During their last Premier League game against Everton, we pointed out that Pep Guardiola needed to work on the Manchester City defensive structure, as we were seeing a weaker performance in that aspect of their game lately. With the team conceding goals in their last six games.
On Saturday, we added the seventh game to this negative streak, but this time there was more than that, as Manchester City saw Crystal Palace hit them three times at their home stadium, granting Pep Guardiolas team their first home defeat of the season. This pushed Liverpool four points ahead of Manchester City with Klopp’s band visiting the Etihad on January 3, in what could be a defining game for the Premier League.
It started as usual, but things took a different course
The game started as usual when Manchester City play at the Etihad Stadium, and most of the time also when they play as visitors. Crystal Palace started the game with a 4-5-1 tactical positioning, but more important than the numbers is how they positioned themselves and what their intentions were. The whole team stood in their own half without putting pressure on the defensive line of Manchester City.
Once again, and this is a trend we have been seeing as of lately, having five midfielders is proving to be an efficient way to reduce the offensive creativity of Manchester City. But is not the number itself, but the structure where you achieve numerical, and usually qualitative, superiority on both wings, with four or five players putting pressure on two or three Manchester City players that are closer to that location.
But this is not only about putting more players, numerical superiority, but also having them better positioned for the direction of the attack, qualitative superiority, something you can achieve even with fewer players. And a second aspect is the position of the centre midfielder, that is proving to be key as a free player willing to support any defensive weakness the team can have or cover the spaces that are left.
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