Jonathan WILSON
TECHNICALLY SPEAKING
The Manchester City manager’s ability to adapt and tweak his tactics are central to his longevity
The rule of thumb suggests that most managers can survive around a decade at the highest level. There are some exceptions – notably Alex Ferguson and Valeriy Lobanovskyi – but they are rare. It’s an exhausting job. There is constant pressure. But it’s also intellectually demanding. A manager will have his approach but he constantly has to tinker with it as opponents get used to it and as the wider game evolves.
Nothing in football ever stands still, which is why the tendency for managers to lapse into self-parody can be so damaging. It happened to Brian Clough, it happened to Arsene Wenger and it has happened to Jose Mourinho. Eventually managers are ground down to the point that they lack the capacity to ask what the best solution to any problem is, and instead offer the most characteristic solution, what feels most like what has worked in the past, even if circumstances have changed and that is no longer as appropriate as it was.
Guardiola’s longevity is remarkable – and there has been no sense of cycling through the same old plans
It is 16 years since Pep Guardiola became a first-team manager. In that time, he has had one season off, but the other 15 have been spent at the very highest level – at Barcelona, at Bayern Munich and at Manchester City. He started at the top and didn’t have to spend any time battling his way to elite level, which might offer some explanation for his continued energy. But still, his longevity is remarkable – and there has been no sense of cycling through the same old plans. Rather, he keeps evolving and remains as imaginative and unpredictable as ever.
That process of evolution began at Barcelona and continued with Bayern but it has accelerated with City. The signing of Erling Haaland two summers ago marked a huge shift, away from asystem in which every player was expected to get on the ball and help protect possession to one in which one player, the centreforward, rather than dropping deep into midfield had freedom to seek out attacking positions. That created ashortfall inmidfield, which was compensated for last season by John Stones stepping forward from central defence (and occasionally right-back) into midfield.
With Stones injured, Manuel Akanji has performed that role to an extent this season, but that hasn’t been the most notable innovation. Or rather, it’s only part ofit. The vulnerability of Guardiola sides throughout his career has been to direct counterattacks, balls played into the space behind his typically high defensive line. His way oftrying to guard against that is to have City, when in possession, taking up a 3-2 shape behind the ball, which at the start of this season tended to mean three defen
