Pep Guardiola's major shake-up at Man City to have 'big impact' behind scenes
Pep Lijnders has been announced as Manchester City's new assistant manager in a major shake-up this summer, which saw three coaches part ways with the Etihad Stadium
Manchester City's coaching ranks are set for a seismic shift as Pep Lijnders steps into the role of Pep Guardiola's assistant manager - a move tipped to galvanise the squad by former City stalwart Richard Dunne. Dunne, who defended the Sky Blue colours with honour from 2000 to 2009, shared his thoughts with the Manchester Evening News via William Hill, saying: "I think it has a big effect on the dressing room.
"I think the fact players build up relationships, certainly with assistant coaches, they can tend to get closer to them because they're not the ones making the big decisions in the end, so players trust them a little bit more, they give them a little bit more information.
"So it can have a major effect, obviously from a footballing point of view. People come in with fresher ideas, something new, that might give the players a little bit of a lift.
"But, yeah, it's not something that you change lightly, I wouldn't have thought. You don't just wake up and think, right, it's the assistants that have to go. I think it makes a big effect on the overall atmosphere within the club and certainly the sort of training sessions that will come from it on the pitch.
"The players are used to winning things, they're used to being challenged, so I'd imagine I can see it being that some players will miss the outcome on coaches and some players will look forward to the new ones coming in. So it's a bit of a mixed one but it feels like it needs to freshen the whole thing up and not just the playing staff but also the coaches.
"I think with Kolo Toure, he's been there working with the under-18s this season, so that's just a progression for him. I think Pep Lijnders will know the mentality that comes from within Liverpool. He knows how to get inside, organise the energy that it took from Liverpool and maybe that's something that's that City missed this year, was just that little bit of energy, that bit of almost hunger and relentlessness in games.
"Sometimes they got run over in midfield and I think when you look back at the Liverpool side that Pep Lijnders was involved with, that never happened to them, so that might be something that he brings to them. It's hard to add more to what Pep's already got, because whoever comes in and works for him ends up being really good, but obviously it comes back and I'll come from him."
Lijnders, a key figure in Liverpool's Premier League and Champions League triumphs alongside Jurgen Klopp, left the Reds in May 2024 to manage Red Bull Salzburg. However, after just 29 games at the helm, he parted ways with the Austrian Bundesliga side in December.
Meanwhile, City's U18 coach Toure is reportedly heading to the United States to join Guardiola for the Club World Cup, but it remains unclear whether he will secure a permanent role under the coaching reshuffle. It comes after the departures of Juanma Lillo, Inigo Dominguez and Carlos Vicens, who leave the Etihad upon the expiration of their contracts this summer.
City, along with Chelsea, are the only English teams participating in the Club World Cup this summer. The Sky Blues' first group stage match sees them face Moroccan team Wydad AC, before they take on UAE Pro League outfit Al-Ain and Serie A heavyweights Juventus.
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