Pep Guardiola was conscious not to give Leeds United supporters any further encouragement on the eve of this trip to west Yorkshire when asked to name his favourite and most atmospheric away grounds across a decade in this country.
He offered up Craven Cottage and Goodison Park. Easy picks, in everybody’s top 10. But also ventured was Vicarage Road, a slightly left-field option which indicated that he had given the question some thought.
An old romantic, Guardiola said he respected the traditional nature of those places. Elland Road went unsaid but City’s players have been told in no uncertain terms the hostility of this ground and what to expect on each of the four occasions they have travelled over with the Catalan in situ.
So concerned with the fraught plans of his old friend Marcelo Bielsa, Guardiola once shocked his squad into a brutal double session the day before coming here in 2020.
The shock in the build-up to this was Erling Haaland’s absence, an injury picked up during training, and a significant blow given his penchant for physical battles – the sort of which Leeds teams have always craved and that is no different with Daniel Farke at the helm.
Guardiola was wary of this descending into chaos, knowing that while City’s attacking players possess all the quality in the world, their tendency to rush has been to the team’s detriment this season. Teaching younger talents to exercise patience has always been something that has required a great deal of that exact trait from the man dishing out the sermons.
‘Too hectic’ is how Guardiola described the forwards on the eve of this victory. Not yet capable of taking a beat, assessing their surroundings, and perfecting the final pass. ‘Always we have time, in football, always you have time,’ Guardiola said. ‘Good pass, good control.’
Pep Guardiola described his Man City forwards as ‘too hectic’ before their win at Leeds – and that’s the exact trait they displayed
The need for calm was evident from the start as Leeds swarmed. Bernardo Silva’s loose pass 30 yards out was seized upon and Dominic Calvert-Lewin was missing a presentable chance just 11 seconds later.
Guardiola called for Rayan Ait-Nouri to head back towards Gianluigi Donnarumma when inside the home half to take the sting out of proceedings. And he also went mad at Omar Marmoush for a rush of blood in choosing to shoot from an acute angle rather than squaring.
Marmoush also rushed a ball into a crowded Antoine Semenyo after a superb line-splitting pass by Rayan Cherki.
These are the moments that Guardiola is pinpointing when discussing their need for improvement.
‘We have a lot of actions this season, one against one, or two on two or even three on two and we didn’t finish it well,’ he said. ‘Relax, make a good pass and make a good shot. Always I had the feeling that you have one portion of time, one second.
‘You believe you don’t have time but you (always) have one frame of time to take a better decision.’
Enter Cherki, following these words to the letter during a debut Premier League campaign that is making his price tag appear better than a bargain at £31million. He didn’t execute the assist for Semenyo’s winner but without him listening to the manager, City do not win this game and do not go within two points of Arsenal.
Rayan Cherki’s pass to Rayan Ait-Nouri, who assisted Antoine Semenyo’s goal, typified the approach Guardiola wants his men to take
As the seconds ticked down to half-time, Cherki waited and waited for Ait-Nouri’s run. And then waited a bit longer. The Algerian bustled into a position of strength and the pass was perfect to gather, crossing for Semenyo to tap in. Guardiola could barely contain himself on the touchline, pointing in celebration at Cherki, the 22-year-old doing the same back. It had been exactly what was preached.
‘For me, his best game,’ Guardiola said. When even the club’s maverick understands these Guardiola fundamentals, City must definitely be on a positive trajectory.
