Striker? City can win title without one
pretty much all season, instead preferring to use either Roberto Firmino (as was the case on Sunday) or Diogo Jota as a mobile central attacker.
At times at Old Trafford, Firmino dropped incredibly deep, his ability to drag United’s defence about creating plenty of space for Salah and Jota to exploit. Like Havertz for Chelsea, the Brazilian didn’t score or assist, but his presence in the front line no doubt enabled Liverpool to storm to victory.
There has never been a notion this season that Liverpool need to play with an out-and-out striker and rightly so, having scored 27 goals in nine Premier League games they clearly aren’t missing one. But the same should apply to City. As the third-highest scorers in the league, on average the Blues have bagged over two goals per game.
Ultimately, Guardiola wanted to sign a striker over the summer. After the Kane deal fell through and Cristiano Ronaldo went to United, he decided to persist with the false-nine system that served City so well last season, rather than buy a second-rate forward to plug a gap.
Before the start of this campaign, many scoffed at City’s supposed arrogance for believing they could win the title again without a striker. Yet at the weekend, their rivals fell into line and reaped the very real benefits of playing a false nine.