Beware: Pep's competitive juices are well and truly flowing

It took just a few minutes of that penalty shoot-out victory over Manchester United on Saturday to make us realise the competitive juices still flow like Niagara Falls in a rainstorm.

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola celebrates after winning the FA Community Shield. Pic: Nick Potts/PA Wire.

EXPERIENCED Pep Guardiola watchers thought we had encountered a more relaxed version of the intense Catalan coach during a pre-season sweep through the USA and build-up to the Community Shield.

It took just a few minutes of that penalty shoot-out victory over Manchester United on Saturday to make us realise the competitive juices - and there is an argument that they are unmatched in the modern football arena - still flow like Niagara Falls in a rainstorm.

Water bottles up and down the country certainly will not be safe, judging by the way he launched one into the stand at Wembley and ranted at his goalkeeper coach Xabi Mancisido as the half-time whistle blew against United, presumably because Ederson had just booted the ball into touch instead of playing a precise pass to a teammate.

When we last saw Guardiola on this soil, after a win over West Ham clinched a record fourth consecutive league title in May, he looked spent, barely able to raise a smile despite completing an achievement that no other manager in history has done.

“In the summer I am drained but when I arrive at the start of training sessions and play some games in pre-season and see what we can do differently or what suits one player better than the others … let's go!” said Guardiola before the Wembley win. 

“I don't have to run so I can sustain the situation.” 

Perhaps Guardiola can see light at the end of the tunnel, as he enters the final year on his City contract, and is taking time to savour the achievement of having won the title in six of his eight Premier League campaigns.

Only three times in his 15 seasons in top flight management has Guardiola NOT won the title - once with Barcelona in 2012 and twice with City - a mark that is almost incomprehensible, even given the players and resources he has had at his disposal.

But the new season offers all sorts of new challenges for the 53-year-old.

The central one is the fact that City are committed to playing in the wretched vanity, and money-making, project that is the FIFA World Club Cup to be held in the USA for a month next summer.

It means that, in the Community Shield, City embarked on a season that will last for 48 weeks from start to finish and will test Guardiola’s powers of man-management to the full. 

With one eye on that, his Spain and England players who were on duty in this summer’s Euros Final did not even return to training until two days ago and may not be involved at Chelsea on Sunday when City start the march towards what would be an incredible fifth straight championship.

Guardiola often tries to phase international players back into his squad after giving them summer breaks, admitting it often condemns City to slow starts to the campaign. 

That phenomenon may be even more exaggerated this time around.

The summer FIFA competition, which will run from June 15 to July 13, also presents a fascinating dilemma when it comes to Guardiola’s own future. 

If he is to leave City at the end of his contract, that would come during the competition and, while a two-week extension would be a routine matter, Guardiola’s successor would have barely three weeks to prepare for the new Premier League season once that tournament is complete.

The smart money, therefore, may well be that Guardiola will sign a one-year extension during this current campaign although that is just one of many issues for City to resolve.

In the shorter term, they have to find a replacement for Julian Alvarez, sold to Atletico Madrid in a canny deal that made City £81.5 million. Management have also done their usual incredible job of selling off fringe players for eye-watering fees this summer. 

So far, seven have left for a total of around £73 million. A club that is hardly cash-poor, could have around £150 million burning a hole in their accounting ledger.

Big things are expected of the young Brazilian Savinho, parked in the City Football Group with “farm” clubs Girona and Troyes before moving to the Etihad this summer. 

But for the first time ever this summer, Guardiola has spoken openly of the desire to spend, even if he may leave it late in the window to avoid paying a “City tax”. 

“That is why we will see the chances at the end of the market if a club needs to sell more than now for example,” said Guardiola.

“So I don’t know now. Coming to the market and knowing that we make a good transfer (market) in terms of finances with Julian, people are waiting with the red carpet, waiting to say ‘come, come here!’ and that is why you have to see what happens.

“Because the club has done well in the past. Many players didn’t come because the club didn’t pay what the other club wanted for that player. The club will continue to do what is fair."

A striker, to replace Alvarez, or holding midfielder as cover for Rodri, remain priorities and Newcastle’s Bruno Guimaraes, Eberechi Eze of Palace, Real Madrid’s Rodrygo, Brentford’s Ivan Toney and even Bayern pair Jamal Musiala and Joshua Kimmich have all been mentioned as potential targets.

When such targets are mentioned, little wonder those competitive juices are starting to fire up within the City manager and, whatever the outcome of what still might be his final season in England, he and his team promise to be a riveting watch.