Wolves v Man City: It’s tiki-taka, but not as we know it
One year into his Premier League foray, Pep Guardiola had attracted a fair amount of criticism.
The serial-winner ended his first season at the Manchester City helm without a trophy, and many were questioning whether Pep’s approach suited the Premier League, writes Joe Edwards.
The Claudio Bravo experiment – getting the ageing shot-stopper in for Joe Hart and playing out from the back – failed miserably. It was style over substance.
Usually so cool, Pep became frustrated. His side had not implemented his vision and he wasn’t coming across that well in interviews. It just hadn’t clicked.
A key characteristic for top managers in the game, though, is being able to vehemently respond to adversity and emphatically silence the doubters.
And, blimey, did Pep do that last campaign.
Clinching the top flight crown with a record-breaking 100 points, as well as lifting the Carabao Cup – City wiped the floor with the competition.
A vitally important factor in their success was giving the defence a shake-up.
Bravo was dropped and replaced by the highly-touted Brazilian, Ederson.
Full-backs Gael Clichy, Bacary Sagna, Alexsandar Kolarov and Pablo Zabaleta were all disposed of – no room for sentiment – and Kyle Walker and Benjamin Mendy were brought in, for massive money. Those changes allowed Pep to fully trust in his preferred 3-5-2 system.
They had the wing-backs to burst up the pitch at speed and, crucially, a safe pair of hands – as well as the unquestionable attacking talents of Sergio Aguero, David Silva, Kevin De Bruyne and Co.
Of course, the enormous financial backing Pep has received helps. But you’ve still got to manage those egos and get everyone singing from the same hymn sheet, playing to their utmost potential. And City showed they were capable of mixing it up.
The tiki-taka – pass and move – manner which had served Pep at Barcelona and his country, Spain, so well in previous years was built upon – it evolved.
No longer were they trying to walk the ball into the net – they could go long, be more physical. The first goal in City’s 6-1 demolition job of Huddersfield last weekend was proof of that.
It was route one, almost Sunday league stuff. Ederson, out of his hands, lumped it up the pitch to Aguero, who took the time to set himself before finding the net.
City are the cool team – Wolves, and various others, have followed their lead and adopted a three-at-the-back system with a possession-based style. Anything against them is a bonus.
