Pep's basic template: Positional play. Control the game through the ball, build-up play from the back, and find order, structure in the formation, all through the ball, not the player. Keep finding spaces and overloads to reach the opposition box and then, players' skill & creativity come to the fore. If u lose the ball, retrieve the ball quickly to regain control of the game. Whoever has the ball, is the master of the game.
But what Most ppl or pundits dont realise (most are idiots, some are lazy) that while Pep's basic template is the same, he has far too many nuances and tactical tweaks within each game that make him the best brain in Europe. Most cant see it. So hence, they lazily like to use patronizing, condescending or outright stupid terms like tiki-taka or Barcelona football to describe his style.
Even us fans are guilty of describing City's football as Barcelona or Bayern football. Wrong. Pep constantly evolves. The football Pep played at Barcelona in the first year was not the football he played in the 2nd year and so on. So certainly, what Bayern played was not Barcelona football. And now, what City are playing is not Bayern football nor Barcelona football. Nothing can be further from the truth. Its Pep v8.0, or if u want it to be simpler, v 3.0. But the correct representation is 8.0 - Which means he never stands still. Trust me, the football we will play next year or the year later will not be the same as this year. The nuance is what sets Pep apart. The devil is in the details. It will be massive disrespect to shrink or condense Pep's thinking into just one term - tippy-tappy. Yuck!
Example of his fine tweaks in the derby:
1) No inverted full-backs, when u think that is better suited to control MU counterattacks from wide. Even Mou thought Pep would do so. But Pep knows Ibra better than most. Ibra is not a mobile forward that can occupy both CBs. So we can always hv a spare man at the back. Result: We dont need the full-backs coming in. In fact, they can push up wide to pin MU back.
2) Kelechi is not Aguero. So Pep adapts. With Aguero's ability, there are spaces that Aguero can occupy which infringe on KdB too. While Silva can adapt better to this, KdB still has to find his spaces with Aguero. So with Kelechi starting, he knew KdB can be more a 10, almost a second striker without much trouble and Silva can drop deeper for midfield control. Of course, this means Sterling has to adjust but Pep felt the benefits outweigh the negatives as Sterling can still keep Shaw honest, and that can neutralise the threat on the right.
3) When Mou brought Herrera to shore up his midfield to handle KdB and pushed Fellaini & Pogba up for route 1 tactics, Pep studied how the team coped for 5 minutes and then countered Mou by bringing Fernando on to allow Dinho to push up and then took kelechi off and made KdB a roaming false forward. So Pep was essentially asking questions of MU CBs and Herrera. We had about 4-5 solid chances to kill the game off. Pity we didnt. But that doesnt mean we alter the real story. Pep had answers for most of Mou's questions, even with our relatively handicapped squad. While Mou had only one answer for most of Pep's questions: Long balls to his rugby players.
While Pep is guilty of over-analysing or even thinking of some opponents as more intelligent than they really are, the reality is he finds tactical answers almost all the time. And all this while playing offensive, pro-active football. No coach in Europe has come close in this regard in the last 2 decades, which is unfortunate in some ways.
