EPL News: How Pep Guardiola’s strength became Man City weakness
Guardiola is a cultured man. And when it comes to soccer, the multilingual Catalan likes fluency, harmony, and accuracy. Reflecting this, his best teams paint the field with movements, passes, and goals. And lots of them.
This comes from the Manchester City coach’s greater yearning—for control. He’s demanded this from his Barcelona, Bayern Munich, and City teams, which, alongside the aesthetics, have set them apart from the rest.
His vanquishing City sides have done more than win. They’ve dominated. Among its 18 trophies with Guardiola, City has won eight of the past 13 Premier Leagues, including the last four. Only Liverpool has rivalled its possession and pass completion statistics in England. Opponents have frequently been rooted in their halves, struggling to retrieve and keep the ball, never mind scoring and toppling the immovable object.
This season, City has moved. In truth, it’s fallen off the rails, ostensibly saying goodbye to the title and stumbling into the Champions League playoffs. Guardiola always seeks perfection, animatedly confronting his stars when they prosper but fail to reach the high standards, fearing that a lack of detail may result in slipping up. Now that City has imploded, angst has turned to anguish.
The winning control is gone—versus Arsenal, Paris Saint-Germain, and during the seven-match winless run. What has since become revealing is the City without control. Equal to having it, embracing little control is a strength; Jürgen Klopp’s Liverpool was imperious but would give their adversaries a chance, finding success by outscoring them or fighting back. However low in quality, relegation candidates know recovering from setbacks is vital to survival.
Guardiola’s squad has often seemed lost with its back against the wall. He’s occasionally seemed a little nonplussed, too. The next test, perhaps the sternest, is overcoming that.
Manchester City’s Psychological Shift
“You’ll be going into matches expecting to win every one you play,” Adam Nicholls, a professor in sports psychology, tells me in an interview, commenting on City players’ mentality when all the cogs are functioning—as they were at the campaign’s start.
“After some defeats, I’m certain their mindset will be affected. It will probably affect their confidence and belief slightly. There will be a lack of certainty they once had, undoubtedly affecting performances. Because we know confidence and performances are strongly linked.”
Naturally, the individual expected to fix the malaise is Guardiola. And as much as he’s exacting of his squad, he unwaveringly protects each member. Thanks to him, City’s players are cerebral—woven into a web and entrusted to solve games as if they were sudokus. Given the recent wobbles, mental fortitude to overcome obstacles is now critical.
“All these players will have done that at times during their careers, Nicholls adds.” “Because they wouldn’t have got there without being resilient, and it’s the same with Guardiola. But it can be a test for players, and they are experiencing that.
“Athletes and coaches with effective coping skills can deploy them in adverse situations. However, those who don’t have awareness and those innate skills will perhaps struggle under certain situations, like a losing streak.”
To arrest the fragilities, also exposed by injuries such as long-term absentee Rodri, City has welcomed a raft of talented players. Having spent around €160 million ($166 million) on Omar Marmoush, Abdukodir Khusanov, Vitor Reis, and Juma Bah, it’s completed the signing of €60 million ($62 million) in Spanish midfielder Nico González, rounding off a busy January window.
That could shake things up. Guardiola won’t be at the Etihad complex forever, with fresh responsibility to shape the future—whatever that looks like as the verdict on its 115 financial charges approaches. One of those is extracting the best from a multitalented squad when things aren’t going to plan. A fine manager and tactical mind, Guardiola himself is learning that.
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