Monday morning, a week before Christmas. Breakfast in the canteen on the first floor of the training ground and then down the hall into his office. Pep Guardiola is a creature of habit and the early part of a day after games is reserved for a three-hour debrief, alone.
Clip by clip, frame by frame. Using the spacebar to pause, the arrows to go back and forth. A painstaking business, a process he still devours after all these years.
This Monday lookback was the 3-0 win at Crystal Palace. A fairly simple assessment you’d imagine but Manchester City’s manager spotted things he felt could improve. The lack of defensive aggression and an imperfect build-up from the back were chief among the notes.
He had been pleased at the progression made over the course of the past month. City were becoming more formidable to play against, new signings beginning to understand the concepts. Yet still with a margin to get better which, in essence, is the Guardiola sweet spot. Good but with room to grow, where his words and methods can impact players; where he can visualise utopia and has reasonable expectation that it can be achieved.
This is where he is now. It’s clear that City are on the cusp of something decent when Guardiola starts publicly calling out his star players. At Palace, Phil Foden ‘was not good’ for rushing in possession.
Although a revelation in recent weeks, Rayan Cherki has been the focus of criticism too. Even Bernardo Silva, the man who has made more appearances for Guardiola than anyone and is widely considered teacher’s pet, was on the end of a gentle rebuke following a win over West Ham.
Pep Guardiola still has the drive to turn Manchester City into title winners once again
It’s clear that City are on the cusp of something decent when Guardiola starts publicly calling out his star players
Entering the pitch to perform animated coaching classes after full-time is happening with more regularity as well. Nobody’s safe – and that is a very positive sign for City, whose boss believes an impressionable group of players, many of them fairly new, can be moulded into title winners. This level of improvement, seeing performances upped and appearing closer to a team in his image, is what is driving Guardiola this season.
Following the stale atmosphere in the first half of last year, these signs have offered him a little more hope and with it, energy, to demand more. Last year was surviving, making sure they qualified for Europe. Effectively reading water, rather than focusing on being the best version of themselves.
He laid all of this out a fortnight ago when, once news broke that now former Chelsea head coach Enzo Maresca had held discussions with City about succession planning, the Catalan attempted to draw a line under swirling talk around his future with 18 months left on his contract.
‘I’m happy here, I want to stay here,’ he said. ‘My feeling right now is good, that’s why I want to continue. It’s going to change? Maybe. I don’t know. But now what I’m feeling is (that) it’s not. What I’m feeling now is with the players I want to continue and for as long as possible.’
Those remarks were clearly forgotten after City’s goalless draw at Sunderland, in the immediate aftermath of Maresca’s departure at Stamford Bridge, with Guardiola outwardly irritable when again pressed on his job.
The thing with him at the moment, aside from obvious satisfaction at this steady progression, is that Guardiola is now a man who’s resided in England long enough, knows every single intricacy of the Premier League – from referees to scheduling to media commitments – that he simply doesn’t care who he offends. He’s not so much on the attack but somebody so comfortable within himself, with a hoard of trophies in the bag, that he’ll happily tackle any topic without needing to play politics.
And given his longevity, success – and, let’s be honest, what he’s done for English football – that is absolutely his prerogative and ought not to be viewed as a problem. Over the course of the last six weeks Guardiola has taken pot shots at Sky Sports News and trotted out a new one-liner during press conferences at least three times. He got into the habit of saying something, often pithy, and end with, ‘there you go, there is your headline’. In nine years previous, he’d never once delivered that line.
It can feel quite withering yet also invigorating for those in the room. Regardless, he has earned that right and this more carefree attitude bears the hallmarks of somebody liberated – whatever the exact reason for it is.
The Man City boss has delivered recent pot shots, but he does not care who he offends
There are a few theories. Those who like to psychoanalyse might point towards this alteration representing a man who can see the finishing line in sight and fancies settling some scores in the time he has left, whereas others would suggest that added buoyance comes from the results and displays, and the tactical modernisation of City, helped along the way by Pep Lijnders.
Equally, it wouldn’t be a ridiculous conclusion to reach that the impending £65million January signing Antoine Semenyo could well be Guardiola’s Robin van Persie. Sir Alex Ferguson was handed the Dutchman to make sure Manchester United won the title back, that little bit extra to edge over the line first. In hindsight, Van Persie became Ferguson’s retirement gift before he’d even made the decision to call time on management.
What is clear about Guardiola right now is that he’s publicly declared that if he continues waking up in the morning with this energy then seeing out his contract is a distinct possibility and the most likely course of action. Sources around the club maintain that he’s as happy as they’ve ever seen him.
But he does admit to being – in his own words – ‘a weird guy’ and can change his mind at the drop of a hat. It is why he has no qualms with City sounding out potential coaches like Maresca. He views that as prudent, safe in the knowledge that the power rests in his hands anyway. If Guardiola wants to stay another five years, he stays another five years.
Antonie Semenyo (centre) looks set to leave Bournemouth to join Guardiola at City this month
Enzo Maresca (left) has been linked with succeeding Guardiola at City after leaving Chelsea
Guardiola privately champions Roberto De Zerbi, who is now at Marseille after leaving Brighton
The forward planning has happened before. One foreign coach had gone sufficiently down the line with former director of football Txiki Begiristain for him to be deliberating the make-up of his possible backroom staff. Guardiola eventually penned a new deal and that was that.
Evidently, none of these meetings and informal conversations take place behind Guardiola’s back. His relationship with Maresca is obviously strong, the Italian No 2 during the Treble campaign, and Guardiola privately champions Roberto De Zerbi. Andoni Iraola, an ex-defender at sister club New York, has admirers. Luis Enrique too, clearly. City can’t be ignoring the work Vincent Kompany’s done at Bayern Munich.
There are a few very talented coaches waiting to see what the greatest of them all has in store. The prevailing feeling is that nobody truly knows – and that Guardiola has not definitively decided his next move, stopping just short of saying next season is nailed on – but City appear geared up for every eventuality.
Whatever the reasons behind his current mood, long may it continue because Guardiola remains as box office as he ever was. We’ll all miss him when it’s finally over, whenever that may be.
