- 6 hours ago
Manchester City are firmly in the title race - and it's down to another Pep innovation. But how has this switch allowed the new signings to hit the ground running? And what does it mean for City's possession-based football? Jacob returns to The Breakdown with his analysis of how Pep's 20-Year-Old tactics are destroying the Premier League!
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00:00Pep Guardiola has gone back not 5 years, not 10 years, not even 15 years, but 20 years to reinvent
00:06his tactics once more.
00:08But why is he doing it all? How did the summer signings facilitate this shift?
00:12And how does his new tactic still keep Pep's belief at the centre of everything?
00:17I'm Jacob Hallsfall and this is The Breakdown with 4-4-2.
00:23Before we get into what these tactics actually are, we've got to go back to where it all stems from.
00:27You may recall Umia Erfan asking Pep about an article he wrote back in 2006, and that question that he
00:33asked is the inspiration for today's video.
00:35In the article that Umia references, Pep discusses the speeds that counter-attacking football can give you, and that's something
00:41that we've seen from Man City this season.
00:43City have used quick combination play to exploit speeds in behind the opposition's defence when they're attacking in transition.
00:48In fact, only three teams have registered more shots from counter-attacking scenarios than Man City in the Premier League
00:54this season.
00:54But playing in this counter-attacking transitional way does sacrifice a lot of control, something that Pep's never really looked
01:01to sacrifice before.
01:02In all of the last nine Premier League seasons, Manchester City have averaged more possession than anyone else in the
01:07division.
01:08Yet this season, they're currently sat in second.
01:10At times, Pep's look to avoid low-block defences completely by defending a little bit deeper, and taking more risk
01:15and attacking quicker when City have the ball.
01:18Which is something that may have been suggested by City's summer signings. High-risk passers and high-risk ball carriers
01:23like Ryan Aitnuri and Ryan Shirky give us insight into what Pep's plans were going to be.
01:28Bidding off complete control and minimal risk in favour of a little bit less control and a lot more risk.
01:33Now don't get me wrong, Pep's not completely binning off trying to control games and dictate play, but he's making
01:40his controlling side more situational and more balanced in order to combat the current state of the Premier League.
01:45In the same article that Pep discusses counter-attacks creating space for you to play in, he also discusses movements
01:52to pull apart low blocks and then attack the space that your players create.
01:56In the article, there's a lot of emphasis on timing because Pep doesn't want his winger moving centrally to create
02:00wide space when Mark Guay, he's still playing with the ball on the edge of his box.
02:04He wants everyone to move at the right time and in coordination with each other, so everyone's arriving onto the
02:09ball at the right time.
02:10Semenyo carries inside, which means Tonali and Lewis Hall both have to engage with him, but because Marmouche is already
02:16occupying Malik Chiao, Newcastle don't have the bodies to manage both Erling Haaland and Antoine Semenyo.
02:22So Haaland gets off Hall's shoulder, gets in behind and then that means the Newcastle defence are dropping deep and
02:28reacting rather than preventing, leaving Nico O'Reilly to arrive into the box later and nod one home.
02:33City are using the elite ball-carrying ability in their team to drag defences deeper and then they're rotating around
02:39the ball to attack the space that is made by that defence dropping off.
02:43Which is probably why both Ryan Shirky and Jeremy Dorku sit in the top 10 for dribbles per 90 in
02:49the Premier League this season.
02:50Pep wants them to do what they do best. Ryan Shirky and Jeremy Dorku as players are full of flair,
02:55full of creativity, full of just doing a little bit of mad stuff.
02:59I can't think of a better word to describe it and I think you'll agree they do just do mad
03:02stuff and Pep likes that because it facilitates his other plans for other players like Erling Haaland.
03:09And again that's no surprise when we look at City's recruitment over the last eight months because they've got so
03:12many players who can thrive in almost any type of space.
03:15Semenyo, he'll go in behind and he will thrive there. Ryan Shirky in tight spaces, there's not many players better
03:21than him in world football.
03:22And even Chiani Reindeers get him driving into space. Again, he's absolutely elite at it. So City can hurt you
03:29in pretty much any space you afford them.
03:32And Pep's absolutely loving it.
03:34Because he's utilising ball carrying, flair, individual quality, player autonomy, which is an important one for all you people who
03:42hated what happened with Jack Grealish.
03:44Pep's giving these players freedom on the pitch in their positions like we've never seen it under him.
03:49Mark Guahy carrying the ball out here causes Tonali, Joey Linton and Harvey Barnes to drop off.
03:54O'Reilly then goes against them by dropping in, pulling Matic Chiao out of position, forcing Tonali to go even
03:59further back to cover Chiao's space.
04:02Which means Ryan Shirky is free for a pass and as that ball is being played in with Nick O
04:06'Reilly's run, Ryan Aitnuri is legging it down the wing to exploit the space that has just been created by
04:11Nick O'Reilly coming all the way back.
