Pep Guardiola and his 'uncs' are making Man City fears look silly

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has not won everyone over to his team selections but the results speak for themselves

Pep Guardiola is doing it again. The Manchester City manager has refused to bow to pressure, and is now turning the tables - with the help of his golden oldies.

Guardiola has been defying his critics ever since he took the Barcelona job after just one year of coaching their B team. A Treble in his first season changed the narrative, but even after four successful years there were still some thinking he would not be able to cut it at Bayern Munich.

There were three painful Champions League semi-final defeats in his three years there, yet the league record was record-breaking and his impact on German football was immense. When he came to England and had a difficult first season then, he was adamant that he would not change his football principles.

City have since won six of the last seven Premier League titles and a Treble to make more history, but this season has been chastening. Guardiola stuck with his trusted, experienced stars through a dismal run of results and nothing he seemed to do worked.

The drastic slump of the team not only wrecked their chances of success but also led to questions of if the manager and his squad were, individually and collectively, over the hill. Guardiola was described as looking "decidedly old hat" in one national newspaper by the manager who has since taken United from 14th after nine games to 14th after 33 games.

Bernardo Silva responded angrily to the suggestion that the midfield was, to borrow Guardiola's word for it, 'old' when he was asked about it at the end of March. "Tell me, which player? Give me names," he started.

"I'm 30 years old, Kovacic is 30 years old. You're not talking about guys that are 36. So we have six bad months or four bad months and out of nowhere we're old, we're not good enough?

"In the last eight seasons, we've won six Premier Leagues and for four bad months, we're old? That’s people that don't understand the game, never played the game and probably don't understand a thing about football."

City had just beaten Bournemouth to make the FA Cup semi-finals so Silva had some weight to his comments but it still felt like most evidence pointed to the contrary. Gundogan, Silva, Kevin De Bruyne and Kovacic had all struggled this season in a midfield that had been too often second best for pace and power, so the idea of playing the four of them together did not sit well with many.

Guardiola has kept doing it though, and City have five wins and one draw from their six games starting at Bournemouth. Nico Gonzalez, signed for £50m in January to take on the Rodri role until the end of the season, has been benched for half of those games including the most impressive of them - a 2-1 defeat of Champions league rivals Aston Villa on Tuesday.

There, Bernardo Silva was everywhere and City found a way to negate one of the best teams in the country (and Europe) playing their football. For about the 20th time this season, fans feared the worst from Guardiola's stubbornness for picking the 'uncs' [uncles] when they heard the team and then were forced to admit the plan had worked.

And where it still felt like an exception back at Bournemouth, these last six games are turning into a substantial body of work that the manager has found a way that he likes to play that is effective for what City need this season. It has taken longer than anyone anticipated and there are still doubts over whether it will work, yet five wins and a draw cannot be ignored in the context of this season.

The Bournemouth game changed something and made us realise we are not miles away," he said after the Villa win. "At Old Trafford, the game was boring but at least we were there. Before, we were not there.

"Today we saw how we moved - Macca and everyone - we were aggressive in all the actions. We have to always be like that.

"Look how everybody moved, we were so aggressive. We need it in the semi-final, because I’ve been incredibly impressed with how Nuno has made Forest able to defend every single ball like it’s the last ball of their lives.

"It's an incredible attribute and talent. We focus on the last four games. What is important is we have it in our hands. If we win them then we will be there."

City were not 'there' as recently as March when they went to Forest and lost 1-0 in a game where Guardiola did not see the application or aggression from his players. While it didn't seem like it at the time, perhaps it wasn't a coincidence that only one of his four experienced midfielder started on that day.

More of them can be expected in the side that starts against the same opponents on Sunday as City look to continue their momentum and convert a seventh successive FA Cup semi-final into a third successive final.

If Guardiola and his players are able to pick up another impressive win against another very good team, they may well end up having the last laugh about this season.