Fulham 0-4 Manchester City Review

PREMIER LEAGUE

MOTM: Josko Gvardiol

Other standout performances include: De Bruyne, Bernardo Silva and Ruben Dias.

Man of the match performance from Josko Gvardiol who turned down the chance to become the first defender in Premier League history to score a hatr-tick since Julian Alvarez was the set penalty taker. Even at his young age, that’s his mentality to always seek improvement and put the team first. Although his left foot is his preferred one, it seems like he’s pretty comfortable shooting on his right now that’s four goals from it. Being comfortable crossing with his left foot an improvement to make next season!

Notable Stats:

• Rodri has now gone 48 consecutive Premier League appearances without losing for Manchester City (W39 D9). Only Sol Campbell (56 games) has a longer unbeaten run.

• Fulham have lost each of their last 13 games against Manchester City in the Premier League.

• Kevin De Bruyne is now joint-second for assists in the Premier League (level with Cesc Fabregas), only Ryan Giggs providing more (162). De Bruyne has played 258 Premier League games (19,527 minutes) compared to the 632 games (46,407 minutes) played by Ryan Giggs.

• Josko Gvardiol has scored five goals in his last seven games, none of them coming with his stronger left foot.

Thoughts on Manchester City

In took City a while to figure out their buildup struggle in the first ten minutes of the match as Fulham had plenty of space to exploit down the City right side. They tried to go after it but failed to exploit it before City adjusted. We covered this in a thread here.

City started with this shape below and Akanji was positioned in midfield. Fulham did a great job to screen all the City midfielders and prevent Ake/Dias progressing to ball into the middle. Akanji and Bernardo were always too far out of position to cover the space both Willian and Robinson were trying to get into out wide. Muniz then running across Dias into the box. After ten minutes City shifted the personal around.

Akanji now took that space out wide with Bernardo moving inside to buildup with Kovacic and Rodri looking something like this.

Then once Ake went off injured, Akanji took his role at LCB and Walker his at RB providing width. Fulham didn’t manage to get a shot on goal until the second half after City completely shutdown the opportunity Fulham had down their left side.

Ruben Dias had an excellent game returning to the lineup, keeping the back line organized and making a couple crucial blocks in the first half. Dealing with Muniz. Now Ake is injured, who has been great in the last few games, it looks like Dias - Akanji will become the set CB pairing.

Both Rodri and Kovacic had good games, forming a very solid partnership that seems to always be in support of one another. Evading pressure and keeping control. A partner in midfield for Rodri unlocks more of his long passing, giving him the one-two pass which will open up the space for hitting those balls.

I mentioned this in the previous weeks review, for Phil Foden this is his floor level performance where he contributes in the right moments in his goal, technically secure across the pitch and winning back possession, even when he’s not the out right man of the match. I mean that solely as a compliment, similar to what we see from Rodri, his baseline is at a high level. Kevin De Bruyne excellent across the two half-spaces to create chances. Assist for the Gvardiol 1st goal and cross to Akanji for his chance just to name a couple.

Haaland ticking all the boxes for his hold up, winning duels and making runs. Just found missing the finish for a couple chances in that game. Kyle Walker had a solid all around performance despite him not training the past two days. Rico Lewis and Oscar Bobb showed again what we all know, two quality and intelligent players. Link up well and counter press effectively as a pair on that right side. Julian Alvarez looks much more confident, we’ve seen that in the Wolves and Fulham appearances off the bench. Jeremy Doku could well be needed in one of the last three games off the bench and I think he’s in a good spot now to really attack the pre-season for 24/25. Comfortable in the team, knowing his role and the system.

Thoughts on Fulham

Here is how they setup in the match against Manchester City which was as to be expected based on the previous run of games. Players out of the team due to contracts running down and a few returning from injury.

The brightest spell for Fulham was the first ten minutes as City were making adjustments to close off their right hand side (Fulham’s left) and find a way to progress the ball. The midblock of Fulham, Muniz dropping into the midfield caused City issues. Antonee Robinson made a few runs and drives with the ball down the City right which forced Dias to block off passes into Muniz.

Fulham tried to use Leno by kicking long into that space, win an aerial duel or the second ball. They tried switches from Iwobi. None of which stuck down that side and it got closed off when Akanji and Bernardo swapped places during the buildup. Walker coming on to do the same role as Akanji on that right side. Without that outlet, Fulham struggled to get the ball out of their own half.

Manchester City Moving Forward

Now it’s time for City to wait and see how Arsenal fare against Manchester United this afternoon, whilst they recover ready for the match against Spurs on Tuesday night. A loss by Arsenal makes it possible for City to win the title against Spurs. A win by Arsenal turns the pressure up on a fixture that City have consistently struggled in since Spurs moved to their new stadium.

Regardless of the outcome, the game on Tuesday night will be a tough match for Manchester City and one they MUST win.

Interesting Moments, News and Links

• American Cityzen thread on the Fulham match here.

• Post Match highlights here.

• Gvardiol post match interview here. 

• Guardiola post match interview here.

• Kovacic post match interview here.

• To stay up to date with the Manchester City outfield players minutes, checkout our G Sheet here.

• Mark Stats Bot breakdown of the game here.

• Sky Blue Times Thread on Gvardiol against Fulham here.

• Sky Blue Times Thread on the buildup changes during the match against Fulham here.

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