This truism haunted the ultimate shock‑and‑awe manager, Pep Guardiola, as Manchester City sleepwalked out of the Champions League. Guardiola also declared attack, attack and more attack is the only way City will win the Champions League under him. All guns blazing constantly is an admirable philosophy and not a million miles from the mantra of Guardiola’s predecessor, Manuel Pellegrini. The damning bottom line is that in the biggest game of Guardiola’s reign his blueprint just did not work and City froze. The front five had been anonymous: Sané, Agüero, Silva, De Bruyne and Sterling are supposed to dictate any contest but it had passed them by.

Source: The Guardian March 15, 2017 22:19 UTC