Ten years on from Manchester City naming Pep Guardiola

Ten years ago on Sunday Manchester City announced that Pep Guardiola would be their manager from the following summer, a decision the piece says went on to change English football. Jordi Cruyff is quoted as saying in 2016 that “it’s not about coaches adapting to English football” but that English football would adapt to new ideas, a point the article says has proven true.

Guardiola’s first season brought heavy defeats – 4-2 by Leicester, 4-0 by Everton and Champions League losses at Barcelona and Monaco – and scepticism about his methods. The article recalls Guardiola’s record before City (42 losses in 408 games, 10.3%, at Barcelona and Bayern, and multiple trophies: six league titles, two Champions Leagues, four domestic cups and three Club World Cups) and contrasts it with his first City season (10 losses in 56, 17.9%).

It quotes Guardiola after the Leicester game: “I’m not a coach for the tackles,” and notes he later accepted tackling is necessary, saying the Leicester defeat had other causes. Guardiola adapted too, the piece says: the signing of Ederson in 2017 allowed long passes over the press, four centre-halves were used in 2022-23, and players such as Erling Haaland and Gianluigi Donnarumma are presented as examples of a different profile from his Barcelona sides.

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