Pep’s first game: Five things

It’s more than five months since Pep Guardiola was announced as Manchester City’s new head coach but in Munich on Wednesday we finally got a glimpse of his side in action.

Up against former club Bayern Munich, his young City side were beaten 1-0 in the Allianz Arena and while the scoreline offered little consolation, the game was not without its intrigue.

Here, Adam Bate takes look at five things that emerged from Guardiola’s first game in charge…

Passion and pressing

So it begins. Our first look at a Pep Guardiola City side and the new man certainly looked up for it. His demeanour did not match his casual attire as he screamed instructions from the touchline and regularly ventured outside of the confines of his area. Antonio Conte is the Premier League’s new arrival with a fiery reputation but Guardiola is no less committed.

The players were tasked with mirroring this enthusiasm on the pitch and that was always going to be tricky – pressing Bayern doesn’t often end well. However, there were signs of the players trying to deny their opponents space and in the second half, in particular, Gael Clichy and others had some success in winning the ball back high up the pitch. Encouraging.

Unfortunate to lose

After being outgunned before the interval, young goalkeeper Angus Gunn was wrong-footed by a deflection off Clichy to allow Erdal Ozturk to score the only goal of the game with a quarter of an hour remaining. …

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