Pep Guardiola Tactics At Manchester City 2025/2026: Build-Up Evolution With Pepijn Lijnders – Tactical Analysis

After a season that fell short of their usual dominance, Manchester City approached the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup with a refreshed outlook, both on the pitch and in the coaching setup.

The club reinforced their squad with several additions, most notably Rayan Cherki from Olympique Lyonnais, Rayan Aït-Nouri from Wolverhampton Wanderers, and Tijjani Reijnders from AC Milan.

Off the pitch, Man City also made a significant coaching addition by appointing 2 ex-Liverpool staff; Pepijn Lijnders as Pep Guardiola’s assistant and James French as set-piece coach.

While the Dutch coach’s impact may take longer to materialise, given the brief lead-up to the competition, it is worth examining this latest version of Man City.

In this tactical analysis, we break down Manchester City’s in-possession strategies during the Club World Cup, focusing on matches against Wydad, Juventus, and Al Hilal — all of which defended with a back five — to offer insights beyond the final results.

We’ve structured this football analysis into three pieces to provide a comprehensive view: build-up, progression, and the final third.

This enables us to examine how Manchester City’s approach evolved across the various phases.

This piece starts with the build-up phase and examines how Manchester City approached each game.

What are the core principles they maintained?

What tactical adaptations did they introduce, given that although every opponent defended with a back five, each team applied its strategy and nuances to counter Manchester City’s build-up?

Manchester City Build-Up Tactics Vs Wydad AC

In this match against Wydad AC, Manchester City lined up with Ederson in goal.

Vitor Reis and Nathan Aké operated as the centre-backs, flanked by Rico Lewis on the right and Nico OReilly on the left as full-backs.