Forgotten Man City game when Pep Guardiola regained belief stolen by 'copy-paste' Antonio Conte

Pep Guardiola knows all about trends and fashions in football, in part because he’s been the trendiest, most fashionable coach of the past decade.

“In world football copy-paste is quite usual. The manager of the team who won, everyone wants to play in that way,” he said at his Friday press conference.

This is certainly true, with coaches across the globe seeking to mimic aspects of the positional play model he has refined to near perfection across spells with Barcelona, Bayern Munich and now Manchester City.

But Guardiola was not talking about himself. At that stage of the briefing, he was lavishing praise upon Tottenham boss and weekend opponent Antonio Conte.

“When he arrived, his impact was clear. Many teams started to play five at the back,” he said of Conte’s triumphant arrival in English football in 2016/17, when the Italian steered a dominant Chelsea to the Premier League title.

Although you’d never think this of a man who wears his footballing ideals so proudly, Guardiola himself was perhaps a little guilty of hitting Ctrl+C at this time,

When Chelsea came from behind to claim a statement 3-1 win over City at the Etihad Stadium in December 2016, the hosts started with three at the back.

John Stones lined up alongside Nicolas Otamendi and Aleksandr Kolarov at centre-back. Throw in Jesus Navas and Leroy Sane as the wing-backs and the whole setup looks about as secure as your Storm Eunice-battered garden fence does right now.

Of course, Pep didn’t simply look towards the King's Road for the latest fashion trends. At Bayern, he had become a more experimental coach who dabbled in various formations and unveiled innovations such as his inverted full-backs ploy.

But, at a time when City look so assured, so