I remember playing in midfield for Southampton when Jamie Redknapp, playing for Liverpool, broke the Premier League record for the number of successful passes in a game. We did have Matt Le Tissier sent off which didn’t help. But the reality was that I was so stretched that I never had the opportunity, nor the energy, to sprint five yards to make a tackle.
So I wasn’t surprised when Pep Guardiola said last week that his team was playing better because they were running less. It sounds counter intuitive, especially as we’ve spent the last 10 years emphasising the importance of pressing your opponents.