Pep's tactics

[MCFC_Guardiola]

Ancelotti is different from Pep but not worse. He will not make a revolution.

are you worried about his league record though? I think he will do wonderfully well in the champions league but i believe he might suffer a bit in the league this year or the next

 

[lostgalaxy]

Its not just starting from the back or keeper sweeper.

HE WANTS TO USE HIS GOALKEEPER AS A BAIT TO LURE THE OPPONENTS FOWARD.

I dont think our first goal is a coincidence at all. Its practice made. It also explains why he values Kolarov who has enough power and technique to generate that good long ball foward.

It may also explain why he doesnt fancy Hart in the goal. Hart's frame and arrogant personality are too intimidating for the purpose.

 

[kippaxwarrior]

Those first 40 minutes yesterday were probably the best I've ever seen an English team play. There was everything in that passage of play and the rags were totally bewildered and had absolutely no answer to it. There was a point around 30-35 minutes where it looked like we were just toying with them. Then in the second half we shown grit and resolve when they started playing the long ball and we made them do that because they had completely run out of options. Everything we did yesterday was with purpose and it was a beautiful thing to watch. When the players are fully up to speed with the system we will be almost unstoppable. Embrace what we are seeing blues as in Pep we have an absolute tactical genius and we are witnessing something very special

 

[Terra Passenger]

Those first 40 minutes yesterday were probably the best I've ever seen an English team play. There was everything in that passage of play and the rags were totally bewildered and had absolutely no answer to it. There was a point around 30-35 minutes where it looked like we were just toying with them. Then in the second half we shown grit and resolve when they started playing the long ball and we made them do that because they had completely run out of options. Everything we did yesterday was with purpose and it was a beautiful thing to watch. When the players are fully up to speed with the system we will be almost unstoppable. Embrace what we are seeing blues as in Pep we have an absolute tactical genius and we are witnessing something very special

+1

Moreover - and even more impressive than Pep's tactics for me - is that Pep improves players, at times dramatically so. For example, he's virtually eliminated Otamendi's diving into tackles and as a result his defense has picked up noticeably. Pep teaches his players how to play better.

 

[Deleted member 77198]

For all interested - the analysis of Pep-Mou clash from Pep's last season with Barcelona. IMO, those 'clasicos' from 2011, 2012 are unrivaled in terms of quality&intensity since then.

Guardiola’s men wrestle control with structural shift
Jose Mourinho’s Real Madrid met Guardiola’s Barcelona at the Bernabeu on the evening of the 10th of December 2011. Mourinho’s men went into the game with a 3 point advantage and were desperate to add to their solitary victory over their arch-rivals in Mourinho’s tenure.
http://spielverlagerung.com/2016/09/04/guardiolas-men-wrestle-control-with-structural-shift/

The game can be re-watched here: http://footballia.net/matches/real-madrid-fc-barcelona-liga-1-division-2011-2012

Well the differences were apparent yesterday. Every single City player worked hard to find space to be passed the ball in. It seems like a simple thing but it is one of my biggest criticisms of footballers (and every manager we've had in the past) and one of the most common things you'll see in football - players just standing still and not moving into space to receive the ball. The way we've been worked on this in just two months (less for those who returned late to pre-season) is excellent and will only get better. Football is all about exploiting space and if you can manipulate the space yourself you will be on the front foot.

We had more possession and passes so you'd expect that we'd make them run further and harder than us to keep up with the play but we actually covered more ground than them too and that's because of the way we worked hard to find the spaces on the pitch to make it easier to pass the ball to each other.
That's not to say we didn't make them work harder than they were comfortable with but our fitness seems to be coming along really well too. Bailley could barely run at the end.

Mourinho eventually had them just punting long balls to four tall men on the edge of our box. Basic stuff. There was actually more variance from Allardyce for England last week!

 

[City_Sean]

You can't get much better than the first 40 mins of yesterday's game. It was complete and utter dominance. United fans were rightly shell shocked and probably completely envious if they're being honest

 

[Terra Passenger]

KDB's goal in the derby got me thinking...

My God! We're explosive on the counter. Huge pace in Sterling and Sane, and killer finishing in KDB and Aguero.

Might Pep change his "15 passes" before attacking philosophy to leverage our lethal counter ability?

Yes... we're going to have more possession than the other side nearly every game we play... but against Barca... our counter could easily result in a win for us.

