Pep Guardiola's Tactics May Be Questioned, but They Can Help Man City Dominate

It’s a commonly held belief that Pep Guardiola wants his Manchester City team to keep the ball on the ground. 

Many expected the Catalan to instruct his players to pass it short and make sure they didn’t squander possession easily. After all, clipping it to a team-mate along the ground is more likely to make sure it finds a blue shirt—putting it into the air means it has to be won, making the outcome less certain.

The manager’s tactics have been questioned regularly, especially following individual errors that created chances—and goals, for that matter—for the opposition.

When the mistakes came on a weekly basis, during a run of six matches without a victory, journalists in Guardiola’s press conferences would consistently ask about a Plan B.

Would he consider changing his style of play because it clearly isn’t working? Should City be passing the ball around the back four when it’s costing them goals? Do the goalkeeper and his centre-halves know when to smash the ball into Row Z?

Ahead of the 1-1 draw with Southampton on October 23, the manager didn’t respond well to being asked if he felt he should abandon his principles.

“Ah, you would like that, huh?” he replied. It resulted in laughter from the press room. “You know what happens, I think about that, yeah. But after that the solution is not better than what I believe. So I cannot.

“Do you know why as well, because in seven years I won 21 titles…it's going to happen that [if] it's not going well in the future, next season isn't going well in that way, I will go home.”

It’s a bold statement, but it demonstrates the belief the Catalan has in his system.

Alex Livesey/Getty Images

It also demonstrates a lack of awareness of what he’s trying to do at City, combined with a demand for instant results. Guardiola’s way of playing was idolised in the opening 10 matches of the campaign, when his team not only beat everybody they faced but also never once fell behind. Six winless matches later and it was being heavily scrutinised.

What the questions were insinuating is that there should be times when the manager instructs his players to hoof the ball towards a target man. When the opposition are proving difficult to break down, such as in games against Everton, Southampton and Middlesbrough at the Etihad Stadium, perhaps City should play it long—because that’s the only way English football, and its pundits, knows how to throw the kitchen sink.

Guardiola doesn’t agree. “Changing doesn't mean not using long balls, you have to use long balls,” he added in that pre-Southampton press conference. “So it doesn't change… Of course, he [goalkeeper Claudio Bravo] has to play long balls, it depends if the opponents come or don't come.”

OLI SCARFF/Getty Images

As the manager says, there’s a difference between playing direct and playing long. City have been one of the more direct teams in the Premier League in the games they’ve dominated, played well in and won. A lot of their goals are scored on the counter-attack.

It’s a fundamental misunderstanding of what the manager is actually asking for. His idea isn’t about keeping possession and playing out from the back, it’s all about creating space and individual battles that his players can win. There’s a reason Guardiola hates the phrase “tiki-taka”—short, quick passing as a method of simply keeping possession.

Onlookers who say that City are trying to play tiki-taka couldn’t be more wrong. Guardiola wants his players to move the ball to force opponents out of position and create space for his attackers. One-touch possession play doesn’t do that.

WyScout

Instead, allowing the other team to put the man on the ball under pressure, allows City to get their dangerous players into one-versus-one battles with their opposite numbers.

It’s about tricking teams into thinking they can steal possession, especially in City’s own defensive third, and making them overcommit in an attempt to get themselves a shooting opportunity.

WyScout

WyScout

If City then get their passing right—and don’t slide it straight to an opposition forward, as John Stones did in the draw with Southampton—then the other team can be caught short, as Guardiola’s side spring a counter-attack.

That has nothing to do with playing from the back. It also has nothing to do with avoiding long balls—sometimes chipping it over the top for the likes of Raheem Sterling, Sergio Aguero, Kevin De Bruyne or even Jesus Navas to use their pace is the best option. And that certainly isn’t tiki-taka.

Guardiola explained it to Marti Perarnau for his Pep Confidential book, as reported in the Telegraph:

"

In all team sports, the secret is to overload one side of the pitch so that the opponent must tilt its own defence to cope. You overload on one side and draw them in so that they leave the other side weak. And when we've done all that, we attack and score from the other side.

That's why you have to pass the ball, but only if you're doing it with a clear intention. It's only to overload the opponent, to draw them in and then to hit them with the sucker punch.

That's what our game needs to be. Nothing to do with tiki-taka.

"

It means that City are probably better off when their opponents attack them. While many may point to the Premier League defeat at Tottenham Hotspur—the club’s only top-flight loss this season—as a counter-argument to that idea, it has to be said that most opponents won’t be able to nullify Guardiola’s tactics in the way Mauricio Pochettino’s men did.

In fact, most would press City high up the field in an attempt to expose their defensive fragility only to create space for Guardiola’s attacking players. Nobody remembers the times when Bravo’s decision not to aimlessly punt it forward created a chance for his side, because every now and then City have given up a goal with an error.

Guardiola won’t have been banking on the number of individual mistakes his players have made, but that’ll be ironed out in time.

The Catalan’s problem comes when teams show no intention of pressing the ball. That’s why City saw so much possession against Everton and Southampton but created so little—there was no space to be created with a wall of defenders lining up inside the box.

The idea that going long would be a good method of combating that is laughable, especially taking into consideration the height of City’s offensive players. Aguero, Sterling or David Silva aren’t going to have regular success getting up well and making the ball stick if it’s hoofed up in their direction. It gets slimmer when they’re up against taller, stronger centre-backs.

Guardiola’s ideas are foreign to a lot of City’s fans and to those in the press room—and it can be quite uncomfortable to watch at times when their players are under pressure. However, the manager isn’t going to change any time soon and if it’s done correctly, City could end up being one of the most entertaining teams to watch in the coming seasons.

All Guardiola needs is a little time.

All quotes were obtained first hand unless otherwise stated.