In possession, which is City's predominant state, their shape has generally been 3-2-2-3 or 2-3-2-3, with those configurations depending upon how the opposition presses them. Guardiola's penchant for tactical experimentation truly took flight at Bayern Munich, when controlling the opposition counter-attack - a weapon close to an art form for the best Bundesliga sides - assumed similar importance to dominating possession and territory.Īt City, 4-3-3 has been the norm and most of his team sheets are listed in that way, but it only tells part of the story. In his final year at Barca, a 3-4-3 was used more often after the arrival of Cesc Fabregas and Jose Mourinho's Real Madrid finally pipped them to La Liga glory. In his era-defining first three years at Barcelona, Guardiola stuck fairly religiously to a tried and tested 4-3-3, with Lionel Messi's spectacular talents and the peerless midfield trio of Sergio Busquets, Xavi and Andres Iniesta bringing his Johan Cruyff-inspired footballing vision to a stunning realisation. MORE: Arsenal vs Man City live score, updates, highlights and lineups with Thomas Partey out as Erling Haaland starts What are Pep Guardiola's tactics? We decided to have a look behind the cliche of "overthinking" as FPL fans prepare for their latest spin on "Pep Roulette".
Infamously, it has sometimes ended in catastrophic results, but not all the time. Since then, they have let Oleksandr Zinchenko and Joao Cancelo leave, while failing to sign Marc Cucurella.īut Guardiola also has previous when it comes to unexpected selection flourishes in big games. It was a common observation that City lacked a natural left-back when they lifted a fourth title in five seasons at the end of last term. There was an element of necessity attached to Silva's unusual selection. Yes, that's Bernardo Silva, the richly gifted, versatile and tenacious attacking midfielder who came to prominence as a right winger in the same Monaco team as Kylian Mbappe in 2016/17.ĭespite being at fault for losing possession on Ollie Watkins' second-half goal, Silva was largely excellent in City's 3-1 win over Aston Villa that closed the reigning champions to within three points of Premier League leaders Arsenal ahead of a crunch clash between the sides at Emirates Stadium on Wednesday.
Seasoned observers of Pep Guardiola will have noted that, four days ahead of potentially the biggest and most decisive game of Manchester City's season, he played Bernardo Silva at left-back.
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