If it is a League, it is Pep Guardiola’s. In head-to-head matches, where efficiency and punctuality offer no margin for error, the Spaniard can be left empty-handed, as happened against the Real Madrid of miraculous mysticism.
But when we talk about leagues, long round-robin championships, The current Manchester City coach is an almost unbeatable specialist. With the fourth consecutive victory achieved with the light blue team (a record in the Premier League), after the 3-1 against West Ham, they have added their sixth title in eight seasons.
The account is simple: He only lost two since he has been in Englandthe first (in the hands of the Chelsea) and the third (won by the Liverpool). If we look back, he won three out of four at Barcelona and three out of three at Bayern Munich. Of 15 leagues he won 12.
In total he has 14 titles with Barcelona, 7 with Bayern and 17 with Manchester City: 38. An outrage to which you can add the FA Cup; On May 25 he plays the final with Manchester United at Wembley.
Pep Guardiola arrived at Manchester City on July 1, 2016. That first season was the only one in which he did not win any title.. In the next one (2017-18) he got even with a 100-point campaign in the Premier (and 106 goals scored) and a second title: the Carabao Cup.
The third season achieved four local titles: Premier League, FA Cup, Carabao Cup and Community Shield. In the fourth, he added two: Carabao Cup and Community Shield. The Premier was in the hands of Liverpool Jürgen Klopp. In the fifth, he again won two titles: Premier and Carabao. And they lost the Champions League final against Chelsea. In the sixth, he only won the Premier. In the seventh, he swept: 5 titles. Premier, Champions, FA Cup, Club World Cup and European Super Cup.
The eighth is the current one. Another Premier and maybe another FA Cup.
According to Scott Carsonthe third goalkeeper, who at 38 years old never plays but everyone says that he adds a lot to the intimacy of the squad, “The secret of success is that we hate to lose”.
Guardiola, more than losing, he hates having the ball taken from him. Obsessive, tireless, changes according to him must be made when things are going well. For this season, the one after winning the long-awaited Champions League, he was forced by the departures of Ilkay Gündogan, Riyad Mahrez and also Cole Palmer. Jeremy Doku and Josko Gvardiol arrived. Therefore, the 3-2-2-3 that dominated his last years had some adjustments.
Details, because the tactical key is to play with the ball, a dogma inherited from Johan Cruyff. Behind the titles are the shapes that identify Pep. Since his time at Bayern he has shown a sort of return to the sources, but mixed with his mark of high pressure and possession of the ball, two areas in which the Catalan does not give up anything. Established in the three defenders (sometimes four, but to add one to the middle), always focused on having numerical superiority in the center of the field, he adjusted the system until reaching these last dates with two balance midfielders (Rodri and Kovacic or one of the defenders), two links (Phil Foden and Kevin De Bruyne), plus three forwards (Bernardo Silva, Erling Haaland and Doku, Julián Álvarez or Jack Grealish). Thus, the 3-2-2-3 can be read as the old Arsenal WM that Herbert Chapman invented in 1925 and that becomes 3-4-3 of “cruyffist inspiration” as explained by Martí Perarnau in his latest book “God save “Pep.”
The attack with five forwards seems a tribute to the previous 2-3-5, the Pyramid, used for example by River’s La Maquina. Everything is flexible within the position game: sometimes it is 4-2-3-1, 4-1-4-1 or 3-4-2-1. And to defend, it is always 4-4-2, with the wingers in the midfield and the 9 (Haaland) and a forward (De Bruyne) further forward.
The provision of Julian Alvarez It has been particular. It seems like he doesn’t play (because in the last games he came on with just a few minutes left), but he was very active, especially at the beginning of the season. In this Premier he played 36 parties, 31 as starter38, and scored 11 goals. Of course: he does not have a permanent position. He played 13 on the sides, 8 as a link and 10 as a center forward. Only on matchday 26 did he sit on the bench and in five games he entered from there. Only on two, dates 30 and 38, he did not move.
Returning to the team, Manchester City’s keys remain the same: “control the game, put four men in the center of the field and move the opponent through the ball,” according to Pep. Passes and more passes, clean exit from the back (build up, in English), search for the third man (free) and recover the ball quickly and as far as possible from one’s own goal. “I’m not going to steal it, but I’m going to get back what’s mine,” explains the coach.
Erling Haaland He contributed 27 goals, but the differential of this campaign was Phil Foden, with 19 goals (two against West Ham) and 8 assists, elected the best player (MVP) of the championship. In 2016, Guardiola told Perarnau: “Foden, remember that name. It will be beastly.” He was 16 years old.
City’s final sprint, once again, also marked the difference with Arsenal. Nine wins in a row within the framework of a 2024 that knows no defeats, beyond the elimination from the Champions League against Real Madrid on penalties. And there you can see another winning detail: the team did not fall apart after that hard fall that cut short the dream of being two-time European champion.
A typical Guardiola team. Author team, like all of Pep’s. Voracious, protagonist, relentless when the championships take the form of a marathon. Tyrannical in the Premier League and closing a campaign with 91 points, with 28 wins, 7 draws and just 3 losses, 96 goals for and 34 against.
If it is a League, it is Guardiola’s.