Bayern Munich's style revolution has already begun under Pep Guardiola Bayern are starting to feel like Guardiola's side. Personnel changes may have been minimal but bold alterations have been made to the style of play. Possession, possession and possession is the mantra. This revolution might have been undertaken at the Etihad Stadium itself. City were one of many clubs Guardiola decided against joining following his departure from Barcelona, despite the presence of so many former Nou Camp executives at the club. Last May, long after Guardiola had confirmed he was joining Bayern, City's chief executive Ferran Soriano sat in a suite on the top floor of New York's luxurious Trump Hotel and suggested that the club had not given up the hunt to eventually appoint him. "Pep is very young," Soriano said. After Germany he will probably come to England to coach somewhere. With Pep, the conversation is not about us chasing him or him chasing us. Pep and Txiki [Begiristain, City's director of football] speak regularly, maybe weekly, so that would have been an easy one. Not that Pellegrini should be unnerved. Guardiola might fit the profile of the kind of "holistic" manager they want but so does Pellegrini, who also demands possession-based dominance and attacking football. However, with Soriano talking about coaches working in "cycles" of three or four years, it is easy to project what might happen when Guardiola's contract ends in 2016, even if Chelsea might also have a say in that. All eyes will be on Guardiola in midweek. Just as they were in Prague when he beat Mourinho to win the Super Cup and help assuage absurdly early concerns that his appointment might have been a huge mistake. These fears crystallised in a strong comment piece in the broadsheet newspaper Suddeutsche Zeitung that attacked the "shameless financial sleaze" of Guardiola's £18 million signing of Barcelona midfielder Thiago Alcântara - represented by the manager's brother, Pere, who is also Luis Suárez's agent - and criticised the public dispute with his former assistant, and successor at Barca, Tito Vilanova. The Alcantara jibe was not without foundation - such links are potentially awkward and Bayern were sufficiently compromised that they could not bid for Suárez during the transfer window - but on the pitch Guardiola is starting to have a profound effect. Like Mourinho, Guardiola prefers a small, compact squad and players who are "multifunctional." He also likes to innovate, moving defender Philipp Lahm to become his holding midfielder. Nothing is a given for Guardiola and he should not be hired unless a club is ready to embrace change. As a disciple of Johann Cruyff, when Guardiola was appointed Barca's coach he urged fans to "fasten your seat belts. You're going to have fun. His approach at Bayern is the same. Ten goals in the past four matches in an unbeaten start to the season suggest this machine is hitting the mark. To the final millimetre.