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Manchester City are currently involved in four different competitions and have a chance to win all four. The Premier League is prestigious, but Pep Guardiola and his City team will be desperate to win the Champions League this season.
With City's strong squad which possesses world-class players, they are one of the most lethal teams in Europe.
But in the last couple of years, they have not met the expectations in the champions league. With Real Madrid, Barcelona and Bayern going through a transition phase, City have an excellent opportunity to reach the finals and win the title.
Guardiola will need to be more flexible with his tactics especially against big teams because you cannot always win playing stylish football. This was proven last year when Liverpool knocked City out of the Champions league in the Semi Final.
Against Liverpool during the first leg, Guardiola did not conform to the match situation and when Liverpool scored the first goal, he should have really got his team to defend and ensure no more goals were conceded. Instead, City attacked straight after the first goal, which was not the smartest decision, considering that Anfield was bouncing and the Liverpool players were on a high after an early goal.
Liverpool hit City on the break consistently, and by half time they were 3-0 up. If Guardiola asked his players to stay back a bit after the first goal, they could have worn Liverpool down after an energetic first half, and maybe got an equalizer of their own. Even if the match ended 1-0, City would have a great chance in the second leg at home.
The excessively attacking approach caused them to concede three goals and the tie was over at that moment, with City needing a miracle to get through to the semi-finals. In the second leg, City started well by scoring the first goal, but it was always going to be a tall ask and in the end, they were defeated 2-1 in the match and 5-1 on aggregate.
The season before last, City were playing Monaco in the round of 16 and went into the second leg with a 5-3 lead. Playing away from home with a two-goal cushion, Guardiola went with an attacking formation and it was clear that he wanted to finish off the tie with early goals.
Again, when you are playing away from home in Europe, the first part of the game will always be tough. The crowd will be backing the home team and sometimes its best to stay on the back-foot and make sure that you do not concede.
Like the Liverpool game, City conceded an early goal against Monaco as they tried to attack and then conceded another one before half time. If they were more cautious at the start and did not concede before half time, Monaco would have been frustrated and the gaps would have opened up for City to score on the counter. If Guardiola went into the match with a more defensive formation, the defence would not have been exposed as much and the result could have been different.
It's not just with Manchester City that Guardiola has had this issue of conceding goals at crucial stages during important European games. With Bayern he has lost three Champions League knockout games; against Real Madrid, Barcelona and Atletico Madrid. In all three games, he was trying to play fancy football instead of trying to sit back and take the game deep.
Especially against Real Madrid and Barcelona, you have to be very solid at the back and if you do attack them then you have to be prepared to defend the counter-attack. In his last season at Barcelona as well, Guardiola lost to Chelsea 3-2 on aggregate in the semifinals.
Once again, his team conceded an early goal away and then they were struck twice on the counter in the home leg. On this occasion though, his team were extremely unlucky, with Messi missing a penalty and plenty of players hitting the woodwork.
Still, Guardiola should have tried something new when things weren't going according to plan, like crossing balls into the box hoping that someone latches on to it and scores. He continued to play his brand of football, which is beautiful mind you, but when it's not winning you a game you have to try and do something different.
Guardiola no doubt is one of the greatest managers of all time and he always gets his teams to play exhilarating football that catches the eye of each and every football fan. At each club that he managed he successfully changed the style of play to make it more attractive and effective and his league wins in Spain, Germany, and England are proof of this. With Barcelona, he has won two champions leagues and during that period his team was invincible with many experts stating that it was the greatest football team ever.
He does though have a few weaknesses which have been exposed especially in the Champions League in recent years. One way to solve this is to be more flexible and adapt to a certain situation even if it means drifting away from your natural and desired style of play. Guardiola will be quite aware of what he needs to do to win Europe's most elite trophy with City, and if he gets his tactics right this year, not many teams will be able to stop his Manchester City team.
