Cult hero football manager Tony Pulis has been hailed as the grandfather of modern Premier League football by Pep Guardiola.
This season, tiki-taka football is well and truly dead, replaced by a direct, route-one style of play.
It’s a style previously adopted by the bottom teams in the league, who would park the bus early in a game and play for a 1-0 win or 0-0 draw. Now, even teams like Manchester City are playing this way, with aerial passes lobbed up to striker Erling Haaland.
Pulis, 67, previously managed the likes of Stoke City and West Brom, masterminding the art of long-ball football.
Now, Man City boss Guardiola has praised Pulis for bringing this style to England’s top-flight, and insisted that while he won’t change his own principles he is happy to switch up his tactics.
Ahead of tonight’s (October 29) Carabao Cup clash against Swansea City, Guardiola said: “I remember a long time ago with Sean Dyche, Burnley were an incredible threat in the long balls, second balls. Dyche is one of the best by far doing these kind of aspects. It’s not new, he did it before. I remember when I was not here, Stoke City.
“Do you remember Stoke City when they made the throws? It happened in that time. Now it’s just more and more teams doing that but then maybe Stoke was the exception. I remember when I was at Barcelona and Bayern Munich, Arsene Wenger talked about going to play at Stoke City but now it happens a lot of times.
“Every manager does what they believe. I’m focused on that. I want to score from free-kicks and corners - I’m not naive, I want it - but I spend my time on what we have to do to play better, attack better and create chances, to score goals. Defensively you have to be more aggressive.
“All the aspects of the game I see. Of course I pay attention but I know I’m not the manager to try to; it’s what I’ve done all my career.”
With a packed schedule up until the end of the year, Guardiola plans to rotate his squad for tonight’s game. Teen midfielder Divine Mukasa, 18, joins the first team for the trip to Swansea, while James Trafford starts in goal. Rodri remains sidelined.
Marmoush is set for his first start since August, with Haaland expected to rest.
“Omar and Erling can play together,” Guardiola added. “We need width, but also players close to Erling to attack the spaces between defenders. Omar brings that energy - he’s the best for it.”
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