‘They’re having fun’: Why City’s great entertainers fell for Pep’s Class of 2018
Rodney Marsh and Francis Lee say their old club are eclipsing the football of their 1970s heyday
Exiled in Florida, from where he hosts a daily pan-US radio show about English football, Rodney Marsh has watched on television every minute of every match Manchester City have played this season. His reaction to what he has seen is telling. “I’d say they are even better than they were last year, which is saying something,” he suggests.
Meanwhile, Marsh’s old City team-mate Francis Lee is equally assiduous in his watching of the current side. And speaking from his holiday home in Portugal, the former City chairman is succinct in his analysis of Pep Guardiola’s team. “They are a bloody joy to watch,” he says.
When it comes to footballing entertainment, Marsh and Lee know what they are talking about. They played together in a 1970s City side who were designed to tickle the palate, packed with an abundance of attacking resources. Though even a team featuring the pair of them alongside Colin Bell and Mike Summerbee at their peak would have been pushed to match the display offered up last Saturday when the present-day City eviscerated Burnley.
At times as they played their way around a befuddled opposition, the players in sky blue seemed to be engaged in an internal competition for goal of the season, each attempting to outdo the other in the aestheticism of their approach work.
“Teams can win things being functional,” says Marsh. “But Pep has chosen to do it by entertaining, and the players seem to be loving it, loving playing for him. They’re enjoying little things like a smart one-two on the edge of the area. The thing you think when you’re watching them is, ‘They look as though they are having fun’.”
City won the title last season with a record points haul, but both former players agree this season the performances have got better. Subtle improvements have combined to make a difference. “He [Guardiola] has really worked on their shape when they don’t have the ball,” says Marsh. “Out of possession, they are much quicker at regrouping than last season, when at times they seemed to lose opponents. Malcolm Allison [City’s coach in Lee and Marsh’s day] used to drum into us about going with runners. I thought the performance at Liverpool showed how much they have improved. That was a masterclass in how to contain a very good attacking side.”
According to Lee, improvement has come about through the mastery of simple things. “The way Pep plays is the three Ps: possession, pace and press. It’s not anything new. We used to press. Joe Mercer [Allison’s predecessor] used to say keep the buggers in their half, then if they do get the ball, they’ve still got to run 55 yards to the goal.
“He’s just taken that to a new level.” So much so that opponents rarely have a chance to create anything for themselves.
“My sons were in the Far East this week for a wedding and asked me to tell them what City’s Champions League game was like,” Lee adds. “All I said was: Shakhtar Donetsk never got near the ball.”
But if there has been tactical improvement, there has also been individual progression. Marsh cites Aymeric Laporte as one who has clearly stepped up from his debut season. Though both agree on the player who has most obviously taken himself to a new level.
“It’s Bernardo Silva who stands out for me,” says Marsh. “He’s looking like he could, eventually, replace David Silva, which had seemed impossible.”
Lee concurs. “When he started off, I think a lot of us thought he was just there as cover, but he’s been dynamite,” he says. Bernardo’s form might have caused his manager a problem, requiring someone to be left out of the starting line-up to accommodate him. But with this City side, both former players agree, there is a fluidity in selection which matches the fluidity on the field. “I’m not sure Pep could name his best XI,” says Lee. “Normally you’d say that was an issue, but in this case, I think it helps him, Nobody feels left out.”
Marsh agrees. “He’s not got a best XI, he’s got a best 16 and doesn’t mind who he starts with. He believes in