Pep Guardiola's Ideas Are Significantly Improving Manchester City Already

Manchester City all but confirmed their place in this season’s Champions League after a 5-0 play-off win over Steaua Bucharest on Tuesday. Just two games into his reign, Pep Guardiola has masterminded the club’s biggest-ever away win in Europe.

This was a performance that demonstrated why City officials waited patiently for three years for Guardiola to become available. The inertia and lack of intensity that ruined their last campaign has been stamped out immediately, and City are playing with a freedom and brilliance they’ve rarely managed over the last two seasons. The new manager has had an immediate impact.

Raheem Sterling dazzled again, assisting two goals and using his pace to cause untold problems for the Steaua defence in the first leg of the tie, and Sergio Aguero managed to score a hat-trick and miss two penalties.

The gulf in class was frightening. Steaua huffed and puffed, but City simply toyed with their opponents. It could have been 10.

This was a performance that saw pace, quick incisive passing and an insatiable appetite to attack the opposition. It will take time for Guardiola’s ideas to be fully realised, with City still missing some key recruits who will further transform the side, but the Catalan manager has had an obvious effect already.

DANIEL MIHAILESCU/Getty Images

Forget the tactics that were pored over after the win against Sunderland on Saturday, this was about players who feel free to express themselves and play their natural, instinctive game. The movement, the passing, the desire to win the ball back—all the hallmarks of Guardiola sides were there.

Steaua were forgiving opponents. They were disjointed and slower than City—despite their league season being three weeks old already—and enjoyed far less possession. When they did get the ball, they couldn’t match City’s potency, producing little in the final third.

But that should not detract from City’s display. Some of the football they played was sublime. Their fourth, in particular, saw them cut Steaua apart with a period of sustained possession, working the ball from left to right and bamboozling the Romanians, who just couldn’t get a foot on the ball. Then Nolito and Aguero exchanged a neat one-two, and the Argentinian finished with aplomb.

This was football at its most fluent, and City fans should be excited about the prospect of what Guardiola can achieve.

"

These @FCSteaua fans are class - clapping #MCFC off, and getting applauded back by the players.

— Stuart Brennan (@StuBrennanMEN) August 16, 2016"

Sterling was perhaps the standout player. The 21-year-old was struggling toward the end of last season—out of the starting XI and looking completely shorn of confidence. His time at this summer’s European Championship with England was little better.

But in the two games City have played so far under Guardiola, as well as the pre-season game against Arsenal in Gothenburg, Sweden, he’s looked reborn. Moved to the right and asked to attack the byline, but detailed to switch inside if he feels he can hurt the opposition, he’s looked back to his Liverpool best, where his precociousness and love of football took him to great heights.

Young players will always have dips in form—it’s part of their development—the true test is how they emerge from a slump. Sterling won’t be getting carried away, and there is plenty of work for him still to do, but it’s been an immaculate start to the season for a young man who has been unfairly pilloried by fans and pundits over the past 12 months.

He won a penalty for the second game in succession after being brought down by Sulley Muniru, and he set up City’s opener superbly, picking the pocket of Muniru before checking back inside and squaring for the exceptional David Silva, who rammed the ball home.

Sterling was everywhere, not restricted by position. It was instinctive, impulsive football—the kind that suits him and sees him prosper. He assisted City’s second with a beautifully controlled layoff and continued to rip Steaua apart with positive, direct wing play thereafter.

Guardiola has instilled belief into a player who looked lost prior to his arrival.

"

#WednesdayWisdom 🤔 pic.twitter.com/jXsZCZwt0s

— Manchester City (@ManCity) August 17, 2016"

Aguero’s two missed penalties became a mere footnote on a night he once again underlined his goalscoring prowess.

His first miss from the spot saw Florin Nita, who was arguably the man of the match, save to his right; his second was hit harder but clipped the top of the crossbar and went over.

Aguero has now missed four of his last five penalties in this competition. Most feel he should be relieved of his duties, but Guardiola insisted after the game he would leave it up to the players.

“I am confident if Aguero is confident, and as far as I am concerned, he is still taking the penalties," the Spaniard said. 

“Yes, he missed two penalties, but after the first he wanted to take the second, and I like a player who stands up to that responsibility. 

"I like that he believes he has that power. I will leave it up to the players, but I am happy to let him carry on, but I will leave it up to the players for the next one.”

DANIEL MIHAILESCU/Getty Images

Willy Caballero was again preferred to Joe Hart in goal, with the England man’s future at the club plunged into serious doubt in the opening weeks of Guardiola’s tenure.

Caballero has been picked ahead of Hart because of his superior footwork and distribution—but on the evidence of the two games this week, he isn’t doing enough to justify that decision.

City have been so overwhelmingly in control of their last two matches that the Argentinian's shot-stopping has rarely been in evidence. But against Steaua, like against Sunderland, his passing was sometimes nervous.

He wants the ball at his feet and is far more comfortable with the idea of playing out from the back than Hart, but he has needlessly put City under pressure on a few occasions, which isn't a good look when your place in the side has been met with confusion by the fans.

But it seems Guardiola has made his mind up on Hart. His game is too limited to excel in his possession-based system. A new No. 1 is likely to arrive before the transfer window shuts, with Barcelona’s Claudio Bravo in pole position, per The Independent. Hart’s future remains decidedly unclear.

There’s an excitement among the City supporters once more. Guardiola has re-energised the squad and the fanbase. His ideas are simple and galvanising. He wants his side to express themselves, play with freedom and attack—to move the ball quickly and harry the opposition out of their stride.

“We are almost in the Champions League, which was our target from the beginning,” Guardiola said after the game in Bucharest.

DANIEL MIHAILESCU/Getty Images

“It was a great performance and great attitude from the players. We played really, really good, the result is amazing, but it’s the way we played which means I'm so satisfied. It’s a big compliment for these fantastic players.

“All of the managers in the world want to create chances and to concede few, that’s what we all want—OK, we are there, so now rest and then focus on Stoke and the second game.”

You have to work hard, first and foremost, as well as be able to play the game with technical proficiency. A few weeks in and City are showing signs of rapid development.

Ilkay Gundogan, Leroy Sane and Vincent Kompany are all set to come into the manager's thinking in the coming weeks, and those who had truncated pre-season programmes will get fitter and sharper. It's a frightening prospect.

Welcome to Guardiola's City.

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_.