And even when we dominate possession, we might still spring a rapid counter-attack once we turn the ball over.

Will the tactical genius that Pep is attempt to leverage our side's clear ability on the counter?

What do you think?

 

[yeah whatever !!]

KDB's goal in the derby got me thinking...

My God! We're explosive on the counter. Huge pace in Sterling and Sane, and killer finishing in KDB and Aguero.

Might Pep change his "15 passes" before attacking philosophy to leverage our lethal counter ability?

Yes... we're going to have more possession than the other side nearly every game we play... but against Barca... our counter could easily result in a win for us.

And even when we dominate possession, we might still spring a rapid counter-attack once we turn the ball over.

Will the tactical genius that Pep is attempt to leverage our side's clear ability on the counter?

What do you think?

That's the clever bit though fella.. teams think we are just build up from the back so they bring players forward to counter this. then BOOOOOOOOOOM,, we do a quick over the top and totally catch em..

Pep's the man.

 

[mat]

The main moment that stood out for me. When he held onto the ball Shrek wanted, he got into his head for the rest of the match after. The complete no fucks given look whilst pube head was bawling was hilarious.

 

[KCblue]

I thought (especially in the first half) we did a great job of winning the ball back whenever we lost it. It was like our midfielders went straight into trying to win it back rather than throw their arms or hold their heads. We are starting to see the blueprint of how Pep wants us to play...our midfield was outstanding and we still haven't seen the man who might be the best center mid in the team yet!

 

[Jazzman]

It is fantastic how well he makes us use the space. Well structured no end. And that means there are always options to pass to. Our opponents do not come near the ball or our players when Peps system is in full flow.

 

[Andrew___K]

And even when we dominate possession, we might still spring a rapid counter-attack once we turn the ball over.

Will the tactical genius that Pep is attempt to leverage our side's clear ability on the counter?

What do you think?

My humble opinion, if you don't mind.

Actually, that's not news - Pep started to develop more 'vertical' version of his 'positional play' system during 2nd season with Bayern and has achieved significant results in his final year. He implemented more complex ways to invite pressure and then bypass it by 'large-sized' combinations, sometimes in the scale of the whole pitch. As I assume, the main catalysts of that step were:
1) regular encounters with well-educated German coaches playing on counters in every game with Bayern (the average level of coaching there is incomparable with that in England IMO). Pep just had to find an antidote (or you could call it 'plan B') for deep-sitting teams.
2) particular abilities of his Bayern players. After Schweini's and Kroos' departures their squad became short of players able to play short-passing game in tight spaces under pressure. Thiago hasn't proved himself as an intelligent, 'strategic' passer, and the purchase of Vidal last summer has completed this trend - Bayern's board clearly had its own view of the ideal squad (I don't criticise them, it's their business, just notice that it forced Pep to adapt, learn and try things that were entirely new for him). Pep had to find a way to break the walls without skilled 'dwarfes', relying more on the speed & physical power.

What's entirely new for me is the combination of that bits with 'Barca-style' small midfielders/attackers and the middle-focused play (Bayern relied more on the wingplay) which is clearly seen in City's play now. Basically, Pep is now taking the best parts from both systems and fusing them together (I know it sounds too simplifying, but that's how I see it).
Idk where this will lead City in terms of tactics in 3-4 years, maybe even Pep doesn't know that exactly. His work is an endless experiment using trial-and-error method.

 

[blue wang]

My humble opinion, if you don't mind.

Actually, that's not news - Pep started to develop more 'vertical' version of his 'positional play' system during 2nd season with Bayern and has achieved significant results in his final year. He implemented more complex ways to invite pressure and then bypass it by 'large-sized' combinations, sometimes in the scale of the whole pitch. As I assume, the main catalysts of that step were:
1) regular encounters with well-educated German coaches playing on counters in every game with Bayern (the average level of coaching there is incomparable with that in England IMO). Pep just had to find an antidote (or you could call it 'plan B') for deep-sitting teams.
2) particular abilities of his Bayern players. After Schweini's and Kroos' departures their squad became short of players able to play short-passing game in tight spaces under pressure. Thiago hasn't proved himself as an intelligent, 'strategic' passer, and the purchase of Vidal last summer has completed this trend - Bayern's board clearly had its own view of the ideal squad (I don't criticise them, it's their business, just notice that it forced Pep to adapt, learn and try things that were entirely new for him). Pep had to find a way to break the walls without skilled 'dwarfes', relying more on the speed & physical power.

