Manchester City 4-0 Newcastle United Review

Premier League GW25

That was quite simply the best performance from Manchester City this season. From top to bottom, every player put in a good performance, and a few more were exceptional. It highlights how Guardiola wants to win football matches, how his team succeeds, and why you should be excited about next season. It was that good.

That’s not to say we won’t face more difficult defeats before the summer, it’s more than likely. But you could see how the pieces would come together, the reasoning behind the January signings, and how some player’s poor performances were overstated.

MOTM: OMAR MARMOUSH

Notable Stats:

• Ederson now has the outright most assists of any goalkeeper in Premier League history (6), while he's also become the first keeper to provide three assists in a single campaign.

• Omar Marmoush's hat-trick was the fourth fastest (between first and third goals) by a Man City player in Premier League history.

• Nico González: first midfielder to complete 100+ passes on their PL debut on record, as well as the best completion rate by any midfielder on PL debut (97% - min. 50 passes).

Game Stats:

Manchester City 4-0 Newcastle United

• xG: 2.10 - 0.15

• xThreat: 1.95 - 0.63

• Possession: 60.9% - 39.1%

• Field Tilt: 57.9% - 42.1%

• Penalty Box Shots: 7 - 3

• Deep Entries: 12 - 6

• PPDA: 10.1 - 10.5

• High Turnovers: 6 - 2

I’ve changed the rolling xG and xGA chart above to eight matches which highlights the peaks a bit more, hence the recent jump against Real Madrid. Showing quite clearly the roughest period of the season during the losing streak, when chance after chance was given away and the attacking output diminished. The lack of confidence and risk-taking spread across the team.

Erling Haaland (3.077) becomes the first Manchester City player this season to pass 3,000 minutes. The next closest player is Josko Gvardiol (2,983). Savinho (2,031) becomes the first Manchester City winger to cross 2,000 minutes this season. Doku (1,177), Grealish (1,229), and Bobb (90) are all far behind. Savinho has also started four consecutive matches for the third time this season. Of the other wingers, only Jeremy Doku has done this once, Grealish and Bobb zero times. Nico Gonzalez completed the first full 90 minutes of his City career.

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. 👇

Three new signings started this season as Khusanov, Marmoush, and Nico came into the lineup and provided everything fans have been wanting to see. The movement off the ball to in behind the opposition, a midfielder that smells danger, and a recovery pace in the back line.

Manchester City set up in possession with a 2-3-5 as Rico Lewis tucked inside next to Nico and Gundogan, Stones/Khusanov behind. Foden was free to float across the final third, Marmoush free to drift inside, and Gvardiol pushed up to hold width on the left. By having Rico Lewis tucked in, and Gordon occupied with pressing Khusanov, it left Savinho 1v1 with Hall and the entire RHS to beat in.

Seen the sentiment going around that the performance was all due to how poor Newcastle was but I think Pep had their press sussed completely. If they jumped the two CBs 2v2 (Gordon/Isak) then Ederson could step up to be the +1 and Haaland drops as Marmoush runs. Rehearsed. If they tried to go 3v3 on the midfield (Gundo/Nico/Lewis vs Bruno/Tonali/Willock) then Foden would drop to be a +1. Gvardiol/Savinho were also on either side capable of dropping to be a solution out wide. Newcastle looked lost.

The opportunity to be aggressive and physical was taken away from them. Of course, Manchester City have struggled this season, but you cannot run the same 5-4-1 setup from earlier in the season and expect Guardiola to have not made adjustments. Where Newcastle should be concerned is slow recovery runs and then Howe unable to make any impact with his changes tactically or off the bench. When you think about Anderson and Minteh they sold in the summer, unless Newcastle can spend more to build out their depth, each season will be as promising as it is unfulfilling.

It's only a small detail but something Khusanov did well was not let Newcastle easily press him back to the goal, if there was a forward pass to make, he was brave enough to do it. The technical ability of him on the ball has been downplayed on arrival but from the little we’ve seen, he’s going to fit in very well.

We've seen in the first couple of matches that Marmoush has excellent movement but against Newcastle he was in sync with Haaland dropping and Foden drawing in a defender to him as he finds space around the pivot. Other teams will deal with the movement better (system/personnel), but we're going to see the trio of Ederson, Haaland, and Marmoush combine for more goals this season if teams press M2M.

Marmoush 19' 1-0 

The opening goal starts with Ederson stepping out to be the +1 in the buildup as Newcastle press M2M. Haaland drops to pull Burn with him and open up space. Schar is tracking Foden who also dropped. Marmoush runs across from left to right to attack the space. The keeper coming out makes the finish simple. Side Note - notice how hungry Haaland is to score, making up ground to be there for a tap-in.

