How does Guardiola rule the Premier League? See what makes Manchester City dominate

Manchester City are the clear rulers of the Premier League in recent years. They have dominated the league three times in the last four seasons and this year they are once again at the top of the table. Pep Guardiola is behind it all, but what is the Citizens’ magic?

The team from the blue part of Manchester is like an unstoppable machine in the Premier League. There is only one thing left to do: conquer Europe. Last year, Guardiola’s team almost did it, reaching the final.

But Manchester City’s game is a joy to watch. And not only for Citizens fans, but also for the uninitiated. The sophisticated principles, the perfectly orchestrated construction of the game, the wonderful actions and the genius of the individuals.

But now, let’s focus on one of the most important aspects to maintain dominance in the match. And that is the construction of the game from the stoppers. The Citizens, when in possession of the ball, go into a 2-3-5 formation. The two stoppers will spread out roughly the width of the half circle, the fullbacks will move to the middle of the pitch where one defensive midfielder will remain.

The wingers will remain firmly pinned to the touchline, creating space for two offensive midfielders to complement the spike striker, more of a false nine in Guardiola’s system.

This system was developed by Guardiola during his time at Bayern Munich and this particular type of construction is famously described in the book ‘Herr Pep,’ published by Martí Perarnau in 2014.

“The ideal is to have an open stopper, a centre-back in the middle and an open winger so you can pass directly to him. If the pass goes in, you’ve beaten the opposition’s entire midfield. If you lose the ball, the full-back can immediately return to the area and prevent the break,” explains Guardiola in his book Herr Pep.

“It’s about destroying the plans of the opponent’s press. The back goes up the middle and takes their winger down with him. If he doesn’t go with him, you’ve got a free player. If he is defended by a midfielder, that leaves one of our central midfielders free,” says the Catalan coach, who is obsessed with the tactic.

An illustration can be found in the attached picture from the Leicester game, shared on Twitter by Nicolas Pedrucci. To show that this is not a random formation, you will find identical photos from other matches below.

And Manchester City dominated the game against Leicester thanks to this formation as well. Already after the first half the score was 4: 0, Pep Guardiola’s charges had 74% of the ball possession. In the second half they took their foot off the gas and The Foxes reduced it to 3: 4, but then Laporte and Sterling added two more goals and the home side won comfortably 6: 3.

Watching Guardiola’s tactical genius and his playing principles is truly an amazing footballing experience. Every coach can take something from the 50-year-old Spaniard, because tactically you probably won’t find a better coach in the world.

Source: Twitter, Marca, Livesport