- Manchester City have taken 40 points from a possible 42 in the Premier League this season
- Pep Guardiola has got his side playing devastating attacking football in his second campaign in England
- The Spaniard is following the example of United legend Sir Alex Ferguson, as Alejandro Perez explains
- Alejandro is an author and journalist based in the USA – find his book at Facebook.com/thefootballbook
- READ MORE: £88m star chooses Man United squad number after fresh transfer talks with Mourinho
By Alejandro Perez
Pep Guardiola didn’t have much of a problem implementing the possession-based football at Barcelona and getting immediate fantastic results with it. In Spain coaches teach kids that having the ball at their feet is the most important weapon to destroy the opponent, so Pep and his players were ready to succeed with this style.
At Bayern Munich they tend to have the ball as much as they can. Louis van Gaal and Jupp Heynckes shaped a team that craves possession as much as Barcelona did and that’s why Guardiola easily improved his predecessors’ work until creating an almost-perfect football team.
But England is different and Pep knows it. Defending long balls, set pieces and throw-ins is something he was not very used to doing in his previous two clubs, but has been forced to in this special league where he is managing right now.
So it is the way you attack and the amount of players you commit in the process. If we look back 20 years we find that the most successful method in the Premier League was that relentless offensive style that crowned Manchester United and Sir Alex Ferguson as the kings of England.
After a tough first season, where neither the defensive approach nor the possession-based football worked for Pep in the Premier League or the Champions League, he realised something needed to be changed.
He is a very offensive manager and the solution would be found accordingly.
The tiki-taka has been modified to a more vertical style, where penetration from outside and surgical passes to the wingers create tons of chances per game.
Pep has managed his players to polish their quick thinking and quick decision making, combining this with very fast footballers who can all finish plays with the same quality Sergio Aguero does.
Guardiola could have mastered a different style, like Jose Mourinho’s Chelsea in 2014-2015, or the City that won the title under Roberto Mancini in 2012 and Manuel Pellegrini in 2014, but he proved he is smart enough to create one himself.
After 14 league matches, 13 victories, 44 goals scored and eight conceded, Manchester City are the most entertaining team in Europe. And the most effective one.
Cultural learnings, to adapt to where you are in every moment, are fundamental for a manager to achieve success everywhere he goes. Even more if you are a foreign manager who lands in a special league like England’s.
Guardiola stayed true to himself, created an approach that fits his players and resembles the one that kept the red half of the city winning title after title for two decades, the Ferguson way.
Alejandro Perez is an author and journalist based in the USA – find his book at Facebook.com/thefootballbook