Manchester City has had a bad season, but there is no doubt about that. However, there are differences of opinion when it comes to determining why this is the case.
Your more casual observer may put it in Rodri's absence with a long-term knee injury, and of course there is a lot of truth in it.
Perhaps you're pitching it somewhere in the middle and nodding wisely on a few factors. Yes, Rodri's injury was Domino's first fall, but in Pep Guardiola's words, he exposed the “old” midfield, completely devastated by the injury.
But there is another way of thinking, and some things appear to cross urban borders. What if Guardiola's overall playing style is outdated?
This is a theory that has become mainstream over the past few months, and by ensuring discussions about popular debates, it shows duplicates and detailed articles on the BBC Sport website.
“Today, Modern Football has always been like that, Bournemouth play, Newcastle play, Brighton play, Liverpool like us,” Guardiola said in an interview with TNT late last year. “It's modern football. Modern football is not that positional.”
Of course, the position neatly describes Guardiola's overall approach, the “Juego de Position.” It is known in Spanish. That comment was featured for a conversation about overlap. Here, the city has struggled so much over the last few months, losing 15 of the last 30 matches, suggesting that modern football is away from his style.
It was the theme of the BBC article following the city's slimy performance at the Santiago Bernabeu, suggesting that their problems this season – injured and aging players, low stars, low confidence – are symptoms rather than causes.
During discussions on this topic online, it was emphasized that City's playing style differs significantly from the rest of the league. And that's true. But here's it: It's always been.
In past seasons, a very different approach has been maintained as a reason for their domination compared to other parts of the league. Their slow style is seen as part of the reason they control the game. As the chart above shows, City's style this season is not a mistake from the Guardiola era.
So, I feel it's a bit reductive to say that this style is no longer working because the cities aren't doing well. Given the fact that there are so many stubborn factors like injuries, low confidence, stubborn people like Kevin de Bruin, Bernardo Silva, Ilcay Gundogan, and stubborn factors like Ilcay Gundogan, isn't it reasonable to say that those styles weren't very effective?
And this is Guardiola's point in the TNT interview, not that the league is running away from the city.
“We have to get into an incredible rhythm,” he said.
He goes on to refer to the amount of injuries he has in clubs around Europe and ultimately provides a solution to the problems his side is facing this year…and it had nothing to do with playing style.
“I reflect the future we have to work as a long team,” he said. “I always believed that I was a small number of players (we had to do that), but that would prevent the team from surviving.”
Only last season he said he was “not a manager” rather than having a big team, but this season has changed. He discussed the changing faces of the Premier League in that interview, but he said the solution is to first turn the player back on, rather than tearing his style, and secondly, to maintain the fit by having more options.
The message is clear. Even if he removes the injury from the equation, his style still works.
Oscar Bob was a huge loss for Guardiola this season (Stu Forster/Getty Images)
He may be wrong about the continued effectiveness of his style, and he will not acknowledge it if he felt it, but it would be wrong to suggest that he thinks the city is left behind based on what he said at the end of last year.
The debate also appears to have ignored the city's own evolution over the past few years. This was something Guardiola said in that interview.
To give examples of the direct approach of other teams, he also included cities: “We were.”
He was recently asked about this as well, and spoke at length about the same two points as the league's changes.
“I personally saw that more teams are more aggressive in your buildup and more teams are more aggressive, like playing that way,” he said. “In terms of being more direct, British football has always been more direct (forever), “please play too much in the middle and don't play long balls.”
“But there are a lot of teams playing from behind over the past few years, so Tottenham is an example and there are a lot of other teams.”
He then highlighted the process the city went through between 2022 and 23. Initially, it was a season when they struggled with the team that pushed one-on-one, but as Haaland accepted the long ball, they gradually became more effective. What has been seen this season is also seen especially against Chelsea in January.
Guardiola is confident that his team will be able to return to the top (Michael Regan/Getty Images)
“When you play a positional game against one-on-one, that's completely different, but we handled it really well against a team that plays one-on-one.
“It's more… We've always regretted this season, I've said many times. But the central defender (who) is in eight or ten weeks. There's no Rodri for six months or seven months. The Oscar (BOBB) is in five or six months.
“We can imagine that we were more competitive than ever, but when we have a team, we can play that way, and we can do that.
“I'm a manager and I'm going to adjust something according to the player's quality and the opponent (pose) issues, but I think I'm trying to play the way I defined my team over the years that I've had successful.
“The only difference is that there are more teams who (do) mancons on our goal kicks. They are more aggressive. Before they become more careful. Now, the teams are so brave, that's a little different. I think it's the only person, the rest… If you have your team, you can compete and you can play the way we've played in the past.”
Rodri's long-term absence continues to cast a shadow over urban seasons (Michael Regan/Getty Images)
It's a city adapted, whether it keeps the city still having more patients or a slower approach in most games. This change means that most of the enemies still sit deep against the city, making it impossible to get close to other teams in Graphics. Guardiola instructs players to “drink coffee,” make more passes, be more patient and avoid counterattacks.
That approach has been enough to win a title in the last four seasons, but why did it suddenly stop? Is it because it's no longer effective, or because the players (for countless reasons – they couldn't properly implement it?
(Header Photo: Justin Setter Field/Getty Images)
