No striker is no problem for genius Pep
A GLANCE at the Premier League goalscoring charts might have an outsider thinking City were involved in a dire relegation battle.
Nobody in the Blues squad has more than two league goals to their name this season, an unenviable ‘feat’ that is only matched by struggling Norwich and Burnley, plus Southampton and league newcomers Brentford.
But, of course, City are actually thriving, tucked in neatly in third place, and only behind Liverpool in terms of overall goals scored.
That achievement is partly down to the fact they have picked up where they left off last season, conceding just three times in their eight games so far - and keeping clean sheets in six of those matches.
But it is also down to the egalitarian nature of the City squad when it comes to scoring goals - they share them around.
That is underlined by the fact the 16 they have scored have been shared among 11 players, which only Chelsea - whose 16 goals have been shared by 12 players - can beat.
Those stats are no surprise after last season, when City became the first team since Chelsea in 2004-05 to win the league without having a single player score more than 15 league goals.
With Sergio Aguero absent, and no Yaya Toure-style figure around to pick up the slack – although Ilkay Gundogan did a passable impression – the Blues simply seemed to take it in turns at hitting the back of the net. Gundogan top-scored with 13, Raheem Sterling was the only other player in double figures with 10, and Phil Foden, Gabriel Jesus and Riyad Mahrez all bagged nine.
With players like Ferran Torres (7), Kevin de Bruyne (6) and even John Stones (4) shouldering some of the burden, the goals still flowed, though not as freely as in previous title campaigns.
With all-time top goalscorer Aguero injured for most of the campaign, that ability to score from anywhere on the pitch was a necessity.
But Pep Guardiola knew they had won the league despite having no goalscorer, even though many portrayed it as a tactical triumph, with City employing a variety of ‘false nines,’ sometimes rotating them during a game to confuse and fluster bewildered opponents.
The fact is, had Aguero been fit and firing, City would have won the league with even greater ease, and probably added another trophy or two into the bargain.
That is why they were prepared to smash their own British transfer record - the £100m they splashed out for Jack Grealish - on bringing in Harry Kane. The fact they did not pull that deal off was a relief for the rest of the league - as Gary Neville said, if the England captain was in this City team, they would be halfway to winning the league by now.
But he isn’t, and they aren’t. So once again Guardiola has had to devise a way of making sure his team can keep pace with the deadly front three of Liverpool, who now have Virgil Van Dijk back to plug their biggest weakness from last
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season. With United and Chelsea also strengthening considerably, it looked like the unavailability of Kane might cost the Blues.
But they have turned what was pinpointed at the start of the season as a glaring weakness into a glorious strength.
The Brugge centre backs might actually have preferred the obvious physical presence of Kane to the will o’th’wisp figure of Phil Foden on Tuesday night.
It was like trying to punch a poltergeist at times for the Belgian champs as Foden was playing, Aguero-like, off the shoulder of the last man some times, and the next moment dropping deep into the centre circle to deliver pinpoint passes to team-mates darting into the space he had vacated.
Of course, City made a success of playing false nines last season, even though at times the lack of a natural finisher cost them points, and the odd cup tie - maybe even the Champions League final.
But they have perfected the art this season, and those players asked to take on the task of occupying the central striker areas look smarter and more aware of how they can punish the opposition.
Foden showed he has mastered the art better than anyone, but Ferran Torres has also, intermittently, shown plenty of promise in the role.
Last season, Gundogan - footballing intellectual that he is - took full advantage of the confusion and disarray sown by the fluid, ceaseless ebb and flow of attacking players who refuse to be nailed down.
He made a knack of popping up in advanced positions and finishing with the clinical efficiency of a striker, and his appearance back on the City bench, after a spell out injured, might end a shudder down a few defenders’ spines.
The Blues have not only learned how to live without a recognised striker, they have learned how to turn it into a positive.