With the Premier League title won and the wounds from the Champions League exit raw,we assess areas City’s manager must address to improve his teamPep Guardiola can bridle at the suggestion he does not adjust the gameplan when required and for the 3-0 Champions League quarter-final first-leg loss at Liverpool he did, indeed, or do so. The problem was that dropping Raheem Sterling for Ilkay Gündogan was such a scarce move – removing a forward for an additional midfielder – that it disrupted Manchester City’s rhythm. He has admitted it may hold caused his players to wonder whether their ultra-positive coach was “wary” of Liverpool and affected how they performed. By 57 minutes the tactic had failed and on came Sterling for Gündogan. Yet whether Guardiola did more of this kind of adjustment the team would view it as less an experiment and more the norm and the Catalan would surely become as slick with Plan B as with his Plan A.
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Source: guardian.co.uk