Pep Guardiola’s Man City won the treble but he has traded control for chaos in an attempt to stay ahead of the game

Manchester City are no longer pressing or keeping possession as they once did as Pep Guardiola embraces Jeremy Doku’s dribbling instead. Will it work? Watch Man City vs Liverpool live on Sky Sports Premier League this Saturday; kick-off 12.30pm

Comment and Analysis @ghostgoal

Thursday 23 November 2023 09:41, UK

“I wake up today and say Jeremy.” That was Pep Guardiola’s explanation for selecting Jeremy Doku ahead of Jack Grealish at Chelsea. “It is true,” he insisted to Sky Sports before kick-off. But the change at Manchester City is more fundamental than that.

A team that conquered the country and Europe with its strangling possession game has evolved again as Pep Guardiola adjusts to the team's changing personnel and tries to anticipate the new challenges that City will face as they aim to hang on to their title.

Doku's interpretation of that left-wing role is just one example. It is significantly different to the way that Grealish had been coached to play it in the previous two seasons. He is a compulsive dribbler, recently revealing that he dreams about dribbling in his sleep.

So far this Premier League season, he is attempting 8.43 dribbles per 90 minutes, far more than any other player in the competition. The contrast with Grealish — 2.48 attempted dribbles per 90 minutes — is stark. They are performing different functions for the team.

Nothing illustrated that more clearly than Grealish's performance when replacing Doku just before the hour mark at Stamford Bridge. He soon overtook Doku's pass total in the match, attempting nine passes for every dribble instead of Doku's two.

It was Guardiola trying, and ultimately failing, to restore some order to a match that his team struggled to control. That has been