Don't blame Pep Guardiola, he's a few good men short at Manchester City

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Here is the one problem that even Pep Guardiola's best-laid plans and grandest ambitions may not be able to overcome. Suppose there simply aren't enough great players to go around.

Very good players, sure. Kevin De Bruyne, David Silva, Raheem Sterling, Sergio Aguero. Manchester City have plenty of very, very good players.

But to recreate what Guardiola achieved at Barcelona needs more than just good. It needs the best, the most imaginative, the most astute and hard-working; the players who are at the pinnacle of the game. 

Pep Guardiola has some very good players at Manchester City, such as Sergio Aguero

Lionel Messi, Andres Iniesta, Xavi, Javier Mascherano, Sergio Busquets.

These men were — and some still are — the leaders in their field. The irreplaceables, one might say. Guardiola had some outstanding talents with him at Bayern Munich too but, without those irreplaceables, it wasn't the same.

Yes, they experienced huge success domestically but Munich fell short in Europe, eliminated at the semi-final stage each season by a giant of La Liga.

Real Madrid — who have a cast of irreplaceables of their own — beat them 5-0 on aggregate; Barcelona 5-3 the next year. Atletico Madrid, whose team was nearest to Guardiola's own in terms of individual talent, squeaked through on away goals.

This is not the tired argument that Guardiola's reputation was falsely elevated by his players. It is all about him, too. In a matter of weeks he has transformed Manchester City, who lead the Premier League table, albeit by one goal from Arsenal. If they rise from fourth to first, it will still be the biggest title-winning leap of the Premier League era, the miracle that was Leicester aside.

Yet recent reversals have planted seeds of doubt. We know what Guardiola is trying to achieve. Yet does he have the players for it? And if he doesn't are they out there in the number required?

If we accept that Messi, Iniesta, Luis Suarez, Neymar, Gareth Bale, Cristiano Ronaldo and Toni Kroos are happy where they are, is there a second tier that can bring Guardiola's ideas to life as skilfully?

Take his need for a sweeper-playmaker-goalkeeper. Manuel Neuer was the best in the world at it. Claudio Bravo isn't. He's good, but he's not Neuer. So Guardiola can have this brilliant concept, and it may revolutionise the way we play in England, but he still won't be able to implement it as he could before.

And we could go through the Manchester City team like that: picking out individuals who are very fine footballers but whose ability will always fall just short of peak Guardiola.

The new manager has been trying to implement his style and philosophy in Manchester

De Bruyne is having a tremendous season. Is he Messi? No. So Barcelona, plus Guardiola's innovation and Messi are always likely to equate to more than Manchester City, plus Guardiola's innovation and De Bruyne.

This is not intended as criticism. The Guardiola backlash has been too harsh. As De Bruyne pointed out this week, it is very hard to adequately teach new methods to players once the domestic and European season is fully under way. Training becomes little more than a series of recovery sessions.

Equally, the idea that every defensive mistake is a result of Guardiola's philosophy rather than individual carelessness is wrong. A reporter couched John Stones' error in giving the ball to Southampton's Nathan Redmond on Sunday, in terms that suggested this was the obvious product of playing the Guardiola way. 'The way I want to play is not to pass to their striker,' corrected Guardiola, firmly.

To recreate what he had at Barcelona, Guardiola needs the best players like Lionel Messi

Yet if Manchester United can break world transfer records and end up worse off than at this stage last season — and don't forget they didn't have Marcus Rashford a year ago, either — it would suggest that there simply are not enough stellar players to spark a revolution right now.

Would Paul Pogba make that much difference to Manchester City? Would Henrikh Mkhitaryan, who cannot even get in Manchester United's team regularly?

Each week there are tales of who Guardiola will target in the next transfer window. On Tuesday it was Juan Bernat and David Alaba of Bayern Munich. Good players, yes. An upgrade on what Guardiola has at City? Most definitely. The best, the undisputed masters of their domain? Well, probably not. There are others out there, just as good.

