Ranking Guardiola's 18 seasons as manager: Which c...
Key takeaways
- But any hopes that this announcement would spur City to one last Premier League title push were quickly quashed when City drew with Bournemouth, allowing Arsenal to clinch the title.
- After 21 trophies in 10 seasons, however, one more might have seemed superfluous.
- He defined an entire era of the game, but he was obsessed with figuring out where the game would head next.
Why this matters: a sports story that could shift standings, legacies, or fan conversations.
But any hopes that this announcement would spur City to one last Premier League title push were quickly quashed when City drew with Bournemouth, allowing Arsenal to clinch the title.
After 21 trophies in 10 seasons, however, one more might have seemed superfluous. Guardiola is the Premier League's second-most successful manager behind only Sir Alex Ferguson, and his influence on the game surpasses even his successes.
Guardiola is the rarest of sports figures. He defined an entire era of the game, but he was obsessed with figuring out where the game would head next. His positional, heavy-possession style became the default template for basically every rich club in Europe -- including the three he coached, Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Man City -- but as the game adapted to his innovation, he was fervent in adapting to the adaptations. As disciplined as he required his players to be in their assignments, by the end of his time in Manchester, he had acquired maybe the deepest set of dribblers and one-vs.-one maestros in Europe.