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Analysing Pep Guardiola's tactical mistakes at Manchester City

pep guardiola tactics

Pep Guardiola says he must adapt his ideas to work in English football and that he's made mistakes. But has he? And what are they?

The principles of Guardiola's philosophy, that goalkeepers start attacks and attackers are first to defend, are nothing new. But in England, a physical team that are tough to beat and "gets stuck in" can often defeat a more technically talented side through sheer will and defensive solidity. West Brom are eighth in the table.

Has Guardiola underestimated the physical demands of the Premier League? What else has gone wrong so far for him at City?

Trying to control the uncontrollable

Teams with fewer individually talented players than Man City often head to the Etihad with the intention of defending for 90 minutes and snatching a goal on the counter-attack. By being aggressive and strong in the air, they take advantage of 50/50s against less physical players.

Guardiola wants to control these situations in the same way he wants his team to dominate space and possession. He has had a rude awakening, because despite its cosmopolitan surface English football is still very English. "In Germany it was more physical, but not like here," Guardiola told Thierry Henry in December.

Credit: AFP

“Many times the ball is more in the air than the grass, and I have to adapt. 

“You have to adapt to the second ball, and the third ball, and the fourth! I never before was focused on that, because in Barcelona or in Spain, more or less the players try to play for the culture."

 Kevin De Bruyne told Belgian press about the difficulties Guardiola has faced:

Where Pep is mostly surprised is that there are still a lot of teams playing with long balls. He sometimes thinks the teams will try to play football, because they do that against other teams. But if it is against us, they change their way of playing.

I think that sometimes he must be annoyed by it. He puts so much time and energy in looking for things, where spaces might be, but then he tells us that the opponent will surely use the long ball. I think he must sometimes think, ‘Why am I doing all this work?’

Failing to address Bravo's deficiencies

Claudio Bravo is a two time Copa America and Champions League winning goalkeeper - he knows what he's doing - but it will take time for him to adapt to the physical nature of attackers in the Premier League.

David de Gea was similar when he first moved to England before working on his upper body strength and is now regarded as one of the best in the league. Bravo will have to do the same but can still prove to be a superb signing.

Guardiola was not wrong to allow Joe Hart, Brave Sir Joe Hart, Rose of England, to leave as he is not able to play with the ball at his feet as... Bravo, for one. His pass completion percentage is second only to Hugo Lloris this season:

Keepers by pass completion

But one of the mistakes Guardiola has made is assuming that because his side plays nice football and controls the majority of possession, Bravo would not have to deal with difficult aerial situations - it as though he assumed these were archaic remnants of a league which should have evolved by now.

Although aware of Bravo's limitations, Pep's displeasure at referees allowing play to continue for what he thought were fouls on the goalkeeper is a misjudgement. 

Controlling games without punishing the opposition

Man City have had an average of 60 per cent possession in all games in all competitions this season, more than any other Premier League team. The problem is that by controlling the game but failing to score, gaps start to appear in defence as City try to force an opening. One error can result in Guardiola's side conceding against the run of play.

One of the first frustrating results of Guardiola's tenure so far was against Everton, managed by fellow Barcelona alumni, Ronald Koeman, who is happy to stick five defenders across the penalty area if it means he gets a result. The two former Dream Team teammates: Koeman the pragmatist vs Guardiola the idealist.

Pep's 3-2-2-3 was supposed to create space so that his team could dominate it:

Average touch positions (0 min)

It did, and Everton hardly touched the ball in a 1-1 draw at the Etihad as Guardiola's team controlled possession from start to finish and were caught out by a simple counter-attack. Two missed penalties didn't help but the Achilles heel of City all season  - decision making and concentration - was exposed as Romelu Lukaku dribbled down the left wing and scored against the run of play.

Man City 0 - 1 Everton (Romelu Lukaku, 64 min)

“Sometimes I have an idea — three at the back or play a player like this," says Guardiola, “And sometimes it didn’t work and when that happens it is always the manager’s fault."

But it's not always his fault. Quite often the result is decided by one player suffering a lapse of concentration. That player, is rather too often, Aleksander Kolarov.

