Man City most-used players this season speak volumes about Pep Guardiola overhaul
Pep Roulette is a phrase that has entered the football dictionary in recent years as shorthand for the rotation policy of Pep Guardiola.
Every player at Manchester City knows that they could be dropped at any moment regardless of how well they are playing, either because the manager wants something else for specific opponents, is resting people ahead of tests ahead, or has been impressed with somebody else in the squad. Trying to predict a Guardiola lineup can make cryptic crosswords seem light relief.
Over the course of a season though, the manager will use some players more than others. By the time City were gunning for the Premier League, FA Cup and Champions League, you could pretty much guarantee at least eight players who would start all of the big games and often as many as ten.
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Comparing the players used most by Guardiola last season with the ones he has turned to most says a lot about why performances have looked so different. Erling Haaland is the only outfield player to feature in the top three of both lists, joined last season by Rodri and Ilkay Gundogan and this year by Kyle Walker and Julian Alvarez.
Walker and Alvarez did not make it into the top ten last season, and there are only five names from the start to this season that were also essential to the last campaign: Haaland, Rodri, Manu Akanji, Nathan Ake, and Ruben Dias. Of the other five, Gundogan and Riyad Mahrez have departed, Kevin De Bruyne is out for the long term while Bernardo Silva and Jack Grealish have both seen their campaigns hampered by injury.
That means there are five new names for the top ten this
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