Bournemouth 1-2 Manchester City Review

FA Cup Quarter Finals

Heading into the match, there were plenty of reasons to be concerned about the team progressing, given the performance in the Premier League against Bournemouth, how their strengths match our weaknesses and the starting lineup. Instead, Guardiola had the team well prepared for the match, and at halftime, they made the tweaks to capitalize.

MOTM: NICO O’REILLY

There can only be one pick for man of the match, who came on to change the game in the second half. To be the driving force behind a second FA Cup game win. Two assists, two key passes, one big chance created, and three duels won.

Notable Stats:

• Nico O’Reilly has been directly involved in five goals in four FA Cup appearances for Manchester City this season (three goals, two assists), the joint-most by a Premier League player in the competition in 2024-25 (level with Ipswich’s Jack Clarke).

• Manchester City restricted Bournemouth to just five shot attempts; the joint-fewest for the Cherries in a game under Andoni Iraola, and with both instances coming against Man City (November 2023 and today).

• Manchester City have qualified for the FA Cup semi-finals for the 20th time in their history. Eight of those 20 have been achieved under Pep Guardiola; the most by any side since his arrival in 2016-17.

• Erling Haaland is the first player to score 30+ goals in all competitions in each of his first three seasons while playing for Premier League clubs since Ruud van Nistelrooy for Man Utd from 2001-02 to 2003-04.

• Manchester City have conceded the first goal of a match 21 times in all competitions this season - the only Premier League clubs to do so more in 2024-25 are Leicester City (25), Man Utd (22), and Southampton (22).

Game Stats:

Bournemouth 1-2 Manchester City

• xG: 1.08 - 3.22

• xThreat: 0.86 - 1.5

• Possession: 37.2% - 62.8%

• Field Tilt: 25.9% - 74.1%

• Penalty Box Shots: 4 - 11

Three consecutive full ninety minutes for Ruben Dias, a feat he's not managed since December 2024. Bernardo Silva and Ederson reach 30 full ninetys completed across this season. Only Haaland (32) and Gvardiol (34) have more. The lowest pass accuracy (81%) from Manchester City in a single match this season.

If you want to stay up-to-date on individual player minutes, back four combinations, underlying numbers, and more, check out the live Google sheet below. 👇

When the starting lineup came out, my first thought was back to the Chelsea and Newcastle matches. The full-backs are pushing on and keeping small technical midfielders deeper. It clearly wasn’t Guardiola fully rotating the team, there were far too many key players involved, but given how the season has gone, it’s not easy to be confident in the older players to get the job done. Even if the game plan is well prepared.

Throughout the first half, as we’ll get onto, Manchester City didn’t try to progress up the pitch to pin Bournemouth back, instead, they wanted to bait out the Bournemouth press into deeper areas. Whether it’s from goal kicks, out wide with the CBs (Dias/Gvardiol) and two eights (Gundogan/Bernardo), or with Mateo Kovacic dropping between the two CBs.

Once you draw Bournemouth out, quickly progress by passing through the press to access the space behind that De Bruyne, Foden, and Haaland are. Supported by Gvardiol and Nunes on the flank.

We didn't see that much of Manchester City pressing Bournemouth high up the pitch at all in this match. When we did, they had Erling Haaland marking the pivot (Adams) with De Bruyne and Foden on either wide CB. The plan was always where possible to have Foden curve his run right to left and prevent Bournemouth from playing out down their left side into Semenyo. When Bournemouth tried to force the ball down their left Bernardo, Foden, and Nunes worked well to close off the passes and force it out for throw-ins. One of which leads to the penalty. The couple of times Haaland pressed Kepa were when he came in line with his two CBs so he jumped to force a long kick which City could compete for in the air.

In the first half against Bournemouth, we saw a clear plan to bait the press and exploit the space behind by Manchester City. In a few different ways. One of these was from the goalkick as Ederson would have Khusanov to his right. Kovacic drops as the pivot, Bernardo/Gundogan come deeper to bring an opposition player with them. Both full-backs are pushed up high and wide so Semenyo is picking up Nunes. That left an open lane of space for Khusanov to drive into and find Foden. Although another player wasn't nearby in time to lay off the pass. We did see that move a few more times from Khusanov, specifically, looking for long passes in behind for Haaland.

Whether you go back to the goalkeeper, play a 1-2 with the CB, have a midfielder make a run forward, or something else. The team waited to invite Bournemouth into pressing before they made the move forward. This time it's Foden dropping, passing into Gundogan, who immediately finds Gvardiol charging down the LHS.

Evanilson 21’ 1-0

Despite how little Bournemouth threatened Manchester City in the first half, Matheus Nunes makes a mistake and passes across the middle of the pitch which is intercepted. Immediately, Bournemouth are attacking the box, Dias/Gvardiol are not quick enough to prevent the cross, and Khusanov switches off just for a second, so that Evanilson can get in front and tap in the goal.

Another example, Bernardo dropping to give Khusanov a 1-2 pass, moving it across to Kovacic and drawing out the Bournemouth press again before finding Gundogan. He passes it out to Gvardiol wide on the LHS. Phil also drops to pull another player deeper before going back to join the attack.

Another example of baiting Bournemouth out was a little different, same concept, but instead it's a throw-in inside Bournemouth's half back to Khusanov from Nunes. He waits for Kovacic, then lays it off as he comes back between the two CBs. Gundogan drops to bring a player with him then the ball is played over the top to Nunes running behind Semenyo (remember this). Getting into a good crossing position, but isn't able to deliver the right cross.

