Published: 02:00, 4 January 2026 | Updated: 02:00, 4 January 2026

Monday morning, a week before Christmas. Breakfast in the canteen on the first floor of the training ground and then down the hall into his office. Pep Guardiola is a creature of habit and the early part of a day after games is reserved for a three-hour debrief, alone.

Clip by clip, frame by frame. Using the spacebar to pause, the arrows to go back and forth. A painstaking business, a process he still devours after all these years.

This Monday lookback was the 3-0 win at Crystal Palace. A fairly simple assessment you'd imagine but Manchester City's manager spotted things he felt could improve. The lack of defensive aggression and an imperfect build-up from the back were chief among the notes.

He had been pleased at the progression made over the course of the past month. City were becoming more formidable to play against, new signings beginning to understand the concepts. Yet still with a margin to get better which, in essence, is the Guardiola sweet spot. Good but with room to...