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Pep Guardiola Wants to Win in Style, Says Yaya Toure

Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola was criticised in various quarters for being unable to win a major honour in his first season in English football.


He was seen as being too stubborn with his tactics and the rotation system, as they were seen as the vital parts that led down the club in the 2016-17 campaign.City ended without a trophy and Guardiola also faced the same disappointment for the first time in his career. However, midfielder Yaya Toure says that the manager is very keen on winning with an attractive style. The Ivory Coast international says that Guardiola wants to repeat his achievements at Barcelona.

A former Barcelona captain, Guardiola has been quite outspoken about having a specific style that makes teams attractive to watch. However, it did not have the greatest success in his first season in England, as teams were playing with a direct style of football that was not suited to Guardiola’s passing style. Even with plenty of possession, Guardiola often found that his teams were often hit on the counter-attack and this led to numerous heavy defeats – despite possessing better statistics over the 90 minutes.

Yeah Toure was on the fringes of the first team in the first half of last season, but he made a remarkable comeback back to the team and has also been able to secure a new contract.

"The mentality of the manager is playing good and winning -- not just winning. We want the fans to enjoy it and we try to do our best. If we have to score more then we will score more.At Barcelona I was used to playing like that. I'm a type of player with a lot of experience. I think I'm lucky because I used to play under Pep at Barcelona and I know what he wants. He was a brilliant midfielder and [City coach] Mikel Arteta as well, and those two have helped me a lot and given me a lot of confidence,” said Toure.