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#4 His ruthlessness in clearing the deadwood
In his very first season as coach of City, Guardiola noted just how much dross the team had. While football director Txiki Begiristain has done well since the Catalan manager arrived, the former Barcelona director made a lot of questionable buys during the Pellegrini era.
Guardiola tried to work with what he had in his first season while adding a bit of quality. He tried Aleksander Kolarov as a centre-back, gave game time to Fernando and tried to utilize Jesus Navas better as a right back but these players just couldn't deliver on what he and the team needed.
Showing the same ruthlessness he had when he became Barcelona manager and got rid of the likes of Ronaldinho, Deck, Samuel Eto'o, Guardiola started his 2nd season in Manchester like an avenging fury. Out went Willy Caballero, Bacary Sagna, Kolarov, Gael Clichy, Navas, Fernando among others.
The result was that in one transfer window, he reduced the team's average age (28.4 the previous season) and added quality young players (average age of 26.8) to the side. The Citizens side that won the league last season was a million years away from the 2016/2017 iteration as they were faster, fitter, more intelligent and executed the coach's instructions better.
