What Has Pep Changed?

The arrival of Pep Guardiola to the Premier League has made a huge difference to the English game. We have discovered what he expects from every player and what that he really wasn't happy with the squad. The total signings nearly hit double figures and the problem that most could see was the average age of the squad, he's addressed that. Joe Hart has left due to his ball playing ability and we have seen a wide range of tactics used from the coach. I take a look at what he has done in his approach to build Manchester City into world beaters.

Youth Policy

From the nine players that were signed, five of them were under 25 and that was a must in taking this job. The previous policy in the transfer market was to get ready made players to challenge for the title but you can't do it overnight and with the introduction of youth, we will see them grow into a title challengers for the next 10 years rather than 3 years. Yaya Toure, Bacary Sagna, Pablo Zabaleta, Jesus Navas, Fernandinho, Gael Clichy, Willy Caballero, Vincent Kompany and Aleksandar Kolarov were all over 30 and with the new players coming in, there is more energy in the squad, although not all of them will be making appearances straight away. The future looks bright, as well as the present.

The Joe Hart Saga

Joe Hart may be England’s number one but he has been surrounded by questions of his ability and consistency for a couple of years. Pep knows what he wants and does not care about your reputation or your relationship with the fans. Bringing in Claudio Bravo has seen an increase in passing ability of the goalkeeper for City but he did make a mistake and looked shaky against Manchester United, but that could just be nerves. Joe Hart was at the centre of things at Torino anyway when he made a debut mistake, but Pep certainly has his man and takes no nonsense from his players.

Tactics

His first game saw Sunderland come to the Etihad, and it was all change, the full backs were no longer full backs. They were more inverted, almost creating an extra two central midfielders, I recall at one point Bacary Sagna was playing as a forward in the second half. His plethora of ideas have claimed praise from everyone in the last decade, but showing it on the Premier League stage is the biggest task, but so far he's living up to it. He has been the most desirable manager since his time at Barcelona, with tiki-taka, the false 9, and now he is revolutionising the English game.

Will it all end in glory?

His start to the campaign certainly shows promise. Eight wins from eight in all competitions has given him the perfect start and with players still coming back from injury things look very good for the Spaniard. Whether he is here long term or not, he's certainly going to leave a legacy that every Citizen fan will remember forever. Premier League, Champions League, could he do it all? Only time will tell.