Marmoush 24' 2-0

Gundogan found free in space and drives forward into the final third. Marmoush as mentioned above, is free to drift inside to the half-space as Gvardiol provides the width. Lovely first touch to come into the middle of the box and shoot, with a little deflection, to put Manchester City up by two. Must be mentioned how poorly Newcastle was tracking the space in front of the back line, partly due to their pressing approach. Foden was completely free himself.

It's dealing with situations like these that Manchester City has struggled with so often this season, and Nico makes them look easy. There were other instances across the pitch where Nico spotted the danger early, moved tight to the player before a pass was played, and was ready to apply pressure. Kovacic in that role would only move once the pass is played, he’s reacting and that’s the difference.

Marmoush 33' 3-0

Foden drives through the middle of the pitch, laying off to Savinho to take on Hall 1v1. Beating him on the outside for pace to get a pass cut back across the box. Same space mentioned above that Newcastle defended poorly, and a well-timed run by Marmoush to arrive onto the pass.

James McAtee and Jeremy Doku came on (76’) for Phil Foden and Omar Marmoush towards the end of the second half.

McAtee 84’ 4-0

Before the goal you could see McAtee having more involvement across the pitch than in recent matches, this time dropping deep to collect the ball in the buildup and then finding Doku as he made a run down the flank. Eventually winning a corner. Gundogan takes, aiming for the near-post that Haaland flicks on and McAtee taps in as he does a good job of getting in front of Tonali.

Triple substitution at the end of the second half (87’) saw O’Reilly, Kovacic, and Nunes come on for Gvardiol, Gundogan, and Haaland. The latter looked to go down hurt with his knee but has since been training with the team without any issues.

Newcastle had one shot in the second half, a well-worked chance that found Miley (60’) just inside the box that was saved by Ederson. Not a single shot for the remaining thirty minutes of the match, Manchester City controlled the ball and saw out the match giving Newcastle no opportunities to get back into it. Something we’ve not seen for a long time this season, at least since the Southampton (H) match in the Premier League.

The performance of Nico has to be mentioned. This was one of the best debuts for Manchester City under Guardiola. He looked like it was his second season, clearly the time he spent coming through the Barcelona academy had him up to speed on the way Guardiola plays and Nico slotted right in to give the players around him structure. Controlling the match with his passing. Instructing teammates already. The cover for Rodri next season is sorted and the exciting part of all this, he’s going to play alongside Rodri next season. We’ve not seen his movement into the box yet.

Plenty stood out in the win against Newcastle and one of those was the balance between either side of the pitch for Manchester City. The fullbacks in Josko Gvardiol (top) and Rico Lewis (bottom) are one of the youngest pairings in the league. One has the athleticism to get up and down the pitch and the physicality to carry the ball himself. The other has the technical ability to shift inside, provide a spare man, find pockets of space,e and be the link to the winger. Both were excellent at pressing high on their respective wingers.

The same extends to the two 'wingers' that played against Newcastle. Savinho (bottom) fits the position, a player who loves to have the ball, carry, and dribble past opposition players. Hall struggled to get close to him today, let alone take the ball off him. Marmoush (top) on the other side doesn't look for the ball to feet, it's all about his movement off the ball, attacking space, or pulling opposition around to open it up for others.

Rico Lewis played well, and as the structure around him returned, you saw his value to the team. Haaland put in a captain’s performance, constantly being an option as he dropped deep and worked hard off the ball. Gundogan was able to focus on being an eight and do what he does best, pass the football. Good performance from him considering how poor he’s been in games this season. Along with Rico, you’ve got to be careful how much blame you attribute to the structure around these players, and what they can realistically do if 30+.

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Moving Forward

I had mentioned in previous newsletters that we could improve the attacking play to create more chances and score more goals, that the team could eliminate poor decisions that gave away cheap chances, and could improve the intensity on the pitch. But you won’t shut out opposing teams until you have a stable back four and a proper number six starts. Nico in his first start has been part of a performance that left Newcastle barely anything in the final third. It’s exactly what Guardiola means when he talks about controlling the game with the passes, resting with the ball, and keeping the opposition away from our goal.

The performance gives Guardiola a real positive selection headache heading into the match against Real Madrid midweek, where surely all three new signings have given themselves a good chance of starting.

The final mention is for Ederson who now holds the record for most Premier League assists by a goalkeeper (6) and with how well Haaland/Marmoush work together running in behind, he could add to that tally more this season.

Next up for Manchester City is Real Madrid in the second leg of the Champions League Qualifying Round. That takes place on Wednesday the 19th of February at 20:00 (GMT).