And right there is Guardiola's greatest challenge. He has a radical plan, but it requires more than just a few good men. A lot more.

It's debatable whether world-record buy Paul Pogba would have made a big difference to City

THE CREEPY WORLD OF MR DAVIES, MP 

It was David Davies, Conservative MP for Monmouth, who said that child refugees should submit to dental checks, to determine their age. He seemed taken aback that so many were offended by the thought of this dehumanising process. 'I'm slightly concerned that this argument is being used to stifle debate,' he said.

Then when Gary Lineker called the treatment of some refugees 'utterly heartless', Davies said: 'I question if the BBC should be employing him.'

So there's freedom of speech in Davies' world. If you disagree with him, you're stifling the debate. If he disagrees with you, he wants you sacked. What a creep.

Conservation MP David Davies questioned whether the BBC should employ Gary Lineker

Anyone can have a bad game. So for umpire Kumar Dharmasena to make eight decisions that were overturned by the decision review system during the first Test between Bangladesh and England — a record — could just be an anomaly.

Dharmasena is on the elite panel of ICC Umpires and was named the ICC's Umpire of the Year in 2012. This year he stood in the final of the World Twenty20. So it is quite correct that Dharmasena returns, as planned, for the second Test in Dhaka on Friday.

If there are similar results, however, a decision has to be made. Unlike athletes, umpires cannot be indulged a bad run. 

Kumar Dharmasena had a bad game during the first Test between Bangladesh and England

UEFA CHIEF IS SO OUT OF TOUCH 

Looks like we've found another one. Aleksander Ceferin, new president of UEFA, used his first big interview to float the idea of playing the Champions League final in New York.

'To go from Portugal to Azerbaijan for example is almost the same or the same as if you go to New York,' he said. 'For the fans it's no problem.'

And how would he know? When was the last time a senior executive at UEFA paid for his travel, or bought his ticket for a big football match? So let's look at the reality. Yes, it is 3,075 miles between Lisbon in Portugal and Baku in Azerbaijan, and 3,365 between Lisbon and New York — so not a great difference.

UEFA's Aleksander Ceferin spoke about holding the Champions League final outside Europe

Yet Azerbaijan and Portugal are at east and west extremes in Europe. And when has Azerbaijan ever been a factor in the Champions League final?

A new national stadium has been built in Baku with a capacity of close to 70,000 and the country has a grim, authoritarian government and lots of lovely oil money, so we can see where this is going — but for now the idea that Baku is a typical location and travelling distance for Champions League finals is entirely false.

In the last eight seasons, only once have fans attending the final been required to break the 1,000-mile barrier one way.

Manchester United supporters, to Rome, in 2009: 1,055 miles. Bayern Munich actually played a home game in 2012, while Manchester United fans travelled just 163 miles south to face Barcelona at Wembley in 2011. In 2014, the distance for both sets of fans from Madrid to Lisbon was 326 miles.

Manchester United supporters are pictured enjoying the Champions League final in Rome

In all, the average distance travelled to the final venue in the last eight years has been 569 miles — or a round trip of 1,138. Compare that to, say, Munich to New York and back: 8,034 miles; Barcelona to New York and back: 7,640; Madrid to New York and back: 7,176.

There is the reality: not Baku. Ordinary citizens on average salaries might take many years to save for a transatlantic trip of this magnitude. For some it would be the journey of a lifetime.

Ceferin would be dropping it in at a few weeks' notice. The thought that it would be 'no problem', therefore, could only have come from a man who puts his life in football on UEFA's tab.

For the same reason, Ceferin's predecessor, Michel Platini, saw no issue in spreading the 2020 European Championship across an entire continent, including Baku.

That's the problem with getting rid of football's big chiefs. The replacements are often as bad, if not worse.

AND WHILE WE'RE AT IT...

Walter Zenga had managed across three continents, seven countries and 15 clubs. Not one of them was English.

'The Championship is a competition I love so much because it is like the Premier League,' he said on taking over Wolverhampton Wanderers in August. He was in trouble from the start, then.

