Bigger, yes, but better? Pep Guardiola modifies squad for City's latest shot at the line | city ​​of manchester

Familiarity inevitably breeds, if not contempt, then at least discernment. When Leicester won the first division What mattered was not how they had done it but simply that it had been done.

You could talk about the performances of N'Golo Kanté, Jamie Vardy and Riyad Mahrez, pontificate about how Claudio Ranieri had developed Nigel Pearson's team or insist on the significance of the discovery of the body of Richard III under a car park, but fundamentally all that mattered was that they had defied the laws of finance and the logic of football and they had done it. But like Manchester City lead towards a sixth title in seven yearsthe way of winning seems important.

Once the who is no longer a mystery, the how is all we have. On the one hand this has been A classic City kick towards the line. After consecutive draws against Liverpool and Arsenal As March turned into April, results that even at the time seemed like a missed opportunity for rivals to break clear waters, City have won eight in a row, scoring 30 and conceding five.

If there was a moment that summed up that career, it was victory over wolves when a minute after Hwang Hee-chan had pulled back to make it 3-1 and raise the vaguest possibility of a comeback, Erling Haaland received a long pass from Phil Foden, stepped inside Max Kilman and fired a shot into the top corner. It was simple, direct and brutally effective and did not admit a glimmer of hope for anyone else: don't even think about taking this title away from us, he said.

The funny thing about the last few weeks is that there have been quite a few moments like that. What if Emi Martínez had played instead of Robin Olsen? What if Chris Wood or Murillo had taken the risk? What would have happened if City hadn't been awarded that questionable early penalty against Wolves? What if Son Heung-min had scored that one-on-one on Tuesday?

Nottingham Forest created a higher first-half xG against City than any other team in the league this season; Against Spurs, City generated a lower xG in the first half than in any other league game this season. It sounds absurd to say it, but even after they beat Wolves, there was a feeling that City had not been entirely convincing. Haaland's fourth goal put the game to bed and City enjoyed an extremely comfortable final half hour, but there were times early on when they looked vulnerable.

Most of this is ridiculous. City are unbeaten in 34 games in all competitions. They have won their last eight league games by at least two goals. The last six weeks have been an emphatic assertion of preeminence. Even if they had only won two games against the top six teams, the conversation with any other team would be booming at just the right time.

But it is not about another side: it is City, the eternal champion, and that is why the discussion around them necessarily ends in nitpicks, in the same way that someone who dines only in the best restaurants ends up arguing about a filigree crack in the dough or a marginal imbalance in a sauce when the entire meal is sensational.

But there is something slightly different about this city. The control that once characterized Guardiola's teams no longer exists. They have been more vulnerable to breakaways this season; his counterpressure doesn't work as well. Although their possession has remained almost unchanged at 65% (a huge number in historical terms), they have not looked as consistent as in past seasons.

Perhaps that's another matter of familiarity – the tendency is to compare a team to its best selves – but City have felt more reliant on brilliant individuals this season than in the past.

Haaland is the most obvious factor, his need for direct balls to make the most of his ability to run in behind the opposition defense and his lack of commitment in midfield creating tension with Guardiola's classic method. This has proven largely beneficial. He has scored nine goals in the eight-match winning streak, although his lackluster performances against Liverpool and Arsenal, as well as in the two Champions League quarter-final matches against Real Madrid, inevitably raised doubts. What does he do when he doesn't score goals? When he's 27 in the league, he feels academic.

Phil Foden, Kevin De Bruyne and Stefan Ortega have all had their moments, but the player who has stood out lately is Josko Gvardiol. As Guardiola noted last week, it took the Croatian time to adjust, but he has excelled in recent months, looking more composed positionally and contributing five unexpected goals in his last eight games.

The fact that he plays as a left back suggests another important change in the family model. While Guardiola once seemed to want to put in as many midfielders as possible and then full-backs, his new favorite position is centre-back. Gvardiol, Nathan Aké, John Stones and Manuel Akanji have all played as full-backs at various times this season, while Kyle Walker's striker departures in the first 20 minutes on Tuesday were a reminder of how limited his increases have been this season; He often acts almost as a third central defender.

That has two important effects: City are bigger than Guardiola's previous teams (the team that started against Spurs on Tuesday was on average five centimeters taller than the Barcelona eleven that started the 2011 Champions League final ) and the setup to form the classic 3. The -2 defensive shape to prevent a counterattack should, at least in theory, be simpler.

Managers often fall into self-parody as they enter the later stages of their careers, becoming increasingly inflexible versions of themselves. It happened to Brian Clough, Arsène Wenger and José Mourinho. Guardiola's evolution, on the contrary, seems to have consisted of making City a less guardiolist side.

More than anything, it may be that feeling of not matching previous stylistic models that makes this current generation, despite its obvious excellence, seem a bit disappointing.