3 Areas Manchester City Have Improved Under Pep Guardiola

The improvement in Manchester City’s on-field performance this season is clear, but the speed at which they’ve upgraded has taken most people by surprise, including Pep Guardiola, the man masterminding their advancement.

“I have to be honest, it’s quick, I didn’t expect that,” Guardiola said recently. “All the players create more chances than the opponents, we concede less chances than the opponents and that is the most important thing.”

Nine wins from nine games means Guardiola has made a better start to life at City than he did at either Barcelona or Bayern Munich. City have gone from a side struggling badly, for both results and performances, to one mesmerising the opposition with their speed, inventiveness and sheer hard work. They’re overwhelming their opponents, giving them no time to settle on the ball, and attacking them incisively when they win it back. It’s been magical to watch.

Their win over Bournemouth saw them break the club record for the best start to a season, which has stood since 1897. The EFL Cup victory over Swansea City ensured they extended it. Guardiola now has another club record in his sights: the most consecutive wins, which stands at 11, set by Manuel Pellegrini in 2015. Something tells you there will be a few more records broken during his time at City.

But where have the improvements been made? How has Guardiola taken Pellegrini’s failing squad and made them so much better in the space of two-and-a-half months? Here, we take a look at three areas he’s had a huge impact in.

1. Work rate

It’s the simplest of requirements for a supporter. They see footballers who are paid huge sums of money, living lavish lifestyles, and the minimum they expect to see on the field is hard work. They can accept a player struggling for form or lacking technical quality—but they rarely make allowances for those who won’t put a shift in.

There can be no complaints in the stands at the Etihad Stadium this season. City, as you would expect from a Guardiola side, are working extremely hard. The Catalan knows that even exceptional quality does not guarantee positive results—teams need to work diligently, with and without the ball, in order to ensure success.

Guardiola introduced double training sessions during the summer in order to maximise the time he had with his new players before the season’s beginning.

“It’s intense,” Kevin De Bruyne said during pre-season. “Obviously it’s a little but different for me because I came in four weeks later than the other ones.

“I worked a little bit in the holiday and we didn’t have that much time off, so I’m working as hard as possible to be fit and for the moment I feel OK.

“We will be ready for next week. It’s different from today. We had a hard training week with double sessions so obviously some people are a little bit tired, but now it’s back to the real business, so we will see how we are and I’m confident we will do fine.”

The result is a leaner, fitter group of players who are reaping the rewards. Statistics …

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