Manchester City finally understanding the Pep Guardiola way as Yaya Toure relishes chance to chase down Chelsea
Four consecutive victories has City on the tail of Chelsea and for the first time this season, Guardiola's methods are getting through to his players
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Your support makes all the difference.Pep Guardiola said it in the media room at the Vitality Stadium. Yaya Toure said the same thing at the same time in a corridor just outside. It is what the whole Manchester City squad are feeling now, after four wins in a row: City finally understand the Guardiola way.
It has taken more than half of the season and some pretty ropey spells, including a six-game no-win stretch in October and heavy defeats at Leicester City and Everton. But the difficult first phase of the Guardiola era looks to be behind City now. The players know what the manager demands from them.
“Step by step, and time by time,” Toure said after Monday’s win, “we are starting to get to what the manager wants. We are looking forward to the next game, and we have confidence now.”
That is how the whole City squad feel. There is a sense at City that something has clicked over the last few games, after too many months of one step forward one step back. The players finally understand Guardiola’s concepts, which means they can do what he wants them to on the pitch. With a fast front three, a clever midfield and a reliable goalkeeper, City look like less of a work in progress than they have done all season. Although whether they can keep the same flexible threat with Sergio Aguero back up front, instead of Gabriel Jesus, remains to be seen.
The first signs of this were against Tottenham on 21 January, when City were brilliant for most of the game but were pegged back to a 2-2 draw. But they followed that with a 3-0 win at Crystal Palace, 4-0 at West Ham United, 2-1 win at home against Swansea and then Monday’s 2-0 win at Bournemouth. Guardiola, speaking straight after the game, was delighted to see his players put his plans into action.
“In the beginning of the season we did well but after that we missed something, and I know why,” Guardiola explained. “But now, my impression since the Arsenal game [18 December] and especially since Tottenham, when we played amazing, we were unlucky not to win that game, is that our game is more stable. Everybody knows what we have to do. That is why we have more quality, but we still have a big gap to improve.”
What made Guardiola especially happy was the way that City saw out the win in the final 20 minutes, passing Bournemouth to death in the middle of the pitch. With Fernandinho pushed into midfield, City did not allow their hosts a sniff of the ball. It was tiki-taka perfectly done.
“We played really well in all circumstances,” Guardiola said afterwards, “especially in the last 15 minutes when we made one thousand million passes. We monopolised the ball, it is the best way to defend the result, the best way to avoid the opponent. You have the ball, there is just one ball, and when you have the ball you just have to control the counter-attacks and it is safe. We did it for the first time in [months], controlling the game through the passes.”
At the centre of this thousand million passes was David Silva, who put in one of his performances of the season, setting the tempo, launching City’s attacks and earning a personal pep-talk from his manager at the end of the game.
Guardiola enthused afterwards that Silva was “amazing” and the secret to City’s recent success is that he has found a system to make the most of Silva and Kevin De Bruyne’s intelligence. Neither of those two is quick, but they are both clever, and City play their best with those two in the number eight role. The front three provide the speed, pressing the opposition defence, running in behind, stretching the play to create space.
Giving those two the licence to attack is Toure, who understands better than anyone in this squad what Guardiola wants, having played for him at Barcelona almost 10 years ago. His restoration to the organising role in midfield, even ahead of the more flexible Fernandinho, has given City a new stability in the middle of the pitch. He is fitter and sharper than he has been for years, finally injury-free, having physically benefited from his early-season exile.
Suddenly City have balance, confidence and clear understanding between the manager and the players. It has taken months to click, but now it has happened, it will not be reversed.
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