What will Pep Guardiola bring to Man City? Why the Spanish schemer can take the Blues to the next level

The Blues have confirmed that the former Barcelona manager is arriving at the end of the season. But what should we expect? 

    Next manager: Guardiola is a likely bet to be the next Manchester City manager

After months of speculation, Manchester City, have confirmed that Pep Guardiola will be their new manager.
Manuel Pellegrini announced on Monday afternoon that he will not be extending his stay beyond the end of the current campaign, which was followed by the announcement that Guardiola will arrive as head coach for next season.

The Bayern Munich boss has spoken at length about his passion for English football, saying: "I want to experience England's stadiums and emotions. I think at my age, it is the right moment to go."
We all know what Guardiola is capable of. His Barcelona and Bayern teams have enchanted the continent over the last few years.

And now he is reuniting with Txiki Begiristain and Ferran Soriano, who worked with the 44-year-old coach at the Camp Nou and now hold executive roles at the Etihad.

His knowledge of the club’s hierarchy - notably how well they worked together, after three years bumping heads with similar figures at Sabener Strasse - as well as the facilities at the new City Football Academy are believed to have been factors in his decision.

But what will Guardiola bring to City, a club who have won two of the last four Premier League titles and are very much in the running for a third this term?

Firstly, the system. The formation doesn’t matter so much as what is done within it. At Barca, where the identity of Johan Cruyff continues to ring true, 4-3-3 was the norm, but as his side evolved, so too did Guardiola’s ideas; a 3-4-3 formation was often used - including to devastating effect in one Clasico win at the Bernabeu.

At Bayern, such diversity has continued, with a vast variety of different shapes used, including but not limited to things that 4-3-3, 4-1-4-1, 3-4-3, 2-3-3-2, built around the flexibility of players such as Phillip Lahm, Thomas Muller and David Alaba. He ripped up the structure of Jupp Heynckes to impart his own philosophy and adapts tactics to prey on opposition weaknesses, expecting his players to shift seamlessly from one to the next during matches.

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The key to the success of all has been pace and spacial domination. Controlling the ball and controlling the opposition. Circulating possession at pace, making opponents work, passing precisely, moving into space, passing again, accurately and smartly.

“Aiming to produce non-stop fluid movement” is how Paul Breitner succinctly puts it. Three, four, five options for the man with the ball, and then working again to give the next possessor the same amount. All the while working until the key players - those that can kill the opposition - are in position from where they can do maximum damage.

It involves high pressure, compressing the playing area into a fifty yard space (vertically) in the opposing half of the field. That means no gaps in between the lines, while a 'sweeper keeper' behind the defensive line looks to negate balls over the top.

 Occasionally, such willingness to attack is torn apart - Losing 4-0 to Real Madrid in 2014, 4-1 to Wolfsburg earlier this year - but while such instances tend to shock, they are rare.

One criticism that has been levelled at City, under not only Pellegrini but also former boss Roberto Mancini, is that they can be found guilty of going through the motions - witness the 2-0 defeat at Stoke in December and much of the weekend clash at Watford. That’s something that Guardiola will not stand for.
Pressing must be fierce, winning the ball back within six seconds, furiously striving to recover possession.

 If that counter-press is bypassed, then the side reverts to shape. In European competition, City’s inability to press equally-talented opponents in such a manner has often seen them caught short. Will the likes of Yaya Toure, David Silva, Sergio Aguero - international stars - buy into it?

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That being said, bringing through young players has been integral to Guardiola’s management. At Barca, Busquets and Pedro were trusted from the B team and thrust into the seniors, while a host of others were handed debuts.

At Bayern, one of Guardiola’s first decisions was to take Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg from the youth set up and have him train with the seniors at the age of 17, electing to take him on his first pre-season tour, giving him a first start - out of position at wing-back - in the German Cup final later in the season. Since, the likes of Joshua Kimmich, Gianluca Gaudino and others have been dipped in and out.

City’s youth set-up has grown in recent years to the extent that envious glances are being cast in its direction from not only others in England, but across Europe. Will his arrival afford greater first-team opportunities to the likes of Patrick Roberts, George Evans and Brandon Barker?

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Potential winners and losers

Winner - Eliaquim Mangala
When Guardiola arrived at Bayern, he found former City defender Jerome Boateng and immediately took a shine to the German defender. Boateng, strong, quick, brave and decent on the ball, individually Boateng had all the tools to be one of the best centre-halves in the world. However, he had never been taught to defend as a member of a unit, to position himself in accordance with his teammates. In the last two-and-a-half years, he has matured into one of the very best around. Mangala, a defender of similar gifts, may reap similar rewards.

Reuters / Phil Noble

Winner - Sergio Aguero
More team pressing, more possession, and more territorial domination can only be a good thing for the Argentine striker. Sharp and incisive with his movements off the backs of defenders and between full-backs and centre-halves, if City start dominating matches with 65-70 per cent possession, it will likely equate to even more goals for Aguero (provided he can stay injury free). His goal against Watford at the weekend proved what a penalty-box predator he is.
 
Winner - Raheem Sterling
Attacking players with speed, who can beat a man, are versatile and are aware of the positions of others tend to thrive under Guardiola (the one major outlier - World Cup winner Mario Gotze, who hasn’t been trusted since arriving at Bayern, despite Guardiola asking for him specifically ahead of his arrival). Raheem Sterling ticks all the boxes. Still only 21, there’s plenty of room to grow for the young forward, who has eight goals in 22 games for City, and is maturing into his role at the club following his £49million summer move from Liverpool.

Reuters / Andrew Yates

Loser - Yaya Toure
Worked with Guardiola at Barcelona, winning the treble in 2009 playing as a centre-back in the final win over Manchester United. But he was usurped by Sergio Busquets in Catalunya, with Guardiola believing the Spaniard offered better defensive security and was a more intelligent initiator of attacks with his passing from deep.
Loser - Wilfried Bony
Static strikers who take the ball into feet and look to act as a target man for attacks (see Ibrahimovic, Zlatan) haven’t been the preferred option of the Spaniard during his managerial career. Bony fits into that mould.