The Championship is nothing like the Premier League. England's elite division responds directly to investment. The odd phenomenon, such as Leicester, aside, a table based on player wages will pretty much mirror the league table come the end of the season. The biggest spenders at the top, the lowest down the bottom.

The Championship isn't like that. Teams such as Blackpool have won promotion, big-spending former Premier League clubs have plummeted. That is why some managers, such as Neil Warnock, are considered Championship specialists.

Zenga, 58 caps for Italy and a title winner with Inter Milan, had never played or managed here.

Walter Zenga quickly found that the Championship is nothing like the Premier League

Typically, he satisfied the shallow modern owners' desire for a famous name. Wolves are controlled by Fosun International, a Chinese conglomerate — but while modern Chinese domestic football is new and relies heavily on marquee transfers and inflated investment, the second tier of English football has been in existence since 1892 and has a few more layers.

In time, Zenga might have been able to make a positive impact, but Fosun panicked and sacked him after less than three months with the club in 18th place. Fosun are a dangerous breed: they thought fame alone would bring success and, when challenged, did not have the resolve to let Zenga do it the old-fashioned way, as a proper manager, in a proper league.

WAYNE MUST STAY 

New managers sometimes go early with the big calls to show strength but, even so, it makes no sense that Jose Mourinho should tell Wayne Rooney he can leave after just four games out of the team.

Rooney was injured for the match at Chelsea and started in the 4-1 win over Fenerbahce, but was on the bench for the fixtures against Leicester, Zorya, Stoke and Liverpool. He came on every time, though, and in three of the four games with the score tied 0-0. So why would Mourinho jettison the player so casually?

There has been no suggestion that Rooney is being disruptive, he is the captain of the club, an influence in the dressing-room and is used regularly as a substitute. Maybe, several months down the line, if Rooney is dissatisfied with cameo roles there may be a decision to make.

There seems little reason for Jose Mourinho to jettison a player like Wayne Rooney so soon

Yet now, with some distance to go before the January window? Why would Mourinho create a drama where none exists — particularly after announcing last week that he would 'never' sell the player?

To go back on his word, and so soon, would leave him terribly vulnerable at a time when he needs all the allies he can muster to pull Manchester United around.

MILAN PROFIT AGAIN

AC Milan defeated Juventus 1-0 on Saturday, a result that has been widely celebrated. This is a very different Milan team, comprising a majority of young players, including the 18-year-old match-winner Manuel Locatelli and 17-year-old goalkeeper Gigi Donnarumma.

Everybody likes to see local boys do well and Mattia De Sciglio and Davide Calabria are also products of the Milan youth system. Despite Tuesday night's 3-0 defeat at Genoa, they lie third in Serie A under coach Vincenzo Montella.

This is, of course, all it needs for David Gill's grand plan to revive another member of Europe's established elite. Under the revised Champions League co-efficients — which Gill helped scheme, you will remember — historical success is to be taken into account.

Milan were the big winners there, rising from 25th to ninth in UEFA's co-efficient table despite not playing in Europe since 2014. Even better, the money taken from the Champions League pot is to be linked directly to the co-efficient places, so if Milan could just scrape back in they will be showered with cash for achievements that took place as long ago as 1963. 

AC Milan look well placed to qualify for the 2017-18 edition of the Champions League

Some fools argued this repositioning was irrelevant because Milan would have to qualify to make that happen — and having finished eighth, 10th and seventh in Serie A in the last three seasons that was unlikely to occur soon.

Wrong. Milan look well placed to challenge for the title this season, to qualify for the 2017-18 edition of the Champions League, and be nicely in situ for 2018-19 when the next Champions League cycle starts.

With a young, improving side they are ready to rake in profits that previously went to Premier League clubs such as Manchester City or Tottenham, allowing the Milan brand to grow ever-larger and more powerful.

No doubt visiting directors from English clubs will be sure to thank Gill most forcefully for this when they next see him at Old Trafford.