Pep Guardiola looks to have avoided his Mikel Arteta mistake at Man City

Despite the evidence of his trophy cabinet and the players he has improved, Pep Guardiola will rarely accept praise publicly for any of his achievements. As he says, he has never scored a goal or made a save at Manchester City.

Guardiola obviously does not want to take the credit for the work of his players however big his contribution is, but the manager also recognises his coaching staff. There is a hell of a lot of work that goes into preparing each match of the season that cannot be done alone.

It does not take long in the presence of Domenec Torrent, the man who was Guardiola's No.2 at Barcelona, Bayern and for the first two years at City, to appreciate how much the manager leans on his backroom staff. Torrent was a calm voice of reason to bounce off Guardiola, with the pair putting together detailed tactical plans for every Premier League game against the backdrop of smooth jazz at the club's training ground.

Also read: Guardiola picks new No2 as Maresca completes Man City backroom staff

When his longtime smooth operator left for New York City FC in 2018, it was a risk for Guardiola not to replace him but he felt that there was enough potential in Mikel Arteta after two years working together for the former Arsenal midfielder to step up. Another league title followed, but cracks were showing by the summer of 2019 and when Arteta left for the Emirates later that year they only got wider.

Part of Guardiola's genius is the ability to delegate, to listen, and to be swayed by opinions that are not his own, so when he failed to replace Arteta as well as Torrent that meant he had two fewer voices that he implicitly trusted to guide him. Those close to the manager feel it was no wonder it was during this time when the