Sunday Mirror (Northern Ireland)
ROBBIE FOWLER
City manager needs a new back four if he is going to be Etihad success
THE question for Pep Guardiola is not whether he needs to rebuild at Manchester City... but how much rebuilding he can do.
I’ve already heard it said he should clear out 18 players this summer, and that may even be true.
But it’s simply not possible. He has seven players out of contract at the end of the season, and if he rated them they wouldn’t be – so they’re pretty much gone.
But after that it’s just not easy to cut out the dead wood, even if the whole tree is rotten at the Etihad.
So he’s got to do it in stages, and this summer my advice would be concentrate on the stuff that desperately needs doing, which is obviously the defence.
I reckon Pep may just have got the biggest shock of his football life coming to terms with English football, and the one thing he’ll have learned above all others is that if you want a winning formula here, you’ve got to start at the back.
Let’s be honest, he didn’t need a high-class defence at Barcelona, because Spanish sides didn’t attack much against them. And that was probably true, albeit to a lesser extent, in Munich.
But City have been crucified in the Premier League for their defensive weakness. In Europe it’s come back to bite them too.
Before City, Guardiola didn’t do as well in Europe as many people might assume.
Four years at Barca, three at Bayern, and yeah, he won the Champions League twice. I’m not knocking that.
But he maybe should have won more when you think he had Messi, Iniesta and Xavi in Spain, and the basis of that fabulous Germany team at Munich.
They rolled teams over because they were brilliant going forward, but every time they got knocked out of the Champions League, it was because they were exposed at the back.
If Pep wants to succeed in England AND win the
Champions
League with City, he has to change his approach a bit and start from the back. He needs more or less a whole back four – and some quality to back them up, too.
Clichy, Zabaleta, Sagna and Caballero are out of contract in summer, Mangala is on loan and you’d try not to take his calls if he wants to come back, so that frees up space to bring in numbers.
They can dump Yaya Toure too and bring in a defensive midfielder. Or three.
Pep’s going to have to build an entire new defence which isn’t easy, but you look at what Antonio Conte has done at Chelsea and you see that it’s possible – he’s completely reshaped the defence with a couple of new faces and a totally new system.
I don’t think City need many attacking players, they have quality up front and maybe a big-name addition there to play alongside Gabriel Jesus will add the sort of star quality Barca had under Guardiola.
It’s a good job, because he’s got his work cut out in defence and midfield.
All that money spent in the summer – was it £250million? – and they don’t have a midfield. That seems a bit careless. Same for the defence. And goalkeeper.
You don’t turn things around overnight, and before any City fans start attacking me – and I still like to think I have a great relationship with them – I’ll say this: there’s no doubting Pep’s quality and ability.
I think he has something special as a manager, I really do. You don’t manage at Barca and Bayern without having something about you.
But if you’re not getting results, people ask questions.
Pep has a lot of questions that need answers, and he’s got a summer to find them.
This is a real test because he’s never had to build a team from the back before.
I’d say this too: in Spain, in Germany, he could coast through half the season because sides sat back and let his teams come at them.
In the Premier League, even teams at the bottom come at you and get right in your face.
I’m not saying it’s the best league in the world, but it is the toughest. Guardiola has found that out the hard way.
He must find a way forward – or see his reputation going up in smoke along with all that dead wood he has to clear away.