How Guardiola found his best Man City XI

Sahadan kritik gelişmeler geliyor. How Guardiola found his best Man City XI Image source, Getty Images Image caption, Pep Guardiola, Pep Lijnders and Kolo Toure have arrived at a system that suits Manchester City's players By Umir Irfan Football tactics correspondent Published 18 minutes ago Pep Guardiola has an uncanny ability to time his season right. Like a long-standing sitcom, much of Guardiola's Manchester City career follows the same story arc: a bright September before his side begin to struggle. As fans and pundits begin to predict City's downfall, Guardiola tinkers with his squad before a long winning streak results in his club being crowned Premier League champions.

Whether that storyline plays out at the end of this season is yet to be seen but Guardiola has finally landed on a system he trusts for the run-in. Getting here, however, hasn't been easy. Manchester City v Southampton FA Cup semi-final Saturday, 25 April at 17:15 BST Wembley Watch on iPlayer Listen on Sounds Watch live on One and iPlayer and listen on Radio 5 Sports Extra and Sounds (both UK users only).

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Follow both and live text commentary on the Sport website and app. Gameweek one Image source, Getty Images Image caption, Manchester City started the season with a 4-0 win at Wolves Of the team that started last Sunday's win over Arsenal , only three started their opening league match on 16 August – Erling Haaland, Jeremy Doku and captain Bernardo Silva. City won 4-0 against now relegated Wolves .

The key differences then were that Rico Lewis and Rayan Ait-Nouri moved in-field from their full-back positions to support Nico Gonzalez while Silva moved into a more attacking midfield position alongside Tijjani Reijnders. Out of possession, City pressed high. Doku and Oscar Bobb defended close to Haaland, but that often left Wolves ' full-backs free.

That detail would become important. Across the season, City would repeatedly tweak their defensive structure as opponents found various ways to find the spare man. Early on, City leaned into attacking transitions.

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Inspired by assistant Pep Lijnders and signings like Reijnders, they attacked quicker than previous Guardiola sides, destroying Wolves on the counter. This also suited Haaland, who started the season in impressive scoring form but was something Guardiola later reeled in, preferring more measured games. Image caption, Rayan Ait-Nouri and Rico Lewis move into more narrow positions from full-back.

Nico Gonzales anchors the midfield with Tijjani Reijnders and Bernardo Silva pushing on Gameweek two On 23 August, City lost 2-0 at home to a Tottenham side who are now battling relegation. Omar Marmoush replaced Doku, while Rayan Cherki came into midfield instead of Silva alongside Gonzalez and Reijnders. The principles stayed the same – invite pressure before looking to release fast attackers into space.

As the season progressed, man-to-man pressure has been a key trend.

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