Leicester City 0-2 Manchester City Review

Premier League GW19

Whilst the performance gave as many positives as it did negatives, this was the result Manchester City needed after the draw against Everton. To pick up an important three points, win a football match, and try to build some momentum over the winter period with favorable fixtures in front of them. Although the January transfer window holds the key to solving some of their major issues, against Leicester City the team was more threatening in attack and Savinho picked up his first goal for the club. Should we feel any better heading into the match against West Ham?

Notable Stats:

• Against Leicester City Pep Guardiola became the first manager to take charge of a Premier League club 500 times in all competitions since David Moyes reached that figure for Everton in January 2013.

• The win against Leicester City is the first away win for Manchester City across any competition since the 20th of October.

• Before scoring against Leicester City, Savinho held the record for the most shots without scoring in the Premier League this season.

Game Stats:

Leicester City 0-2 Manchester City

• xG: 1.4 - 1.3

• xThreat: 1.71 - 1.59

• Possession: 53.3% - 46.7%

• Field Tilt: 42.5% - 57.5%

• Penalty Box Shots: 11 - 8

• Deep Entries: 12 - 13

• PPDA: 11.6 - 19.9

• High Turnovers: 0 - 3

For the first time this season, Manchester City had less than 50% possession in a single match with 46.7% against Leicester City. Even against Liverpool, they had 55.2%. It’s their second-lowest field Tilt percentage of the season with 57.5%, only beaten by the first match of the season against Chelsea (51.9%). When Manchester City lost the ball, they simply were not good enough at applying pressure, to force a turnover and win it back despite keeping Leicester relatively at arm’s length as they weren’t able to pin Manchester City. Just maintained possession across the back line in the middle third until there was an opening from midfielders not tracking players.

Here is an updated look at the rolling average across the previous eight matches for xG and xGA. Recently the attacking threat has dropped off, the game against Manchester United is the clearest example of the team not taking risks in the final third, as well as not scoring the chances they did have. From Bournemouth (A) through to Liverpool (A), in each match, the team conceded at least 2.0 xGA and the opposition scored at least two goals. Now that trend has improved, they haven't conceded more than 1.33 xGA in the last seven matches apart from against Manchester United.

Erling Haaland (2,302), Bernardo Silva (2,012), Rico Lewis (2,105), and Josko Gvardiol (2,176) are the only played to have played over 2,000 minutes for Manchester City 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. 👇

Here is how both teams lined up, Kevin De Bruyne getting his first start in a while instead of Jeremy Doku otherwise it’s an unchanged team. Great to see Nathan Ake able to start but concerns remain over his fitness. Until the January window opens and new midfielders arrive, I’m not sure we’ll look at a Manchester City midfield and be confident of how they defend off the ball.

Jamie Vardy made the starting eleven, which is a big boost for Leicester City going forward. Buonanotte was back in the team, playing as a right winger who can drift inside once the right-back pushes up.

Towards the end of last season, we saw teams use a 4-2-4 out-of-possession shape to cause a lot of issues for Manchester City, occupying both pivots and stopping central progression. Thinking about, if you can, the FA Cup Final against Manchester United. The CL QF against Real Madrid. There are plenty of other examples from last season, but at the start of this one, it looked like City had solved that in their matches against United (CS) and Chelsea (A).

Leicester City used the same setup and City struggled to consistently work around the block out wide. Often having De Bruyne and Bernardo dropping out wide to receive the ball.

So instead they started using Rico Lewis to drop outside the block, joining the back line to occupy a player. Akanji then could find De Bruyne, laying it off to Kovacic as he ran on it and charged forward with the ball to attack. They had Rico drop centrally between the two CBs and Gvardiol pushed up on the left side, as well as having Rico take De Bruyne’s position in the pocket to receive the ball between the lines.

This was an excellent chance in the first half, worked to Erling Haaland (7') for a shot that was saved. A ball over the top from Rico Lewis, a cutback from De Bruyne.

Savinho 21' 1-0

Mentioned this in the goal Bernardo scored against Everton (H), Savinho made the run into the 6-yard box following up the shot, and against Leicester City, he got his goal from it. Lewis gets the pass inside from De Bruyne, first time through to Foden who drives forward and takes the shot from distance. Savinho following up on that shot scores the rebound before the keeper gets to it. Savinho was the biggest underperformer for np:G-xG in the squad, with -2.3 before the match, now he's got his first goal for Manchester City.

