Pep Guardiola sarcastically addressed his title as an 'overthinker' ahead of Manchester City’s Champions League clash with Atletico Madrid this week. The City boss has been criticised in the past for a number of his decisions in relation to team selection and tactics ahead of crucial clashes in the competition.
But Guardiola was sardonic in responding to his critics. “In the Champions League, I always overthink. I always create new tactics and ideas, and tomorrow you will see a new one. I overthink a lot; that’s why I have very good results in the Champions League. I love it.
"It would be boring if I always played the same way. If people think I will play the same against Atletico and Liverpool, well, I don’t think like that because the movements from Liverpool are completely different than Atlético – especially because the players are all different.
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“Every player has a mother and father and the mother and father give different personalities to the players. That’s why I love to overthink and create stupid tactics and, when we don’t win, I am punished. Tonight I will take inspiration and I’m going to do incredible tactics tomorrow – we play with 12 tomorrow.”
Although Guardiola’s response was derisory, his comments in relation to varying styles between Atletico and Liverpool are important. Both will have hugely varied approaches to their matches with City. And while Guardiola will be more familiar with Liverpool’s approach, he’ll certainly be wary of Atletico’s.
It’s not clear whether the criticism aimed his way might impact how he approaches the game, but you’d expect City to maintain the same dominating style that they do in most fixtures. However, there’s no denying that Atletico tend to represent the kryptonite to such tactics and their robust approach has thwarted many great footballing sides in the past.
In fact, Guardiola himself has been a victim of Diego Simeone in this competition before. His Atletico team eliminated Bayern Munich in the 2015/16 semi-finals (2-2 on aggregate), progressing via away goals. It was a typical Simeone display across both games. Atletico averaged just 27 per cent possession and scored both goals from a combined 18 shots. Bayern, on the other hand, scored the same number of goals despite dominating the ball and accumulating 53 attempts on goal.
Many will expect similar tactics from the Spanish champions on Tuesday night, meaning a slight adjustment to City’s approach could be key to victory. Guardiola will undoubtedly be keen to avoid playing into the ‘overthinker’ tag, yet trying to find a way to draw the visitors up the pitch to create more space to exploit will be crucial.
This of course won’t be new information to Guardiola, and comments he made in relation to the Spanish champions’ style of play hint that he’s aware the team become a more attacking outfit once out of their own half. “I think after watching Atletico, there is a misconception about the way he plays. It’s more offensive than people could believe. He doesn’t want to take the risk in the build-up but they have quality and play really well in the final third.”
Consequently, we may see City allow Atletico more opportunities to move higher up with the ball, knowing the game should open up more when they do so — which should play into City’s strengths. And although this is a variation on how they usually play — something Guardiola has been criticised for in the past — the reality is the same could be crucial to securing an important first-leg victory.
