City’s diagonal shift of play rocks Arsenal’s block
Manchester City’s blip at St. James’ Park against Newcastle gave Liverpool fans hope to extend the gap at the top. A hope which turned false after only 24 hours as Liverpool failed to bypass Leicester City’s defence at Anfield.
Dropped points at Newcastle pushed City back as Spurs’ late winners continue game after game. Another late strike from Heung-min Son this Saturday leapfrogged Spurs to 2nd in the table until City played on Sunday. Arsenal, their opponents at the Etihad, exited the F.A Cup last week after their defeat against Manchester United and currently are continuing their pursuit of a fourth place finish. In the midweek league games they managed to get past Cardiff City after yet another improved 2nd half, and you guessed it another switch in systems from Unai Emery.
The trip to the Etihad was jammed with injuries for Emery. His defensive line included absentees such as Hector Bellerin, Rob Holding, Sokratis Papastathopoulos and Ainsley Maitland-Niles. The only option for Emery at right back was Stephan Lichtsteiner whose best years are certainly behind him. Emery — tinkering with the system he’ll use once again — decided to go with a flat 4–4–2 with Saed Kolasinac and Alex Iwobi operating on the left and right wing respectively.
City’s lineup on other hand left everyone like Charlie Day in that scene from It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia where he’s trying to find out who is Pepe Silvia. Four midfielders in Fernandinho, Ilkay Gundogan, David Silva, and Kevin De Bruyne made everyone trying to figure out how will City line up. As the game started, the answer was clear. City played in a hybrid 4–3–3/3–2–4–1 as Fernandinho moved into midfield next to Gundogan once City were in possession of the ball.
City’s ideas were also clear since the start of the game. Raheem Sterling’s positioning wide near the touchline created space between Lichtsteiner and Shkodran Mustafi. David Silva ran into this space in the first minute of the game and attempted a cross which fell eventually to Iwobi on the edge of the box. A lack of options for the Nigerian made him hesitant and Aymeric Laporte pounced to nick the ball off him and cross it. On the end of the cross was a diving Sergio Aguero who made 1–0 to City after only 48 seconds.
The lead didn’t last long as Arsenal equalized after ten minutes. A pinball situation in City’s defence resulted in a corner. Nacho Monreal’s near post flick found Laurent Koscielny in the six yards box who headed it past Ederson.
Bernardo Silva and Sterling positioned themselves wide hugging the touchline to create space between Arsenal’s full backs and center back. De Bruyne and David Silva were meant to invade that space as the Spaniard did in the first goal. Fernandinho’s positioning in midfield also provided support to Gundogan in the case of an Arsenal offensive transition. The idea seemed legit, but the execution faced some problems as Arsenal reacted.
After a rampant couple of minutes Arsenal began to understand City’s approach and managed to minimize its threat. Matteo Guendouzi and Lucas Torreira tracked De Bruyne and David Silva’s runs into the space. The forwards dropped deeper to maintain vertical compactness which made it harder for City to penetrate.
Turning the tables, City pressed Arsenal in a 4–4–1–1 shape. David Silva joined Aguero in pressing the center backs as De Bruyne pressed Guendouzi who was Arsenal’s creator from deep. De Bruyne and David Silva occasionally shifted their pressing roles depending on Aguero’s pressing and the position of the ball. While, Bernardo Silva and Sterling pressed the full backs to deny any ball progression from the flanks. City’s pressing denied Arsenal from any wing-play and left them with the only option of long balls which Nicolas Otamendi reacted to brilliantly. It was quite evident that City’s pressing was working as when Monreal dribbled past Bernardo Silva in the 30th minute he had no passing options. The left back just went back lifting his hands helplessly. These two defending strategies made the game cagier as both teams failed to create goal scoring opportunities.
The positioning of Sterling and Bernardo Silva gave City another advantage, the ever-present threat out wide. As when one of Guendouzi or Torreira dropped to protect the channel, the other midfielder was more central to ensure horizontal compactness. Similarly, the far Arsenal full back had to move inwards to also maintain horizontal compactness. Sterling and Bernardo Silva never moved though, providing a constant threat out wide. Like an itchy rash you can never reach. Adding to that, Fernandinho’s positioning next to Gundogan allowed City two stations instead of one to shift the ball diagonally to the wide player. Fernandinho from the right to Sterling out wide on the left, and Gundogan from the left to Bernardo Silva out wide on the right.
City shifted the ball diagonally multiple times from one side of the field to the other to exploit the space either Sterling or Bernardo Silva had. Sliding Arsenal’s block across the pitch, it was reminiscent of Croatia’s victory over England in the World Cup’s Semi Finals. In the 43rd minute Fernandinho found Sterling with a diagonal ball. The Englishman had the time and space to play an exquisite one-two with Gundogan who chipped the ball elegantly behind Arsenal’s defence. Sterling volleyed it across the goal into the path of Aguero who only had to tap it in to make it 2–1. The type of goal that City have scored over, and over and over again. City were close to extend their lead as Gundogan shifted the ball diagonally to the right side towards Bernardo Silva. Guendouzi was central, unable to track De Bruyne’s run into the space which he was searching for throughout the first half. De Bruyne’s shot failed to hit the back of the net though, keeping the score at 2–1.
In the second half Arsenal dropped a gear. The forwards and wingers didn’t trackback as much, affecting the vertical compactness. De Bruyne should have scored at least once from the three chances he had in a span of 5 minutes. Firstly, he dropped into midfield untracked as Guendouzi was protecting the space between Monreal and Koscielny. Then again untracked on the edge of the box for another shot. Finally, a switch of play to Sterling out wide vacated space between the defenders for De Bruyne to invade. All three shots were saved easily by Bernd Leno.
A recurring image of a shift of play towards Sterling will haunt Lichtsteiner. Again, the Swiss right back tucked in to keep horizontal compactness, leaving space on the wing. Sterling dribbled into the box and played a low cross similar to the 2nd goal. This time the ball struck a sliding Aguero for his hatrick. Emery tried switching things around by bringing on Aaron Ramsey and Denis Suarez, and switching to a 4–2–3–1. However, his attempts were nullified by City’s pressing which proved effective on the night.
Emery’s lack of changes at half time was surprising considering that he regularly switches things around at half time or during the second half.
Pep Guardiola’s ideas had the upper hand on the night. The pressing scheme nullified Arsenal, Fernandinho’s positioning provided an extra player in midfield which allowed De Bruyne and David Silva to attack the space between the full backs and center backs, while also adding another station for shifting the play diagonally from one side to the other. Sterling and Bernardo Silva’s positioning out wide complemented the above by dragging Arsenal’s full backs out wide, and by being offensive outlets for the shift of play.
Guardiola’s ideas might seem sometimes overthought but as Sir Alex Ferguson once said “the best coaches are the ones with imagination. You have to have a good imagination to be a top coach.”
