By Daily Sports on September 23, 2016

With dead-eyed efficiency, Pep Guardiola has hit the ground running as Manchester City manager, ruthlessly clearing his squad of unwanted players and transforming the team into a winning machine.

Joe Hart and Yaya Toure are among the former stalwarts to have been cast aside as the uncompromising Guardiola has instilled his philosophy of quick, passing football at the Etihad Stadium.

His methods have yielded immediate results, with City, who finished fourth last season, winning their first nine games of his tenure and surging to the top of the Premier League standings.

“You can see when they play he’s stamped his authority on that team,” says Bournemouth manager, Eddie Howe, whose side lost 4-0 at the Etihad last weekend.

“They’ve started the season incredibly well.”

Hart has been Guardiola’s most high-profile victim, the England goalkeeper joining Torino on loan because the new manager felt he was incapable of playing the ball out from the back.

Hart was one of four high-profile outcasts to be loaned out on transfer deadline day, along with Eliaquim Mangala, Samir Nasri and Wilfried Bony.

Toure remains, but the driving force behind City’s 2012 and 2014 title wins looks unlikely to play first-team football anytime soon.

Guardiola said this week he was waiting for an apology from Toure’s agent, Dimitri Seluk, who strongly criticised Guardiola for omitting the Ivorian from City’s Champions League squad.

Guardiola’s actions may have surprised those used to thinking of him as the ‘good guy’ in his rivalry with Jose Mourinho, but it is fully in keeping with his managerial career to date.

Deco, Ronaldinho and Samuel Eto’o were all told they were not part of Guardiola’s plans when he became Barcelona manager in 2008, even if Eto’o managed to cling on for a season.

Gianluca Zambrotta, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Dante and Xherdan Shaqiri are among the other players who can testify to the chill of a Guardiola cold shoulder.

“What Guardiola has done isn’t out of character,” former Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher wrote in the Daily Mail.

“Yes, you can call it ruthless. But should you be surprised?” (NAN)

•Photo showsPep Guardiola

Source Daily Sports

Posted September 23, 2016

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