“We conceded a bit more transitions than usual because they are good and we lost some easy balls,” Pep Guardiola told British broadcaster TNT Sports last night after his Manchester City side beat Aston Villa 4-1.
The importance of this line of analysis is that it was the first thing that came to Guardiola’s mind after he declared that City’s performance was excellent – and it was the same story later during his conference. post-match press.
“Better than Villa Park, for sure, we were better,” the City manager said, referring to the 1-0 first-leg defeat in December. “It’s true that we concede some unnecessary transitions because we lose easy balls.”
Considering Villa’s only goal of the game came in transition and they could have equalized through Douglas Luiz in the second half if not for Stefan Ortega’s save, Guardiola’s comments on the matter made sense, especially with City being vulnerable defensively. transitions this season.
But aside from the situations Guardiola mentioned, this was one of City’s best counter-pressing performances this season, with three of their four goals coming from this source.
On the eve of the first goal of Phil Foden’s hat-trick, from a free kick, Jack Grealish tries to find Rodri in front of the Villa defensive block, and it is interesting to note the positioning of the City defenders…
…because when Douglas Luiz gets the ball from Rodri, they are able to counter-press.
Ruben Dias charges towards Douglas Luiz, allowing the ball to fall to Foden, who wins the free kick to put City ahead.
On the next goal, Rodri passes the ball to Grealish on the left side, and once again Josko Gvardiol and Dias (off-shoot in the screenshot below) are in position to counter-press in case City lose the lead. possession. Grealish then tries to find Bernardo Silva inside the penalty area…
…but the Portuguese’s first touch allows Moussa Diaby to pass the ball to Ezri Konsa, who clears it.
However, the positions Gvardiol and Dias took when City had possession allowed them to quickly counter-press and win the ball back. City’s resulting attack ended with Rodri finding Foden near the edge of the penalty area, the England striker scoring to make it 3-1.
A few minutes later, another counter-pressing situation sealed the match. Here, Manuel Akanji teams up with Rodri to find Foden between the lines…
…but the latter’s first touch and a slight push from Clément Lenglet allowed Calum Chambers to recover the ball for Villa.
Three seconds later, Foden, Julian Alvarez and Rico Lewis counter-press to regain possession…
…and Foden fires a shot into the top corner to complete his hat-trick.
There were times when City’s counter-pressing could have been better, but their high pressing was almost perfect.
Unlike their usual 4-4-2 shape without possession, they set up a 4-3-3 with Foden and Bernardo marking Douglas Luiz and Tim Iroegbunam, and Rodri operating in the zone behind them.
The idea was to put pressure on Villa’s centre-backs, limiting access to their central players – Iroegbunam, Douglas Luiz, Morgan Rogers and Nicolo Zaniolo – whilst avoiding being exploited by Lucas Digne’s forwards.
Alvarez led the press, with Foden and Bernardo marking Douglas Luiz and Iroegbunam, and Jeremy Doku starting in a narrow position…
…which allowed him to press Lenglet when Villa moved the ball to their left side.
Here the French centre-back cannot circulate the ball to the right side of Villa’s defense due to the angle Alvarez is pressing from and cannot directly access left-back Digne because Doku blocks this passing route, while Lewis is marking Zaniolo in midfield. Lenglet decides to go long, and City eventually regain possession.
In cases where Villa managed to gain access to Digne through a quick passing combination, City were prepared.
In this example, it is Bernardo who puts pressure on the central defenders while Alvarez and Foden mark Villa’s double pivot. The short distance allowed by Foden to Douglas Luiz allows Villa to combine to find Digne, free of any marking…
…but as City’s centre-backs and Rodri are comfortable in one-on-one situations, Lewis moves to press the Villa left-back, who cannot pass to Douglas Luiz as Foden is now closer from central midfield. After finding the free man, Villa returned to square one when Digne played the ball back to Lenglet.
Like Doku, Lewis primarily started in a narrow position to track Zaniolo’s movement inside the pitch, with City adjusting if Villa managed to find their free player in Digne.
In this example, Alvarez’s pressure and lack of passing options force Diego Carlos to pass the ball to his central partner Lenglet.
With Doku blocking the passing lane to Digne and moving slowly towards Lenglet, Foden gambled on him playing a pass through City’s shape, which briefly allowed Douglas Luiz some space and meant Villa could combine to find Worthy.
However, City have a solution and react: right-back Lewis leaves Zaniolo to Rodri to score, and goes up to press Digne. Once again, the left-back’s passing options are removed: Foden marks Douglas Luiz centrally, Rodri blocks the passing lane to Zaniolo and Akanji follows Jhon Duran’s movement near the halfway line. The safest solution for Digne is to return the ball to Lenglet, who must in turn return to goalkeeper Robin Olsen.
City continue to press – Alvarez presses Olsen from an angle that forces him to play on the left side, where Doku, Foden and Lewis mark Lenglet, Douglas Luiz and Digne. Without a short pass option, Olsen goes long towards Zaniolo…
…which is marked by Rodri. It is also important to note the advanced position of Dias when Olsen plays this long ball, ready to compete in an aerial duel with Rogers, as Rodri was already close to Zaniolo during the previous sequence of play.
In yet another example, Lenglet attempts to find Zaniolo directly, with Alvarez’s pressing angle and Foden’s positioning meaning a pass to Douglas Luiz is risky.
As explained above, Lewis’s number one priority is to mark Zaniolo’s move into the left half-space, and here the right-back wins the ball back for City. However, the interesting part is how City can react if the Italian midfielder manages to find Digne’s forward run. Because Rodri tags Rogers, Akanji can move whoever he’s tagging and head to Digne, while Dias picks up Duran.
On the ball, City’s passing combinations in the final third broke down Villa’s defense, but their performance was also crucial to the result.
It was a captivating glimpse of a team ready to step up their performance in the run-in by defending all three elements of last season’s treble.
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