The Daily Telegraph - 06.08.2019

The rule change permitting a defender inside the penalty area has allowed

Guardiola to innovate. Nicolas Otamendi is next to goalkeeper Claudio Bravo

and in the image above they have already swapped passes, with the hope

being to draw one of Liverpool's front three forward and bypass them to John

Stones or Rodri. Roberto Firmino takes the bait here and Bravo finds Rodri.

Note the position of Walker – wider and further forward than a season ago.

The rule ch

Guardiola

and in the

being to d

Stones or

Note the p

Guardiola's decision to have one

man dropping deep alongside the

goalkeeper allows Walker and the

left-back, Oleksandr Zinchenko, to

push high and wide. Liverpool's front

three cannot cover them as well as

the City players in the middle so they

act as Bravo's out-ball. That in turn

means City's other outfielders can

push higher up the pitch, creating

space in the centre of the field.

Bravo passes

Walker

Zinchenko

Otamendi

Rodri Stones

D Silva De Bruyne

Sane B Silva

Sterling

Bravo

Pep Guardiola

Direction of play Direction of play

What is noticeable is how often

Bravo felt he could go long with

City having so many more players

further forward. It did not always

work but when it did City looked

extremely dangerous, while it is

also interesting to see how

successful Bravo's short passes

were, as he had much more of the

ball at his feet thanks to Guardiola's

tactical innovation.

How City lined up for goal-kicks against Liverpool on Sunday

How they set up for goal-kicks

Bravo

Walker

Otamendi

Stones

Firmino

Salah

Origi

Rodri

football, is it?” Stones said. “It was

to draw the press and create more

space for the other lads. I don’t

think we could do it with any other

manager and how he coaches us to

do it. It’s down to him and his

ideas. He’s so detailed in what he

wants and we all know where

everyone is going to be, so it kind

of makes it easier for me.”

Under the old rules, Kyle Walker

and Aymeric Laporte split wide to

the edge of the penalty area with

Stones alongside Fernandino

centrally to form a 1-2-2 structure

with goalkeeper Ederson.

The new goal-kick rules have

offered Guardiola the chance to

innovate. In the Community

Shield, one of the centre-halves

dropped to the six-yard line to

form a pivot with stand-in

goalkeeper Claudio Bravo.

This gave Liverpool

another horizontal line of

City players to think about.

In this example it was

Nicolas Otamendi. Stones and new

deep-lying midfielder Rodri would

form the next line just outside the

area, making sure they were not

standing on the same vertical line

as Bravo or Otamendi. After Bravo

and Otamendi had exchanged

passes, Roberto Firmino shuffled

across to cut off a pass to Stones,

which opened up a lane for Bravo

to find Rodri. Had that pass not

been available, there was a safer

option to either full-back, wide

against the touchline. It looks risky

and causes anxiety among fans, but

the idea was to either discourage

Liverpool from pressing altogether

or to create overloads higher up

the pitch by playing through them.

City’s build-up is not all about

playing short, though. They use

the element of surprise by Ederson

or Bravo kicking long to catch out

defences who creep too high up

the pitch, exploiting the speed of

Raheem Sterling or Leroy Sane.

Guardiola is a Johan Cruyff

disciple and the great

Dutchman’s maxim was simple:

make the pitch small when

defending and as big as

possible when you have the

ball. With defenders dropping

into the six-yard box and

forwards on the shoulder of

the last defender, City make

the pitch huge and create so

much depth.

Do you try to condense the

space but risk being felled by one

straight ball over the top, or drop

off and allow City to play out from

the back with ease?

It is a conundrum coaches will

wrestle with all season.

By James Ducker

Manchester City are on the verge of

signing Joao Cancelo, the Portugal

right-back, from Juventus, with

Danilo heading in the opposite di-

rection. However, the future of

Leroy Sane remains uncertain.

City are expected to pay Juventus

around €30 million (£27.6 million)

plus Danilo for Cancelo, who will

provide added competition at right-

back for Kyle Walker.

Cancelo was believed to be at the

Lowry hotel in Salford last night

ahead of finalising personal terms

and a planned medical, with City

hoping to confirm the deal in the

next 48 hours.

The 25-year-old will be City’s

third summer signing after club-

record buy Rodri, a £62.8 million

capture from Atletico Madrid, and

Angelino, for whom the Premier

League champions have triggered a

£5.35 million buy-back option.

Brazil right-back Danilo wants

more regular first-team football

than Pep Guardiola has been able to

grant. City had offered him in part

exchange for Cancelo earlier in the

summer but Juventus favoured a

straight cash deal then.

It remains to be seen if Sane will

follow Danilo out of the Etihad Sta-

dium. The Germany winger’s fu-

ture remains unclear, with Bayern

Munich determined to force

through a deal, despite City’s

£137 million valuation, though both

parties are waiting to discover the

extent of a knee injury that forced

the player’s substitution after 13

minutes of Sunday’s Community

Shield against Liverpool. A serious

problem could scupper a potential

transfer.

Bayern smashed their transfer

record to sign France defender Lu-

cas Hernandez from Atletico for

€80 million (£73 million) but they

would have to pay almost double

that to land Sane.

Guardiola said Sane was close to

signing a new contract with City

only two or three weeks ago before

an about-turn, opening the door to

Bayern, who believe the player

wants to return to Germany to play

for them.

It will still require Bayern to

make the 23-year-old one of the

most expensive players in football

history, three years after his

£37 million move to City from

Schalke. Sane was injured in a colli-

sion with a Liverpool defender at

Wembley, and is being closely

assessed.

His City and Germany team-

mate, Ilkay Gundogan, is set to stay

at the club by signing a new long-

term contract.

City to pay Juventus £27m plus

Danilo for right-back Cancelo

On the ball:

Claudio Bravo

(below) was at

the heart of

Manchester City’s

strategy to draw

Liverpool’s sting

Almost there:

Joao Cancelo

will join City if

he passes a

medical and

agrees terms

wide to

ea with

ino

ructure

s have

nce to

ity

halves

ne to

.

t.

and new

dri would

side the

re not

ical line

er Bravo

ged

huffled

tones,

playing short

the element o

or Bravo kick

defences who

the pitch, exp

Raheem Sterl

Guardiola i

disciple and

Dutchman

make the

defendin

possible

ball. Wit

into the

forwards

the last d

the pitch

much dept

Doyou try

space but risk

straight ball o

off and allow

theback with

It isaconu

wrestlewitha

The Daily Telegraph Tuesday 6 August 2019 ** 13