What's entirely new for me is the combination of that bits with 'Barca-style' small midfielders/attackers and the middle-focused play (Bayern relied more on the wingplay) which is clearly seen in City's play now. Basically, Pep is now taking the best parts from both systems and fusing them together (I know it sounds too simplifying, but that's how I see it).
Idk where this will lead City in terms of tactics in 3-4 years, maybe even Pep doesn't know that exactly. His work is an endless experiment using trial-and-error method.

Sounds like the mad genius.....whwahahahaha! ( evil laugh)

 

[Citizen in Pakistan]

Hardly a tactics expert but i just noticed a few things in the last couple of games, i could be wrong

I think we won both our last games before the kick of, much has been made of our inverted full backs tactic and both united and wesham setup intially to counter that from the start but were left clueless when it didnt happen and full backs played high up but not really in the inverted roles like sunderland or stoke. Where city are good is the ability to change the style within the game very quickly and teams arent really sure what they gonna get from us. Mourinio for all his experience and past experience of playing against pep was left dumbfounded in intial 40 minutes and i think this is a testament to our style of play this season

 

[aguero93:20]

are you worried about his league record though? I think he will do wonderfully well in the champions league but i believe he might suffer a bit in the league this year or the next

Ancelotti has won the league in Italy, France and England and his record only looks bad until you realise he was up against Juve buying the refs left right and centre in Serie A. Besides, Bayern are miles ahead of Dortmund and a different league to the rest.

 

[Terra Passenger]

My humble opinion, if you don't mind.

Actually, that's not news - Pep started to develop more 'vertical' version of his 'positional play' system during 2nd season with Bayern and has achieved significant results in his final year. He implemented more complex ways to invite pressure and then bypass it by 'large-sized' combinations, sometimes in the scale of the whole pitch. As I assume, the main catalysts of that step were:
1) regular encounters with well-educated German coaches playing on counters in every game with Bayern (the average level of coaching there is incomparable with that in England IMO). Pep just had to find an antidote (or you could call it 'plan B') for deep-sitting teams.
2) particular abilities of his Bayern players. After Schweini's and Kroos' departures their squad became short of players able to play short-passing game in tight spaces under pressure. Thiago hasn't proved himself as an intelligent, 'strategic' passer, and the purchase of Vidal last summer has completed this trend - Bayern's board clearly had its own view of the ideal squad (I don't criticise them, it's their business, just notice that it forced Pep to adapt, learn and try things that were entirely new for him). Pep had to find a way to break the walls without skilled 'dwarfes', relying more on the speed & physical power.

What's entirely new for me is the combination of that bits with 'Barca-style' small midfielders/attackers and the middle-focused play (Bayern relied more on the wingplay) which is clearly seen in City's play now. Basically, Pep is now taking the best parts from both systems and fusing them together (I know it sounds too simplifying, but that's how I see it).
Idk where this will lead City in terms of tactics in 3-4 years, maybe even Pep doesn't know that exactly. His work is an endless experiment using trial-and-error method.

Thanks for your insight Andrew.

Exciting times lie ahead for City. I can't wait to see what Pep does once all the attacking power we have are fit and available for selection!

 

[bobom]

However, that terrific half of football only left us 2:1 up. Plenty to work on...

 

[sir baconface]

One thing Pep needs to improve upon is the art of substitutions.

Substitutions should be made only on 60 minutes and be like-for-like. (61 minutes is acceptable if things are going well.)

Making them earlier in response to events on the pitch seems a little impetuous.

 

[Andrew___K]

Thanks for your insight Andrew.

Exciting times lie ahead for City. I can't wait to see what Pep does once all the attacking power we have are fit and available for selection!

What I've forgotten to mention is that Pep has always regarded Bielsa and Zeman as his idols, and those two are true mad geniuses of vertical football. So it's not a coincidence that the bits of such style are now present in his work.

ps. Bielsa in the EPL would be a dream. Would do wonders with any midtable club, given the right players.

 

[Saddleworth2]

One thing Pep needs to improve upon is the art of substitutions.

Substitutions should be made only on 60 minutes and be like-for-like. (61 minutes is acceptable if things are going well.)

Making them earlier in response to events on the pitch seems a little impetuous.

Downright foolhardy if you ask me. And if we are chasing the game wait until the 88th minute and put our youngest player on to change things is always a cunning ruse.