Fulham 0-2 Manchester City Review

Premier League GW38

We’ve finally reached the end of what felt like the season from hell in the winter period, and by May, we’re all waving goodbye to perhaps the best midfielder the Premier League has seen. For most, the best Manchester City player of all time. Looking forward to a rebuild with many more players to depart and the challenge of competing for the title next season. There is plenty to get into.

MOTM: ILKAY GUNDOGAN

In any other season, you wouldn’t be surprised to see Gundogan delivering in the final Premier League game a bit of magic. It’s been a long season, a rough start for him, and an environment that has exposed his flaws more than before. Had 10 shot-creating actions and 6 key passes against Fulham, the most for any game he’s played this season.

Notable Stats:

• Josko Gvardiol has played 4,513 minutes for Manchester City across all competitions this season. Only two other players have managed more for the club in a single season since 1992.
  1 - Ederson 18/19 (4,980)
  2 - Cancelo 21/22 (4,649)
  3 - Gvardiol 24/25 (4,513) 
  4 - Rodri 22/23 (4,465)
  5 - Ederson 21/22 (4,422)
  6 - Laporte 18/19 (4,351)

• Manchester City 24/25 All Comps - Most G+A
  1. Erling Haaland (35)
  2. Jeremy Doku (15)
  3. Phil Foden (15)
  4. Matheus Nunes (14)
  5. Kevin De Bruyne (14)

• Against Fulham, Manchester City completed only 211 short passes, the second fewest they’ve made in a Premier League match this season. They also made 13 interceptions, the most by them in a single match this season.

Game Stats:

Fulham 0-2 Manchester City

• xG: 1.74 - 2.84

• xThreat: 1.14 - 1.9

• Possession: 46.9% - 53.1%

• Field Tilt: 33.9% - 66.1%

• Penalty Box Shots: 11 - 15

• Deep Entries: 12 - 23

• PPDA: 21.4 - 11.1

• High Turnovers: 2 - 4

It’s quite clear to see now how bad the November-December period was through the underlying numbers, and that it slowly crept in through the opening matches. Eventually, the team found stability, with the performances and January signings. Still, there is much work to do, and that’s far from a good-looking graph.

This is the 21/22 season looks with those underlying numbers, rarely dropping to 2.0xG and staying below 0.75xGA for most of the season. Attacking spokes throughout, but defensively always consistent and giving teams very little. That’s the standard they’ll have in mind for the 25/26 season.

If you’ve been tracking the minutes across the season like I’ve been doing on the spreadsheet, here is a graphic of all players’ Premier League games along with their total minutes. Erling Haaland, Bernardo Silva, Mateo Kovacic, Ilkay Gundogan, Ruben Dias, Manuel Akanji, Josko Gvardiol, and Ederson all over 2,000 minutes. I suspect that list is going to change significantly next 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. 👇

Here is how Manchester City set up against Fulham, with Jeremy Doku coming in for Kevin De Bruyne and Nico Gonzalez for Mateo Kovacic. Aggressive from the beginning with a 4-2-4 press as Gundogan joined Haaland centrally, and Marmoush would try to force Fulham across to their LHS.

İ. Gündoğan 21' 1-0 

In the first half, you saw Manchester City build through the left side, then quickly shift the ball to the right to attack several times. Nico makes the switch out to Nunes, who heads it down for Marmoush, runs behind, and gets the ball back. Bursting into the box. Gundogan makes his late run. Nunes' shot/chip hits the keeper, and Gundogan finishes it off with a bicycle kick.

E. Haaland (Pen) 72’ 2-0

Much of how a forward's performance is perceived comes down to making one correct action in the final third. Not seen this mentioned much for the second goal, Doku drawing in two opposition players, passing between them to Gundogan before he wins the penalty. A younger and quicker midfielder bursts into the box for a shot or passes across for Haaland to tap in.

Up steps Erling Haaland to convert the penalty, putting behind him the previous misses and the FA Cup Final, where he gave the penalty to Marmoush. Two goals led Manchester City into cruise control for the final minutes, and so did the scores elsewhere with Newcastle, Aston Villa, and Forest losing.

This season, Haaland has only scored three penalty kicks from four attempts. The previous two seasons, he’s scored 7/8 and 7/7. Fewer PKs won than usual.

Encouraging to see the increase from Doku in shots (5) and crosses (3) he was trying to make. Should do better with a couple of those. He'd benefit a lot from the potential signings of Reijnders and MGW.

The winger > Haaland relationship, on a separate note, works both ways. As much as the final pass has been lacking at times, so have the runs he's made inside the box. Something the team needs to see improve next season.

If you haven’t already, subscribe to get all this Manchester City content in your inbox.

Subscribe to Sky Blue Times

Moving Forward

In the end, it turned out to be a professional performance that could have been wrapped up sooner. You saw the intensity they started each half, the intent was there to win, and not to hope a draw gets them through. Stark contrast to some of our earlier games in the season, and how other teams pushing for the Champions League played on the weekend.

Something I’ve got my eye on for next season is how the team does out-of-possession, as that’s been our biggest issue this season for a team that only finished a few points behind second. PPDA (passes per defensive action), you want to be as low as possible if pressing high, giving the opposition little time to build up from the back. It got out of control in the middle of the season, but eventually returned to the level at the start. That’s a start for next season.

The number of high turnovers stayed around the same across the season, which they’d want to increase, as well as being more effective with the turnovers. Only 12.6% of their turnovers ended in a shot, the 3rd lowest in the PL this season. Nottingham Forest were top with 20.4%. Five turnovers led to a goal, compared to the 10 Liverpool and Forest scored.

Here is another graphic to highlight the decline of Manchester City's out-of-possession. Last season was not at a consistent level, but they did cause teams problems for most of it. You can see just how far it’s fallen compared to 21/22 and 22/23.

Next season, the team needs to have more goal scorers. Erling Haaland has led the way as the only player with more than 10 PL goals. Next season, you’d expect to see Phil Foden and Omar Marmoush join him. One of Doku, Savinho, and Bobb should be joining them.

If you want to look at who led the team for individual stats, then you can check out this thread linked below. Erling Haaland and Josko Gvardiol appear several times. As do some other surprising names.

Next up for Manchester City is the Club World Cup, which will start on the 18th of June with a match against Wydad AC in Philadelphia. They are a Moroccan club based in Casablanca and won the CAF Champions League in 2022, which allowed them to qualify for the tournament.

Speaking of the Club World Cup, I’ve contributed to The Copa Club guide for the tournament, which you can buy through the link below. In there, you’ll find an introduction to every team at the tournament. 👇