Pep talks – how Klopp’s ex-assistant is shaping Man City

Manchester City signed five new players this summer for less than £150m, but Pep Guardiola’s biggest signing did not cost any of that, and he won’t play any football either.

The second-most significant player from Jurgen Klopp’s time, Liverpool, became Guardiola’s right-hand man at Manchester City in early June.

Really, it should have been a bigger story because Guardiola is considering undergoing a significant tactical overhaul with the addition of Pep Lijnders, who is credited with providing the majority of Klopp’s day-to-day training and a significant portion of the German’s tactical evolution post-Borussia Dortmund.

What’s even more impressive is that those tactical adjustments were made with the significant input of a coach who collaborated with Klopp on concepts like counter-pressing and attacking in vertical lines and on ideas that served as Guardiola’s renowned positional play.

Mind, that contrast is frequently overstated. Both Guardiola and Klopp borrowed from one another, and their combined victories at Liverpool and Man City almost seem to converge into one perfect fusion of Guardiola’s dynamism and control.

Guardiola used Klopp’s ideas to adapt to the rough-and-tumble of Premier League life, while Klopp’s “heavy metal” football was tempered by an appreciation of territorial dominance.

Lijnders, like Klopp, is much more concerned with the opportunities that arise when the ball changes hands and the aggressive, high-voltage attacking football than Guardiola.

Guardiola’s territorial suffocation used to sever inferior opponents, but as middle-class teams improved, those who were brave enough to press hard and disrupt the build-up play began to reap rewards.

They literally pushed back until the division was flooded with transitions made in the most effective way, and Guardiola struggled to keep things in check with their slow passing and rigid positioning.

Pep Guardiola once told TNT Sports, “Today, modern football is the way Bournemouth, Newcastle, Brighton, and Liverpool play.” Football in the modern era is not positional. You must follow the rhythm.

That’s a big statement from a man whose tactical philosophy of “positional play” has pretty much defined the sport’s past 15 years, but it’s accurate.

Guardiola was already beginning to experiment with a subtly more direct style of play when he made those remarks about contemporary football.

When City’s possession rate was compared to that of their 2023-24 and 24-25 campaigns, the total number of fast breaks increased by 36%, while City’s possession share decreased from 65.5% to 61.3%.

More notable was Ederson’s use of long balls to obstruct the opposition’s high press and the January signing of Omar Marmoush’s direct dribbling through the lines.

According to what people, Marmoush was Man City 2.0’s first signing, the rebuild that will move Guardiola, Lijnders, and City in a more Klopp-like direction. Since then, more players have followed that type.

Both signings, like Marmoush, point to more passing triangles and more neatly choreographed passing triangles due to the arrivals of Rayan Cherki and Tijjani Reijnders from Lyon and AC Milan, respectively.

To put it another way, Cherki, Reijnders, and Marmoush are the players who like to ride the rhythm.

Because Guardiola has largely deployed central midfielders or centre-backs in the full-back positions over the past two seasons, an obvious nod to control, order, and discipline, the signing of Rayan Ait-Nouri also makes an allusion to Klopp-esque or Lijnders-esque football.

One of Europe’s most vicious fullbacks is Ait-Nouri. He placed second in the Premier League last season (63) and sixth in full-backs for progressive carries (89), which is comparable to the other three 2025 signings we have discussed.

He also placed among the top three defenders in terms of touches in the opposition box (96) and expected assists (5.5%), which was even more impressive.

Ait-Nouri’s arrival indicates that Guardiola has given up on bringing midfielders into the team and is allowing for more urgent, vertical football.

Manchester City fans can stop worrying about their team’s slow, passive football in favor of a dynamic attacking pair like Ait-Nouri and Jeremy Doku working together on the left or how Marmoush and Cherki will fit into the same attacking midfield space.

Before the 2025-26 Premier League campaign kicks off, they will undoubtedly have more questions than answers because the majority of their newcomers, both on and off the pitch, don’t typically fit the Pep mold.