“That’s why he’s so been so keen to work abroad - to improve his own style, change his ideas, and perfect his tactical approach,” recounts Bayern Munich supporter Stefen Niemeyer to Marti Perarnau in Pep Confidential, a book documenting Pep Guardiola’s first season at the German club. In hindsight, Pep Guardiola re-joining Txiki Begiristain, and Ferran Soriano at Manchester City was a logical next step. Just five years removed from constructing that era of Barcelona, the trio reunited this summer in search of soccer perfection. Of course, this is under a different context - they won’t have a youth academy built around a singular style this time. But then again, it’s exactly these contrasts and nuances that make the challenge of figuring out the Premier League worthwhile. 

Manuel Pellegrini’s final season at Manchester City was a disappointment, starting from his lame duck status which seeped into the performance of his side. They lost in the Champions League to Real Madrid in the semifinals and finished 15 points behind league champions Leicester City. The results symbolized a side that held off its rebuilding cycle one year too long. But this isn’t new territory for Guardiola. Soriano’s characterization of the side he took over as manager in 2008 is eerily similar to the City side he took over this summer, noting that Barcelona were talented but lacked motivation, and Deco, Ronaldinho and Samuel Eto’o filled the squad with negativity.  

Taken in that context, his first summer at Manchester is focused on editing the squad. When Guardiola first took over Bayern Munich, he let the likes of Mario Gomez, Luiz Gustavo and Emre Can leave the side. Thus far, only Martin Demichelis from the starting eleven has left. Yaya Toure, a perennial transfer candidate the last two seasons, looks to revitalize his career at age 33 and is valued for his Barcelona knowledge. As far as big additions go, there’s only been Ilkay Gundogan, Nolito, and most recently, Leroy Sane. Perhaps the relative quiet window is Guardiola’s way of heeding Omar Hitzfield's criticism of him signing too many foreign players at the expense of the German mentality.

The current roster Guardiola inherits at City bears little resemblance to the sides he managed at Barcelona and Bayern, beginning with the lack of ball playing center midfielders. There are archetypes for what he expects at each position: the sweeper keeper and the versatile defenders who stop counter attacks before they develop anchoring the backline. Then there are the center midfielders who control tempo with their positioning and passing, dominant 1-on-1 wingers, and strikers who participate in the build up, then arrive in the box for goals. 

It’s easy if you let Thierry Henry explain it: the success of Guardiola’s system relies on isolating wingers in 1-on-1 situations near the box. It will be up to some combination of Samir Nasri, Nolito, Jesus Navas and Raheem Sterling to enact the role of Arjen Robben and Messi in creating goals. Tiki taka doesn’t work without their individual brilliance. 

And outside of Gundogan, City also lack a Sergio Busquets or Philipp Lahm figure to control tempo. Last season’s midfield pairing of Fernando and Fernandinho show how much the side veered towards pragmatism in Pellegrini’s final year. Guardiola’s love of ball playing center midfielders is well documented, especially his appreciation of a Thiago type of player who never loses the ball (“it’s Thiago or nothing”, he once proclaimed). But similar to his time in Germany, there may be an answer in the side already. Guardiola always has one strategic move to make the pieces fit together. At Barcelona, it was moving Messi to the false nine role. Bayern Munich’s fate changed when Lahm was moved to center midfield. An underlying theme for the opening months of this season will be finding this new evolution or insight that powers the next following years at City. The early candidate is something involving Fernandinho, who Guardiola says could play 10 positions (he will most likely join the group of center midfielders turned into center back under the manager). 

Under Guardiola, practices and friendlies become events in themselves as players immerse learn a new footballing language. You can see the fundamentals developing against Bayern Munich already: there’s the split center backs, the overloading of one side, and a quick change of play to find the 1 on 1 matchup. And this brings up the role of formations. Bayern Munich switched between a three and four player backline, with Guardiola preferring three defenders against sides that parked the bus (Guardiola has experimented with a 3-3-3-1 formation this summer). The general theory is that this formation does not work in England, but between him, Antonio Conte, and Walter Mazarri at Watford, this will be tested.  

Guardiola, as the best managers seemingly always do, strives for a seamless interplay between attack and defense. Tiki taka is best known for its intricate, one touch passing, but it has a defensive component built in. When City lose the ball this season, there must be a group of players in the surrounding area immediately ready to recover the lost cause before a counterattack begins. Many of Guardiola’s innovations in Germany focused on stifulling the counterattacking DNA of the Bundesliga while still maintaining possession of the ball. Perarnau notes that the “extra” bit of Guardiola’s talent is his ability of “analysing how they play in a any given country, (and) not renounce his own strengths”. If the English game is characterized by directness and a 4-4-2, one could expect Guardiola’s style to be a combination of addressing that physicality and his positional play.

There is also the element of his renewed rivalry with Jose Mourinho. The bigger picture is that Guardiola hasn’t been tested in a league race since his time at Barcelona five seasons ago. But that isn’t necessarily a negative. Bayern switched off at some point in his first season, and they could never recover to reach the high levels of intensity in losing to Real Madrid in the Champions League. Manchester City will have to play an entire season, for better or worse. 

Perarnau describes how Guardiola locks himself in a room and analyzes opponents obsessively until he reaches the epiphany of how to win a match. That moment is much easier when using Messi and Robben, and this City side lacks a transcendent winger of that mold. Considering the competition of the Premier League, the focus of this season may be to lay down the conceptual foundations to build upon in the following years. After all, the true art of a Guardiola side lies in its evolution.