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Zabaleta thinks City will play more direct football

This is a longshot mainly because Pep Guardiola has always claimed he would die standing up and fighting for his ideals. But the situation at Manchester City is dire, if he loses next Sunday against an offensive side as Arsenal, his job will be on the line and very soon he could get sacked. But his players don't want that, they want him to see reason and start looking at football with a different set of eyes. 

Pablo Zabaleta believes Pep will change his mind and play a more direct style of football: "We played direct when it was needed and we played out from the back when there was a good chance to play from Claudio Bravo. We need to respond to those situations where sometimes we need to play long balls and go for the second balls as well. In this league you need this, it is so physical. You need to be strong as a defender and you must be so solid. We have been talking the last few days that we needed to improve defensively. We kept a clean sheet, we were solid at the back and that is a big difference.

"I think the main problem was we were conceding too many counter-attacks and we needed to concentrate more on those balls. I thought we were very concentrated during the whole game against Watford, winning the long balls, being very aggressive at the back, winning all the duels. That is what you need as a defender, and as a team you need that determination and that desire to win the duels and the tackles. You must be prepared for this and we've got the players that have the aggression to cope with this."

Photo credit: Manchester City FC

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