Back to the fore in Manchester City’s revival

Guardiola’s strategy to be conservative in defence led to his team’s turnaround in Premier League title race after three losses

KOLKATA: “In December, people will say, ‘Manchester City have got fewer points than last season’.” Pep Guardiola’s abilities as a fortune-teller is not germane to this discussion but he had got this right. On December 30, 2018, City had 47 points from 20 games. Around the same time in 2017 and on way to winning the Premiership while breaking records for fun, City had 59 points after 21 rounds.

But what Guardiola hadn’t factored in when he made this prediction before the 2018-19 season was the depth to which City would plumb. In a span of 18 days City lost to Chelsea, Crystal Palace and Leicester City.

The loss to Chelsea ended their 21-match unbeaten run and meant Manchester City had to cede pole position to Liverpool. The way David Luiz’s long ball caught the City defence flatfooted portended the end of their reign. The defeat against Crystal Palace, City’s first of the season at home, did little to banish such thoughts. And then four days later, on December 26, Guardiola’s team lost 1-2 to Leicester City to drop to third behind Spurs in the standings.

Leicester, like many teams trying to cope with City’s iridescent passing game, had sat deep. “It is important to focus on how we can improve when we play against teams so deep,” was one of things Guardiola had said his team needed to work on if he were to achieve what Arsene Wenger, Bill Shankly and Brian Clough hadn’t: retain the title.

DARK, DIRE DECEMBER

The defeats showed how brittle City could be defensively. “A lot of times he (Guardiola) has two full-backs in front of the central defenders….guardiola takes a big risk and that is why he can lose. The space behind is too big for central defenders,” was how Louis van Gaal had discovered a flaw in the system. Chelsea, Palace and Leicester had all exploited that making it a dark, dire December for City. Guardiola responded by being more conservative at the back. More specifically, the full backs. When one went on the

attack, the other stayed back. To protect the full backs, Guardiola occasionally traded his preferred 4-3-3 formation for 4-4-2.

“Pep is an innate worker and his team becomes a reflection of that — he has it all under control at every moment,” said David Silva in an interview to Fourfourtwo last January.

The first sign of a turnaround came when City won at Southampton;

the game also marking the return of Fernandinho from injury. It kept Liverpool’s lead to seven as the teams met at the Etihad on January 4.

With a 2-1 victory, City were

back in business. “We won at home and that made a difference,” said Vincent Kompany at Brighton on Sunday.

This was a City far removed from when the teams had met in January 2018, Liverpool winning 4-3, and an even further shift from 2016-17 when Guardiola would play Sergio Aguero as lone striker with Gabriel Jesus, Kevin de Bruyne and Leroy Sane behind him followed by David Silva and Yaya Toure.

Against Liverpool last January, Aymeric Laporte, a central defender who fits Guardiola’s demanding style where being able to pass is an essential prerequisite, played as left-back and that meant only Danilo was moving up.

Laporte did that again on Sunday but also scored a typical central defender’s goal. Only Ederson had had more Premiership starts than the Frenchman who has put behind a rare offday against Spurs in the Champions League quarter-final.

The only game they have lost in the league after beating Liverpool was to Newcastle where Christian Atsu’s pace caused City grief.

That was on January 29. The patience City showed while breaking down Brighton was proof that Guardiola has succeeded what he set out to do. This term City were rarely bewitching but always in control.

CLEAN SHEETS

City also kept 20 clean sheets, the second-highest of the season, one behind Liverpool. Not bad for a team that according to Kompany is probably the smallest in the league.

“How many clean sheets we achieved in the last 15 games or so, it is ridiculous. I am so proud of the guys: to do the work going forward but also when we were winning one-nil, one-nil, onenil, to do the work defensively,” said Kompany.

Of course, defensive solidity sans the improvement of Raheem Sterling, the passing skills of David Silva — “Pep put me in a position where my best qualities are most to the fore,” David has said — the incandescence of Bernardo Silva and Kompany’s goal against Leicester wouldn’t have made Manchester City the first team since Manchester United in 2008-09 to retain the title.

“We have an incredible desire to overachieve… We are looking forward to the FA Cup final (on Saturday) now. It is unprecedented,” said Kompany referring to the bid for a domestic treble, a possibility that looked far-fetched during City’s winter of discontent.