The Successor

Brentford Game Review, Savio Signing and Player Performances

Author

Bailey Wynne
February 7th, 2024 • Estimated Reading Time: 8 minutes

Top stories today:

  1. City Win against Brentford and our thoughts.

  2. Phil Foden this season and his progression.

  3. Savio Signs so what does that mean for the summer?

  4. Interesting Stats other links to check out.

0. Standings, Fixtures and Statistics

1. Brentford Review

MOTM: Phil Foden

Other standout performances include Kevin De Bruyne, Rodri & Ruben Dias.

Main Takeaways

  • A bold line up that saw many excited and nervous. Pep had gone for it, put all the players in the team we wanted to see together. Our preview expected a tighter game but scoreline of 3-1 was correct.

  • Brentford did have their moments, a goalkeeper that was on fire in that first half and a goal that all of us could have seen coming. Ake letting Toney stop him winning the duel, that Dias would have won. Gvardiol caught then flat footed not expecting the bounce that led Maupay through on goal. Duels is something we have not been switched on for nor aggressive enough compared to last season.

  • Haaland still rusty, not committed to his shooting and a 1v1 that should have been a goal. Great combination play with Phil for his goal and done very well dropping in deep this game.

  • For all their struggles this season, Walker and Dias both had very good games. Goes under the radar how important these two are to the build up, progressing the ball forward through passes (Walker) and carrying (Dias).

  • Gvardiol continues to impress me, despite the first half goal, he is getting better each week at the LB role. Provides key passes. Gets into very good positions in the final third, facilitates Phil getting to work more on the inside.

  • Performances like this from Rodri are normal by his standards but it can’t be ignored having 133 touches like that popping off long balls and controlling the middle of the pitch. Remarkable.

  • Kevin De Bruyne decided we are going to lead now, puts in an unreal ball for the Foden header. 122 touches, gets all our the pitch and gives us back the crossing threat we missed.

  • Foden has his own section included below, he was just that good against Brentford.

  • Alvarez splits a lot of opinions online, touch is clearly off for a midfielder. Shooting threat and pressing ability is one of the best we have. Clearly a trade off, for more control with another midfielder, Pep prefers to make.

  • We pinned Brentford back so well in this game, something we need to keep doing against the low blocks. The use of Walker and Gvardiol allow this to happen with Foden, Alvarez, Bernardo and KDB to operate inside. Fustrating maybe at times to see those two out wide as a fan but another trade off Pep is making. Those two are not there for their attacking output.

@markstatsbot

2. Foden Performance

Phil Foden has now scored as many Premier League hat-tricks as Eden Hazard, Sadio Mane, Gareth Bale and Steven Gerrard (2). And he already has more Premier League titles (5) than all those players combined.

“You have a feeling with Phil… “oh”. It’s difficult to find. He’s like a knife. I’ve only seen few [like that]. There is space to take over from Bernardo or Kevin in the future. He will lead the other ones.”

Pep Guardiola on Phil Foden

Thoughts

  • Phil Foden is now fifth for most goal involvements (15) in the Premier League this season. The players ahead of him are Mohamed Salah (22), Ollie Watkins (21), Erling Haaland (19) and Heung-Min Son (17). All forwards who take penalties unlike Phil as a midfielder.

  • This season has seen Foden take a central role within the team, on the pitch as a midfielder and overall as one of the leading players for goal involvements. Not just the numbers but impacting games, being the reason why we got the points. We are 14 points better off because of him this season.

  • The injury to Kevin De Bruyne has opened up that spot for him but you still have to deliver and take that spot. Pep has shifted the team as well with Walker and Gvardiol roles out wide facilitating him moving central.

  • What we have seen much more of this season is Phil dictating the tempo, running the plays and flow of the game. Slowing it down with more touches when needed. Knowing when to switch the play. Snuffing out dangerous passes and so on. Much more rounded as a central midfielder.

  • It will be fascinating how this form continues for the season, this is quickly becoming his standard each week. If Foden gets on the ball, in the middle of the pitch, then we will win the game.

  • Going forward, Foden will be putting himself into player of the season and Ballon d’Or conversations. If City win a fourth Premier League in a row and a Champions League, how can he not be worthy of those two awards?

I will leave you with this comp to enjoy, Phil Foden vs Brentford.

3. Savio Signing

Fabrizio Romano confirmed that City have agreed a deal to sign Savio in the summer. More here.

In our transfer series, Summer Road Map, we picked Savio as a target for the right wing so this will go down as a win for us! Excellent talent that has us excited about where the team is heading next season. You can find a link to that below. 👇

Summer Road Map - Right Wing Targets

Here are our targets for the right wing, given that our pecking order puts these players lower down the list in the squad, you can see that reflected in who we target.

skybluetimes.beehiiv.com/p/summer-road-map-part-four

We have also done a thread on Savio, covering his background and providing a scouting report. Compared him to Doku. Looked at his position and shared thoughts on his future. You can find that below. 👇

Savio is currently tied with Tony Kroos for most assists (7) in La Liga this season.

The most take-ons completed in Europe’s big five leagues this season:

  • Leroy Sane (76)

  • Matias Soule (70)

  • Savio (60)

  • Jeremy Doku (60)

Something to get very excited about in the summer, let us know what your thoughts are on the signing and how you see him fitting into the team!

4. Interesting News & Links

  • StatsBomb looked at the most line breaking passes made players at each Premier League club. Here is the one for City. (per 90 minutes, min. 900 minutes played)

  • Markstats bot provides detailed insight into the stats from most top level football matches, right after the match. Worth a follow and here is the stats from our game against Brentford.

  • Interesting to see both created and allowed threat for Manchester City across the past three seasons. A lot of talk this season about our frailty defensively, lack of aggression in duels and so on. Something lost in the details then…

  • An excellent thread on Phil Foden by 4Lex.

  • Rodri has now completed an entire year without losing a game for Man City 🤯

That’s all for this issue of the newsletter, City now head towards the weekend fixture against Everton. Preview for that will come on Friday. Between then, we will look deeper into some player individual performances.

Let us know if there is anything else you want to see us cover and your thoughts on the game in the comments.

Goodbye Brentford.

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