Going into the international break, City’s record of 10 wins, a draw and a loss after 12 competitive games would have resulted in you having half a hand if you had offered that to any City fan prior to the campaign. It also speaks volumes about Guardiola’s influence on the side and how quickly it has taken the team to get used to his tactical ways.
Obviously, some games have showcased City’s quality more under Pep than others, with our mesmerising 4-0 win over Bournemouth unalike from the lethargic display witnessed against Tottenham on Sunday afternoon.
The 2-0 defeat at White Hart Lane raised some concerns. The main one for me was the lack of ‘plan B’ in Guardiola’s system. His high press and possession based play was completely exposed against a team who had figured us out. The North Londoners did not allow Claudio Bravo to play out from the back like he normally would, putting men on both full backs to prevent the possibility of a slowly constructed City attack. They also did not allow us to get the ball to our most influential players, in particular David Silva; with the Spaniard being almost crowded out every time by the influence of Victor Wanyama and Moussa Sissoko. Even Fernandinho, usually a reliable choice in the defensive midfield role, had a hard time against Tottenham’s high press. It was his loss of the ball in the 9th minute which led to Aleksander Kolarov slicing the ball into his own net.
Guardiola had seen enough ten minutes into the second half and turned to Ilkay Gundogan to start pulling some strings in the midfield, and although the German found some decent pockets of space in front of Tottenham’s defence, City did not create anything of real merit and Hugo Lloris’ clean sheet was more or less easily preserved. We did improve after the break, but there was still no spark which could ignite some sort of City fightback. And there never seemed to be an alternative way of playing. It was clear to see that Tottenham had us figured out from the word go.
This is taking no credit away from the team after previously going unbeaten in all competitions up until now. That is not bad for a squad still learning the ropes of a new system; a system which has already outfoxed the likes of Manchester United and Borussia Monchengladbach already this term. Pep certainly hasn’t, and won’t, be ‘exposed’ yet.
He has his own way of playing and so far it has worked wonders. Claiming bragging rights in the Manchester derby was a major marker and warning to title rival Jose Mourinho. It is already 1-0 to Guardiola in that interesting sub-plot. Our 2-1 win over Sunderland and 3-3 draw in Glasgow outlined our grit, determination and response to being pressed. It is good to know we have players in the side who can do the pretty stuff, as well as the dirty when the time comes. Tottenham’s extra quality over Celtic perhaps showed in our lack of response to going behind on Sunday, but Guardiola is a perfectionist and you know that at least something would have changed by the time City line up against Everton on October 15th.
Guardiola congratulated Tottenham on their win and put City’s defeat down to the North Londoner’s ‘better press’. The Spaniard has not come out and said that City are going to win the quadruple this season, and has on many occasions admitted that it will take some time before his new players understand his particular way of playing. Yesterday was one of those days, with Guardiola’s good guy status reinforced even more with his response to defeat. The reaction of a certain Jose across town after a home draw against Stoke suggests there is nothing to improve in the gratitude department on the blue half of Manchester. We will see how the talking is done on the pitch once again after the international break when the two lock horns in the EFL Cup later this month.
Pep’s policy of employing inverted full-backs to crowd out the midfield, preventing an opposition breakaway, and his high-press, possession-centred game plan are extremely impressive and revolutionary ways of playing the game, and it might not be long before other manager’s follow his lead. City’s football in certain games this season has been absolutely scintillating, bettering even the team we saw march to the title in 2013/14, a team which scored over a century of goals. But this season it is the way the Blues are playing which is getting everyone excited. They look full of confidence and up for the challenge. We have been blowing teams away but yesterday’s result was a reminder that we certainly won’t have it all our own way this season.
We should by no means press the panic button just yet after one defeat. It is down to how Guardiola responds to teams figuring his fantastic system out.
Is there a plan B? His initials may well be ‘KDB’.
