5 dramatic changes at Manchester City that allowed them to succeed in 2017/18

#2 Claudio Bravo has been dispensed of

The removal of Claudio Bravo and installation of Ederson has shored up City's back line

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.