A full breakdown of Guardiola’s Centurions system and an accurate FM26
tactical recreation with roles, instructions and testing results.
After departing FC Barcelona in 2012, Pep Guardiola took a year away from management before joining German giants, Bayern Munich. His time at the Bavarian club was both immaculate and underwhelming, however, it was in Munich where Pep Guardiola would continue developing his tactical ideology and refine his strategy. Later in this four-part mini-series, we’ll touch on his Bayern Munich days a bit further. However, for now, let’s look at his time with Manchester City, of which is still ongoing…
In 2016, Pep Guardiola would wave goodbye to German football, as he joined Manchester City as the club’s heir to Manuel Pellegrini, in a move that seemed almost inevitable for a number of years prior.
Pep’s first season in England would provide quite the learning curve, allowing him to get to grips with the intense, physical nature of the league and develop a masterplan for the 2017/18 season.
In 17/18, City were imperiously dominant, achieving 100 points in the Premier League, a record-high, and winning the Premier League for the very first time in Pep’s managerial career.
In this article, I’ll be providing my brief analysis of the system that achieved such success, before demonstrating my recreation of the tactics in Football Manager 2026 and showcasing the magnificent results said tactics achieved in testing.
Firstly, let’s analyse the core principles of their title-winning system.
Relentless Attacking Intent
Pep’s City side, this year, were nothing short of breathtaking at times - completely downing the ‘boring’ allegations.
Yes, they did dominate the possession of the ball in most games (contributing to their highest average possession per game in the Pep/City era), but they did so with intention: Show no mercy and destroy whoever is in-front of us.
And they did so on many an occasion, this season, as they scored 106 goals in the Premier League!
They were especially proficient in transitional moments, as they were usually clinical in front of goal, making the correct decisions at pivotal points.
A key part of their attack was their commitment to creating ‘cut-back’ situations, in order to generate high xG chances.
The emphasis of this had a dramatic effect on Raheem Sterling, in particular, as he ended the 17/18 season with 23 goals - 18 of which in the Premier League.
Another method of chance creation City regularly used was through balls, with Kevin De Bruyne proving to be devastating in this regard.
In fact, a Kevin De Bruyne assist for a Leroy Sané goal in a 7-2 demolition of Stoke City went viral from that season, as the Belgian supplied the German with the most sumptuous, reverse through ball you’ll ever see.
Pioneering a Generation
When Pep Guardiola joined Manchester City in 2016, the tactical landscape in England was relatively simple and a lack of innovation led to a period of slow tactical evolution.
Pep’s use of midfielder Fabian Delph at left-back, wherefrom he could invert into midfield to form a midfield two, and a subsequent box-shape, proved totally unstoppable in 17/18, and thus prompted other managers to take note and implement the same idea in their approach.
This never-ending tactical innovation from Guardiola has led to him pioneering a generation of managers who share a lot of similar tactical ideals.
And Pep’s introduction of the ‘Inverted Wing-Back’ to English football is still echoed by some of the best club sides now in 2025, with the likes of Mikel Arteta, Enzo Maresca, and Vincent Kompany all using this strategy to great effect.
Fantastic Fernandinho
In this great City team, a player’s unquantifiable influence is usually forgotten due to their position: Fernandinho.
However, the Brazilian was arguably City’s most crucial player in this season, due to his character and immense ability to control games.
In a game vs Everton, where City won 1-3, Fernandinho almost had as much ball possession as the entire Everton team (around 15 percent to Everton’s 18 percent) - which is a stat I found incredibly impressive and was certainly worth a mention.
Let’s Break Down the Tactic
In Possession:
When City had the ball, they mainly looked to find ways to build-up from the back quickly in order to establish their attacking 3-2-5 shape.
Once they had built-up and established their shape, City would look to find the players (typically De Bruyne and D.Silva) in the half-spaces.
From here, they could manipulate the opposition back-line, using quick combinations and ball manipulation in order to create a spare man.
