EPL 2017/18: 5 reasons why Manchester City won't win the title this season

#3 No regista

Lack of a good regista could shackle Pep's ideology

Pep Guardiola teams of the past have all portrayed beautiful football through their passing. The way they circulate the ball around the pitch beggars belief as opposing teams struggle work out their passing patterns.

To implement such a brand of football, Pep Guardiola needs a regista in his team to conduct the midfield. At Barcelona, he had Sergio Busquets and at Bayern Munich, he had Xabi Alonso, at Manchester City he doesn't really have one. The closest anyone comes to the aforementioned duo is Ilkay Gundogan, but his injury record is abysmal.

City can own as many attacking players as they like, if there’s no one in the middle to help control the flow of play, it will be rendered useless. Registas sit in between the midfield and defensive lines, helping to circulate the ball around the team at a pace that aims to catch the opposing team out.