Guardiola talks about the current situation of Manchester City: Building a long-term plan and creating a lineup system for the next few seasons

In the second round of the Premier League, Manchester City suffered its first league defeat this season. After losing to Tottenham 0-2 at the Etihad Stadium, coach Guardiola turned his attention to a further future. After the game, he made it clear that the club is building a long-term plan: "We are building a lineup system for the next few seasons, and this team will take time to grow and evolve."

In the game against Tottenham, four new players in Manchester City made their debut, including goalkeeper James Trafford, left-back Rayan Ait Nuri, midfielder Tijani Ryandes and attacker Rayan Cherki. Tottenham secured the victory with a first-half goal from Brennan Johnson and Joao Palinia. Data shows that this is the sixth time since Guardiola coached Manchester City, the team has fallen behind by two goals or more in the Premier League at home halftime, and Tottenham has three of them exclusively (including January 2023, November 2024 and this game). This loss also left Guardiola with his 10th loss to Tottenham for the 10th time in his coaching career, tying his loss record against Liverpool.

"The players have excellent training performance, and I have no blame." Guardiola analyzed after the game, "We have energy and quality, but today there are problems in the basic link. These will improve as the game progresses." He pointed out the problem of tactical execution: "We need to maintain the continuity of passing, and it is impossible to complete the attack with three or four passes. There is something lacking in this area today, that's all." For the team building planning, Guardiola showed strategic determination: "This will be a team that will serve the next few years. After the league is over next week, with the arrival of international match day, we will continue to move forward with the existing lineup framework."