04:13Using counter movements across three different players there in Ryan Shirky, Nick O'Reilly and Ryan Aitnuri allow City to
04:19just pull that Newcastle right hand side of defence completely all over the shop.
04:25They had no hope.
04:26And this even comes into play when City are in fast transition.
04:29Because Jeremy Dorku's central, the two Everton players can't actually go all the way out and commit to Nick O
04:33'Reilly because they're scared of the space that they'll leave Jeremy Dorku in.
04:36And that's where Pep's 2006 ideas on counter-attacking and pulling apart low blocks blend together almost.
04:44Which highlights why players have to move at exactly the right time in order to get in the opposition's way
04:49and prevent the opposition from being able to do their jobs properly.
04:52Which is also why the summer recruitment and raising the athletic and physical flooring of the City squad was so,
04:59so important.
05:00Technical excellence has been prioritised over physical attributes by Manchester City in the past.
05:04And that's fine when you control all thirds of the pitch, it really is.
05:08I mean, you're not really doing too much duelling.
05:10And practically all of the football is short passes keeping it moving until space opens up and then slowly moving
05:15into it to penetrate the opposition.
05:17But, with City sacrificing territorial dominance ever so slightly, they now need to be able to move into those spaces
05:24that they create a hell of a lot quicker.
05:25And also, they're doing way, way more duelling.
05:29I mean, it does make sense.
05:31More attack means more defence.
05:33And we saw that against Newcastle, the momentum chart in that game is relatively even and City only played 466
05:39passes.
05:40Yes, I'm aware 466 passes is a lot for pretty much any other team.
05:44But for Pep, that's quite low in terms of Pep Guardiola.
05:50Especially considering Man City out-dueled Newcastle in that game.
05:53They won 55% of all duels, ground and aerial.
05:56A sentence that even just 12 months ago would have baffled pretty much everyone.
06:00And that was an active plan from Pep. I mean, I'm pretty sure it was.
06:03I don't have a direct link to his amazing mind.
06:06But, when we look at the average positions, it shows a ton of players committing to the last line.
06:11Almost in an attempt to overload Newcastle's back line so that when one of City's 48 long boards went forward,
06:17they could win that and play off it.
06:19But, the question is, why has Pep made these changes that contradict almost his whole tenure at Manchester City?
06:25Well, City have always had so much quality in every season that Pep's been there.
06:30Whether it be Sergio Aguero in the 17-18 season, Kevin De Bruyne in the 2019-20 season or Erlen
06:35Haaland in 22-23.
06:37However, the rest of the league haven't had that same quality.
06:40They've not been able to maintain with City's improvement every season.
06:43City controlling games having 70% possession every week works when they have a lot more quality than whoever they're
06:50facing.
06:50Because teams would sit in, kind of try and cover the central space, but eventually City would force them to
06:56make an error and then very rarely leave it unpunished.
06:59But, the modern Premier League in its physical nature means that teams are more than happy to sit in a
07:03low block and then turn the game into a basketball game, end-to-end.
07:07Dueling every two minutes, long balls every 30 seconds, throw-ins every four minutes.
07:12Which means that having that technical advantage becomes almost irrelevant in a sense.
07:17Which City found out last season.
07:20Last season, away to Nottingham Forest, Man City had nearly 70% possession and completed just under 550 passes.
07:26Yes, due to Forest having the ability to overload their own box and sit in and cover central space for
07:32City to operate in and shoot in.
07:34Pep's side generated just 0.86 xG.
07:37And due to City being at a disadvantage in terms of athleticism, they struggled to deal with Forest's direct football.
07:42Which is why things had to change.
07:43City were not going to go into this season and even get near Arsenal if they continued to try and
07:49just control games every single week with technical passes everywhere.
07:53Now, let's get this right.
07:54It's not wholesale changes. Pep hasn't thrown his whole philosophy out the window to play like 17-18 Burnley under
08:00Sean Dyche.
08:00We're still seeing him play with these wiggers pretty locked in position at times during build-up.
08:05To prevent the opposition being able to fully commit to overloading City's first phase.
08:09Because they're scared of someone like Antoine Semenuel getting in behind.
08:12And who blames them?
08:13So that rigid positioning that's been a core part of Pep's football since the very beginning really.
08:18He's still there at times.
08:20It's just more situational now.
08:22City have so many more ways to beat sides this season than they did last season.
08:26Whether it be tiki-taka, long balls to Haaland, counter-attacking football, playing in wide 1v1s consistently.
08:32They can do so much.
08:34And it all comes back to an article Pep wrote in 2006.
08:38But will it be enough for them to win the Premier League?
08:41Well, I'm not really bothered because either way, it's incredibly interesting.
08:45It's so fun.
08:46And getting to see Pep be at his nut-dob genius best once more is brilliant, innit?
08:51So if you want to see more tactical breakdowns, maybe of Pep's next innovation,
08:56then leave a like and subscribe because we're here every single week,
08:58analysing the biggest tactical moments in football.
09:01And I'll see you next week, I guess.
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