Pep Guardiola has won six Premier League titles and the Champions League during his time at Manchester City, and Joleon Lescott has opened up on his relationship with the iconic coach
Former Manchester City defender Joleon Lescott has revealed that Pep Guardiola possesses a remarkably warm personality away from the spotlight. The 54-year-old mastermind arrived at the Etihad in 2016 carrying enormous expectations, yet has exceeded them all.
He's secured six Premier League crowns and lifted the Champions League during his time in Manchester, alongside numerous other honours. The previous campaign proved unusually barren regarding trophies, with City now determined to reclaim their throne through another title charge this term.
They secured a 1-1 stalemate against fellow challengers Arsenal last weekend, with Guardiola notably abandoning his trademark attacking philosophy for a more cautious approach. City managed merely 33.2 per cent of possession during the encounter.
Former City centre-back Lescott, who never featured under Guardiola but knows him personally, has revealed insights into his compassionate character and the surprising tactics employed against the Gunners.
Speaking on In The Mixer, brought to you by Sky Bet, Lescott said: "I think people who are that good at what they do, managers, have that aura. I find him very friendly to be fair.
"I've only interviewed him once, but the majority of the times that I've seen him, he's been very relaxed. I've said it to him before, but I'm never trying to talk football with him."
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Lescott went on to insist that Guardiola's plan wasn't to sit back against Arsenal, but that the match simply unfolded in a manner that required the tactical switch. The boss withdrew goalscorer Erling Haaland with 15 minutes remaining but couldn't maintain their slender advantage.
He explained: "That's the way the game panned out. [Being so defensive] wasn't their game plan because the game plan was to be aggressive and to have the ball.
"No one could anticipate the possession stats, but you can look at them and say, 'This is what his intention was to do, and that's dominate possession, which is what it would normally do.'"
Lescott also highlighted that it's rare for Guardiola to name an unchanged starting XI for three consecutive fixtures, demonstrating how he tailors his approach: "His personnel: He picked the same team three times in a row, which isn't normal. So he was trying to build confidence."
When quizzed about his approach against the Gunners, Guardiola himself declared: "I prefer us to regain the ball high up the pitch, [have] a lot of possession to disturb the structure of the opponents and try to punish them.
"It's always been like that and always will be like that. If it doesn't happen it is because we were bad, not because we want to [be defensive].
"When we won the Premier League we were a boring team, right? So that's why I said, 'OK, I'm going to make more counterattacks this season.' Maybe the players in the future can talk about how much I've changed this season. You can ask them – I think it's completely the same."
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