I think some coaching and coaches are so caught up with philosophies about how football is played that players are coached and drilled about keeping possession that sometimes eliminates any element that means taking a risk with the ball such as a forward pass or showing any creativity.
The irony is some of these coaches usually spout that players should be thinking for themselves and prepared to be courageous on the ball whilst screaming about not losing possession and maintaining shape.
City’s current set up does seem to produce a number of decent possession like players that don’t progress to the first team and end up in Non league football for a time.