“I’d have called Pep Guardiola mad as a player, but now I’m trying to produce Man Citys next John Stones”

“I’d have called Pep Guardiola mad as a player, but now I’m trying to produce Man Citys next John Stones”

Manchester City are at the forefront of modern tactics, with the club’s academy also feeling the benefit of Pep Guardiola’s latest innovation

 

Pep Guardiola has moulded John Stones into a hybrid midfielder – with the Man City academy following suit with their own centre-backs.

It is not only rival coaches and players scrambling to figure out Pep Guardiola’s many tactical innovations at Manchester City and use his genius to their advantage. It turns out their own coaches and academy players are also having to keep up with the manager’s latest experiments.

 

“Who doesn’t look at our manager and take inspiration from him?” asks under-18 head coach Ben Wilkinson.

 

Two years ago, the academy were figuring out how to invert their full-backs into midfield like Guardiola had done with Joao Cancelo. Step forward Rico Lewis, who did the job so well that he was fast-tracked to the first-team and ended up forcing Cancelo out of the club on loan.

 

After Lewis’ graduation, the academy are now looking to Guardiola’s innovative use of his centre-backs that characterised their run to winning the treble last season. In particular, John Stones became an all-action centre-back, pushing forward into midfield in possession and running the show in the Champions League final.

 

So how can City’s academy coaches take Guardiola’s development of the ‘Stones role’ and use it to their advantage down the age groups?

 

“It’s getting the balance,” Wilkinson tells MEN Sport. “Ultimately, our job is to develop first team players – ideally for our first team but you can look at a centre-back at 16 or 17 and think ‘he’s probably not for our team but he can be a very good Championship or Premier League defender’.

 

“Someone like Kian Noble for example has done exactly the same role as John Stones, stepping into midfield at times and he’s comfortable in there. Lakyle Samuel has done well stepping in from centre-back. There’s definitely something in that.

 

“Two years ago we had Rico playing right-back without the ball and either as a number six or eight with the ball. The skill of it is knowing the players and also what the team needs and individual needs. Someone like a Kian or a Lakyle, who has that technical or tactical level, you would probably do it. Then there’s others who maybe think it’s not the best thing for them.

 

“It is something you have your eye on what the manager is doing and how that fits to our players. If we can give them those experiences it can help them on those occasions they go to the first team training. Kian and Lakyle have been there, so it’s something you definitely have to be aware of.”

 

For the players, there is a notable difference when it comes to being a centre-back at another club, compared to a centre-back at Manchester City.

 

Noble, 16, tells MEN Sport: “I’m a ball-playing centre-back. You can see the difference, we’re asked to do a lot more on the ball and also the phases of build-up and attack. It’s a lot different to other clubs but that’s why it’s good to be here.

 

“I used to be a six. Centre-halves at City are more like midfielders, they’re capable of using the ball like any other player on the pitch at City. I can do that and hopefully I can get more opportunities to showcase that. When you’re in midfield, you have to be 360 degrees, at centre-half it’s only 180. It’s more difficult in that sense, but if we stick to our concepts and the way we play, it’s similar.”

 

As Wilkinson stresses, not every centre-back at City will be coached to copy the Stones role, and not every tactic dreamed up by Guardiola will trickle down to the academy. But when there is a manager at the forefront of modern innovations, it would be foolish not to take inspiration.

 

“It’s not strictly set from the top down,” he says. “But he [Guardiola] is amazing, the evolution from the game every team he has every season is phenomenal. He does things that when I was growing up in youth teams if your manager told you to do it, you’d think they were mad. From my point of view as a young coach, to watch and learn and understand the reasons why he’s doing it, it’s an unbelievable place to try and learn and get better. You’d be foolish not to use him. Obviously only in the right context and the right times.”

 

Defender Noble is enjoying a fine season for the academy, featuring heavily for the under-18s and also for the under-19s in the UEFA Youth League and under-21s in the Premier League 2 and EFL Trophy.

 

“It’s been a really good year personally. I’ve really enjoyed it,” he explained. “It’s really full-time with the under-18s, it’s been good to do my education, do my football, learn new things and put myself in different environments you wouldn’t usually be in. When you play against first teams. The EDS is more quicker, youve got to be sharper with your movements and defensive principles.

 

“Sometimes it’s difficult moving between age groups, but it’s a good chance to show my consistency and a good chance to show your mentality. To go from 21s back to 18s, some people could drop off and not be at it, but it’s a chance to show I will be at it no matter what. I enjoy going up and down, it gives new challenges.”

 

Coach Wilkinson describes Noble as a ‘typical City’ defender, versatile up and down the academy in a difficult season across a number of competitions.

 

He said: “Kian’s a great kid, centre back. Typical Man City centre-back, very good on the ball but he’s got a very strong defensive mentality. He’s captain of England at under-17s, speaks like a 35-year-old pro. He’s had a good year, played a lot of football across the age groups and not let anyone down.”

 

It seems he also hasn’t let down the first-team coaches when stepping up – sometimes in that Stones role – from the academy squad. Such experiences only give the youngster more desire to get more training time under his belt with the best players in the world.

 

“It gives you more motivation, wanting to be there,” the Doncaster-born defender reflects. “You see the lads like Rico, Phil [Foden], Cole [Palmer] who have made the step over, It makes you want to do well and have more. When you train with them, you see the standard that you’ve got to reach and strive to.

 

“It’s the little nuances that the first team pros know about. They know what to do, not ‘cheats’, but nuances you can bring into your game. The defensive concepts that they tell you and show you when you’re over there, it’s vital for your development.

 

“They’re so professional. The Yorkshire lads will speak to me. They look out for you, [Kyle] Walker’s been brilliant, giving you information like what side to be on, what direction to face and defensive principles. All the nuances he knows, he’s been really open and helped me out. They ask you how the games have been, it shows the club culture and how they’re doing so well.”

 

And while the academy are taking Guardiola’s concepts in their own tactics, Noble revealed that his father and brother are also taking inspiration – back in Doncaster with their Sunday league team.

 

“They always come to every game when they can. My dad comes every week, but my brother plays himself so my mum is there sometimes,” he reveals. “He’s a Sunday League player in Doncaster but he’s really enjoying it. He’s getting better, a good player. There’s some competition, my dad is coach of their team. He’s trying to be a City B-Team, copying what we do. Trying to be like me in the same position! It’s good to see.”