So just how does Guardiola go about improving his side for next season?
AFTER his team gave him a first-half reminiscent of Manuel Pellegrini’s worst, Pep Guardiola appeared to have borrowed the Chilean’s straight bat for his press conference after the Champions League exit to Monaco.
Would the defence need to be improved for next season? Of course not, it wasn’t their fault.
Would City need to change their approach? Don’t be silly, it should have worked.
Whatever was said, it cannot be denied there is clear room for improvement in this squad.
But the Monaco match illustrated that making changes will not be simple.
The owners will continue to back the project this year, but the coach – who spent over £150m last summer – has already admitted you cannot transform a team in one window. The bigger question then becomes where is prioritised? Wherever it is, it won’t be easy. IF it was the XI that failed, get a better XI!
City have not been afraid to break the bank for players they consider worth the investment – Raheem Sterling, John Stones, Leroy Sane and Kevin de Bruyne have all come in for big money in the last two years.
Guardiola wanted centre-backs last year and defence is the obvious area to improve. Bernard Mendy gave a virtuoso performance from full-back for Monaco and it will be worth testing resolves all summer if it means bringing in at least one world-class player at the back.
However, the bigger the fee the higher the risk. City have got very few bangs for their bucks under Txiki Begiristain and shelling out a larger chunk of the budget on one player could delay the overhauling of the squad. CITY didn’t really have anyone they could trust to come on and change the game.
If Plan A doesn’t work – as it didn’t – good alternatives are always useful. Claudio Bravo aside, the substitutes were all players the manager has inherited and buying squad players shouldn’t cost the Blues a premium.
On the other hand, do you need a really strong bench to win the Champions League?
When Guardiola won the Champions League in 2009, his bench read: Jose Manuel Pinto, Martin Caceres, Marc Muniesa, Seydou Keita, Eidur Gudjohnsen, Pedro and Bojan.
In 2011: Oier, Carles Puyol, Adriano, Seydou Keita, Ibrahim Afellay, Thiago and Bojan. He did of course have a much stronger XI but had City’s done their job – as they believe they should have done – there wouldn’t be so much focus on their shortcomings. THE coach has spoken about Fernandinho before as a player that can be used in 10 positions.
These are the ones he loves to work with, and the team’s bewildering first-half performance suggests there are quiet a few at City who just don’t meet the Guardiola standard for carrying out his instructions.
In this regard, does it matter which positions are targeted in the transfer market as long as they have the footballing intelligence craved by the boss? Philipp Lahm and Javier Mascherano are two of the best examples of players successfully converted by Guardiola.