“Well, once in ten years it’s not bad, right? I had to prove myself again for another strategy. Now, I’m a transition team. Do you know that?”
Not only was 32.8% on Sunday afternoon the lowest under Guardiola, but according to Opta, it was the lowest from the Guardiola team in top flight league matches.
And there’s more. After five games in this Premier League season, City is a team that is almost unrecognizable by what they are.
Returning Opta’s stats to Guardiola’s first season in City in 2016/17, the average ownership rate so far is the lowest at 52.34%, with consistently more than five passes per sequence since 2017/18 below four so far.
If these numbers give you an overall view, what about diving deeper into the pitch?
Since arriving in the UK, Guardiola has been almost alone responsible for changing how the team builds it.
However, this season, City and their Catalan chiefs have gone in different ways, with a longer pass percentage and a longer goal kick percentage per game, even the best seen in the Guardiola-City era.
So, what will all this come back to? It appears there are many factors during play.
One is the unforgiving change in how the Premier League plays.
“I was really impressed with what they could do.”
Similarly, he revealed that the targets of the club’s summer rebuilding clubs are to focus on “good, physical, mentally strong.”
The gradual switch to a more physical “transition” team came in the form of Tijani Reijnah, Rayan Ait Nouri, Abdukhozir Kusanov and others.
Certainly, Guardiola said that on the above tactics this season, what he most wants to see is that “spirit” comes back to his team.
Guardiola also brought in former Jurgen Klopp assistant Pep Lisinder over the summer. It brought unexpectedly different lenses to his backroom team, and it was a positive move to develop a new identity for his team.
How far will Guardiola go through this new model as the campaign progresses? And, importantly, does it bring about success?
