As the new world dawns and revolution rumbles across the horizon, there will always be those who remain resistant, who cling defiantly to the old ways. For years Pep Guardiola was a revolutionary. Very few people in history have had such an influence on how football is played, but the passage of time is inevitable. Nobody can stand in the vanguard of development for ever: yesterday’s rebel is today’s reactionary.
Juego de posición and teams staffed by neat skilful midfielders are on the way out; muscularity and set plays are in. The tactical landscape Guardiola crafted is undergoing radical evolution and, as it changes, so he must seemingly change with it. On the one hand, Guardiola has stayed admirably true to his principles. As others prioritise heft and physicality, he remains wedded to technical virtues. He doesn’t mind picking a player who is under six feet tall and doesn’t have the shoulders of an Olympic rower.
His lineup felt almost like a throwback to nine years ago and the days of Kevin De Bruyne and David Silva playing as “free 8s” in a 4-3-3. Here it was Bernardo Silva and Phil Foden flanking the holder, Nico González, with Jérémy Doku offering width and Rayan Cherki drifting in from the right. The two full-backs are both converted midfielders; Nico O’Reilly demonstrated the benefit of that by scoring the third with a well-placed finish.
It may look like the old City, but they do not score goals in the old way. This is not a side whose standard goal is a couple of dozen passes followed by a cut-back from the byline. The classic City goal instead has become the early through-ball for Erling Haaland, who is as ruthless as perhaps any forward has ever been in converting one-on-ones. When Djordje Petrovic denied him his hat-trick with an upthrust arm nine minutes before half-time, the sense of shock was palpable. But on the first two occasions Haaland was set through, he took the chance with almost dismissive ease.
Both goals were created by Cherki, who has been hampered by a thigh injury since his arrival from Lyon in the summer. They were his first assists for City and, unless football has changed in an even more radical way than had been thought, they will surely be the first of many. He headed on a clip from González to set up the opener, then he played a smart low pass for Haaland’s second. Both were exactly the sort of quick forward balls that Guardiola, concerned his side would not be set to deal with a counter should possession be lost, used to discourage.
But everybody, even Guardiola, must move with the times. As he acknowledged in January, his preferred positional way of playing is no longer possible given the incessant nature of the fixture list. And so he has accepted he must change. His side this season sat in a low block and played in the counter against both Arsenal and Manchester United and have repeatedly hit Haaland early. And when you have a player with his pace, power and finishing ability, why would you not use it? He has now scored an absurd 26 goals in 16 games for club and country since returning from the Club World Cup.
In his technical ability Cherki is a very typical Guardiola player, even if he does not quite conform to the “obedient little schoolboys” stereotype outlined by Zlatan Ibrahimovic. In his current role, though he is a player who needs his side to be dominant. Guardiola this season has tended to play with his right-sided forward – often Phil Foden – coming infield to link with Haaland. That gives Matheus Nunes the whole flank to cover, which is fine when City are dominating the ball.
It is, though, a risk and while City never looked like anything other than comfortable winners, they probably conceded more chances than Guardiola would like. This remains a City side of many good parts that does not quite yet cohere.
Accepting modernity does not mean Guardiola slavishly follows every trend. He has not yet, for instance, been turned by the recent vogue for set plays that has been inspired by his former assistant Mikel Arteta. City are the only Premier League side yet to score from a set-play this season. But then his side is notably short. Four of his five midfielders are under 1.80m (5ft 11in); three are under 1.75m. It’s hard for them to offer a typical threat from corners.
City had been very effective at not conceding from set plays, having let in a league low of one before Tyler Adams’s goal on Sunday, which may in part be because Gianluigi Donnarumma is such a dominant figure.
He, though, allowed himself to be distracted by a tug on his arm by David Brooks and flapped at the corner.
It hardly mattered against Bournemouth. But it’s intriguing that Guardiola stands against the focus on size that dominates current Premier League thinking. The most talked-about battleground this season has been set plays and City have effectively absented themselves from it. Perhaps he’s right and technique allied to tactical acuity will win out – but few others have dared take that stance.
