in possession, he employs \u201cresting\u201d football \u2013 holding possession in controlled sequences so the team can regain its shape and prepare for the next move. This ensures players remain in position and composed so, if the ball is lost, gaps are minimised and the team stays defensively secure when facing fast breaks.<\/p>\n

Without Rodri\u2019s control and near flawless passing, City were severely hampered. Their ability to rest with the ball suffered and they missed his ability to read the game, intercept passes and win second balls, which are all crucial for stopping fast breaks. The impact was clear in the numbers: in the six seasons before 2024-25, City conceded an average of 2.4 expected goals per season from fast breaks; last season that spiked to 8.1. Their off-the-ball runs dropped from third in the league in the 2023-24 season to 14th last season; possession won in the final third fell from first to seventh; and possession regained in the middle third slipped to 12th.<\/p>\n

Despite spending almost \u00a3100m on Nico Gonz\u00e1lez<\/a> and Tijjani Reijnders<\/a> to restore order to the midfield, City have already dropped points due to familiar vulnerabilities. Although they dominated possession against Spurs and Brighton, their failed pressing from the front left the defence exposed. Brennan Johnson\u2019s opener for Spurs and Brajan Gruda\u2019s late winner for Brighton came from almost identical patterns. City allowed opponents too much time on the ball, enabling piercing passes down the channels, which pulled full-backs out of position, creating gaps for the fast-breaking attackers to exploit, leading to goals.<\/p>\n

This season City sit ninth in the league for possession won in the final third and 13th for passes per defensive action<\/a>, which measures how many passes an opponent completes before a team steps in with a defensive action. Unfortunately for City fans, it seems last season\u2019s shortcomings have leaked into the new season.<\/p>\n

It isn\u2019t all doom and gloom though. Rodri made his first start in 11 months against Brighton and there were encouraging signs. The midfielder had more touches, completed passes and possession recoveries in the first half than any other City player. His influence waned after the 60-minute mark, but it will take time for him to return to full form.<\/p>\n

After all, he has returned to a side that has lost Ederson, Manuel Akanji, Kyle Walker, Kevin De Bruyne, Ilkay G\u00fcndogan, Jack Grealish and Juli\u00e1n \u00c1lvarez. New players need time to adapt and Guardiola has evolved his tactics, blending his possession-based philosophy with elements inspired by J\u00fcrgen Klopp, thanks to the arrival of the former Liverpool assistant manager, Pep Lijnders. Key changes include a more vertical and transitional style, intensified counter-pressing and faster attacks, all aimed at addressing last season\u2019s vulnerabilities.<\/p>\n

Pep Guardiola hugs assistant Pep Lijnders share a hug during Manchester City\u2019s win against Wolves. Photograph: Simon Stacpoole\/Offside\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

City are focusing on being quicker and more direct without losing control. When they win the ball, they try to attack immediately rather than circulating possession slowly. As Guardiola noted last season, teams such as Bournemouth, Newcastle, Brighton and Liverpool represent modern football, which is no longer purely positional \u2013 reflected in the steady year-on-year increase in average shots and goals from fast breaks per game from 0.98 in 2006\u201307 to 1.84 today.<\/p>\n

Intensified counter-pressing ensures the team wins the ball back quickly after losing it, applying pressure high up the pitch, as we often saw in Klopp and Ljinders \u201cheavy metal football\u201d. You can expect to see the passes per defensive action statistic decrease for City as the season progresses. Faster attacks tie everything together: once possession is regained, players move forward swiftly, combining precise passing and off-ball runs to exploit gaps before opponents can reset defensively.<\/p>\n

With so many personnel changes and tactical adjustments, it\u2019s natural that City will be inconsistent early in the season. Building cohesion with new players, integrating Lijnders\u2019 pressing principles and fine-tuning transitions will take time. However, if Rodri returns to his best and City can merge their traditional positional mastery with their new, more direct approach, then there is a lot to look forward to for City fans. But patience will be key.<\/p>\n

This is an article by WhoScored<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Few clubs embody ambition quite like Manchester City. They have won 18 trophies in nine years under Pep…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":398907,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8813],"tags":[748,393,4884,2465,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-398906","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-manchester","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-england","10":"tag-great-britain","11":"tag-manchester","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115149527010336292","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/398906","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=398906"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/398906\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/398907"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=398906"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=398906"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=398906"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}