How Pep's 20-Year-Old Tactics Are Destroying The Premier League

Pep Guardiola has gone back not five years, not ten years, not even fifteen years, but

twenty years to reinvent his tactics once more. But why is he doing it all

How did the summer signings facilitate this shift? And how does his new tactic still keep Pep's belief at the centre of everything

I'm Jacob Hallsfall and this is The Breakdown with 442. Before we get into what these tactics actually are, we've got to go back to where it all

stems from. You may recall Umia Erfan asking Pep about an article he wrote back in 2006

and that question that he asked is the inspiration for today's video

In the article that Umia references, Pep discusses the speeds that counter-attacking football can give you

and that's something that we've seen from Man City this season. City have used quick combination play to exploit speeds in behind the opposition's defence

when they're attacking in transition. In fact, only three teams have registered more shots from counter-attacking scenarios

than Man City in the Premier League this season. But playing in this counter-attacking transitional way does sacrifice a lot of control

something that Pep's never really looked to sacrifice before. In all of the last nine Premier League seasons

Manchester City have averaged more possession than anyone else in the division. Yet this season, they're currently sat in second

At times, Pep's looked to avoid low-block defences completely by defending a little bit deeper

and taking more risk and attacking quicker when City have the ball, which is something that may have been suggested by City's summer signings

signings. High-risk passers and high-risk ball carriers like Ryan Aitnuri and Ryan Shirky

give us insight into what Pep's plans were going to be, binning off complete control and minimal

risk in favour of a little bit less control and a lot more risk. Now, don't get me wrong

Pep's not completely binning off trying to control games and dictate play, but he's making his

control on his side more situational and more balanced in order to combat the current state

of the Premier League. In the same article that Pep discusses counter-attacks creating space for

you to play in. He also discusses movements to pull apart low blocks and then attack the space

that your players create. In the article there's a lot of emphasis on timing because Pep doesn't

want his wing and moving centrally to create wide space when Mark Gwey is still playing with the

ball on the edge of his box. He wants everyone to move at the right time and in coordination with

each other so everyone arriving onto the ball at the right time Semenyo carries inside which means Tonali and Lewis Hall both have to engage with him but because Marmouche is already occupying Malik Chou Newcastle don have the bodies to manage both Erling Haaland and Antoine Semenyo so Haaland gets off Hall shoulder gets in behind and then that means the

Newcastle defence are dropping deep and reacting rather than preventing leaving Nico O'Reilly

arriving at the box later and nod one home. City are using the elite ball carrying ability in their

team to drag defences deeper and then they're rotating around the ball to attack the space

that is made by that defence dropping off. Which is probably why both Ryan Shirky and Jeremy Dorku

sit in the top 10 for dribbles per 90 in the Premier League this season

Pep wants them to do what they do best. Ryan Shirky and Jeremy Dorku as players are full of flair

full of creativity, full of just doing a little bit of mad stuff. I can't think of a better word to describe it

And I think you'll agree, they do just do mad stuff. And Pep likes that because it facilitates his other plans

for other players like Erling Haaland. And again, that's no surprise. when we look at City's recruitment over the last eight months

because they've got so many players who can thrive in almost any type of space. Semenyo, he'll go in behind and he will thrive there

Ryan Scherke in tight spaces. There's not many players better than him in world football

And even Chiani Reindeers. Get him driving into space. Again, he's absolutely elite at it

So City can hurt you in pretty much any space you afford them

And Pep's absolutely loving it. Because he's utilising ball carrying, flair, individual quality

Player autonomy Which is an important one For all you people who hated

What happened with Jack Grealish Pep's giving these players Freedom on the pitch

In their positions Like we've never seen it under him Mark Gweehy carrying the ball out here

Causes Tonali, Joey Linton And Harvey Barnes to drop off O'Reilly then goes against them

By dropping in Pulling Madik Chow out of position Forcing Tonali to go even further back

