Possession for possessions sake may be one of the worst things in football. Since Pep Guardiola introduced tiki-taka to the world in 2008, nearly every team in world football have attempted to emulate Barcelona's brilliant style. In the majority of cases, the emulation has been done poorly; tiki-taka became an echo of its former self, a mockery of Guardiola's revolutionary system. At Manchester City, however, Guardiola has restored some semblance of the original tiki-taka, with his team passing opponents into submission. They never waste possession, with every movement of the ball attempting to cut the opposing team apart. This is achieved by using the ball as much as possible while in the...
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