Premier League Analysis of a team that leads in England and is scary in the Champons
Manchester City has accumulated 27 games without losing between all tournaments and 20 consecutive victories. Pep’s eleven has not fallen since he lost 2-0 in his visit to Tottenham on November 21. A perfect trajectory that has allowed them to be leaders of the Premier with 13 points more than United and Leicester; reach the final of the Carabao Cup; the quarterfinals of the FA Cup; and have one foot in the quarterfinals of the Champions League after 0-2 in the first leg against Gladbach.
Under these results, and taking into account their game, it is worth wondering if City is the best team in Europe today, ahead of Atltico, PSG, Bayern or Juventus, for example. Defensive reliability; many options in attack; a midfielder with a splendid De Bruyne; and a teacher on the bench, Pep Guardiola, are some keys. Nobody wants to cross it in Europe.
these are some of the keys to his splendid moment:
Defensive reliability. After many million euros spent on centrals (323 million in six years), City seems to have hit the key: Ruben Dias. An expense in Mangala in 2014 (45 million); Otamendi in 2015 (44); Stones in 2016 (56); Laporte in 2018 (65); and Ak (45) and Rubn Dias (68) in 2020. In the first eight days of the Premier, City conceded 11 goals, while in the following 18 they have only scored five. Ruben Dias has had a lot to do with this streak, but also the great last performance of the always irregular Stones.
Few mistakes behind. They have been reduced to the maximum, even maintaining the idea of removing the ball played from behind. In this, the work of the new coach that Pep signed as his right hand has been important: the Spaniard Juan Manuel Lillo, who worked a lot on the positional game to free up spaces and take advantage of those that exist. A Master at that, who has also greatly improved the back game.
Joao Cancelo’s fitness status. Extraordinary. Perhaps he is the most influential side in the Premier now, sometimes on the right, his usual place, and others on the left, where he is also acting superbly. Walker is his substitute or complement when he plays with a different leg, but the former Valencia player is out, despite the fact that his numbers in the Premier (one goal and two assists in 20 games) do not show such a brilliant participation.
Ilkay Gndogan, improvised scorer. The German is the ‘top scorer’ with 13 goals (10 in these 20 wins) of a City that signs a Champions League streak. He was always an important element, but his hatching scorer has given the ‘citizens’ a plus. Without being a very high-scoring team, or as high-scoring as Pep’s others, the Barça coach has found other offensive responses, such as that of the German midfielder.
Crushing dominance in the game, that makes them subject their rivals a lot and have innumerable dangerous situations. And the opposing team barely has a favor. A dominance of the game promoted in possessions of 70% of average, the majority, and transferred in a 1-4-3-3 with very offensive character. A defensive pivot (Rodri or Fernandinho) and two creative midfielders (Gndogan and De Bruyne, normally). That said, when Pep’s team has to ‘run’, they run, and adapt to the rival and to the rhythm of the game without the neatness of the past. He is a more compliant, less dogmatic Pep, if one can say.
Great physical condition of the equipment. Despite the injuries (Agero, Sterling …) and the positive cases of Covid (Ferran, Kun …), the footballers were activated soon and were able to achieve an outstanding collective moment, in which few notice the personal downturns and temporary, type Ferran after his Covid.
Foden and Sterling. Its freshness on the flanks in attack has made up for deficiencies such as the absence of a definitive ‘9’. Gabriel Jesus has barely six goals between Premier and Champions and we must take into account the long injury, plus Covid, of Kun Agero, who has just reappeared these days and who is considering his future when he ends his contract in June.
Irruption of freshness with Ferran Torres. The Spaniard made an extraordinary first part of the season, until Christmas, when he had the problems with the Covid already mentioned. He had a bad time, he lost three kilos, and it is difficult for him to return, but his leadership until Christmas surprised everyone in the Premier … and even in Spain.
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