Pep Guardiola has spent £160m to fix Manchester City's defence - but what we know about him hints he may need more
Kyle Walker, Benjamin Mendy, Danilo and goalkeeper Ederson have all arrived as Guardiola attempts to try and address City's biggest weakness
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Your support makes all the difference.Pep Guardiola was clearly stung by some of last season, because the word around Manchester City is that he’s “refusing to compromise”, refusing to wait and see how things go with ideas he isn’t as sure about.
That is why he is ruthlessly replacing a goalkeeper he does still like and respect in Claudio Bravo with Ederson; that is why he has spent more on defence than anyone, and that is why they may still sign another for the backline.
Guardiola is a huge fan of Vincent Kompany but knows he can’t completely rely on his fitness, so would still like a centre-back. Virgil van Dijk’s situation there could yet be intriguing, given City’s interest.
It also reflects how, despite some presumptions, the City manager doesn’t necessarily overthink everything and just look to be contrary or counter-intuitive for the sake of his own ideas. He is spending a lot of money - said to be around £160m, on top of the £140m since 2014 - on the area that most obviously needs improvement. There were so many games last season when City would look utterly exquisite and so slick and fast in attack, only to suddenly look just as chaotic and open at the back.
The 2-2 at home to Tottenham Hotspur, without even going to the extreme of the 4-2 defeat away to Leicester City, was a prime example. A problem area is being worked on, with extreme prejudice.
If City did sign a centre-half, however, it would be someway novel given the number of full-backs they’ve brought in. Those three players - Kyle Walker, Benjamin Mendy, Danilo - meanwhile still throw up something of a philosophical and technical debate over whether they are even defenders.
With the way he initially used Dani Alves at Barcelona after signing him in 2008 - and making it all the more conspicuous that he wanted to get the Brazilian for City this summer - Guardiola led the way in completely transforming the modern full-back to the point that Chelsea won the title with modern wing-backs in 2017. Dani Alves didn’t so much play as a right-back for Barcelona, but sometimes as right-wing forward given the ludicrous amount of times he would cut the ball back for Leo Messi.
“The full-back couldn’t go beyond halfway,” Alves once told Sid Lowe. “I said: ‘Why not?’
A high level of fitness and running allowed that, just as it allowed Marcos Alonso and Victor Moses to do much the same for Antonio Conte, albeit in a 3-5-2.
This is what Guardiola wants from Walker, Mendy and Danilo and those signings seem to make it clear he has abandoned the experiment of putting full-backs as central defenders, but then it remains unclear whether they are even ‘defenders’ for him. The key with the Catalan is that he is not really looking to isolate and improve the backline, but specifically sign players who will enhance the integration and flow of the team, so that it’s all a seamless unit.
The key with how that has worked with Guardiola's past teams and even Chelsea last season, however, was the anchored approach at the back that allowed them to power up the pitch. The way that Sergio Busquets dropped in between Gerard Pique and Carlos Puyol at Barcelona could even be seen as a back three that was a forerunner of Conte’s. So, the wonder is how Guardiola is going to work that out. He doesn’t have a City version of Busquets and none of Fernando, Fernandinho or Yaya Toure really specifically fit that role.
They all offer something a bit different, but that was also where the difference often was for City last season. There were some games where it just looked like there was a huge chasm in front of that defence. While part of Guardiola’s grand plan is that the full-backs would enable keeping the ball and using it to such a level that those holes are just naturally closed, it makes it all the more interesting that Guardiola has not looked to sign that sort of player this summer.
It also suggests there might still be an element of tactical improvisation to what he’s going to do with this City side, despite so bluntly just spending money with most of it.
Guardiola is changing this team, because he can’t completely change himself.
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