Manchester City managers of the future have a problem. The football played at the end of 2017 will always be the standard to which they are held. This month, City fan Noel Gallagher, a man not known for his compliments and somebody that has seen 250,000 people at Knebworth sing his name, described what is going on at the Etihad as “the greatest thing I’ve ever seen in my entire life”.

Hyperbole perhaps, but if you do not agree that Pep Guardiola’s side are playing the best football of the Premier League era, then nobody can argue with the record that City are furthering each week — it is 18 consecutive league wins and counting.

This is, however, not yet a Guardiola record. Between October 2013 and March 2014 under the Spaniard, Bayern Munich won 19 Bundesliga matches on the trot, the last of which a 3-1 victory at Hertha Berlin that secured the league title with seven matches to spare, also a record. (Guardiola holds the joint record, too, for consecutive league wins in Spain: his Barcelona side managed 16.)

How to compare Guardiola’s run at Bayern with this run at City? Different players in a different league at a different time. Guardiola favoured a 4-1-4-1 formation in 2013-14 with Philipp Lahm scurrying about in front of the back four and the attack focused around one of Mario Mandzukic or Thomas Müller as the central pivot, the axis in a whirlwind of one-twos and cut-backs.

Guardiola applied an updated tiki-taka model from Barcelona to that Bayern team: possession was still king – averaging 71.6% over the winning run – with the inverted wingers of Arjen Robben and Franck Ribery allowing the full-backs to provide the width. Just as Dani Alves had been the assist king at Barcelona, nobody created more goals at Bayern over that 19-game span than Rafinha, arguably the team’s least technically accomplished player.

His strategy at Bayern, in its purest form, would die a death later that season when Bayern lost their Champions League semi-final second leg 4-0 at home to Real Madrid, as it became evident that the side could not cope with the counterattacks of Europe’s elite. But against Werder Bremen (7-0) and Eintracht Frankfurt (5-0), Schalke (5-1) and Wolfsburg (6-1), it worked a charm. Bayern scored 64 goals in 19 matches at an average of 3.36 per game, and conceding 10; City have scored 58 times in the past 18 matches, at an average of 3.22 per game, conceding 12.

A tinkered version of that Bayern blueprint lives on at City. The full-backs are still vital – as Guardiola’s pre-season spending on Benjamin Mendy and Kyle Walker proved – but they sit a little deeper with Leroy Sané and Raheem Sterling instead providing width. Playing out from the back through the fulcrum of the team – first it was Xavi/Iniesta, then Thiago/Xabi Alonso, now it is Kevin De Bruyne/Silva – to these players remains key, but transitions are slower.

Guardiola celebrates with Mario Mandzukic after Bayern’s 19th straight Bundesliga victory sealed the 2013-14 title. Photograph: Kai Pfaffenbach/Reuters

Guardiola still has his detractors. There are those that point out that he has never managed a struggling club. To others, it is simply the players and the money that has got him where he is – but José Mourinho is proving at Manchester United that having seemingly unlimited resources does not necessarily mean unlimited success. Other City managers have enjoyed huge budgets, but none can claim to have a winning record longer than eight matches.

He has also bought well: only Nolito and Claudio Bravo look like clangers in the company of Sané, John Stones, Danilo, Ederson, Walker, Mendy, Gabriel Jesus, Bernardo Silva and Ilkay Gündogan. Nearly every player has drastically improved under him, from Sterling to Fabian Delph. Nicolás Otamendi, once a liability, now looks world-class.

What is more, throughout his career, Guardiola has made brave decisions. Deco, Ronaldinho and Samuel Eto’o were sent packing from Barcelona. In the middle of Bayern’s winning run, Mario Mandzukic – the Bundesliga’s leading scorer – was dropped and told that he would be replaced by Robert Lewandowski at the end of the season. At City, Joe Hart was quickly moved on and even Sergio Agüero occasionally relegated to the bench. To make such changes shows remarkable foresight, to appease such talented squads displays intelligent man management.

The democracy and history at Barcelona and the politics at Bayern meant that Guardiola was never free of constraints. The difference at City is the DNA of the club has not yet been written. Off the pitch, he oversees the three pillars: transfers, training, media. On it, and in the stands, he commands complete obedience.

City’s fans have known what it is to be bad, that is why this journey is all the more thrilling. There is no looming shadow of Johan Cruyff or Jupp Heynckes, no school of science to adhere to, no cries from the terraces to “attack, attack”, no bulging trophy cabinet, no directors like Karl-Heinz Rummenigge or Uli Hoeness eager to give their two cents. Almost without fail, Guardiola’s is the sole voice emanating from the club, with no disgruntled physios or imperious club slogan like “Més que un club” (“More than a club”) or “Mia san mia” (“We are who we are”) to hold him back.

City are just finding out who they are under Guardiola – Manchester City 3.0 – and whether this run ends or continues at Crystal Palace on Sunday, the rest of us watching on are somewhere between spellbound and terrified.