Manchester City fan here with a question...

Onviously an outsider looking in so not everything I say might be accurate

What he needs is intelligence, discipline, 100% switched on and of course very good players to make it work because when it works boy does it work. It looks like our matches against Roma (7-1), Dortmund (5-1), Atletico (2-1) and the Juventus comeback (4-2) or comparatively from the small sample set you have, United (2-1).

Not to sound condescending but your squad isn't at the qualitative level ours was when he took charge but you on the the flip side have that your higher ups will buy Pep (almost) anyone he wants (as long as managable) which ours wouldn't as often as was probably needed/desired - so eventually, though you'll have a rockier start, you might have a better finished product than we did, even though it was glorious for me either way.

Playing out the back is the necessary foundation for everything he plans. Its benefits far outweigh the risks. Build up is everything. Sometimes it looks slow but that's because at that point of happening, it needs to be, the opponents don't set up to be sliced and diced unless you're West Ham. Countering or all out directness seems like a draw back rarity but isn't really. Whenever exploitable it will happen but it isn't the end goal he works towards so it isn't the finish of every move. The back and forth overloads are to unrest, fatigue and move the opposition. Force gals, draw cracks and then, if open, a needle pass. Guardiola's idela football is to need as few passes as necessary. It also calms your team. When you conceded don't often expect panic

shit we need to score go go go go

Playing passes between yourselves, moving it, clams the squad and doesn't allow for shocks from the opposition that can cause mistakes. You don't get hectic and concede again straight away. Same goes for she you've scored, by all means he'll try to get another early but first he looks to not make you vulnerable to a reply.

The high line he used straight away with us too, and does at City as well, is a means to

1) win the ball back early. Don't allow build up potential and opportunities. Be in possession = you control and can't concede + forces opponents to do physical work. That's why we'd often score in the second half and late too in his first and second season - they couldn't keep up anymore after ~45-55 minutes even though they were already being outs,sued for longer than that.

2) be closer to the goal. Sounds simple but it's true. You win the ball back high up and you have a short route to target. If you can disrupt the opponent you unrest them and catch them out.

Sometimes it's rocky but it gets you a result 9/10 times and when it clicks it's almost unstoppable (referring to the first paragraph examples).

Using players "out of position" is a utilisation of a players abilities for him. Kim Koch didn't play centre back because he thought he was better than the actual centr back whe had available but because Kimmich had traits or to use a better fit "tools" to fill the hole he saw in the plan he wanted. If he needs a player that can do this and that in one position, he doesn't care if there's a natural player for that spot if he can't do the same thing. Most nominal for that is Messi>Ibrahimovic. I mean, yeah he's the best ever but you get what I mean.

/r/fcbayern Thread