Taking the league by storm at the start of the season with his fluid system, Pep Guardiola has found adjusting to the Premier League quite tricky as the months have gone by.
Hitting a few stumbling blocks along the way, the Spanish manager and his Manchester City side find themselves seven points behind leaders Chelsea after 17 games, but Sunday’s 2-1 resilient win against Arsenal will have reinvigorated everyone at the club.
One of the players who appears to have benefitted most from the former Barcelona manager’s arrival is Kevin De Bruyne, who leads the assist table with ten passes in 16 league appearances.
The 25-year-old was interviewed by Sport/Foot magazine in Belgium, and spoke a lot about what Guardiola is trying to achieve with his current team, and his struggles to adapt to certain aspects of the Premier League.
He said: “What surprises Pep the most is that a lot of teams still play long ball. He sometimes thinks that they’ll play along the ground because they do it against other teams, but not against us. I feel like he must sometimes tell himself that it’s stupid.
“He spends so much time and puts so much energy in trying to find gaps to eventually tell us the team are going to play long ball. He must ask himself why he bothers at times.”
As Pep Guardiola continues to tinker with his side, trying to find the best way to fit all of his players in his system, the attacking midfielder has ended up being used in various positions by his manager since the start of the season, even as a striker, although this doesn’t bother him.
He said: “In my eyes [being versatile] is an advantage more than an inconvenience. Sometimes, it confuses me, but most of the time it’s OK. The most important, when you change position, is knowing what to do. Things need to be clear in your head.
“Versatility helps understand how others work on the pitch. It’s mostly in my head that I’m strong. I always try and imagine what’s going to happen. Maybe we don’t pay enough attention to it, but for me, that’s really important.”
With a Boxing Day fixture against Hull around the corner, it will be interesting to see where the player will line up in Pep’s plans having played both on the left and in the middle in his last two games.
At least, now, Manchester City fans know that being moved around doesn’t matter all that much to him.
As he says: “The most important thing is that we win.”
