Erling Haaland can continue the evolution of Man City's unexpected new identity

Ask any football fan to describe Pep Guardiola's Manchester City and the same words and phrases will likely come up: possession, intricate passing, positional play, attractive, goals and maybe even the dreaded 'tiki-taka'.

The current incarnation of Pep's City which just won a fourth Premier League title in five years is arguably the one closest aligned to Guardiola's footballing principles. City are dominating possession more than ever before, pinning opponents in their own half by employing an extremely high defensive line.

This season City played with a fluid front-three, with the two number eights joining them to form a front five whenever City attacked. There was less speed and fewer counter-attacks than in 2017/18 and 2018/19, but more patience and domination.

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Guardiola often deployed a false nine instead of a striker and had his full-backs tuck in to create a 2-3-5 formation when in possession. These are not new ploys for Guardiola, but his City team had never before done them all at once.

However, there was a trait that City developed over the course of the season seldom associated with Guardiola teams. City, on more than one occasion, became the pantomime villain. City dabbled in the 'dark arts' like never before.

The new character trait first became noticeable on New Year's Day, when after scoring a last-minute and frankly undeserved winner away at Arsenal, Rodri celebrated by goading the home fans, shirtless knee-slide and all. He could have easily run to the travelling City fans in celebration, but instead, he chose chaos.

A few months later, after Atletico Madrid had tried their best to agitate City at the Etihad Stadium, the Blues