How Pep’s self-doubt has rejuvenated City

Guardiola reaping benefits of redoubling efforts after initially struggling to get his vision across

AS Pep Guardiola hailed that landmark 16th successive league win on Saturday, having made it clear before the game that propelling it against a side like Tottenham would mean so much more than just a record run, there were some in the higher-level Manchester City boxes that were celebrating with even more satisfaction.

That was because they couldn’t help thinking how much this meant to Guardiola himself, and how really different things were to a year ago.

At that point in 2016, City were in a run that would see them lose four of eight games, and also conceded four goals in separate fixtures against Leicester and Everton. It brought the worst results of Guardiola’s career, questions about his principles and personality — but also doubt.

Most conspicuously, the decision to replace Joe Hart with Claudio Bravo had been a disaster. In front of the goalkeeper, the highly expensive John Stones was trying to play the type of expansive football that Guardiola demanded, but only seemed to keep getting caught in high-profile mistakes.

Some of the most influential figures at the club were admitting to doubts about why they spent so much on Leroy Sane.

Guardiola was frustrated and suffering some “low lows”. They could see how much this was paining him, how much he was scrutinising everything about his work. He had just never experienced anything like this before.

The Catalan privately admitted he might have underestimated the competitiveness of the Premier League, mostly regarding how energy-sapping the schedule was.

It didn’t, however, lead to any doubts about how he coached. Instead, Guardiola doubled down. Rather than adapt, he was going to go the opposite direction and apply his principles to the fullest.

If he was not going to adapt, though, Guardiola was going to need to be ruthlessly decisive. That started at the back. He had to upgrade on Bravo.

Ederson has excelled in every big game. When Guardiola put his name to some of City’s main decision makers as a potential signing, eyebrows were raised as they had never heard of him. His record £35m fee is now seen as a bargain.

No one would say that the £130m spent on full-backs Kyle Walker, Benjamin Mendy and Danilo was a bargain, but that just represented more extreme decisiveness. Guardiola knew his system wouldn’t work in the same way with full-backs closer to the end of their career. It also highlights another point about the raised standards at City.

Guardiola has been allowed an almost unprecedented amount of money, and a key fact is that it has allowed him to effectively keep throwing cash at problems until they are solved in a way that most other managers just can’t.

Another key point with that, though, is Guardiola has looked to maximise that money. It’s far from just a case of letting them play. He looked to improve on every little detail in what is a grand overarching plan.

Having in his first season introduced his vision of how a team should move within the conceptualised 20 different zones of a pitch, Guardiola began his second summer by concentrating on building play from the back.

Guardiola was proved right on Stones and Sane, and Raheem Sterling was enjoying a similar improvement, but the City hierarchy were struck by the effect on players aged between 28 and 32 like Fernandinho and Nicolas Otamendi.

They better understood his overall plan, but also benefited from the manager’s specific individual instructions. Fernandinho was shown movements and little tricks Guardiola himself did, while Otamendi did a lot of work on winning second balls in both boxes.

The biggest improvement, though, came in Fabian Delph, retrained as a full-back.

So, the results on the scoreboard began to follow… and now keep going and going.

One slight irony is that many at City felt that United had a really strong squad and could go far. That just ended up being another motivation.

And that is the deeper point. City have broken a historical record and are winning nearly every game because nearly everything is at the top level.

A supreme squad now completely understand their manager’s grand plan, but have also had every detail perfect, and are bolstered by full faith in an idea. Guardiola has radiated that faith, and acted upon it.

That is why this run is about more than immense resources, and why City want to keep him at the club as long as possible.

It is so different to last year, but it is the specific response to that which has put them on a different level to anyone.