Manchester City 3-2 Fulham Review

Premier League GW7

Early into the season Manchester City is usually still figuring out a new system, dealing with players behind on fitness or handling significant injuries. Against Fulham on Saturday we saw all of these issues impact the match along with an opposition team with an effective game plan to beat them. Growing concerns about lack of physicality, age, and legs in midfield continued to show up. On another day Fulham take their chances on the break. On another day Manchester City doesn’t give away the ball cheaply and takes their early chances. We got neither of those at the weekend.

MOTM: Josko Gvardiol

It’s not easy to pick a MOTM from this one given how mixed the performances for many players were. Gvardiol made an incredible block as shown in the image above, Dias also made a couple. He was important for City progressing the ball, whether it was his carrying (5 PrgC), passing into advanced players (19 PrgP), or the long pass (4/4 completed) out to Bernardo. The team struggled in this match but without Gvardiol they might not have picked up three points.

Notable Stats:

• The last time Manchester City allowed 5+ big chances was back in November 2022.

• Manchester City have equalized their longest unbeaten league run in history.
  30 games 2017/18
  30 games 2023 - Present

• Rico Lewis has now played over half the amount of minutes (846) he did during the entire last season (1,606).

• Josko Gvardiol completed 19 progressive passes against Fulham (H). That's more than Fulham's midfield combined (12) and Manchester City's midfield combined (11).

Game Stats:

Man City - Fulham

• xG: 1.4 - 3.01

• xThreat: 1.55 - 1.43

• Possession: 57.8% - 42.2%

• Field Tilt: 65.4% - 34.6%

• Penalty Box Shots: 10 - 8

• Deep Entries: 13 - 12

• Buildup Completion: 93.8% - 84.4%

• PPDA: 9.6 - 19.4

• High Turnovers: 8 - 2

• 10+ Pass Sequences: 30 - 15

Fulham Setup

Out of possession, Fulham set up with a 5-4-1 shape with Alex Iwobi tucking in as the RWB to defend against Jack Grealish. Ensuring Fulham had enough players in the back line to track runners into the box. If Fulham attacked then Iwobi was free to move into the front line, often centrally to support Jimenez. This wasn’t a passive 5-4-1 either, that’s a key point missed when thinking that just using five defenders would cause City problems, Fulham was prepared to press when they needed to. Jimenez on top of Kovacic. Bassey and the other CBs can step out and apply pressure.

Marco Silva changed their rest defense to a 2-3 to ensure they had enough players to regain the ball in transitions.

Throughout the first half, Fulham were effective at building up down their left side. Adam Traore on the left side against Rico Lewis could win the ball most of the time, getting a pass from Leno. Jimenez comes across to support as well as Lukic.

The first chance Fulham had was in transition after a Manchester City corner. Leno catches the ball and is free to throw it out to Jimenez under no pressure from City players. He can then pick out the run of Traore, beating Rico Lewis before being denied by Ederson 1v1.

Fulham would continue to leave City players on the edge of the box free, hoping to win the ball and not seeing the threat they posed. Further to that, the rest defense City had during corners with Rico Lewis, Bernardo Silva, Mateo Kovacic, and Phil Foden is one they fancied beating on the break.

Throughout the match, there were plenty of times City players gave away the ball poorly, this time Grealish's pass was turned over. Iwobi was mentioned before and he continued to cause problems for City when Fulham attacked in transition. Free to support the attacker and not tracked by Grealish or Kovacic. Traore gets another excellent chance to score after Iwobi passes to him, only to be denied by Ederson again.

Fulham scored first (26’) through Andreas Pereira. After recovering the ball they work it across to find Robinson free on the left side who provides a deep cross to Jimenez inside the box. After keeping it alive with Iwobi, Jimenez manages to back-heel flick it into the path for Pereira to score. Akanji has picked up some criticism but he’s touch tight in the sequence and couldn’t have expected that back-heel.

Another chance for Traore comes in the second half, his third 1v1 effort. A pass along the edge of the box by Rico Lewis is intercepted by Andersen, Kovacic, and Walker try to win the ball off Traore but he finds Jimenez who hits the ball into space for Traore to go get. Beating Walker along the way to get a shot on goal.

Fulham had a few periods of possession in the second half, working it along their back line and the introduction of Cairney helped a lot. Manchester City were far too passive in their block, allowing Fulham to advance and eventually find space.

Several times getting the ball to Robinson to cross into the box. Without huge blocks from Gvardiol and Dias, they could have scored more. Eventually, they find Muniz free in the box (88’) after Nelson fires a pass between Doku and Gvardiol. Muniz was free to take a touch, turn, and shoot into the top left corner making it 3-2. Poor organisation from City to leave him free.

Manchester City Setup

The plan from City was to find spaces between the lines, rather than attacking out wide. Using Grealish and Beranrdo to hold width and retain the ball primarily. Two wingers with strict defensive duties that ideally would not get caught too high up the pitch if City lost the ball, able to counterpress effectively.

The three central defenders would progress the ball up to the half line and then try to find passes between the lines to Gundogan, Foden, and Lewis. Gvardiol was excellent at this on the left side moving into the half-space and firing a pass into Foden. Not looking to pin Fulham back because they want to keep the space between the lines.

It’s not that City struggled to create chances through this setup in the first half:

• 3’ Gundogan volley 

• 4’ Haaland shot across the box after 1-2 with Foden 

• 6’ Rico wins free kick edge of the box 

• 8’ Haaland steps around a defender to shoot edge of the box 

• 10’ scooped pass into Haaland from Foden 

• 14’ Gvardiol switch to Bernardo, Rico Lewis cross into the 6-yard box cleared 

• 15’ Haaland header back post off corner 

• 16’ Bernardo back post cross to Gundogan 

But as the match went on Fulham was able to exploit the vulnerabilities in the personnel and shape in transitions. Helped by plenty of poor touches and passes by City players throughout, after Fulham gained more control of the match in the second half, the team could not get it back and had to see it out defending their box.

