The Citizens played too sparingly.
Looking down
Josep Guardiola’s Manchester City once churned out winning streaks and looked like an unmistakable machine. Now the “citizens” behave in approximately the same way, they have the same attitude towards games and opponents, but at the same time they seem not so adamant. The last time City won five games in a row was in September-October last year. Since then, the series does not shine.
So in the previous match, they drew with Nottingham Forest (1:1) in the Premier League, allowing Arsenal to move back slightly in the table. At the same time, it seems to the “citizens” every time that all these failures are a temporary phenomenon and they know what they are doing. And they try to convince in this every time. It is highly likely that City could ultimately win both the Premier League and the Champions League where they are favourites. No one will be surprised by this. But for now, there are growing doubts as to whether City are really in control. The match with “Leipzig” became the apotheosis of the contradiction between the confident “poker face” of the “citizens” and the real result.
From a purely tournament point of view, in a two-round clash, if you do not look at the names of the opponents, an away draw in the first game always gives the away team more chances after the whole battle is over. So nothing bad happened to City. But a somewhat arrogant attitude towards the game and the opponent raises questions. Only the future will give answers. For now, we can only share our thoughts.
Standard benefit
The first half of the match in Leipzig can be called outrageously classic in City’s performance. The English took the ball under total control and conceded nothing to the opponent. By the end of the first half of the match, Manchester had the ball over 73% of the time with a passing accuracy of 95%. But as usual, this was not at all connected with the wave of dangerous moments at the opponent’s goal. There were very few moments. Still, City scored, not using a complicated exchange, but pressing, permanent pressure.
As soon as Schlager made a mistake in the support zone, which did not give the best pass to his partner, Grealish worked on the interception. He immediately passed into the penalty area for Gundogan, who, with a barely noticeable movement of his foot, threw the ball past Guardiol to Mahrez, who actually went one-on-one and made his chance. Cold-blooded, with pressure, in the style of “Manchester”. The “bulls” looked crushed and showed no signs of life.
The first shot towards Ederson’s goal came only in the stoppage time of the first half. And Werner even managed to hit the target, even if it’s not a dangerous attempt to call. City had seven shots in the half, two of them accurate. Interestingly, Rodri became the batsman, while Holland had no hits before the break.
game flip
Leipzig’s introduction of Henriks in place of Klostermann on the right wing of defense appeared to be a rather cosmetic or neutralizing measure for Grealish, who wasn’t particularly on edge, setting up a goal opportunity by moving into the centre. But it turned out that Marco Rose is not looking for opposition to the “citizens” in this way, but is trying to activate the lateral game of his team.
It would be naïve to see this reshuffle as a turning point in the game, but it is one of the touches that have been added to Leipzig’s wholesome attitude and City’s aforementioned touch of arrogance and complacency. The Citizens suddenly decided to save energy and gave the ball to the opponent, who immediately began to use it and began to create scoring chances indecently immediately after the break.
The roles of the opponents have changed. Henriks himself became the most hit player on the pitch as part of both teams in the second half. Let him have just two tries. Not bad for a cornerback. And this is exactly twice as much as the Netherlands center forward, for example. In some parts of the match, Leipzig controlled the ball more than 60% of the time in the second half. And he ended the entire second half with a symbolic advantage: 51% to 49.
The attacks of the “bulls” have become much sharper, connecting additional forces to them from the depths. This pull-up created density in the midline, which squeezed the center of the “citizens”, and the flanks moved further towards the opponent’s penalty area, as if enveloping it. Such a tactic would be risky were it not for a slow and gentle opponent, but for Manchester City of the fast and aggressive type.
Perhaps Guardiola expected Leipzig to take risks, for which he could easily be punished by exploiting the city’s speed characteristics. The only problem is that they have not shown this speed. And as for leaving the defense in the final phase of the attack, De Bruyne was missing.
In the end, City could save a tiny lead, as Leipzig missed many chances. But I managed to score after a corner, which is worth paying special attention to. After all, the goal came not from some kind of rush or desperate onslaught, but after a standard position, where it is important to work out the element, and not a special mood. And in this banal practice, only Guardiol returned Halstenberg’s serve, skipping Dias and Ake, who were nearby.
In the second half, Leipzig had already conceded six shots on target to City’s five. Three times the “bulls” hit the target, and the guests had only one accurate attempt. It seems Leipzig played more in the second half than City in the first half. Surprisingly, Guardiola did not make a single substitution, as if underlining his desire not to try to squeeze this match until the end.
Perhaps in the long run, this distribution of resources and turning a blind eye to the away win loss will not affect the outcome in any way and City will advance. It remains the undisputed favourite. But how many times have we seen that so much inertia, which the guests showed in the second half, went sideways to an apparently stronger team. Guardiola probably knows what he’s doing, even if this action doesn’t arouse enthusiasm at a certain point.
