Kompany: City more flexible under Pep than Mancini

Manchester City have less big personalities than before but more “flow” and adaptability under Pep Guardiola, according to club captain Vincent Kompany.

City won their first Premier League title with Roberto Mancini at the helm in 2011-12, the likes of Kolo Toure, Nigel de Jong, Carlos Tevez and Mario Balotelli all playing a part in that landmark triumph before moving on from the Etihad Stadium. 

Sergio Aguero, David Silva and Yaya Toure are among the survivors to remain in Guardiola’s squad, which Kompany feels is the more balanced of the two.

“The team in the first league title win was all about big personalities, character and tough guys in the team,” he said.

“It was game-deciding people.

“This team is more about there being a flow to it – there is coordination, the system is very meticulous. So we will see – this team still needs to win something.

“But my feeling is that we have a lot more tools we can use. It was difficult for us to play in a back three back in the day, just because of the personnel we had.

“Here it is just as easy for us to switch from a back three to a back four and so on. That is the strength of this team, the fact that we just can adapt to so many ways.”

City defeated promoted Brighton and Hove Albion 2-0 away from home on Saturday to make a winning start to the 2017-18 league season.