Kolkata, Feb. 4 -- For half of Sunday's Premier League match at Tottenham Hotspur, it looked like the 10th anniversary of Manchester City announcing Pep Guardiola as manager would be an affair to remember. Rayan Cherki and Antoine Semenyo had scored against a team that had won only 10 points at home and were without 11 regulars because of injury. Arsenal were feeling the heat and it would have been an apt acknowledgement of the man instrumental in Manchester City's journey from noisy neighbours to serial winners had the scoreline stayed that way. But football, bloody hell! Alex Ferguson's comment after the 1999 Champions League final seemed an apt way to describe how the second half unfolded. City's tendency to concede after half-time has been a recent problem and Dominic Solanke exploited that with a brace. It is Arsenal's league to lose. No stranger to giving chase - successfully - Guardiola does not see it that way. "There are 14 games to go and a lot of points. We will see." When Guardiola arrived at City in 2016, he was the world's most sought-after manager. Yet Mark Hughes wasn't the only one who was sceptical. "The Premier League is unlike any other league in world football.he will need a lot of adapting," said the former City manager. By the end of 2017-18, Guardiola had shown how well he could adapt. Yes, he had a war chest of £150m to initially spend on players, to say nothing of the £150m academy the club had built. Guardiola has always acknowledged the importance of money but as per Football365, City's net spend since 2021-22 was less than Man United, Arsenal, Chelsea, Spurs, Newcastle and Liverpool. And yet, Guardiola has colonised the world's toughest league, and influenced the way football is played, in the way few would have expected. Playing out from the back, pressing, possession and using a false nine are ideas the world has experimented with. Full backs inverting into midfield, goalkeepers using their feet, holding midfielders dropping into defence and teams using a high line to suck oxygen out of the opposition's attacks are not unusual anymore. "In the past 20 years, there has been one person who stands above the others. Guardiola will be talked about in 50 years," Liverpool boss Arne Slot was quoted as saying by "FourFourTwo" (July 2024). Slot, Enzo Maresca, Xabi Alonso, Cesc Fabregas, Vincent Kompany and Mikel Arteta, whose brain Guardiola picked ahead of a match against Chelsea in 2012, are some of the elite managers/head coaches inspired by Guardiola. It was because of him that Philipp Lahm could become a midfielder, Jerome Boateng fired long passes, John Stones jumped into midfield from centre-back and Kevin de Bruyne looked comfortable as No. 8, No.10 and even on the right side of midfield. "Pep just doesn't give you orders, he also explains why," Gerard Pique said. A football obsessive, the ability to evolve has been key to Guardiola's consistency. Guardiola's Barcelona, his guru Johan Cruyff had said, won the ball back quickly because they did not have to run more than 10 metres and they never passed the ball longer than 10 metres. At City, Ederson logged the highest number of assists for a goalkeeper in the Premier League. Both statements are true. From false nine at Barcelona to Erling Haaland was some shift but then, Guardiola had also got the best out of Robert Lewandowski as centre-forward at Bayern. Arriving at City, he froze England goalie Joe Hart, preferring Willy Caballero, Claudio Bravo and finally Ederson because of their passing ability. But as the Premier League became more frenetic, Guardiola signed Gianluigi Donnarumma because he needed a personality in goal to dominate crucial moments. Guardiola's teams are known for dominating the ball and yet he nearly beat Arsenal last September with 32% possession. He is now trying to put more players in the centre and relying on their technical ability to beat the press. Cherki is particularly good at that. You need to use the quality of the players, Bernardo Silva said after a Champions League night this term. With Omar Marmoush, Haaland, Jeremy Doku and Semenyo, City can be more direct, he said. When he is on the pitch with Rodri, Cherki, Phil Foden and Tijjani Reijnders, they can keep the ball more, Silva said. As Ruben Amorim, Oliver Glasner and Maresca found out, the club's board is always right. Not so yet with Guardiola, making him possibly the last of the managers in England. At his presentation at Barcelona, Guardiola had said: "I advise you to fasten your seat belts.you are going to enjoy the ride." Eighteen years later, it can be said that the statement has aged well....