At half-time, Guardiola made one change, Nico O'Reilly (46’) on for Abdukodir Khusanov, but onto to play LB as Gvardiol moved to LCB and Dias to RCB. O'Reilly was told to be wide, to get high up the pitch, and be aggressive. Along with his pace, physicality and technical ability around the box, that's how the team managed to take advantage of the space they were finding through baiting Bournemouth to press.

It's worth mentioning the knock on effect of putting Dias into a position he's far more comfortable and having Josko Gvardiol as left-footed LCB open up the passing angles into O'Reilly and the midfield.

The warning sign for Bournemouth came in the first minute, Haaland drops to lay it off to De Bruyne, and you'll notice how much ground O'Reilly covers to be running at the Bournemouth backline into open space. Not enough bodies in the box and over hits his cross. Compare the aggression from O’Reilly compared to the example in the first-half of finding Gvardiol. He’s already attacking the last line.

Another chance for Manchester City shortly after that as Kovacic plays a 1-2 with Gundogan, then picks out Bernardo between the lines in the centre circle who flicks it on for Foden to run at the back line and take a shot.

E. Haaland 49’ 1-1

For the first Manchester City goal, they build up on their right side before Dias hits it long, Bernardo flicks it on, Gundogan heads it towards De Bruyne, who turns and plays the pass through for Nico O'Reilly. Just like the chance at the start of the half.

Lovely weighted pass from O'Reilly across to Haaland at the back post. Credit to him for looking and spotting him even though he had a lot of ground to cover to make it there.

Omar Marmoush (61’) came on for Erling Haaland who went off injured.

O. Marmoush 63’ 1-2

The second goal comes as City progress down their right side, lose the ball, and recover it again before passing across to Gundogan free in the middle of the pitch. He then plays the pass through for Nico O'Reilly. High and wide, as Guardiola instructed him. Bournemouth did shift Semneyo over to cover him, but O'Reilly still managed to get the ball.

O'Reilly passes it through to Marmoush with outside of his boot, one touch, then shoots through the defender's legs and into the net. Quick instinctive finish from Marmoush. I know the keeper has had a fair amount of criticism for the goal but the shot is released so quickly and coming through a defender.

Jack Grealish (69’) came on for Phil Foden with what looked like a clear game plan to carry the ball down the LHS, using him as the outlet, looking to win fouls, and retain possession if there isn’t a clear route into the box. Good appearance off the bench from him. Nico Gonzalez and James McAtee (83’) came on for Mateo Kovacic and Ilkay Gundogan, who looked to be tiring in the second half. Good performances from the two off the bench in those final minutes to keep the ball, win their duels, and not make any mistakes as they closed out the match.

As you can see from the xG graph above, they only had one significant chance and that came from the Matheus Nunes mistake passing across the pitch to a Bournemouth player. That chance had the shot by Kluivert (0.49xG) and then the shot by Evanilson (0.96xG). Other than that, all they had in the first half was the free kick by Kluivert (9’) missed the goal, Semenyo's shot (19’), which he held off Foden missed the goal, and Senesi's (39’) header from a corner blocked.

In the second half, Bournemouth had 0 shots, lost the majority of the duels (63%), and only managed 3 touches in the opposition box. Manchester City, by comparison, had 29 touches in the Bournemouth box.

If you want to see more examples of Manchester City baiting the Bournemouth press from deep with Kovacic dropping between the two central defenders, then check out the thread linked below. 👇

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Moving Forward

Before the match, the draw was done for the next round, Manchester City will take on Nottingham Forest at Wembley. The first meeting of the teams in the FA Cup since 2009. The first time Nottingham Forest have been to Wembley since 1991.

Erling Haaland came off with an injury in the second half for Omar Marmoush (61’), who would go on to score the winner. The club has since confirmed an ankle injury that will see him out for 5-7 weeks. Across all competitions, Haaland has scored 32% of all Manchester City goals, the nearest to him is Phil Foden with 11%. He’s going to be a huge miss for the team, but it’s also a big opportunity for Marmoush to get a good run in the team in a role he was brought in to fill. Different player, different type of forward, but covering for Haaland in rotation or injury was part of the plan bringing him in this year.

It's an ovbious point but worth mentioning, Ruben Dias is far more comfortable advancing down the right side and taking more risks than he does having to play LCB to accommodate another right-footed player. He plays more conservatively, and being right-footed limits the passes out wide to the LB as well as through the press to the midfielders.

Manchester City have mostly gotten around this earlier in the season with the 3-1-6 as Gvardiol is the LCB and left-footed. If pushed to the goal, Ederson steps out to become the LCB, also left-footed. The display of Nico O'Reilly at left-back, the development from the Community Shield match on how well he reads the game, warrants a place in the team, which in turn helps to solve the LCB issue by moving Gvardiol there.

Watching back the match against Bournemouth, I thought Matheus Nunes was missing some praise for his performance even with the mistake he made leading to their goal. Creates the chance for Haaland, who heads wide, got into numerous good crossing positions, and did a great job against Semenyo, whose not an easy winger to deal with given his strength and speed. One of the main outlets for Bournemouth as they progress frequently down their LHS and had lots of joy against Manchester City in the Premier League match earlier this season. Won 8/12 ground duels, 5/7 aerial duels, providing 2 key passes and creating 1 big chance. He's not without his flaws that we've seen this season, nor is right-back the ideal position for him, but credit where it's due.

Next up for Manchester City is Leicester City (H) this evening in the Premier League. All remaining fixtures are must-wins to make it into the Champions League, especially at home to a team in the relegation zone.