This tactical analysis delves into İlkay Gündoğan’s differing roles at Manchester City, offers statistical comparisons between the midfielder, teammates and opposition players, in addition to tactical insights via visualisations. All data utilised in this piece is average per game data from all club competitions in the 18/19 season. Data filters were used to appraise players in specific positions.
Background
Despite being a decorated player in the Bundesliga and Premier League, Gündoğan is a player who has a tendency to fly somewhat under the radar at Manchester City, often overshadowed by his central midfield teammates. This is the German international’s third season at Manchester City, and arguably his best. His first two seasons in England were plagued with injury and a lack of starts, making just nine and 15 Premier League starts in the 16/17 and 17/18 seasons, respectively. This season he made 23 starts in the league during the treble-winning campaign. His versatility and impressive performances when playing ahead of Kevin De Bruyne and Fernandinho, who have both had their injury issues, have outlined his importance to Manchester City.
Where does he play?
If you ask most people which three players should start in midfield for Manchester City in their 4-3-3 formation, I’d wager that the majority would go for Fernandinho in the holding role, with David Silva and Kevin De Bruyne in more advanced positions to the left and right of the Brazilian. This has been reinforced by Pep Guardiola as the trio started the majority of matches together in the 17/18 campaign. So where does Gündogan fit in?
Throughout his time at Borussia Dortmund, Manchester City and with Germany, he has played in multiple midfield roles including the ‘6’, ‘8’ and ‘10’ positions, he has even been pushed up into a false ‘9’ position on occasion too. He is the “complete player, Jürgen Klopp claimed when discussing the player at Borussia Dortmund, “he has the necessary calm, the eye and the vision. Gündoğan now sees bigger spaces and can also find them with long balls. He is strong on the ball while knowing when to make a tackle.” Such descriptions fit the notion of him being a versatile midfield operator, capable of contributing successfully in a number of roles. However, Guardiola stated Gündoğan is a “special player with a lot of personality,” but referred to him as an “attacking midfielder.” This suggested that Pep sees the German as an alternative option to David Silva and Kevin De Bruyne, along with Bernardo Silva and Phil Foden, as opposed to a defensive midfield alternative to Fernandinho.
Although Pep seemingly sees the German as an attacking midfielder, the lack of recruitment in the defensive midfield area for Manchester City over the summer of 2018, left Gündoğan as the most likely replacement for Fernandinho if injury or suspension occurred. The players do have differing playing styles, which will be investigated further on, but the alternatives in Fabian Delph and John Stones were needed to cover left back, centre back and had not played the number ‘6’ role as much as Gündoğan previously. City were reported to be very close to signing Jorginho, who interestingly has a style closer to that of Gündoğan as opposed to Fernandinho, but he chose to be reunited with Sarri at Chelsea. Rather than buy for the sake of it, Pep chose to trust in the squad he had for the 18/19 season, therefore, placing his trust in Gündoğan to fill offensive and defensive midfield roles when required.
Manchester City’s typical formation
As shown above, within the 4-3-3 system, Gündoğan is most suited to replacing one of the 3 midfielders. This may be Fernandinho in the defensive midfield number ‘6’ role, or David Silva or Kevin De Bruyne in the more attacking central midfield number ‘8’ role. The images below portray the heat maps of the ‘6’ and ‘8’ positions occupied by Manchester City’s most frequent midfield three.
Attacking Midfield
Kevin De Bruyne’s torn knee ligaments in August 2018, along with other injury issues for the Belgian, and Bernardo Silva’s form on the right wing, led to Gündogan starting many matches in an attacking central midfield role, mainly alongside David Silva. Guardiola’s positional rotation and expressive freedom allows the central midfielders to become part of the front five, enabling them to roam around the pitch and interact with others, while the defensive five have a more rigid approach.
The table and charts below outline the offensive statistics of Gündoğan, the Silvas, De Bruyne and Foden when playing in either the left or right offensive central midfield position.
