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Manchester Evening News
Manchester Evening News
Sport
Matthew Holt

Pep Guardiola already knew the success behind Man City blueprint

Pep Guardiola has outlined key elements of his footballing blueprint, citing the key to his success at Bayern Munich as a key change in culture.

Manchester City have seen wholesale advances both on and off the pitch, with four Premier League titles as well as four League Cup trophies just some of the achievements the Spaniard has had in England. Given his reputation for being one of the best managers in world football, Guardiola's genius runs deep back to time spent in both Spain and Germany.

Spending three years with German powerhouse Bayern, Guardiola's footballing blueprint was already well established, but he opted for a new venture and did so to great success once more. Overhauling the side's footballing philosophy as also seen at the Etihad, the 51-year-old has spoken extensively about the changes he had to make.

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When asked how much he has to adapt when taking up the role in 2016, he told Viaplay: ''A little bit, especially to the players that you have, no more in the country that it is normal.

''I am not going to Germany to change German football. But Germany is the subject and at the end what counts is which players we have and how we can adapt the process, the process was not that they won't the treble with [Jupp] Heynckes or changing how they think.''

Despite never winning the UEFA Champions League with the Bavarian side, many of Guardiola's key changes were initially poorly received due to the team's previous accomplishments, but he added it was only then could wholesale changes began to be made.

''It was a little bit difficult because they ask why do you change when you have won in the past and it should be like that. But I wasn't there in the past so I don't know what they do and always you cannot convince the players in something you don't believe in, because every manager is different and it takes time to work. I remember we won many games in the first part of the season but we played terribly and it was the fact the amount of quality Bayern players had. It takes time to adapt. ''

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