Manchester City has a bad season, there is no doubt about that. But there is a difference of opinion when it comes to deciding why this is the case.
Your more informal observer can put it down on the absence of Rodri with a long -lasting knee injury, and of course there is a lot of truth.
Maybe you throw it somewhere in the middle and nods your cute on various factors. Yes, Rodri’s injury was the first Domino to fall, but it exposed an “old” midfield – in the words of Pep Guardiola – and a defense completely destroyed by injuries.
But there is still a thought school, one that looks beyond the boundaries of the city. What if the entire playing style of Guardiola becomes outdated?
This is a theory that has become mainstream in recent months, justify a discussion The overlap and a in -depth article On the BBC Sport website.
“Nowadays, modern football is the way Bournemouth plays, that Newcastle Play, Brighton Play, Liverpool has always been like that, as we were,” Guardiola said herself in an interview with TNT at the end of last year. “It’s modern football. Modern football is not that positional. “
Positionally, of course, neatly describes the entire approach of Guardiola – ‘JueGo de Posicion’, as it is known in Spanish – and that remark was the one that was picked up for the conversation about the overlap: here Guardiola suggests that modern football goes away from his style, so perhaps that is the reason why the city of their last months.
That was the theme of the BBC article after the lukewarm achievements of the city in the Santiago Bernabeu, where it was suggested that their problems this season – injured, aging players, under -performing stars, little trust – were symptoms, no causes.
During discussions on this subject online, it was emphasized that the city’s playing style is very different from the rest of the competition. And that’s it. But here is the thing: it has always been.
In previous seasons, their very different approach has stopped the rest of the competition as a reason for their dominance. Their slower style is seen as part of the reason why they control games. As the graph above shows, the style of the city this season is certainly not a bit of the Guardiola era.
So it feels a bit reductive to say that the style no longer works now that the city is not doing well. Since there are so many obvious factors – injuries, low trust, loyal, loyal, such as Kevin De Bruyne, Bernardo Silva and Ilkay Gundogan who play well under their best – is it not reasonable to say that those things have made the style less effective, would probably have a style in the same way, would it be difficult?
And this was the point of Guardiola in that TNT interview, not that the competition is away from the city.
“We have to get up incredibly to the rhythm,” he said, “and we can’t, just because we didn’t have the players.”
He continues by referring to the amount of injuries at clubs in Europe and ultimately offers a solution to the problems that he is confronted with this year … and it does not relate to the playing style.
“I think we should (have) a longer team in the future,” he said. “I have always believed (it must be done) with few players, but the team cannot survive with that.”
Only last season did he say that he “would rather not be a manager” than having a big team, but that has changed this season, and although he has discussed the changing face of the Premier League in that interview, he believes that the solution is not to rip his style, but to get his players back first, but second to make sure they remain fit by having more options.
The message is clear: get the injuries from the comparison and his style would still work.
Oscar Bobb has been a big loss for Guardiola (Stu Forster/Getty Images) this season
He can be wrong about the constant effectiveness of his own style, and he would probably not admit it, even if he felt it, but it would be wrong to suggest, based on what he said at the end of last year, that he thinks the city will stay behind.
The discussion has also ignored the city’s own evolution in recent years, which was something else that Guardiola spoke about in that interview.
When giving examples of the direct approach to other teams, he also included City: “As we were”.
He was also recently asked about this and he spoke extensively about the changes in the competition, as well as the same two points: that the injuries have undermined the season of the city and that they have evolved over time.
“I personally saw that more teams such as playing more man-to-man, more aggressive in your structure, a few of them play like that,” he said. “In terms of being more direct, English football has been more direct (forever), it has always been:” don’t play much in the middle and play long balls “.
“But in recent years many teams from behind, Tottenham play is an example and many, many other teams.”
He then emphasized a process that the city went through in 2022-23; Initially that season when they struggled against teams that pressed them man-to-man, but they gradually became more effective because they embraced long balls to Erling Haaland. Something that was also seen this season, especially against Chelsea in January.
Guardiola is convinced that his team can return to the top (Michael Regan/Getty Images)
“Normally, when you make a positional match against man-to-man, it is completely different, but we have treated ourselves very well against teams playing man-to-man, we are not worried about that,” he went on, and then he came to the biggest problem with this season, in his eyes.
“It’s more … We always have the regret this season, I often said,” What would have happened to (only) one, two, three muscular injuries during the season, three or four weeks out? ” But we have finished central defenders (who are) eight, 10 weeks, we don’t have Rodri for six or seven months, Oscar (BobB) is five or six months out.
“I can imagine that we would have been more competitive than we have been, but if we have the team, we can play that way. We can do it.
“Although I am the manager, we are going to adjust something, depending on the quality of the players or the problems that the opponents (posing), but I think we will try to play in the way the team defined for many years, had that success.
“The only difference is that there are more teams that (do) male marking in our target kick, they are more aggressive. Before they were more careful. Now his teams are so brave, that’s a bit different. I would say that’s the only one, the rest … If you had your team, you could compete and you could play as we played in the past. “
Rodri’s long -term absence continues to shed a shadow over the season of the city (Michael Regan/Getty Images)
It is something the city has adjusted, even if they retain their overall more patient, slower approach in most games. The change may not bring them closer to the other teams in the images, because the majority of opponents are still deep against the city, and when they do that, Guardiola gives up his players to “take a coffee”, make more passes and to be patient, to prevent counterattacks.
That approach has been enough to win the title in the past four seasons, so why would it have suddenly stopped? Is it because it is no longer effective, or because the players – for countless reasons – have not been able to implement it properly?
(Header photo: Justin Setterfield/Getty Images)