The power of Pep
Relentless Guardiola is still seeking to improve
PEP GUARDIOLA ended 2016 by watching his side lose 1-0 at Liverpool on New Year’s Eve. It left Manchester City a distant third in the table, ten points behind leaders Chelsea, with the attack-minded manager being mocked for saying: ‘I am not a coach for the tackles.’
A year later and Guardiola’s reputation has been vastly enhanced. Victory at Crystal Palace would earn City a 19th straight league win to equal their manager’s own European record achieved at Bayern Munich.
Reflecting on an extraordinary 2017 in which City have scored 141 goals and lost just five games out of 58, Guardiola would be entitled to stick two fingers up at his critics.
Instead, the former Barcelona manager is still questioning why he couldn’t get the juggernaut rolling quicker. ‘Last season, I never thought of playing Fabian Delph at full-back,’ he says. ‘Now it’s: “Ah, the brilliant Pep. How talented he is”. Why didn’t I do that last season?’ Guardiola shrugs.
The mention of Delph is significant. The midfielder hardly played until Benjamin Mendy got a bad injury at left-back.
While long-time regulars Kevin De Bruyne, David Silva, Sergio Aguero (pictured with Leroy Sane), Raheem Sterling and his new goalkeeper Ederson have rightly earned praise this season, the manager believes the team’s extraordinary consistency is down to other players coming in from the sidelines when required; less-heralded figures like Eliaquim Mangala, Danilo and Ilkay Gundogan. ‘You cannot create something when people who are not playing regularly are creating problems,’ he insists. ‘Bad faces, bad behaviour from those guys — when that happens, forget about it. ‘You cannot stay if it happens. But the guys who didn’t play regularly here and are now playing more, they are exceptional. Without that, you cannot do it.’ Perhaps the most interesting part of the Pep revolution is that the bulk of the team breaking records all over the place were here before he arrived. Guardiola made just six signings in 2017 and of those only two, Ederson and Kyle Walker, are regular starters in the team chasing a Premier League goals record, unbeaten league season and unprecedented Quadruple, with January arrival Gabriel Jesus often rotated with Aguero. ‘I knew about the City players before I got here because I saw them on TV, I spoke with Txiki (Begiristain, sporting director) about them. But you have to be here to really know them,’ he stresses.
‘When I speak with my staff, we know that nine of the players in the team this season also played last season. So, there is something we didn’t do good last season, something I missed with my staff.
‘We haven’t changed seven, eight players, though I think the new players give energy, like Kyle, especially the way they live in the locker room, the faces. Sometimes you need more time to see things.
‘When you realise Mendy is injured, we have a player who is a midfield player, but he is smart, he is a real leader, Fabian Delph. That is why I always give credit to the players regarding what they do.’
City in 2017 have become synonymous with some of the best attacking play ever seen in English football — with everyone from goalkeeper Ederson comfortable on the ball and two full-backs pushed up like wingers.
Guardiola is experienced enough to realise 2018 may have bumps in the road. Today’s lunchtime game at Selhurst Park will be City’s ninth in December and they have another eight fixtures in January including a two-legged Carabao Cup semi-final.
‘I am worried. Three competitions I have handled many times, but never four,’ he says.