Friday 19 August 2016 16:38, UK
Pep Guardiola’s first Premier League away game as Manchester City head coach takes him to Stoke City. It’s styled by some as the ultimate test for the man who made tiki-taka famous but things are not that simple, writes Adam Bate.
It has been newly-rebranded as the Bet365 Stadium this summer, but there is still something refreshingly old-school about the home of Stoke City. Unlikely as it might seem for a ground not yet 20 years old, over the past decade this 28,000-seater stadium just off the A50 has become perhaps the most evocative venue in the Premier League.
It conjures images of a small pitch with big throws, raucous crowds cheering away, and the country's most famous clubs getting bloody nose after bloody nose. It all began with a win over Aston Villa in 2008 and the hits just keep on coming. Next year will even see the release of a book on Premier League tactics entitled A Wet and Windy Night at Stoke.
Tottenham, Arsenal and Manchester City were all beaten at the Brit in Stoke's first Premier League campaign and City haven't found it much easier since. They didn't win at Stoke until the seventh attempt and were beaten again there in December. For that reason among others, it's the ideal setting for Pep Guardiola's first taste of a Premier League away day.
It's not difficult to detect an appetite to see Guardiola left perplexed by the challenge. Indeed, some seem to be salivating at the prospect. This is the real test, they'll say. It's one thing to put continental opponents on the carousel but now it's time for a go on the bumper cars in the Potteries. This is the real test. Welcome to the Premier League.
What's less likely to be acknowledged is that Guardiola himself is excited by it as well. He has long been fascinated by English football and been more than open about this curiosity. Conversations with the likes of Xabi Alonso have only added to his sense of anticipation. "They all said it's tough," admitted Guardiola. "I don't know why. That's what I want to discover."
He got his first taste of it against Sunderland, needing a late Paddy McNair own goal to get the points. "I realised how difficult it is, definitely," said Guardiola afterwards. "You are not safe until the referee says, 'OK, go home'. Long ball, free-kick, long ball, throw-in and the ball in the box, tall guys, second balls… I can imagine the last five minutes in an away game."
And so to Stoke then. But Guardiola will find they are no longer the identikit Premier League scrappers. Long balls might be expected but it's worth noting that Mark Hughes's men hit fewer of them (42) than any other side on the opening weekend. This is a team that's moved so far beyond the cliché that even the irony of labelling them Stokelona feels tired.
Stoke played more short passes than ever in 2015/16, their passing accuracy improving for the eighth season in a row. During Hughes's days at Blackburn, Guardiola's former signing Cesc Fabregas was indignant at the supposed betrayal of the Barca way, but the man who was a Nou Camp ball-boy when Hughes arrived in 1986 may find things rather more familiar.
It was Guardiola who gave Stoke defender Marc Muniesa his professional debut at Barcelona. Potters forward Bojan was in the squad for both of Guardiola's Champions League wins as a coach. Ibrahim Afellay, the injured midfielder, was signed by Guardiola's Barca in 2011. The Dutchman is convinced that his former boss will thrive.
He's one of the best coaches in the world.
"He's one of the best coaches in the world," Afellay told Sky Sports earlier this year. "He showed it at Barcelona, he showed it at Bayern Munich and, for sure, he will show it as well at City. He is busy with football 24 hours, seven days a week. He loves the game so much, and there are so many things that he does. He's an incredible coach."
Xherdan Shaqiri, Stoke's scorer at Middlesbrough on the opening day, played for Guardiola at Bayern and is not so sure it'll be straightforward for his old boss. "Next season will be a very tough season," Shaqiri told Sky Sports this summer. "In Germany you only have two or three teams who are good, whereas in England now every team is tough to play."
In Germany you only have two or three teams who are good, whereas in England now every team is tough to play.
Stoke will certainly be tough. But they don't necessarily represent a unique challenge these days either. And it's worth remembering that this is a two-way journey of discovery too. Judging by Manchester City's midweek hammering of Steaua Bucharest, Guardiola is likely to pose as many problems for the Premier League as the Premier League will pose for him.
