How Pep Guardiola turned Man City into convincing Premier League champions

Pep Guardiola has formed a close bond with his players and got them fully believing in his methods. (AFP)
  • The current lead of 16 points is one of the biggest in the league鈥檚 history
  • Spaniard has produced most stunning brand of football ever seen in English football

MANCHESTER: What do you get when you combine the world鈥檚 most coveted coach, financial backers with bottomless pockets, and the most talented group of players in the country?
Answer: One of the most ruthless, convincing title triumphs in the 26-year history of the Premier League.
Manchester City wrapped up the title on Sunday when Manchester United, the nearest challenger, surprisingly lost 1-0 at home to West Bromwich Albion. City leads by 16 points with five games still to play.
A side meticulously molded and prepared by Pep Guardiola won a record 18 straight Premier League games from August to late December, and they鈥檝e put up plenty more impressive numbers.
Eighty-seven points, 93 goals, a goal difference of plus 68, 28 wins from 33 games. The current lead of 16 points is one of the biggest in the league鈥檚 history.
Guardiola didn鈥檛 win a trophy in his first season at City. His reaction? To spend $260 million of the club鈥檚 Abu Dhabi owners鈥� riches in the offseason, upgrade and tweak the weakest parts of the team, and deliver arguably the most stunning brand of football ever seen in English soccer.
Here鈥檚 a look at how Guardiola achieved the turnaround:

MOMENTUM
The blueprint for this season鈥檚 record-breaking success was laid in the second half of last season, when Pep Guardiola found his formula.
Largely sticking to a 4-3-3 formation with Leroy Sane and Raheem Sterling as wingers, Guardiola dispensed completely with his occasional use of a three-man defense. City lost just two of its last 24 games in all competitions from the middle of January last year, providing momentum to take into the 2017-18 campaign.
Throw in some key summer signings and some tactical tinkering, and City has proved to be unstoppable.

SIGNINGS
Full backs were City鈥檚 offseason priority 鈥� 30-somethings Gael Clichy, Aleksandar Kolarov, Bacary Sagna and Pablo Zabaleta all departed over the summer 鈥� and the club spent $155 million to bring in Kyle Walker, Benjamin Mendy and Danilo.
Pep Guardiola places huge significance on the impact of full backs in terms of his team鈥檚 attacking game plan, needing them to act as both wingers and defenders.
Mendy got injured in September so his impact has been negligible while Danilo has been little more than a backup. It鈥檚 Walker鈥檚 presence that has added a new dimension to City, his raids up the right wing allowing Raheem Sterling to come inside more and give the team greater numbers in the box to convert chances.
It鈥檚 no surprise that Sterling has had the most prolific season of his career, scoring 22 goals in all competitions so far.
Brazilian goalkeeper Ederson Moraes joined for $45 million from Benfica and has been a huge upgrade from Claudio Bravo with his shot-stopping and pinpoint long passing with a booming left foot.
Bernardo Silva, signed for $55 million from Monaco, has slowly developed into a key squad player, providing cover for Sterling and Leroy Sane.

TWO PLAYMAKERS
It鈥檚 a minor tactical switch that has had a major impact.
Pep Guardiola鈥檚 decision to deploy Kevin De Bruyne in a deepercentral-midfield role has allowed the Belgian to demonstrate his all-round skills, notably his vision, work rate and reading of the game. He鈥檚 been able to keep up his regular supply of assists, too, setting up 16 goals, with passes and through balls that are beyond many of his peers.
One performance, in a 7-2 win over Stoke in October, stands out. In that game, De Bruyne set up one goal with no-look pass to Leroy Sane, before supplying the winger for another goal with a diagonal through ball that sliced through four defenders.
De Bruyne鈥檚 new role also got the best out of central midfield partner David Silva, who has played just ahead of De Bruyne and been given license to go forward more.
The use of two central-midfield playmakers is new to English soccer 鈥� and has produced handsome results.

WINNING STREAK
When City beat Swansea 4-0 on Dec. 13, the team established an English top-flight record of 15 straight victories 鈥� surpassing the 14-match winning streaks of Arsenal (2002), Preston (1951), and both Manchester United and Bristol City in 1905.
City would go on to win three more games before drawing 0-0 at Crystal Palace on Dec. 31, ending the winning run at 18.
City was undefeated at that stage, raising the prospect of going through the season unbeaten like Arsenal鈥檚 Premier League 鈥淚nvincibles鈥� of 2003-04. A 4-3 loss at Liverpool on Jan. 14 put paid to that, but the league title was virtually wrapped up already.

LATE GOALS
That winning run started with Raheem Sterling鈥檚 goal in the seventh minute of injury time in a 2-1 victory at Bournemouth on Aug. 26. It wouldn鈥檛 be the last decisive late intervention by the winger.
He scored an 84th-minute winner against Huddersfield on Nov. 26, a 96th-minute winner against Southampton three days later, before David Silva grabbed an 83rd-minute winner against West Ham four days after that. All three games finished 2-1, and it revived memories of the winning goals scored in so-called 鈥淔ergie Time鈥� by Manchester United鈥檚 trophy-winning teams under Alex Ferguson.
City, it seemed, wasn鈥檛 just playing the best football in the division, but had more resilience and fortune than any other team, too.

KEY WINS
Along the way, some notable performances established a champion-in-waiting aura around City.
The first was a dominant 1-0 victory at Chelsea on Sept. 30, when the defending champion was played off the field at Stamford Bridge. Two weeks later, that 7-2 win over Stoke featured some imperious attacking play.
Then there was the 2-1 win at Manchester United on Dec.10, featuring scrappy goals at set pieces from David Silva and Nicolas Otamendi, that left City 11 points clear of its neighbor. With not even half the season gone, United manager Jose Mourinho said his team鈥檚 title hopes were 鈥減robably鈥� over.
Back-to-back wins across 72 hours in early March 鈥� 3-0 at Arsenal and 1-0 at home to Chelsea 鈥� all but confirmed what everyone had known for weeks: City was going to be champion.
It just needed clinching then. A 3-2 home loss to United in the derby denied City the chance to win the league in record time 鈥� with six games left 鈥� but Guardiola鈥檚 team only had to wait another week.