A lot can change over the course of the season.
Who would have thought back in sunny August that nine months later Manchester City would no longer be playing with traditional full-backs after having two of the best in the league? That Arsenal would be gunning for the title? That Joao Cancelo would leave for Bayern Munich? That Nathan Ake would be one of the first names on the team sheet or that 18-year-old Rico Lewis would become a fully-fledged member of the squad?
City have probably changed more throughout the last year than any of the previous six since Pep Guardiola took over. Erling Haaland's introduction has been the catalyst and the Blues boss now implements a whole new, better-than-ever system. It's no surprise then that opinions and stances on certain matters can change as well.
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For Guardiola, he has made a near-complete 180 on the matter of his penalty takers. For a manager who is so analytical and hyper-detailed in every aspect of the game, penalties were the one exception to the rule. Despite them being so important, Guardiola seemed not to give them much consideration and had a very laissez-faire attitude as to who got to take them.
This is even more surprising given how unreliable City have been from the spot during his reign. After Riyad Mahrez missed his second spot kick in a row when he failed to convert against Borussia Dortmund in October, City had missed 25 of the 80 penalties awarded to them while Guardiola has been in charge.
That was the worst record of any Premier League team during that time and a conversion rate of 68.75 per cent was dramatically below the usual 85 per cent chance of scoring from the spot. Guardiola admitted it was a problem: "Of course it's a problem, We have missed 24 or 25 penalties since I've been here - most of them in the Champions League. It's too much," he told BT Sport. "I always admire the courage to take them, but of course we miss a lot of penalties."
Since then things had been going much better. Mahrez has scored his last three, Julian Alvarez has grabbed two and Erling Haaland has added another six to take his tally to eight. But it has reared its ugly head once more.
In a rare sign of normalcy, Haaland skied one against Bayern Munich, another Champions League miss, but the real issue came in Saturday's win over Leeds United. Ilkay Gundogan had scored City's two goals and when a penalty was won late on, Haaland handed him the ball to get his first hat-trick.
Guardiola was already fuming that the Norwegian sensation wasn't taking it and his head nearly fell clean off when Gundogan hit the post before Leeds pulled one back moments later. It made the final minutes of an otherwise stroll of a match unnecessarily uncomfortable. The manager explained his anger afterwards: "Who knows if Erling takes the penalty and misses? What happens if Riyad takes the penalty and misses?" Guardiola asked.
"What happens if Ilkay Gundogan takes the penalty and scores? The question is if it's 2-0, who is the taker? The taker is Erling or Riyad, has to take it. Second point is that it shows how is Erling as a person. He wants to score goals, but at the same time the team, the mates are so important.
"He had chances to score, he didn't convert but at the same time, he was outstanding. But at 2-0 especially in England, the game never is over. I wanted the taker to take it, they have more routine and specialist. That means if Erling or Riyad take a penalty, he is going to score? Maybe not. Who knows.
"At 2-0 you have to close it. You don't have to give anything. If you can control you have to control. Saying that, Gundo could have scored, other ones could have missed. It's not about that. I admire that Gundo wanted to take the responsibility to take the penalty. That is the best value as a player. Normally the taker is the taker, Erling has to take it, he's the specialist."
This stance is a far cry from Guardiola's relaxed attitude before the season had even begun. Ahead of the opening match against West Ham, he was asked if a penalty taker had been settled upon after his side's struggles with them. "Last season we improve. The quality of our penalties, in the past we miss a lot. Last season Riyad was exceptional, he missed the last one but in general he was good. They will decide. As much the taker when you walk up, one decision, the rest is not important."
Leaving a decision up to the players stood in such stark contrast to the way he micromanagers everything else. This a manager who called over two players for detailed instructions before the game had even begun on Wednesday. It's surprising his stance lasted so long.
Guardiola has gone from not caring much about who takes a penalty to being apoplectic when a designated taker gives it up. A lot can certainly change and it just shows how much pressure City are under.
The Blues are in a remarkable position to be able to make a historic treble, to equal their rivals' greatest accomplishment, a reality. But just one slip-up could be costly and destroy those dreams. When you're so close you can almost taste it, the thought of being denied is excruciating.
If it wasn't already clear enough, Guardiola has made it crystal: every single match is important and there is no room for error, complacency or sentimentality.
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