To cover Chow's space Which means Ryan Shirky's free for a pass

And as that ball's being played in With Nick O'Reilly's run Ryan Aitnuri is

legging it down the wing to exploit the space that has just been created by Nico O'Reilly

coming all the way back. Using counter movements across three different players

there in Ryan shirking Nico O'Reilly and Ryan Aitnuri allow City to just

pull that Newcastle right hand side of defence completely all over the shop

They had no hope. And this even comes into play when City are in fast transition because Jeremy Dorku central the two Everton players can actually go all the way out and commit to Nico O because they scared of the space that they leave Jeremy Dorku in And that where Pep 2006 ideas on counterattacking

and putting apart low blocks blend together almost. Which highlights why players have to move

at exactly the right time in order to get in the opposition's way and prevent the opposition

from being able to do their jobs properly. Which is also why the summer recruitment

and raising the athletic and physical flooring of the City squad was so, so important

Technical excellence has been prioritised over physical attributes by Manchester City in the past

And that's fine when you control all thirds of the pitch. It really is. I mean, you're not really doing too much duelling

And practically all of the football is short passes, keeping it moving until space opens up

and then slowly moving into it to penetrate the opposition. But with City sacrificing territorial dominance

ever so slightly, they now need to be able to move into those spaces that they create a hell of a lot quicker

And also they're doing way way more dueling. I mean it does make sense

More attack means more defense and we saw that against Newcastle Momentum chart in that game is relatively even and City only played

466 passes. Yes, I'm aware 466 passes is a lot for pretty much any other team but for Pep

That's quite low In terms of Pep Guardiola, especially considering Man City out jewel Newcastle in that game

They won 55% of all jewels ground and aerial a sentence that even just 12 months ago

Would have baffled pretty much everyone and that was an active plan from pep

I mean, I'm pretty sure it was I don't have a direct link to his amazing minds

But when we look at the average positions It shows a ton of players committing to the last line almost in an attempt to overload

Newcastle's back line so that when one of cities 48 long balls went forward

They could win that and play off it But the question is why has pep made these changes that contradict

almost his whole tenure at Manchester City. Well, City have always had so much quality

in every season that Pep's been there. Whether it be Sergio Aguero in the 17-18 season

Kevin De Bruyne in the 2019-20 season, or Erlen Haaland in 22-23

However, the rest of the league haven't had that same quality. They've not been able to maintain

with City improvement every season City controlling games having 70 possession every week works when they have a lot more quality than whoever they facing Because teams would sit in kind of try and cover the

central space, but eventually City would force them to make an error and then very rarely leave

it unpunished. But the modern Premier League in its physical nature means that teams are more than

happy to sit in a low block and then turn the game into a basketball game, end-to-end

duelling every two minutes, long balls every 30 seconds, throw-ins every four minutes

which means that having that technical advantage becomes almost irrelevant in a sense

which City found out last season. Last season, away to Nottingham Forest

Man City had nearly 70% possession and completed just under 550 passes

Yes, due to Forest having the ability to overload their own box and sit in and cover central space

for City to operate in and shoot in, Pep's side generated just 0.86 xG

And due to City being at a disadvantage in terms of athleticism, they struggle to deal with Forest Direct Football, which is why things had to change. City were not going to go into this season and even get near Arsenal if they continue to try and just control games every single week with technical passes everywhere

Now, let's get this right. It's not wholesale changes. Pep hasn't thrown his whole philosophy out the window to play like 17-18 Burnley under Sean Dyche

We're still seeing him play with his wiggers pretty locked in position at times during build-up to prevent the opposition being able to fully commit to overloading City's first phase

Because they're scared of someone like Antoine Semeniel getting in behind, and who blames them

So, that rigid positioning that's been a core part of Pep's football since the very beginning, really, is still there at times

It's just more situation on that. City have so many more ways to beat sides this season than they did last season

Whether it be tiki-taka, long balls to Haaland, counter-attacking football, playing in wide 1v1s consistently, they can do so much

And it all comes back to an article Pep wrote in 2006

But will it be enough for them to win the Premier League? Well, I'm not really bothered because either way, it's incredibly interesting

It's so fun and getting to see Pep be at his nutjob genius best once more

He's brilliant, isn't it? so if you want to see more tactical breakdowns maybe of Pep's next innovation

then leave a like and subscribe because we're here every single week ysing the biggest tactical moments in football

and I'll see you next week I guess