Pep Guardiola's Manchester City are part-Barcelona and part-Bayern
Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City are part-Barcelona and part-Bayern Munich – against West Brom the Spaniard’s superb hybrid tactics helped his side triumph 5-0
- Manchester City used two clever tactical innovations to beat West Brom 5-0
- Riyad Mahrez dropped into the false nine position where Lionel Messi played
- City’s fluid, interchangable style makes it hard for defenders to pick players up
Manchester City blew away West Bromwich Albion on Tuesday using a quite brilliant game plan which was part-Barcelona and part-Bayern Munich.
Pep Guardiola applied two tactical innovations which he used at his past clubs, with West Brom’s players being pulled all over the pitch as a result.
At Barca, Guardiola used Lionel Messi as a false nine and Riyad Mahrez performed that role to perfection at the Hawthorns.
Time and time again, Mahrez could be seen dropping into deep midfield, ready to receive the ball from John Stones or Ruben Dias before laying it off. Ilkay Gundogan and Bernardo Silva were playing in those Andres Iniesta and Xavi positions, with Rodri operating in the Sergio Busquets role.
When City were building from the back, West Brom’s midfielders went man-for-man against their counterparts — with a particular view to stopping Rodri, who has completed the most passes in the Premier League this season.
Manchester City midfielder Riyad Mahrez dropped deep to pick up the ball against West Brom
With every midfield player picked up, Mahrez would drift through the lines, dropping towards his own defence to offer himself as another option. Seeing that reminded me of Guardiola’s use of Messi at Barcelona.
Our first screenshot (above) shows that situation. West Brom reacted by trying to press Mahrez after he received the ball, but he simply found a spare man, and suddenly City were out and on the attack.
City’s passing has quickened up as the season has progressed. It’s as tiki-taka as ever. Everything is one-touch, two-touch, with City running with the ball far less.
At Bayern, Guardiola would not restrict his full backs to the wings. He would allow them to come inside. When City were in possession against West Brom, Joao Cancelo and Oleksandr Zinchenko could be seen in midfield. They were there to act like backboards, with their team-mates bouncing the ball off them constantly.
Our second screenshot (below) shows Dias on the ball in the 24th minute. Directly in front of him on his right and left in central midfield, remarkably, are Cancelo and Zinchenko, 15 yards apart. On the left, Phil Foden is hugging the touchline, as he did for most of the match. On the right, Silva has broken from midfield to go wide.
In front of centre half Ruben Dias are full backs Oleksandr Zinchenko and Joao Cancelo
Raheem Sterling has moved to a central position from the right while Gundogan, the left-sided midfielder, has joined the front line. Mahrez, having previously dropped deep, is now back in his original central position.
This is a system of so many moving parts. West Brom’s central defenders were in a three-v-two situation, outnumbered by Sterling, Mahrez and Gundogan. They didn’t know who to pick up, with players popping up in so many unconventional positions and the picture constantly changing.
If you’re a centre back, you like having a striker to mark. When your player disappears, it makes you nervous. West Brom simply couldn’t handle City’s system in that 5-0 home defeat, and Sheffield United will have been trying to work out how to combat it.
Guardiola’s players have shown their intelligence in putting his ideas into practice. At the back, Dias and Stones have started 12 games together in all competitions this season, securing 11 wins and a draw and keeping 11 clean sheets.
City boss Pep Guardiola’s tactical innovations has made them incredibly hard to play against
Their decision-making is outstanding. Dias is a classy central defender, but there were times against West Brom when he didn’t mind finding Row Z if need be. He’s not the most mobile, but he knows where to be and when.
Gundogan deserves a special mention. He was Guardiola’s first signing at City — a £20million buy from Borussia Dortmund. The German had a dislocated kneecap at the time but Guardiola didn’t mind waiting.
He has now become one of City’s most important players, moving from the left side of midfield and pushing into central positions. His form gives the group confidence. They know their talisman Kevin De Bruyne is out, but they see this guy stepping up.
This is what Sheffield United are up against on Saturday. Chris Wilder’s players deserve great credit for the way they won at Old Trafford in midweek. When you’ve been knocked to the canvas 16 times — and that is what losing feels like — it takes bravery to go to Manchester United and win.
Their Premier League wins this season have both come after FA Cup victories. That shows the power of confidence and they must believe they can go to City and get a result, as they did against their neighbours. Tactically, they will need to stay compact and deny the hosts space at the Etihad Stadium. That won’t be easy, of course.
As Sam Allardyce’s West Brom discovered at the Hawthorns, with Guardiola’s clever use of Mahrez and Co, City know how to leave you in a spin.
After a stale start to the season, City are back to setting the standard, top of the Premier League table despite being without Sergio Aguero and De Bruyne.
If they can continue to play like this, with the players’ level of understanding of Guardiola’s system, it will take some doing to knock them off their perch.
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