This might finally be the year. It might finally be the year that Pep Guardiola and Manchester City don't win the Premier League. Despite that, they've still been the most tactically complex team in the league, carrying on from much of the tactics that brought them a treble-winning triumph last season. Here is what Pep Guardiola has imposed in 2023-24, continuing to make City one of the most dominant forces in the world.
For the unfamiliar, Forge FC are the Manchester City of the Canadian Premier League. They play a possession-based 4-3-3, stacked with ball-savvy savants, and a culture that embodies winning. The Canadian Premier League's been around since 2019 now. Forge have won the Playoffs in four of the five seasons, and lost the final in the one other at the hands of players they recruited to their team immediately after.
In 2022, I established my 'Role Continuity Evaluation System', on the basis that players should be assessed by the metrics and traits important to their specific role on the pitch. Through this understanding, players are then classified into what is now 20 different roles, and assessed accordingly to see how they stack up to other players fulfilling the same player type. Here is an explanation of my scouting & analysis system, why I've coined it 'Role Continuity', and how I use the system to analyze fullbacks.
Manchester City might have won the UEFA Super Cup, but it was not the most convincing of victories from the Citizens. The match against Sevilla served as one of the first examples I've seen of Guardiola going against his typical brilliance in adapting to the moment and his players available, and sticking to a system instead. Here's an analysis of why Manchester City set up in a way that was less than optimal against Sevilla.
Manchester City don't usually splash the cash for massive, absurd fees, unless they are 100% confident that the player has the potential to be transformative. That's already a compliment to the quality of their latest signing - Joško Gvardiol, who's just signed for a reported fee of £77.6 million. Sure, it's less than Manchester United spent on Harry Maguire. But it's still a massive fee for a centre-back, even despite his age, profile, potential and future. Nevertheless, the massive fee looks to be justified for City, giving Guardiola exactly what he's looking for from the left-side of his defensive set-up. Here is why Joško Gvardiol could be the complete package for City.
After five fairly stellar and underappreciated years at Chelsea, Mateo Kovačić has left the club and signed with Manchester’s most recent treble winners. New ownership at Stamford Bridge led to a drastic rebuild from their 2021 Champions League winning squad, and the time came for one of their most consistent performers over the years to exit the building. Manchester City took full advantage, making him an apt replacement for the loss of Ilkay Gündoğan and the potential loss of silky smooth Bernardo Silva.
Any scouting & recruitment scenario is based on a variety of factors, and Guerreiro would be a dream signing for Manchester City based on a variety of factors. For Dortmund's perspective, you simply cannot let him go for free. But for a club like Manchester City, this would be an absolute no-brainer.
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