Changes to Expect Under Pep Guardiola at Manchester City

On the final day of last season, with Manchester City in need of a point to secure a top-four spot, they drew 1-1 with Swansea City, a side who had little to play for. As the final whistle blew, bringing the curtain down on Manuel Pellegrini’s time in charge, the players slumped to the floor, gasping for air, tired and relieved.

It hadn’t been a particularly intense 90 minutes. Neither side had moved the ball quickly enough, nor had it been an end-to-end game. It was blatantly obvious that the City players were emotionally drained and in need of something new.

It brought to mind the words of Ferran Soriano. Per Mark Ogden, then of the Telegraph, back in 2013, the City chief executive talked about “cycles” at a football club, suggesting players and managers become tired and need new direction after periods of around three years.

Soriano said:

"

Three years in football is a long time. In football, teams have cycles and you can have managers who go through several cycles and managers who go through one cycle. It will depend.

Obviously, we want the next manager to stay for a number of years, but I think it would not be wise to speculate on the next manager being there for 26 years. This is an exception and I think three, four, five years is one cycle. Maybe a manager can do one or two cycles, but people get tired. Players need another way, another excitement, and managers also want to move, but I think this is normal.

In my personal experience, I have seen successful managers—I don't want to talk about Barcelona too much, but you could argue it has been the most successful club of the last 10 years and it has had two managers—Frank Rijkaard for four years and Guardiola for four years, and it's ok.

"

The City players looked stilted and in need of change—and change is exactly what they have been given. This is a new era at the club, with a new manager, a new style and a new way of thinking.

And Pep Guardiola already appears to have had a galvanising effect. The 1-0 defeat to Bayern Munich in his first pre-season game in charge saw plenty of positives. There was intensity to City’s passing, particularly in the second half, and they were building from the back in typical Guardiola fashion.

Two weeks of training with a depleted first-team squad doesn’t appear to have stopped him implementing new ideas, with none of his young players looking overawed or out of place.

Matthias Schrader/Associated Press

So what changes can we expect at City this season?

The Squad

There have already been some new additions to the City squad. Ilkay Gundogan is injured, having dislocated his kneecap while still a Borussia Dortmund player, but he is a significant signing and will bring technical quality and sheer hard work to a midfield that needed an injection of both.

Nolito brings an ability to keep the ball—vital in Guardiola’s possession-based style—as well as creativity.

But there will be more. Leroy Sane remains the club’s No. 1 attacking target, but at the moment Guardiola says City and Schalke 04 remain some way apart in their valuation of the player.

"Of course we talk to him,” he said after City’s defeat to Bayern at the Allianz Arena. “Schalke know we are interested, but at this moment we don't have many possibilities to get him.

"There is a difference [in opinion] between Manchester City and Schalke, and it is quite big. I do not know what is going to happen, but right now he is with Schalke.”

Martin Meissner/Associated Press

Sane scored eight goals in 33 Bundesliga matches last season and earned his first Germany cap in August. He was part of Joachim Low’s squad for the European Championship and is widely considered one of the finest young talents in Europe.

He’s lightning quick, brave in possession and always looking to beat a man and create some space. He isn’t the finished product—but if City can land him, they have a player with genuine potential.

And John Stones tops their list of centre-back targets, per Jamie Jackson of the Guardian. He is a true ball-playing central defender, the likes of which are rarely seen emerging from English academies.

The 22-year-old Everton and England man is likely to cost around £50 million, but he will also help Guardiola introduce a more open, attractive and attacking style of football at the Etihad Stadium.

The squad will change considerably before the season starts.

Style

There was plenty lacking at City last season, but intensity was perhaps the most obvious. Pellegrini’s team were too timid and insipid for much of the season, failing to impose themselves on the opposition on a consistent basis. Dominant performances, where they moved the ball at speed and pressed the opposition, were too few and far between.

Guardiola’s sides always play with intensity. When they have the ball, they pass it quickly. Short combinations. Pass-and-move. It’s difficult to contain them when they are in full flight.

And when they lose it, Guardiola demands they press high and hard to win it back.

There were signs against Bayern that Guardiola’s ideas with and without the ball are being bought into already. City looked to play the ball out from the back at every opportunity. Defenders have clearly been encouraged to drop back and ask for the ball in order to build moves from deep. Every player must want the ball and be comfortable with it.

There were some excellent moments of controlled possession from City—but perhaps most encouraging was their pressing in the final third when trying to recover the ball. There were numerous times they won it back high up the field, a hallmark of Guardiola’s style. That desire to reclaim possession and hunt in packs is vital in modern football. 

Mood

There’s no doubt the mood has changed. Soriano’s prophetic words rang true last season as Pellegrini’s ideas had run their natural course. The players looked down, and the fans had become increasingly disillusioned.

There’s already a freshness at City again. Guardiola has brought new direction and urgency. Everyone has started from scratch and have everything to prove, and they all appear to be desperate to play for the most coveted manager in the world. 

"He wants us to be proud when we wear the shirt," said Gael Clichy this week, as reported by David Anderson in the Mirror. "He wants us to play good football, the way he sees football. His philosophy is the priority.

"In a short period of time, he’s shown us how great he is. Of course, being great doesn’t necessarily mean having results, but everyone is looking forward to this season.

"The young players are improving, we’re improving. We don’t want to say too much because one manager isn’t going to change the whole club, but of course he’s going to change a lot of things."

The squad will develop, the style of play will be improved and results, surely, will be better than last season.

Rob Pollard is Bleacher Report's lead Manchester City correspondent and follows the club from a Manchester base. All quotes were obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted. Follow him on Twitter @RobPollard_.