Man City last season may be easily read, but this season, Pep Guardiola's army has made revolutionary changes.
A “new weapon”, that's how Pep described after Man City's victory over Wolves in the first round of the Premier League. And fairly, the Spaniard may be talking about many different things.
Let's dissect what it is. It could be an Oscar Bobb, the young midfielder returned to his performance that he shown last summer, before an injury, took a serious injury to rob almost the whole season.
It could also be Pep's alludion of goalkeeper James Trafford, who performed the calmness and the ability to prevent that Ederson was not famous. Or Nico Gonzalez, who ran up to 12.4 km of the game – half kilometers more than any other player in the opening round of the Premier League.
However, Guardiola actually mentioned Man City's second goal, when Bobb stole the ball in the middle of the pitch. Immediately, the 22 -year -old midfielder was supported by Tijjani Reijnders and Erling Haaland, all three forming scary counterattack tips. Haaland ran diagonally to the right to smoke, Reijnders moved to the left.
Bobb decided to pass to Reijnders and the rookie of the Green Man to finish a touch with the unfavorable foot. Boom! The ball is neatly located in the wolves net.
“We punished them in conversion situations, because we possess unbelievable speed with Oscar, Tijjani and Erling. It was a weapon that we wanted to exploit this season to attack faster than before. But in the opening match, there was always a surprise.
Last season, it was the slow gameplay that killed Man City. But since the FIFA Club World Cup 2025, there have been enough signs that Man City needs to play faster, and that has been somewhat shown in the match against “wolves”.
So have we ever wondered who “taught” Pep to hit such speed? Using the word “teach” sounds a bit big, but the merits of the new assistant Pep Lijnders certainly cannot be ignored.
A few days ago, former player Jamie Carragher said: “When you remember Liverpool and the number of counterattacks they scored with Sadio Mane and Mo Salah, I looked at Reijnders's goal, really a discovery.
Of course, Man City has scored many counterattacks in the past, but the reason this situation stands out is the nature of the counterattack and the celebration. Lijnders and Guardiola hugged each other.
Add another data for you. Last season, Man City scored 72 goals in the Premier League, of which only 3 goals (1 24 goals only 1) were classified as a counterattack. This figure is only better than Brighton and Leicester.
Too little, right? However, this season, it will definitely increase, and the catching or reading Man City is not simple. Let's wait and see.
