Phil Foden Reveals Guardiola’s Secret Behind City’s Togetherness

Phil Foden reveals underrated Pep Guardiola trait that has been key to Man City success

Many factors contributed to Manchester City’s Premier League title triumph last season, but Phil Foden believes that one overlooked factor is team unity and togetherness. For that, Pep Guardiola is to thank.

There is a general assumption that Guardiola is a cold-hearted kind of manager, one who is so laser-focused on the task at hand that he has no time for sentimentality or enjoyment. While it is true that working with the Catalan coach can prove physically and mentally draining for players, that generalisation could not be further from the truth.

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Speaking at the premiere of City TV‘s ‘Together: Champions Again!‘ documentary series, Foden revealed that creating togetherness and team spirit is a key part of Guardiola‘s managerial style.

“He’s really good at it, bringing everyone together. We have a big squad and everyone has to be ready to play. You see that all year round, everyone has to be ready to step up. Everyone sticking together in moments like those is so important and that’s why we win a lot of trophies.”

The moments that Foden was referring to are ones like the final day of the Premier League season when City found themselves 0-2 down to Aston Villa with the title slipping away.

İlkay Gündoğan celebrating late title winning goal vs Aston Villa

Knowing they had to win to guarantee pipping Liverpool to the title, the players rallied to pull off a remarkable comeback win. The 3-2 victory sparked comparisons to the final day of the 2011/12 season, even if it wasn’t quite so dramatic and stress-inducing. Regardless, Foden said he’d always rather win the league in heroic circumstances.

“I believe it’s better to win like that, the Aguero moment where I was in the stands is the same,” he said.

“Playing and living through a game like that is special to me and I think it felt better to win that game the way we did it. I’ve not watched the game back yet. Maybe in the future I’ll watch these games back and realise how well we’ve done, winning the trophies we have and been there as a team.”