Man City's Pre-Season Indicates Guardiola Factor Is Already Having an Effect

Manchester City are likely to be a little more careful when planning their next pre-season. This one has been somewhat chaotic and hasn’t maximised Pep Guardiola’s chances of preparing his squad for the new campaign.

The trip to China saw them play just one game after the cancellation of the proposed first Manchester derby outside of England. That wasn’t strictly their fault, and the tournament organisers, the International Champions Cup, must take some blame. But going to a country with unpredictable conditions leaves a club hostage to fortune, and City suffered as a result.

The heat and humidity were stifling, and training sessions under Guardiola are known for their intensity. It’s unlikely that his squad trained at anywhere near the level he would have liked during their six-day spell in China.

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Three pre-season games played (four if you include the hastily arranged behind-closed-doors fixture with St Johnstone last week), and City face their opening Premier League game on Saturday looking somewhat undercooked. Their warm-up programme has left them open to criticism.

Having said that, Guardiola is already having a significant effect on a squad that was in drastic need of new direction. The club were enjoying themselves off the field prior to his arrival—but the one area they had stagnated in was where it really matters.

Their first-team squad had too many weaknesses and had lost direction. An 18-month period of regression under former manager Manuel Pellegrini needed reversing quickly and who better to mastermind that change than the most sought-after and respected coach in the game.

It will take time, but Guardiola has clearly made significant progress already. He wants to usher in a new style of play, one Pablo Zabaleta says is “completely different” from anything the players are used to.

“Since Pep came to the club, we've been working so hard under him. We know his style of play–it's completely different to what we have done in the past,” he said after Sunday’s game with Arsenal in Gothenburg, Sweden. “We are focused on this and playing games, and trying hard to play the way he wants.”

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There have been some real positives. The fitness of the players has improved already. Anyone who saw the likes of Zabaleta, Raheem Sterling and Fernando in Gothenburg will know they looked leaner than ever before.

Those who joined the Guardiola setup later after their exertions at the European Championship, such as Kevin De Bruyne, have a little way to go to catch up the ones who have spent a month with the Catalan manager.

It’s part of a strict fitness regime introduced by the new manager. Pizza is banned, while double training sessions are now the norm. Per Mark Ogden of The Independent, City defender Gael Clichy revealed during the trip to China that meticulous planning and attention to detail is now the norm:

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Everything (has been covered by Guardiola). On the field, outside the field, every detail counts.

For example, you often hear managers say being healthy is really important, but with him, if you’re weight is too high, you’re not training with the team.

That is the first thing, and you can hear it a lot, but for my part it’s the first time any manager has really done it.

So we have a few players who are not training with the team yet.

It’s funny, but we play football and it’s a job and you have to take responsibility for what you do on the field.

Of course you have quality, but you have to know that if your weight is 60 kilos and you are on 70 kilos, then you cannot play football because you’re going to get injured and get your team in trouble. That’s important.

All those details are not going to make us win the league, the Champions League, the FA Cup or the Capital One Cup, but we’re going to go in the right direction to try hard and compete for these competitions.

"

Samir Nasri has been banished from first-team training because he is overweight, and the Frenchman faces the prospect of being sold if City can find a buyer, per Paul Vinnell of Sky Sports.

That sends out a message to the rest of the squad and the young academy players looking to make their mark on the senior side. There’s a zero-tolerance policy where weight and fitness is concerned, a culture that will breed professionalism and improved sporting performance.

It’s led to more intensity on the pitch. Against Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund, City were far from perfect, but you could see there was a pace to their passing that was previously absent.

Without the ball, they chased and harried high up the field, squeezing the opposition and forcing mistakes. After last season, which saw inertia set in and the team become too easy to play against, these are welcome changes.

One area the players are struggling, though, is the passing from the back, which is why the signing of John Stones from Everton was so important to Guardiola. "I like the way he plays the game," was the manager’s simple but telling assessment of his new £47.5 million defender, per ManCity.com.

If City’s performance against Arsenal in Gothenburg this weekend is anything to go by, they desperately need his ball-playing ability if they are to play in the way Guardiola favours.

Indeed, his centre-backs weren’t centre-backs at all. Fernando and Aleksandar Kolarov will probably never play there again—but watching them perform was interesting.

Guardiola had detailed them to split either side of the goalkeeper, close to the byline and just outside the area, whenever City had a goal-kick in order to offer a pass. They were then expected to build moves from deep positions, playing neat passes in their own defensive third before finding a more penetrating ball into midfield.

However, time and again they got themselves into bother, playing the team into trouble and allowing Arsenal the advantage. Their passing ability simply wasn’t good enough to realise Guardiola’s vision.

“I saw many things that I like a lot," Guardiola said after the game. "Our pressing, our solidarity. I would have preferred to win the game for our confidence but it's not about whether we are ready.

“We made a few mistakes in our build-up as except for the second goal that was the quality of the Arsenal players, the chances that we conceded were our mistakes.

“We have to improve that but if the solution was to play long balls, that would be easy. Four or five times building up we made clear chances.

“For example, in the last 10 minutes Aleix [Garcia] made good possession with Yaya [Toure] and [Kevin] De Bruyne and we created clear chances. That is why we are going to work on that more and more because it is new for them.”

With Stones and Vincent Kompany (fitness permitting) playing together, they will be better. Not only are they both specialist centre-backs, they are excellent distributors of the ball. They are comfortable in possession and can use it effectively. That will be key to Guardiola’s style being fully realised.

It hasn’t been an ideal pre-season for Guardiola. Organisationally, it’s been somewhat mismanaged and hasn’t maximised the time he’s had with the players. But there have been some clear improvements already. Optimism and excitement is back. The team looks re-energised, fitter and sharper. And there's competition for places again.

It’s going to be one hell of a ride.

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_.