If the pair were unavailable, City could use the flanks to their advantage as a winger would typically be in a clear 1v1 situation against an opposition full-back.
From here, the winger could either take on their man, or could play a through ball into the underlapping player who could reach the byline to pull the ball across for a cut-back.
This would see City adopt a patient approach in these situations, as they looked to work the ball into the box.
Finally, when City would win back possession, they would quickly analyse the game’s state/situation before deciding whether to counter-attack or not.
Out of Possession:
When City would lose the ball, Pep’s famous ‘six-second rule’ would come into effect, as the side would instantly and incessantly hassle the opposition.
When they didn’t have the ball for sustained periods, they would constantly press the opposition high in a particularly aggressive manner.
The backline would hold a higher position to supplement the team’s high-press, compacting the space in midfield.
Player Roles
Ball-Playing Goalkeeper | Sweeper Keeper:
Ederson was absolutely crucial to this system, due to his elite passing ability for a goalkeeper - of which was a particularly niche skill to possess back in these times.
His accuracy from passes were major outliers in comparison to the rest of the league, especially as the English game wasn’t all too familiar with the idea of ball-playing ‘keepers.
He was particularly adept, as well, in sweeping situations.
I felt this role combination perfectly replicated this in-game. No added instructions.
Inside Full-Back | Full-Back:
Walker was another impressive purchase by the Cityzens, as he proved to be electric in this system.
Due to his comparative lack of technical ability, Pep wouldn’t usually position him as centrally as Delph, however, he still had an onus on him to move slightly inside to offer support.
He’d also help establish the back-three in possession, however, it wasn’t particularly strict positioning, as he was given licence to move forward and overlap Sterling to get to the byline for a cut-back.
This attacking licence saw Kyle Walker conjure up 7 assists in all competitions that season.
Therefore, I felt this role combination was the most appropriate, with the in-possession added instructions pictured below:
(DCR and DCL) Ball-Playing Centre-Back | Central Defender:
Both centre-backs in this system had to be very comfortable on the ball, and have the ability to, at times, spray line-breaking passes into midfield and long-balls into the channels for the striker to chase.
Therefore, I felt this role combination was the most appropriate on both sides.
No additional player instructions.
Inside Wing-Back | Full-Back:
Fabian Delph was the first successful inverted wing-back in the English game, barring the irregular use of Denis Irwin in this role from Sir Alex Ferguson in his treble-winning United side of ’99.
Delph’s inverted movement would help create the side’s box midfield.
Therefore, I felt this role combination was the most appropriate.
No additional instructions.
Deep Lying Playmaker | Screening Defensive Midfielder:
As aforementioned, Fernandinho was City’s metronomic midfielder in this season and would regularly accumulate the most touches from any City player in games.
To replicate this prominence, I applied this in-possession role as I deemed it as best fit.
I also chose the Screening Defensive Midfielder out-of-possession role as I felt it best replicated his relatively secondary defensive role in this squad.
I added the following instruction to encourage more dictation of play in-game:
Shorter Passing
Channel Midfielder | Central Midfielder:
Kevin De Bruyne’s potent threat from the right half-space was a headache, in itself, for opposition managers and their respective teams.
However, it was his ability on the ball that was most threatening, as he was exceptional at through balls and whipped crosses from wide areas.
Both central midfielders in this system were tasked with sitting in the half-space, however, both players did this in different ways, as we’ll get on to.
Finally, Kevin De Bruyne also possessed a rocket of a shot at times and was particularly skilled in this area.
Therefore, I felt this role combination was the most appropriate, with the added instructions pictured below:
Attacking Midfielder | Central Midfielder:
This role choice, at first glance, may seem counter-intuitive and generally incorrect; However, let me explain...
David Silva was an elite playmaker, however, not in the sense that the FM match engine replicates.
David Silva wouldn’t chase to receive the ball, and he wasn’t more likely to receive it than others in the team.
Therefore, I felt a ‘playmaker’ role was inappropriate.
