'%20x='0'%20y='0'%20height='100%25'%20width='100%25'%20%0A%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20xlink%3Ahref='data:image/jpg;base64,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'%3E%3C/image%3E%3C/svg%3E)
While it might be premature to call Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City team the greatest Premier League side of all time, if they can follow up their performance in 2017/18 with something equally as great then it’d be hard to argue with the idea. Guardiola’s men have simply romped to the title in style, and with three games to go they’ve already broken the 100 goal mark and have only lost twice.
It’s been a marked improvement from their showing in the 2016/17 campaign, a season that saw them finish 3rd and lose 6 games along the way. So what’s changed in a year and how has Guardiola turned City’s fortunes around to make them so dominant? Here are five of the biggest changes he’s made in order to ensure City’s success.
#1 Pep now understands the nature of the Premier League
The Premier League is a trickier competition to get to grips with than some might think. While English teams haven’t dominated in Europe in the last decade, a lot of that could be to do with the strength in depth that the Premier League has – meaning the top sides, Manchester City included, have to work harder to beat the lower teams than a Barcelona or Real Madrid would have to do against similar sides in La Liga.
City fell foul of that in 2016/17, as while their losses, for the most part, came at the hands of fellow title contenders like Tottenham and Chelsea, it were the draws against lower sides like Southampton, Stoke and Middlesbrough that probably kept the title from their grasp.
2017/18 however has seen Guardiola really impose his style of playing onto his team until it’s become second-nature. That in turn has meant less slip-ups against lower sides and the results show it – points dropped on only 5 occasions compared to 15 in 2016/17.
More to the point, Pep’s side are now tougher and more streetwise, as their ability to score late goals to secure points shows. A total of 9 points have been earned due to City scoring goals after the 80th minute of a match, and while they’d still be leading the league without those points, they wouldn’t yet have been crowned champions.
Add the ability to score late goals in with the realisation of Guardiola’s free-flowing attacking style, and City have been a much changed – and much improved – outfit this season.
#2 Claudio Bravo has been dispensed of
One of the biggest criticisms of Guardiola in 2016/17 came in his choice of goalkeeper. Joe Hart was unceremoniously sent packing to Torino – in cruel fashion, too, as the Spanish boss waited until late on in the transfer window to decide that his ball-playing skills weren’t good enough for his new-look side. In Hart’s place was Chilean Claudio Bravo, but a series of diabolical mistakes showed that City hadn’t exactly made an upgrade.
Perhaps Bravo was better with the ball at his feet than Hart, but a good shot-stopper he was not. In 22 league games, he kept only 5 clean sheets, and had a low save ratio of 55.9%, making just 33 stops. A more damning statistic came after January 2017’s games against Spurs and Everton – games that saw him concede 6 goals from the last 6 shots he’d faced.
He was also dismissed in a Champions League tie against old club Barcelona for handling the ball outside his area.
After such a high-profile removal of Hart, Guardiola could easily have put his pride before the good of his team and stuck with Bravo in an attempt to prove himself right, but instead, he recognised that enough was enough. Rather than bring Hart back into the fold, however, he signed Brazilian goalkeeper Ederson early in the transfer window for a hefty fee of just under £35m.
The Brazilian has proven to be a huge upgrade on his predecessors. Not only is he comfortable with the ball at his feet as Pep always wanted, but he’s also a tremendous shot-stopper and always remains in command of his penalty area. It’s hardly a surprise then that City have only conceded 26 goals this season compared to 39 last term, and that Ederson has kept 16 clean sheets.
This change in goalkeeper has benefited City massively and has given them the solid foundation to work from that they were missing last season.
#3 Guardiola reinforced the squad in the right areas
Guardiola has often been criticised for being a “chequebook manager” and nobody can deny that he’s splashed the cash at an astonishing rate since taking over at Manchester City. But on the other hand, he’s rarely accused of being the type of boss to stock-pile players he doesn’t need. Pep spent a total of around £207m in the summer transfer window, but a massive £120m of that went on three full-backs – Kyle Walker, Benjamin Mendy and Danilo.
