Manchester City blew away West Bromwich Albion on Tuesday using a brilliant game plan that was part of Barcelona and part-Bayern Munich.
Pep Guardiola used two tactical tactics that he used at his previous clubs, with West Brom players being dragged across the pitch as a result.
At Barca, Guardiola used Lionel Messi as a nine-man striker and Riyad Mahrez fulfilled that role perfectly at the Hawthorns.
Manchester City midfielder Riyad Mahrez fell deep to pick up the ball against West Brom
Time and time again, Mahrez is seen falling into the middle of the pitch, ready to get the ball from John Stones or Ruben Dias before sending it off. Ilkay Gundogan and Bernardo Silva played in those Andres Iniesta and Xavi roles, with Rodri playing Sergio Busquets.
As City picked from the back, West Brom’s midfielders went head-to-head against their peers – with a particular focus on stopping Rodri, who has scored the most passes in the Premier League. this season.
With all the midfielders picked up, Mahrez would move through the lines, falling to his own defense to offer himself as an alternative. Seeing that reminded me of the Guardiola de Messi practice in Barcelona.
Our first picture (above) shows that situation. West Brom responded by trying to put pressure on Mahrez after he got the ball, but he found just one more, and suddenly City were out and on the attack.
City passing has accelerated as the season has progressed. It’s as tiki-taka as ever. Everything is one-touch, two-touch, with City running with the ball much smaller.
At Bayern, Guardiola would not confine his full back to the wings. He would let them in. When City were in possession against West Brom, Joao Cancelo and Oleksandr Zinchenko were visible in midfield. They were there to look like backboards, with their teammates constantly kicking the ball away from them.
Our second photo (below) shows Dias on the ball in the 24th minute. Just ahead of him on the right and left in the middle of the park, surprisingly, are Cancelo and Zinchenko, 15 yards apart. On the left, Phil Foden mocks the handline, as he did for most of the game. On the right, Silva has broken from midfield to go wide.
In front of center-back Ruben Dias are full-backs Oleksandr Zinchenko and Joao Cancelo
Raheem Sterling has moved to a center position from the right while Gundogan, the left-back midfielder, has entered the front line. Mahrez, having fallen deep before, is now back in his original position.
This is a system with so many moving parts. West Brom’s top defenders were in a three-vs-two position, higher than Sterling, Mahrez and Gundogan. They didn’t know who they would build, with players appearing in so many non-controversial roles and the picture constantly changing.
If you are a back center, you like to point out a fighter. When your player disappears, it embarrasses you. West Brom just couldn’t handle City’s system in that 5-0 home loss, and Sheffield United will have been struggling to figure out how he needs to fight.
Guardiola players have revealed the information in putting his ideas into action. At the back, Dias and Stones have started 12 games together in all competitions this season, winning 11 prizes and lotteries and holding 11 clean sheets.
The ingenuity of the mayor of Pep Guardiola has made it very difficult to play against them
Their conclusions are remarkable. Dias is a key midfielder, but there were times against West Brom when it was not difficult to find Row Z if needed. Not the most mobile, but he knows where to be and when.
Gundogan deserves special mention. He was Guardiola’s first signing at City – a £ 20million purchase from Borussia Dortmund. The Germans at the time had knee capacity but Guardiola did not bother to wait.
He is now one of City ‘s most important players, moving from the center left of the pitch and pushing into key spots. His form gives confidence to the group. They know their talisman Kevin De Bruyne is out, but they see this guy stepping up.
This is what Sheffield United are up against on Saturday. Chris Wilder ‘s players deserve big credit for the way they won at Old Trafford in midweek. When you hit the canvas 16 times – and that’s how a loss feels – it takes the courage to go to Manchester United and win.
Their winners in the Premier League this season have come after winning an FA Cup. That shows the power of confidence and they have to believe that they can go to City and get a result, as they did against their neighbors. Quickly, they have to stay tight and refuse the place of the hosts at the Etihad Stadium. That will not be easy, of course.
As West Brom found Sam Allardyce at the Hawthorns, with Guardiola ‘s clever use of Mahrez and Co, City know how to leave you in a spin.
After a tough start to the season, City are back to setting the standard, the top of the Premier League table despite being without Sergio Aguero and De Bruyne.
If they can continue to play like this, with the level of understanding of the players on the Guardiola system, it will make him do some to destroy them.