By Simon Bajkowski
Pep Guardiola was sad to see three of his backroom staff depart before the Club World Cup. Juanma Lillo and Inigo Dominguez left at the end of their contracts and Carlos Vicens became the new head coach at Braga. It left a big hole to be filled, and Manchester City moved swiftly. Pep Lijnders and James French were added as permanent staff and Kolo Toure stepped up from assisting Oliver Reiss in the Under-18s to make sure that Guardiola wasn’t left short for the Club World Cup. As far as first impressions go, it was a positive start for the new members of staff . French was praised by several players and the team looked a lot more dangerous from offensive set-pieces, while Guardiola spoke glowingly about Lijnders. “He’s opened my eyes in many and a few things in a short time. It’s happened for many years from all the assistant managers I’ve had; always I try to drink from their knowledge!” the manager said. “I need the people like last season with Juanma, in the past with Mikel [Arteta], with Enzo [Maresca], with Dome [Torrent], with Rodo [Borrell] – all the assistants help me. Always it’s, ‘What is your opinion? What would you do? How would you do it? What drill will you make?’ “That is what it’s all about, it’s nice, and now we have experience with Kolo [Toure], with James [French], with Pep [Lijnders], and every time he adds something, I say, ‘Wow! This could be good! We could make this step, we can be better’, and that is how the world works! Not just all the time the same, you have to open your mind, and be open to other minds, other people!” The changes weren’t enough to prevent the same old defensive issues from appearing in the 4-3 defeat to Al Hilal, but Guardiola still has plenty of positives to take from the few weeks. Regardless, he is with Lijnders and French for the season regardless. What the manager has to decide is whether to keep Toure with the first team, given how the former defender was only given the remit for the summer tournament. If Guardiola wants it to happen it will since the seniors rightly take priority over the academy, but it is still a call that needs to be made. After that, there is the question of whether anything else is needed. Just because three have left that does not mean four, five or even more could come in to complement Guardiola for the campaign ahead; if the manager feels he needs something else then the club are best listening to him. Hugo Viana will spend the coming weeks deciding whether to sign a right-back and how to trim the squad, but as important could be the coaches around Guardiola. Getting that formula right will boost all of the playing squad. — Here at the Manchester Evening News, we鈥檙e dedicated to bringing you the best Manchester City coverage and analysis. Make sure you don鈥檛 miss out on the latest City news by joining our free WhatsApp group. You can get all the breaking news and best analysis sent straight to your phone by clicking here to subscribe. You can also subscribe to our free newsletter service. Click here to be sent all the day鈥檚 biggest stories. And finally, if you鈥檇 rather listen to our expert analysis then make sure to check out our Talking City podcast. Our shows are available on all podcast platforms, including Spotify and Apple Podcasts , and you can also watch along on YouTube .