Man City: Why Pep Guardiola’s tactics stopped working amid rise of rapid football

During City’s ongoing crisis Guardiola has taken to musing on tactical problems during press conferences, and a few weeks ago he hit on something particularly insightful.

Citing Bournemouth and Brighton, he said: “Today, modern football is not positional. You have to ride the rhythm.”

As the forefather of ‘juego de posicion’, the ‘positional play’ that has dominated world football since his Barcelona side won everything 15 years ago, this is a sizeable admission.

It poses a question bigger than this one article: is this the beginning of the end for the ‘Pepification’ of modern football?

Attacking quickly after a transition – when possession changes hands – is arguably overtaking Guardiola’s philosophy at elite level, with emphasis increasingly placed on direct football that runs deliberately in contrast to possession and territory.

While Liverpool have been successful this season with less chaos and more control than they had under Jurgen Klopp, and Tottenham’s rapid, linear football has come unstuck with a thin squad, the data is there.

Looking at Premier League statistics over the past eight seasons, since Guardiola’s first title in England, we can see a clear trend of increases in high turnovers, pressing – shown by passes per defensive action (PPDA) coming down – plus fast breaks and direct attacks.