Manchester City: Pep Guardiola sends many coded messages

Manchester City’s boss admits to making a tactical mistake and that he corrected it.

It is a well-known fact that Guardiola overanalyzes many tactical situations. Typically, when he does this, he focuses on several themes repeatedly.

The issues that Pep delves into mentally in this manner come out in messages to his team, his opponents, and the world at large, even when he does not mean to.

At the start of the post-match video conference (I wonder if Pep prefers video calls rather than face to face as most introverts do), he offered his first message.

It was a mistake to have his wingers play too far inward in the first half.

It made sense for Manchester City to move wingers inward with the ball and put Phil Foden in the false nine position. This plan was not the reflective manager’s example of trying to out-think the room.

Real’s talisman on defense and their captain, Sergio Ramos, was sitting in an ill-fitted suit in the stands rather than anchoring the backline and doing everything (I mean, everything) possible to win the match.

Every manager would have tried to attack where Ramos would have been. My grandmother would have tried that tactic. My father, who thinks football is not a real sport, would have done it.

It did not work.

Pep realized this mistake at half-time and moved the wingers out where they were more comfortable. The result, as the MCFC coach pointed out, was many more chances to score goals.

The gaffer sent two messages at the press conference.

One, I am willing to be flexible when something is not working and make a subtle change. Pep brought up this idea twice.

Two, and stated more subtly, we need to convert our opportunities to win. We should have scored more goals.

Pep was not done.