Manchester City drew with Newcastle United 1-1 at St. James’ Park in a recent Premier League match. The Cityzens thus dropped to the second place in the league table with 14 points from six matches. Liverpool, who beat Wolverhampton Wanderers 2-1 on the same day, leads the table with 15 points from the same number of matches.
In the absence of Rodri and Kevin de Bruyne , Pep Guardiola’s team lacked some teeth in their attack at times. They will have to devise a way to perform better in the absence of their two star players if they are to win their fifth league title in a row.
A Change of Formation Could Help City
The Cityzens usually start with a 4-1-4-1 formation that changes to a 3-2-4-1, with either Joško Gvardiol or Manuel Akanji shifting to the midfield. However, playing with a 3-2-4-1 with Rico Lewis, Mateo Kovačić and İlkay Gündoğan means that the latter has to make the runs to the opposition penalty box.
It also means that there is no passer of the calibre of de Bruyne or Rodri to start moves for them in the midfield. It means that the attacks typically start by playing the ball to the wingers from the middle of the park. Other than the odd through ball played to him, Erling Haaland, therefore, has to depend more on crosses or passes sent from the flanks.
Moreover, as Manchester City does not typically have their full-backs overlapping much, the crosses usually come from the wingers only. They are not like, say, a Liverpool side that relies a good deal on its full-backs sending crosses to the opposition penalty box, though Kyle Walker is quite capable of doing that.
Hence, the Cityzens will need at least an additional player inside the box alongside Haaland to make good use of the ball. Therefore, starting Phil Foden in the hole behind Haaland in a 3-5-1-1 formation might be helpful for them, with Bernardo and Jack Grealish providing width. Julián Álvarez used to play in that position until the end of last season and his presence would have been helpful for the English champions.
Guardiola will not want his star striker to become heavily outnumbered inside the opposition penalty box, with passes coming from either left or right. Manchester City came quite close to scoring in the dying minutes of the match against Newcastle with Foden and Bernardo Silva receiving crosses inside the box and taking shots at the Newcastle goal.
They will want to replicate the same scenarios repeatedly in their upcoming matches, especially against teams defending in numbers. Hence, Foden’s presence alongside Haaland might help Manchester City’s cause.
The Cityzens has Wolves, Southampton, and Bournemouth as their next three opponents in the Premier League and hence, will want to collect as many points as possible from those matches. Each of those three is a relatively easy opponent for Guardiola’s team and might present them with an opportunity to experiment with a new formation. It remains to be seen whether the Cityzens can make use of the depth in their squad by making good use of their resources.