Man City squad rebuild is £350m well spent after hints dropped at problems

Manchester City look back to their best and the reasons for the transformation hint at issues within the squad as last season fell apart.

Pep Guardiola has been banging the same drum since the start of Manchester City's season, back in June in America at the Club World Cup. Whatever the result, the signs are good, he has insisted.

He delivered a similar message when that tournament ended in a shock defeat to Al-Hilal, and after Premier League defeats to Tottenham, Brighton and Aston Villa.

Guardiola has seen enough in performances to believe his team are back on track, but more than that, it has been the intangibles that have really given him the encouragement that last season's wobbles are well and truly behind them.

He will regularly point to the injury crisis that derailed City last autumn as the primary reason for their season collapsing, but reading between the lines, it isn't difficult to pick up the vibe that all wasn't well behind the scenes. The signs that Guardiola likes now may not have been present a year ago.

Asked about his side's return to form and prominence after the 4-1 win against Borussia Dortmund on Wednesday, Guardiola returned to a familiar theme: "The vibe," he said. "I say many times, the body language is how they compete, how they are."

It has all been about body language for Guardiola last season. Every time he is asked about his team's improvement, he touches on it, which clearly implies that he felt it wasn't right a year ago.

Then there is Phil Foden. The 25-year-old is most definitely back to his best this season and he lit up the Bonfire Night win against Dortmund with two brilliant goals.

Guardiola has spoken about how Foden is enjoying his football again and seemingly has overcome the issues that brought him so low last season, both on and off the pitch.

Speaking after the Champions League win, Foden said the same thing. "I'm loving it. I just need to play with a smile on my face, which I'm doing. Last year was tough, not just for me, but for everyone. There is a new togetherness this season and you can tell. Today Dortmund caused us some problems, they are a great team, but we stuck to the plan and broke them down with our talent up front."

The description of a 'new togetherness this season' was another interesting phrase. Guardiola had said in his own press conference how last season one defeat would turn into two, two would turn into four and the wheels would come off.

This season, City are much more effective at bouncing park. They have shrugged off a disappointing defeat to Aston Villa to win three games in a row.

There is no doubt injuries played a major part in what went wrong last season, but it wasn't the whole story. Bernardo Silva's comment after the FA Cup final defeat, that he had learnt "who you can go to war with," suggested that all wasn't rosy within the dressing room.

Guardiola and Foden have added to that perception, but the squad transformation that began in January and accelerated through the summer has changed the mood.

City have spent more than £350million this year, but as well as adding depth and quality to the squad, it has also brought a new energy and changed the dynamic. The departure of some prominent figures and influential characters may have also contributed to that.

This time a year ago, City were in the midst of their dramatic fall from grace, when Guardiola looked tortured and where everything that could go wrong did go wrong. On Wednesday night, he finished his press conference by stressing how "excited" he was about facing Liverpool this weekend and how "desperate" he was for that fixture to come around.

Plenty has changed at the Etihad in 12 months.