Arjen Robben has backed Pep Guaridola to succeed at Manchester City despite a tough adjustment to life in the Premier League.
Guardiola, who managed Robben with great success at Bayern Munich for three years, looks to be in a battle for Champions League qualification rather than a Premier League title win. But Robben is confident City are moving in the right direction.
"I'm not worried about him at all," he told the Independent. "I know his philosophy. I know the way he thinks about football and I also know the Premier League, as I've played there for three years, so I know, with all the teams that are in it, it's very, very difficult.
"Every game is a new battle but what I can see -- I haven't seen a lot because it's difficult to see a lot of games because we're playing all the time -- but the thing I have seen a little bit, you can already see his handwriting, you know and that's for me something that is very positive.
"You don't [generally] see that so quickly that you can see the handwriting of the coach and the way they are playing, in my opinion, is I don't know better but maybe more attractive than it was before and that's what I say.
"He loves the game, he loves football, he loves attacking football. He wants to have the ball, he wants to play and to me, for players, it's also the best. You want to play football. So, yeah, for me, no negative word about it because I love working with him for the last three years."
Similar concerns have been raised about Bayern's adaptation to life under Carlo Ancelotti, following Guardiola's departure, but Robben, who joined the club in 2009, said it is normal to take time to adjust to a new way of working.
"Of course it's a change, but it's always a change," Robben said. "I think I've had now four managers here, four great managers, but they all did it their own way and they will always need some time to adapt. Every new coach is interesting.
"We've been working with the other manager, with Pep, for three years and it was this regime [performs a hard chopping hand gesture] and also with him it took some time. In the third year, we were far more complete than in the first year, so it is always normal that you need some time.
"Now there's a different manager, he brings his new ideas, it's a little bit different, his own specific details, you know, it's just this... you have to switch again, and that's quite a normal process."