The Daily Telegraph - 06.08.2019

Sport Football

How City lined up for goal-kicks against Liverpool last season

At Anfield last season Pep Guardiola asked centre-back Aymeric Laporte

and right-back Kyle Walker to drop deep as options for goalkeeper Ederson.

With central midfielder Fernandinho dropping alongside John Stones this

meant that Liverpool's front three of Sadio Mane, Roberto Firmino and

Mohamed Salah were able to cover all four City players – plus the

goalkeeper – and wait for a pass so they could press.

ast season

The knock-on effect of Laporte and

Walker dropping deep is that others

sometimes had to come further

back to fill in and offer alternative

passing options if City were unable

to break through Liverpool’s initial

press. On occasion that left the likes

of Sergio Aguero and Raheem

Sterling isolated up front from their

own side’s goal-kicks.

How they set up for goal-kicks Ederson passes

Direction of play

Walker

Mendy

Laporte

Stones

Fernandinho

D Silva

B Silva

Mahrez

Sterling

Aguero

Ederson

Direction of play

Unsuccessful

Successful

Liverpool's pressing limited City’s

options, although Ederson is such a

talented passer of the ball that he

still rarely lost possession. But his

pass map above shows that he

rarely went long, in large part due

to how isolated the forward players

were as Guardiola’s men dropped

slightly deeper against one of the

best pressing sides around.

Mane

Walker

Ederson

Laporte

Stones Fernandinho

Firmino

Salah

P

ep Guardiola has always

been one of football’s

great innovators, so it is

no surprise that

Manchester City’s

manager is already

attempting to exploit the new law

that allows defenders to receive the

ball inside the penalty area from

goal-kicks.

Under-pressure recipients of

goal-kicks could previously stop

the game by stepping back into the

penalty area, but the new law aims

to halt these stoppages and hand

the initiative back to the attacking

team. Attackers are still not

allowed in the area until the

goal-kick has been taken.

Building play from the back with

a structured and choreographed

set-up is a hallmark of Guardiola’s

teams and in the first half of the

Community Shield at Wembley on

Sunday City it rendered Liverpool’s

attempts to press obsolete.

It was not the first time City had

tried to disconnect Liverpool’s

pressing machine with short

passing inside their own penalty

box – they did so very deliberately

in a goalless draw at Anfield in the

Premier League last season.

As defender John Stones

revealed in an exclusive interview

with The Daily Telegraph last year,

it was something for which City

had trained meticulously.

“It’s not your typical English

By Tom Morgan

and Peter Allen

Riyad Mahrez could miss the first

game of the Premier League season

as Manchester City await clearance

from doctors over the medical

treatment he was given in Algeria.

The forward – who returned to

the UK last week after captaining

Algeria to the Africa Cup of Nations

title – was absent from Sunday’s

Community Shield win over

Liverpool at Wembley amid fears

he could fail a drug test.

City insisted last night there was

“no issue” around the forward and

the Football Association has ac-

cepted manager Pep Guardiola’s

explanation that Mahrez’s omission

was precautionary after he was

given an unspecified medicine,

believed to be sinus-related.

However, a former official at the

UK Anti-Doping Agency (Ukad),

speaking on condition of anonym-

ity, said such treatments could

remain in the system for

more than a week.

“Whether he can play

[against West Ham] or not

will depend on exactly

when it was adminis-

tered and what it was,”

the source said.

Under World Anti-

Doping Agency rules, a

number of sinus and eye

treatments can only be taken

by athletes outside of compe-

tition. Speaking after City

beat Liverpool 5-4 on penal-

ties at Wembley, Guardiola

said Mahrez had not featured

because “doctors did not have

exactly the medicine” he had

taken in Algeria. “Hopefully he will

be back next game against West

Ham and in the future everything

will be normal,” the manager

added.

A spokesman for City said he was

not willing to discuss Mahrez’s

medical details, but added: “It’s not

an issue.”

There is no suggestion of

wrongdoing by Mahrez, who

scored three goals in seven

matches in Egypt, completing

a trophy-laden summer after

City won the treble. Having

led Algeria to their first Africa

Drug-test fears kept him

out of Liverpool match

Seven men arrested

after Tube station fight

Cup of Nations title since 1990, he

compared the success to his

against-the-odds title triumph with

Leicester City.

“There are moments like that in

football, you can’t even explain,”

Mahrez told French daily sports

paper L’Equipe. “It was like when

we won the Premier League title

with Leicester. We had the feeling

that nobody could stop us. At the

2019 Afcon, it was the same feeling.

We had support from every angle.

We had a great team and a great

coach. Everything was in place.”

The FA accepts that Mahrez has

not broken any rules, and he had

received medical treatment “out-

side competition”.

Guardiola had said: “Riyad called

me just after being [crowned]

champion with Algeria and said, ‘I

want to come back in 10 days, I

want to play against Liverpool’. I

said, ‘You are more than welcome,

it’s perfect you come’. But we don’t

have what he took. That’s why, for

doping control, today was a risk

because the doctors didn’t have it.

That’s why he wasn’t in the squad

to play some minutes.”

A Ukad spokeswoman said the

organisation “operates a risk-

based, intelligence-led” pro-

gramme, but refused to confirm

whether Mahrez would be

tested this week. “To main-

tain the integrity of

the process, our

doping control

programme is car-

ried out on a ‘no

advance warning’ basis,”

she said. “We are there-

fore unable to provide

comment on any plans we

may or may not have to

conduct testing.”

Algeria’s football federation

was not immediately available for

comment.

Meanwhile, seven men were

arrested after a large fight

that was reported to in-

volve football fans at a

London Underground

station. All seven were ar-

rested on suspicion of violent

disorder following the incident

at Great Portland Street station at

about 2pm on Sunday.

Supporters of Manchester City

and Liverpool, in London for the

Community Shield, were in the

station at the time. Police said no

injuries had been reported and

appealed for witnesses. Anybody

with information is asked to text

the police on 61016 or call 0800

405040, quoting reference num-

ber 319 of 04/08/19.

Mahrez could

miss opener

after concerns

over medicine

Belated return:

Riyad Mahrez

captained Algeria

to their first

Africa Cup of

Nations title

Innovator Guardiola boxes

clever by using new law to

help nullify the high press

Manager’s strategy lets

City take advantage of

goal-kick rule change,

says Daniel Zeqiri

‘He is so

detailed

in what

he wants

and we

all know

where

everyone

is going

to be’

Why having defender in penalty area at goal-kicks helps City

ionhas ac-

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12 ** Tuesday 6 August 2019 The Daily Telegraph