Manchester City’s positional play was pivotal in the champions latest victory – despite Everton creating a number of chances from set-pieces. Both İlkay Gündoğan and Kevin De Bruyne were key to City’s buildup on the flanks, as both teams had opportunities to take all three points. Tactical analysis and match report by Joel Parker. Pep […]
Manchester City were held to a draw against Tottenham Hotspur, despite being the far better side. City dominated the game for large stretches as Spurs struggled to deal with their dangerous wing attacks. Spurs, on their turn, could rarely break through City’s pressing when they had the ball. Despite this, a long range strike from […]
In a statement victory over West Ham United, City declared they are ready to put together another 95 points-plus Premier League season. Time and time again, City went behind West Ham’s defense, easily racking up chances as a result. First and foremost, they proved that the biggest question will be who can stop them this […]
In a familiarly tight encounter, treble holders Manchester City edged past European champions Liverpool in the Community Shield thanks to a penalty shoot-out. Pep Guardiola was as unorthodox as ever, with his team asking Liverpool very different questions than the last time around, opening the scoring as a result of one of them. Liverpool’s second […]
It is difficult to give a coach or a team credit after losing 6-0, especially in a cup final. However, against this extremely dominant Manchester City team, any kind of new ideas on how to defend are significant. Javi Gracia, who proved himself as one of the most successful coaches of the season by overachieving […]
Brighton were no match for Manchester City, who crowned themselves Premier League champions for the second season running. This game served as a prime example of how we will remember most of the domestic matches by Guardiola’s City: demolishing an opponent that sits back in a low block with positional play, quick combinations and dribbles […]
Leicester almost turned the Premier League title race on its head. They nearly managed to steal a deserved point from the Etihad, striking a fine balance between stubborn defending and composed possession play. Despite being repetitive and well-contained, City’s attacking ways generally manage to find an exploitable weakness one way or another. In this game, […]
Manchester City found it tough to create clear chances against United’s deep defense in the first half and had some minor scares on the counterattack due to the speed of United’s strikers. However, once they found the breakthrough in the second half thanks to Bernardo Silva, City had relatively little trouble seeing the game out, […]
Manchester City scored early through Phil Foden, but struggled to break down Tottenham Hotspur’s 5-3-2 defensive block. Pochettino’s clever formation choice also proved to be useful against City’s 4-1-4-1 high press, until Paulo Gazzaniga’s passing ability was exposed. Tactical analysis and match report by Om Arvind. Pep Guardiola’s legacy is under some serious pressure, whether […]
Tottenham went through to the Champions League semi finals after Mauricio Pochettino’s tactical choice led to a record-breaking opening stage that produced five goals in twenty-one minutes. Despite gradually gaining control and having reached the score line that would see them through, Manchester City found themselves at the wrong end of two VAR decisions and […]