Nicolas Otamendi Has Risen to the Pep Guardiola Challenge at Manchester City

It was Manchester City’s best performance of the season, and for 40 minutes, it was perhaps the best they’ve ever played. Pep Guardiola is encouraging a brand of football seldom seen on these shores. Possession-based, risky, high-tempo. Total football.

Manchester United couldn’t live with them for long periods of the game. The damage was done after 36 minutes, with City 2-0 up and in complete control.

The second half saw a United resurgence, but City stood firm, repelling everything thrown at them—the artistry that had ripped United apart in the first half was replaced by a resilience in the second period. Every facet of City’s game is improving under Guardiola.

There’s now a collective organisation previously absent. City have direction again. A team spirit is developing. In the space of 10 weeks, Guardiola has made significant improvements.

Much of that is down to the upgraded form of players who were already at the club.

Pretty much everyone in the City squad underperformed last season. Raheem Sterling, the Premier League Player of the Month for August, is perhaps the most obvious beneficiary of Guardiola’s approach, but Nicolas Otamendi is now also showing real signs of improvement.

Man utd 1 – 2 Man City