With the three man defence far too shaky at times, Guardiola employed a familiar back four against Liverpool - a strong attacking side - to give his team some stability:

Average touch positions (59 min)

The deciding factor in the match? A quick counter following a momentary lapse of concentration. 

Liverpool 1 - 0 Man City (Georginio Wijnaldum, 8 min)

City are caught in transition as they make a mess of a free-kick, Liverpool attack at speed and Kolarov doesn't defend anywhere near well enough to stop Georginio Wijnaldum getting his head to a cross from wide.

Kolarov has been playing as a ball-playing centre-back for much of the season because he has excellent delivery from wide areas, can dribble with the ball and can play out from the back - all great assets when Man City control possession. Against powerful attacking teams he is a liability.

Twenty minutes later, Kolarov played Roberto Firmino onside in a simple move. The Brazilian was unlucky not to score a second.

For all of Guardiola's match preparations, he cannot account for mistakes like these. 

Guardiola has repeatedly asserted that he was able to do so well at clubs like Barcelona and Bayern Munich because of the exceptional talent he had available to coach but at Man City he wants players like Kolarov and Pablo Zabaleta to play in roles they are unaccustomed to alongside nervous centre-backs like John Stones and Nicolas Otamendi.

None of City's defenders would replace another at Bayern or Barcelona - there is a marked difference in talent between Kolarov and Philip Lahm, for example.

The tactics may have been right all along in a lot of these games, it's just that you can't teach medium-aged footballers new tricks.

Playing to other teams' strengths

Guardiola got it wrong most clearly this season in a 4-2 defeat to Leicester. Everyone knows how Claudio Ranieri's team want to play and how to stop them - the defensive line has to sit deep in order to stop long balls over the top and direct passes through the middle. They don't score if you do this.

Instead, Man City started with a back three, played far too deep and created space for Leicester's direct passing. Perhaps Guardiola anticipated something different from Ranieri's team, but within 10 minutes he had reverted to a back four.

Average touch positions (0 min)

Leicester played like the Leicester of last season and bullied a defence who never looked settled or comfortable in the system. The first goal was a result of Kolarov, once again, being caught out of position.

A simple through-ball from Islam Slimani was enough to split the defence wide open and Jamie Vardy finished with conviction into the bottom corner of the net.

The third was a shocking goal to concede. Drinkwater hits a long ball over the top, Mahrez controls with a brilliant first touch and a mystery man is caught out of position...

It's Kolarov! 

Leicester 3 - 0 Man City (Jamie Vardy, 20 min)

The best Premier League teams have always been built on a strong centre-back pairing - Sol Campbell and Martin Keown, Nemanja Vidic and Rio Ferdinand -  and Stones and Otamendi is not one. Kolarov and any living defender in history isn't either.

After the Leicester match Guardiola was derided for snapping that he doesn't train his team for tackles - but why should he if his teams always dominate possession? 

Guardiola's comment on tackling was a rejection of the idea that you have to be physical to win games in England. 

The late Johan Cruyff, Guardiola's idol and mentor, said that he would rather his teams be remembered for playing well and losing rather than playing poorly and winning. Guardiola shares this philosophy but, as he has said himself, even his job is at risk if results don't. 

It is the romantic idea that the Total Football Dutch team of 1974 is remembered more than the West Germany team who beat them in the World Cup final, to which Guardiola clings. His Barcelona was the best club team in the history of the game, and although City are doing well in Europe this season, Guardiola must find an uglier, tougher way to succeed in the Premier League. 

The principle ideals of Guardiola's philosophy, about controlling possession and dominating space, can be applied in this more physical, demanding league but Guardiola has largely ignored the weaknesses in his ageing squad and tried to mask them by always playing on the front foot - defeats to Spurs, Liverpool, Man Utd and Barcelona suggest that his collection of talented players are good enough to dispatch weaker teams but his tactical tweaking has had little difference against the top sides.

If Guardiola can adapt the things he has learned, this should change.

For all the pre-season hype, the signs now point toward this season being considered a marginally successful first step rather than a victorious leap forward. 

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