How Pep Guardiola has recreated ‘total football’ to make Man City the clear best team in the world

Amongst cries of “overthinking” from critics, Pep Guardiola has overhauled Manchester City’s tactics to bring the side to a level of form that the world of football has not seen in years. But what has led to this point? The story goes back further than you might think. <img alt="" src="https://miro.medium.com/v2/resize:fit:700/0*ErcjGAdhkGGoWfXf.jpg" style="height:394px; width:700px" /> <h1>Total Football</h1> Like many of the greatest football stories, this one just might start with Johan Cruyff. One of the game’s greatest players and managers, the Dutchman is best known for his days at Ajax and Barcelona at the club level, and his of course, his career for the Netherlands. Cruyff’s connections with Pep start at Barcelona, where he would manage the Spaniard during his playing career from 1989–1996. Cruyff is often hailed as the inventor of many of the pillars of <a href="https://www.eurosport.com/football/johan-cruyff-s-legacy-the-whole-of-modern-football_sto5368491/story.shtml" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">modern football</a>. In the 1990’s, his Barcelona team laid the groundwork for the era of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiki-taka" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">tiki-taka</a>, which would be made famous by Guardiola’s Barcelona side, featuring Lionel Messi, Andres Iniesta, and Xavi Hernandez. <a href="https://lzylstra.medium.com/how-pep-guardiola-has-recreated-total-football-to-make-man-city-the-clear-best-team-in-the-world-434eccc9843d">Visit Now</a>