This match was the 8th time a team has completed 500+ passes against Manchester City under Pep Guardiola. The best periods for Leicester were the final ten minutes of the first half and the first twenty of the second half. Pushing their right back up high allowed Buonanotte to drift inside to the right half-space, El Khannouss then shifted over to the left half-space to support Mavididi. Helping them to find spaces inside the Manchester City defensive block.

Now the field tilt was quite low from Leicester City (42.5%), most of the passes and touches are in the middle third. They weren’t able to pin Manchester City back and threaten them consistently but were able to create some good chances once the spaces opened up inside the City block after Buonanotte/El Khannouss lost their markers.

Their best period was in the opening five minutes of the second half, eventually building up to the penalty claim by Buonanotte inside the box. Here is the touch map below, with Leicester City at the top, Man City at the bottom.

These are just a few of the many passes Leicester was able to play through Manchester City in the opening five minutes of the second half. Looking to find Bilal El Khannouss or Facundo Buonanotte who drifted inside as the full-back pushed up.

The team has been forced this season to defend in a block more often, and so you are seeing the weaknesses of those players exposed. Not knowing how to correctly apply pressure, tracking players' movement inside the block, and being aware of where the danger is.

Couldn’t avoid mentioning this moment from Erling Haaland after dropping to collect the ball, bursting past a few players into the box to a great shooting position but just wide of the near post. An example of the improvements Haaland has made technically. He’s played a lot of minutes, especially full 90s back-to-back, and not been at his best finishing chances. But once he puts it all together, he’s going to score more than in his first season.

Erling Haaland 74' 0-2

There is only one place to start and that's with James McAtee, who does brilliantly out wide to step around Kristiansen, pauses just as Soumare thinks he's continuing down the flank, and passes inside to De Bruyne. Then continues his run into the box to occupy a player. Haaland makes his run across the defenders, into the box, and towards the back-post. De Bruyne carries the ball forward and finds Savinho in space on the left side.

Excellent cross from Savinho and the header from Haaland to finish the move. If you want to get consistent quality crosses from the LHS into the box, then Savinho is the best winger to do that. Manchester City could well finish the season with a first-choice front three of Savinho - Haaland - Bobb.

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Moving Forward

There has to be a mention of the away support, that has to be up there with, if not the best away support in the country. Throughout the losing run, for the team that hasn’t won away from home since October 20th, they have always been there and not stopped cheering the team.

Josko Gvardiol was fortunate that this mistake only led to Ortega saving from a very tight angle because these mistakes have become a regular thing for him during the losing run. Something he’s got to cut out of his game, despite the high number of minutes played.

Savinho can play on either wing, it just changes the tools he has to work with. One of the best wingers in La Liga last season mostly playing left wing. On the right, he's not got any player whipping out a switch to him or ball in behind like Rodri would have been doing. His issue this season has just been making the right final decision in the box. Always going to have underlying numbers up with the best in the league, create and be involved with many chances. Once the decision-making matches up, he'll be one of the best wingers in the league, if not the world. Just have to be patient with him.

Following on from the point about long passes out to our wingers, the team this season is averaging 33.4 long passes completed per 90, down from 43.5 last season. Missing Rodri who averaged 10.4 long passes per 90 last season. Switches per 90 is down from 3.5 last season to 2.17. Again, missing Rodri who averaged 1.1 switches per 90 last season.

The win against Leicester City takes Manchester City back into the top five, although Newcastle can overtake them with a win later today against Manchester United. It’s stringing together wins that will bring the team back into top-four contention, if they manage it. Yet to have another player in the team than Haaland hit double figures for goals or assists.

Now the team has their opportunity to rest all week before the next Premier League match, then have an FA Cup match a week later, and a week of training before Brentford. Breathing room to get out on the training pitch, perform the right amount of rest/recovery, hopefully have injured players return, and buy some players. The next 2-3 weeks will be crucial for Manchester City's rescuing this season.

Last point, I’d like to see James McAtee get allowed against West Ham to start on the right wing, after his impact against Leicester City in the second half. Then continue to start in the next match against Salford City (FA Cup).

Next up for Manchester City is West Ham (H) on the 4th of January, their first fixture of 2025. The preview will be published on Friday.