This has been the week to make the worst comparisons between Chelsea’s Maurizio Sarri and Manchester City’s Pep Guardiola. City may be very misunderstood.
It is a complete and utter myth that Pep Guardiola needed time alone to build this Manchester City team. While his overall philosophy and style remained unchanged, Guardiola did adapt to the league as he made tactical changes to fix issues he was seeing. That is vastly more important than him needing time to teach every player (or buy the ones he needed).
What is often lost in the comparisons of Guardiola’s first season and Maurizio Sarri’s first season is how much Guardiola played with his formula and how little Sarri is currently playing with his own. Guardiola did not settle for “his way”, but instead looked for a way to make “his way” better for the English game. He clearly succeeded.
Everyone thinks they know what City brings to the table but the truth of the matter is that City is one of the most misunderstood teams by most. Guardiola is a thinker and he is constantly looking for new ways to make his team more efficient before a need is even apparent.
Formation wise, Guardiola has favored a “3-5-2” or a “4-3-3”. The quotations are there because with Guardiola the lines are incredibly blurred. The Spaniard coaches his teams to cover specific zones in relation to the ball and other players so his formations are incredibly fluid while also being incredibly organized.
Defensively, his side looks to win back possession as quickly as possible and reset with possession. It is not a press as intense as Jurgen Klopp’s, but it is still intense enough that many teams panic. Guardiola’s press is less about winning the ball back right away and more about trapping the opponent between one bad decision and another before City regain possession.
Offensively, possession is used as a means to lure the opponent in before moving the ball into vacated space. How exactly this is done has changed during Guardiola’s time at City. At Barcelona and Bayern, the opponent was lured wide to create horizontal space which Guardiola wanted the ball moved into. At City the opponent is lured high and central, opening up vertical space for his pacey wingers to exploit as they stretch the opposition defense as much as possible.
Their biggest strength is pure and impel fear. So many teams prepare to face City with fear in their minds which is exactly what Guardiola wants. He wants the opponent to be afraid of counters and pressing and even their own possession. Fear causes mistakes which City pounce on every time.
Their biggest weakness is when they face a team that is not afraid of them. The two ways to beat Guardiola’s City have been showcased by Klopp’s Liverpool best. The first way is to get in City’s face and play them at their own game. The second way is to starve them of space and counter through their very high line. Both ways require the team to be fearless and intelligent. Few teams are able to do both for a full 90 which is why Guardiola’s sides always seem so unstoppable (which in turn fuels the fear of other teams down the road).
Sarri’s Napoli did come out to play City by getting in their face and attempting to go toe to toe with them. It might have worked had injuries not taken the wind out of Napoli’s sails.
But Chelsea is nowhere near as up and running as Napoli was last season with Sarri. In the Community Shield, Chelsea made a valiant go of it but they were not yet prepared enough to get over the line.
With both teams in full fitness, this match will be much more telling than the Community Shield was. If Sarri can motivate his men to keep their concentration for the full 90, then Chelsea very much has a chance. But that has proven difficult even against Wolverhampton and Sarri may have his work cut out for him.