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Former Manchester City centre-half Joleon Lescott has opened up about what Pep Guardiola is really like, whilst pointing out the Spaniard's adaptations during last week's Arsenal clash
Joleon Lescott admits Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola is incredibly friendly behind the scenes.
The 54-year-old took over at the Etihad in 2016 with a momentous reputation, but hasn't disappointed. He has won six Premier League titles and the Champions League in Manchester, among many other accolades.
Last campaign was unusually dry in terms of silverware, and the Blues are looking to get back on track with a title tilt this season. They held fellow contenders Arsenal to a 1-1 draw last weekend and Guardiola notably shifted from his usual aggressive style of play to a more conservative one. They had just a 33.2 per cent share of the game's possession.
Ex-City defender Lescott, who never played under Guardiola but is acquainted with him, has opened up about his kind nature and the unusual way in which he approached the Gunners match.
Speaking on In The Mixer, brought to you by Sky Bet, Lescott said: "I think people who are that good at what they do, managers, have that aura. I find him [Guardiola] very friendly to be fair.
"I've only interviewed him once, but the majority of the times that I've seen him, he's been very relaxed. I've said it to him before, but I'm never trying to talk football with him."
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Lescott continued, claiming that Guardiola's intention was not to play so conservatively against Arsenal but that the match just developed in such a way that warranted the shift. The manager substituted goalscorer Erling Haaland after 75 minutes but failed to hold on to a 1-0 lead.
He added: "That's the way the game panned out. [Being so defensive] wasn't their game plan because the game plan was to be aggressive and to have the ball.
"No one could anticipate the possession stats, but you can look at them and say, 'This is what his intention was to do, and that's dominate possession, which is what it would normally do.'"
Lescott also pointed out that it is unusual for Guardiola to select the same starting eleven for three matches in a row, which indicates how he adapts to fixtures: "His personnel: He picked the same team three times in a row, which isn't normal. So he was trying to build confidence."
Guardiola himself was asked about how he tackled the Gunners, and stated: "I prefer us to regain the ball high up the pitch, [have] a lot of possession to disturb the structure of the opponents and try to punish them.
"It's always been like that and always will be like that. If it doesn't happen it is because we were bad, not because we want to [be defensive].
"When we won the Premier League we were a boring team, right? So that's why I said: 'OK, I'm going to make more counterattacks this season.' Maybe the players in the future can talk about how much I've changed this season. You can ask them – I think it's completely the same."
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