Furthermore, when watching games back, such as City’s devastating 7-2 demolition of Stoke City and their 0-3 win against Arsenal, and highlights, and analysing said highlights, I found David Silva would usually make very intense box-crashing runs.
Same for Gundogan when he’d feature in this position.
Lastly, I mentioned both D.Silva and Kevin De Bruyne’s movements were different when sitting in the half-spaces, and I’ve tried to replicate that here.
To put it simply, the latter was far more potent in these half-spaces, whereas the former would, especially in build-up, move into wide areas and generally roam from his position.
Also, De Bruyne would typically cross the ball from deeper positions, whereas D.Silva would cross the ball from the byline.
Therefore, I felt this role combination was the best replication, with the added instructions pictured below:
Wide Forward | Winger:
Raheem Sterling was scintillating in 17/18, as he ended the season with 36 goal contributions.
This came from an adapted role given to him by Pep Guardiola, which also saw some of his underlying stats differ drastically in comparison to the season prior.
For example, Sterling’s crossing numbers in 17/18 dropped significantly in comparison to 16/17.
In this position, Sterling, like Sané on the opposite side, was asked to hold the team’s width.
However, unlike Sané, Sterling was allowed to drift inside and roam from his position.
This would, in turn, see Kyle Walker accommodate his position.
Finally, when Sterling did cross, it would be from cut-back scenarios, where he’d typically aim for the back post.
Therefore, I felt this role combination was the most appropriate, with the added instructions pictured below:
Winger | Winger:
Leroy Sané on this side was also very impressive, as he racked up 34 goal contributions that season.
On this side, Sané had far more responsibility to hold the width and would only move inside to attack the far post, or if the full-back behind him was holding a wider position.
Sane’s main priority, in this system, was to create/get into cut-back positions and attack cut-back situations on the other side.
Therefore, I felt this role combination was the most appropriate, with the added instructions pictured below:
Centre Forward | Centre Forward:
The player in this position, Agüero or Jesus, could look to make runs in-behind, link-up play and could roam slightly from their position to achieve this.
Therefore, I felt this role combination was the best suited, with the added instructions pictured below:
Results
Premier League:
In testing with Manchester City, we won the league with a point to spare, accumulating 81 points across the season.
Of our 38 league games, we won 24 games, drew 9 games, and lost just 5 games.
Additionally, we scored 86 goals and conceded just 39 goals; Annoyingly, we conceded more goals than we should have as we mustered the highest xG For and the second-lowest xG Against of any team in the league.
Domestic Cups:
Our dreams of winning the Quadruple were quickly diminished as we were knocked out of the Carabao Cup in the Fourth Round, losing 2-0 at the Emirates against Arsenal.
However, we made it a domestic double when we dispatched Brighton 4-1 in the Final of the FA Cup.
On our way to Wembley, we had a relatively tame path as we comfortably beat the likes of Ipswich Town (4-0) and Swansea (4-1).
UEFA Champions League:
We made it a famous treble by beating Real Madrid on penalties in the Final, after an initial 1-1 draw.
On our way to the Final, we came back from 3-1 down in the first leg to beat Arsenal 5-4 on aggregate, after beating PSG both home and away to beat the Parisians 7-2 on aggregate.
A convincing 6-2 aggregate victory over Newcastle preceded this, after topping the League Phase.
Read Also
- FM26 Tactics Hub
- FM26 Best Youth Academies
- FM26 Wonderkids by PA, Price & Position
- FM26 Transfer Budgets
Conclusion
Pep’s City side of 2017/18 will go down in history for being England’s first ever Centurions, amassing 100 points across a 38-game league season.
You would think that would be enough for Pep Guardiola, however, following a 4-6 aggregate defeat against Liverpool in the UEFA Champions League that season, European glory was still alluding the Cityzens…
If you want a taste of this beautiful tactic, make sure to download the tactic using the link attached to this article and make sure to follow FM Blog (@fmbIog) and myself (@AshtonGgmu) on our respective socials.
I hope you have enjoyed this article, and I wish you much success with this tactic on your saves! Thanks for reading.