Guardiola’s past teams at Barcelona and Bayern Munich always traditionally made use of powerful, athletic full-backs capable of sprinting up and down the pitch to join in with attacks, but the City team he inherited from Manuel Pellegrini simply didn’t have the personnel in those areas – Gael Clichy, Pablo Zabaleta, Bacary Sagna and Aleksandar Kolarov were all ageing stars incapable of the tasks Pep was asking of them.
And so rather than stick with them and attempt to change his style, Guardiola dispensed of all four in the summer of 2017 and bought the replacements he wanted. And for the most part, it’s been a rousing success.
Granted, Mendy has yet to live up to his price tag as he’s spent the majority of the season injured, but Walker and Danilo have had tremendous seasons while Guardiola has also used Fabian Delph as a makeshift left-back, and the success of the former Aston Villa captain in his new position also shows the greatness of the Spaniard’s coaching abilities.
Pep’s new full-backs have added another attacking dimension to City’s already dangerous arsenal, and given them far more energy going forward than they had in 2016/17.
The critics of Guardiola will always knock his need to spend big money, but when his buys pay off like they have done this season it’s hard to argue with them.
#4 The older stars have adapted to Pep’s newer ways
While Guardiola removed some ageing stars from City’s squad in the form of their full-backs and longtime goalkeeper Joe Hart, the treatment of his side’s other older players has shown that he’s not the type of manager to make changes for the sake of it. He’s also shown that he’s a patient man who’s willing to wait for older stars to adapt to his new way of playing the game.
Vincent Kompany, David Silva and Sergio Aguero have all been at the Etihad for years now – Kompany since 2008, Silva since 2010 and Aguero since 2011, and after 2016/17 it looked like their time might’ve been running out at the club. Kompany only managed 10 Premier League appearances due to injury problems and the rumour was that Aguero and Silva would be phased out in favour of new Guardiola signings Bernardo Silva and Gabriel Jesus.
That hasn’t been the case, though. Instead Guardiola has recognised the need for experience in his squad, and he’s given all three time to adapt to his style, something they’ve been successful at doing.
Kompany has made 20 appearances in all competitions this season – 6 more than the previous one; Aguero has scored 21 goals in 25 league games – a better average than his 20 in 30 games last season, and Silva has scored 9 in the league and made 11 assists – an improvement on 4 goals and 7 assists last season despite playing 6 fewer games this time around.
The stronger output from these older stars has definitely been a positive change from 2016/17 and has clearly contributed to City’s success this season.
#5 Raheem Sterling has improved immeasurably
When Raheem Sterling signed for City back in the summer of 2015, he was already bringing a lot of baggage with him due to the nature in which he left Liverpool. Labelled a “money grabber” by a great number of fans, he struggled throughout 2015/16 and then endured a poor Euro 2016 tournament with England.
Pep Guardiola would’ve been well within his rights to get rid of the young attacker, but instead he offered nothing but faith, and while Sterling didn’t deliver hugely in 2016/17, he did show signs of improvement.
2017/18, however, has shown Sterling get back to the kind of form he showed in his early days at Liverpool – the type of form that made City part with just under £50m to sign him in the first place.
His best tally of league goals prior to this season had been 9 with Liverpool in 2013/14 – a figure he’s been able to double thus far this season, making him the 4th best goalscorer in the league – ahead of the likes of Jamie Vardy and Romelu Lukaku.
He’s also chipped in with 11 assists – again his best career total, meaning he’s been involved in 29 of City’s league goals this season. It’s simply been a case of Guardiola being able to get the best out of his player, giving him back the confidence he’d lost along the way after so much criticism.
The turnaround in fortunes for Sterling is perhaps the biggest change City have made this season, and while he’s not the absolute reason for their success, his upward momentum sums up City under Guardiola more so than any other player.
