Guardiola’s Epic Saga of Musical Midfielders…
Imagine Pep Guardiola with a magnifying glass, like Sherlock Holmes in a Catalonian cardigan, trying to unravel a nine-month middle-of-the-pitch mystery. Seven brave players have donned the invisible cape of Manchester City’s elusive number six, not including Rodri, mind you, who must have felt like a celebrity missing at their own party. Alas, with just five games left in this football-o-logically wacky season, Pep’s proverbial midfield treasure chest is still missing its key jewel.
Picture it: young Kalvin Phillips, the ÂŁ42 million signing who might as well have been on holiday in a tiki bar rather than in Pep’s tactical workshop during pre-season. Guardiola’s Orlando grilling almost had Kalvin donning oven mitts — “Good in space, but close the walls, and poof goes the magic!” Meanwhile, young Nico O’Reilly, swinging from his number ten treehouse to holding midfield, even dabbled in left-back wizardry along the way, scoring against Barcelona like a plot twist in a football fairytale.
Enter Mateo Kovacic, the midfield rubber band who stretched, twisted, and occasionally snapped in every direction. Whispering sweet football nothings to the press stateside about his comfort with a midfield buddy, only to revel in chaos when left solo. Bernardo Silva, that tireless jack-of-all-pitches, reminded everyone he can play in whatever midfield role is deemed least fashionable at the time. This midfield carousel spins on, as Pep flips through his tactics like a magician hoping to pull a rabbit out of a hat — or at least, a Rodri out of tactical oblivion. Can Pep solve this riddle before the season’s end? Watch this space… or whatever space remains, once they find it!