Manchester City did have plenty of opportunities from corners in the first half, with a clear plan to free Erling Haaland if the delivery was better they could have gotten more shots but with a rest defense that looked weak if Fulham got the ball. Covered in this thread below. 👇

1-1 Mateo Kovacic 32’

Manchester City fans are used to seeing Rodri and Ilkay Gundogan arriving late into the box, making use of the space on the edge in the D. Against Fulham we saw Mateo Kovacic take advantage. An inswinger corner from Gundogan goes to Ruben Dias, in the fight for the ball it lands back out to the penalty spot and Kovacic steps forward to shoot. With the help of a deflection, equalizing for City.

One area to keep an eye on is the rest defense for corners. Keeping back Bernardo Silva, Rico Lewis, Phil Foden, and Mateo Kovacic. None of them are great at recovering the ball high up the pitch or have the physical gifts to cover large spaces in transition. In this situation, City capitalized but earlier in the match Adama Traore had muscled his way past Rico Lewis to need a 1v1 save from Ederson (17'). The same situation happened against West Ham with Kudus. Something the team must fix.

2-1 Mateo Kovacic 47’

The second goal was exactly the type we'd see from Rodri on the edge of the box. A good deep cross from Foden to find Bernardo Silva. He takes it down with his chest and lays it off to Kovacic. The best moment from the goal is Kovacic taking a touch to move around the opposition player running out to intercept/block. Then takes his shot to give Manchester City the lead.

3-1 Jeremy Doku 82’

Looking back on it this was an excellent goal from Doku, being found in space 1v1 on the right side by Rico Lewis. Ederson hits it long to Haaland, laying it off for Rico Lewis to find Doku. Four different runners into the box in Haaland, Lewis, Gundogan, and Bernardo. Driving towards the corner of the penalty box, this is the space City must find Jeremy Doku in more often this season. 1v1 against a full-back. Cutting inside, bursting past the FB, and looking to pass inside to Lewis. His run leaves Doku the space to move into and shoot into the top right corner.

Last season Doku had plenty of shots from similar positions along the edge of the box but most were blocked or missed. He strikes the ball well enough to be scoring more from that position. He's capable of scoring with a low shot curled to the far corner. Adding this shot on the edge of the box to that, along with beating the defender to the by-line gives him several options. It's being consistent with his final action and shading some pace off the ball when he's making the pass inside the box to a teammate.

It's about finding him in this position more frequently across a season, Rodri in particular was great last season for this. Even with teams' different approaches and game states, they can be better at finding him in space.

Manchester City put up their lowest total for deep entries so far this season (13). Just by comparison, against Newcastle, they had 21, and Arsenal 27. If you don’t have either Savinho or Doku on the pitch to attack the box from wide then you must access it centrally. Apart from the opening 15 minutes, the team struggled to do that.

Looking back on the match, I think that this setup from City in general is a perfectly fine approach. Using the central defenders to progress the ball through passes and carries. Shift the opposition back and look for the three players between the lines to move into the final third and create chances. Knowing that your wingers will maintain the width and keep possession despite being doubled up on. Having the numbers in midfield to counterpress quickly.

The issue comes when you look at the players selected for it, who were not ideal, and the individual performances. Too many poor touches, passes and players being caught on the ball.

John Stones would be better than Dias at playing these passes between the lines as a CCB. The limitations of Kovacic as a number as quite obvious, as well as he’s done, against Fulham he takes too many touches and gets caught in possession. His instinct is to carry not pass or remain deeper covering space. Without the physical qualities needed to cover for mistakes in transition, as well as dominating aerial duels and second balls. This leads me to think a change is required, and that this system is left behind. There are not the players to pull it off right now.

The age and lack of legs in midfield have to be a concern for City. They need to introduce another ‘big man’ into the team in my opinion. To compete better in the duels and John Stones inverting into midfield is the obvious option to do that. Shifting the rest defense into a 3-2 and moving Rico Lewis into being a midfield. Bernardo Silva is included for the ground he can cover centrally. Savinho can do everything you need from a winger OOP, he’ll threaten more on the ball and add another creative player on the pitch.

I understand the approach, the attempt to reduce the impact of Rodri being absent but it’s not going to work long term. Time for a different plan until you have the personnel to make that work. You need another defender in the team, ideally, it’s inverting Stones or Akanji into midfield to help City OOP. Instead of using the counter-press and keeping the ball centrally to deal with not having Rodri, I think you need to use the wide areas. Better manage the distance in transition and overload these spaces. Lean into your strengths with Savinho, Doku, Grealish, and Bobb playing out wide. How all of that comes together in a lineup and system, we’ll wait and see from Guardiola after the international break.

Moving Forward

Apart from performances against Newcastle and Fulham that have been less than encouraging, the team is still sat second in the Premier League table and after the international break has two fixtures they need to win. Whilst City are playing Wolves (A), Arsenal are away to Bournemouth and Liverpool host Chelsea. Cannot afford to drop points against the team that sat 20th in the table.

An international break is the perfect time for Pep Guardiola to reflect on the team’s performances so far and solve these problems. Changes are required and he’s got plenty of options in the team to use.

Hopefully, Nathan Ake and Kevin De Bruyne will return after the international break, which will be a big boost for the squad and the options Guardiola will have to use.

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