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The Pep Guardiola Effect: After a Shaky Start, Manchester City Beat All Odds to Rule English Football Again

The journey to the 2020/21 Premier League glory was the toughest one for Manchester City as Pep Guardiola mentioned.

Updated: May 13, 2021 12:45 PM IST

By Aditya Maheshwari

The Pep Guardiola Effect: After a Shaky Start, Manchester City Beat All Odds to Rule English Football Once Again
The Pep Guardiola Effect: After a Shaky Start, Manchester City Beat All Odds to Rule English Football Once Again (© Twitter/@ManCity)

“This has been a season and a Premier League title like no other. This was the hardest one,” said Pep Guardiola said after guiding Manchester City to their third league title in the last four years.

Manchester City spent most of their time as the noisy neighbours to Manchester United in English football history but the time has completely changed and once again the Citizens proved that Manchester has a new KING.

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Pep Guardiola once again proved that why he is rated amongst the greatest managers of the game. Some might call him the ‘cheque-book manager’ but money can’t win you trophies every time as a system is needed and no one is better than Pep to lead the project to its end results.

Manchester City won the Premier League titles in 2017-18 and 2018-19 under Guardiola in emphatic fashion but the 2019-20 season witnessed the emergence of Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool. Some football pundits raised questions on the tactics of Guardiola last season when City choked in several big clashes. But ‘The Exceptional One’ bounced back with his out-of-the-box tactics which rejuvenated the English football and reclaim the Premier League title once again.

However, the journey to the 2020-21 Premier League glory was the toughest one for City as Guardiola mentioned. The Citizens were placed at the eighth position on the points table at the start of 2021. Struggling with some major injuries in the camp including Sergio Aguero and Kevin de Bruyne, City managed to collect just 26 points in their first 14 matches this season. But in the second half of the season, City unleashed themselves on their opponents and registered a 21-game win streak.


The new year brought a breath of fresh air in the camp as many players emerged as the unsung heroes for City in 2021. The biggest positive for Guardiola in the season is the defensive department, as the Spaniard is famous for his beautiful attacking gameplay which involved a lot of possession on the ball and as a result sometimes City conceded some crucial goals in the past.

City have been rock-solid at the back with the budding partnership between John Stones and new-recruit Ruben Dias. Stones, who had a tough time at Manchester in the past couple of seasons have rejuvenated himself as he took full advantage of the opportunities he got when Aymeric Laporte’s suffered injury and missed some crucial games. At the moment, Stones has emerged as the first-choice defender for Guardiola.

Dias was bought by City for £61.20 million from Benfica ahead of the season. At that time, many have criticized Guardiola for spending huge money on a rookie defender but the exceptional one had all planned in his mind. He has turned out to be a great wall of defense for Manchester City.

The Premier League champions have registered 18 clean sheets so far this season.

City have one of the most sought-after midfield line-ups in European football. They have the depth which every club is in search of in modern-day football. David Silva’s departure didn’t affect Manchester City much this season with the emergence of Fernandinho, Rodri, and İlkay Gündoğan. None of City’s midfielders disappoints Guardiola this season so far.

Kevin de Bruyne and Bernardo Silva once again proved their versatility as they were often used as attacking options by Pep this season in the absence of key strikers.

Sergio Aguero, who is undoubtedly one of the pillars of Manchester City’s massive success in the past decade, missed a big part of this season. He entered pitch only 11 times this season in Premier League out of which four times he was included as the substitute change. While Brazilian Gabriel Jesus played 26 matches for City in Premier League this season.

The tactician master – Guardiola used his midfield maestros De Bruyne and Gündoğan as false nine in most of the games which helped the wingers – Riyad Mahrez and Raheem Sterling more freedom on their flanks to pick the runs. And with all the experienced campaigners by his side, English prodigy Phil Foden made a huge name for himself this season with Guardiola putting full faith in the 20-year-old.

City are already crowned the Premier League champions with three games to spare as they have a solid 10-point lead over arch-rivals Manchester United with 80 points in 35 matches.

Apart from the Premier League, City have also clinched the Carabao Cup this season for the fourth consecutive time to stamp their authority over English teams.

The next target for Guardiola is to guide Manchester City to their maiden UEFA Champions League title as they will lock horns against Chelsea in the summit clash on May 30.

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