The Work Left To Do

Manchester City are now out of the Club World Cup, but there is still lots of work to do before they return for the Premier League season. As much as it was tough to see the mistakes made against Al-Hilal, we come away from the tournament having seen lots of promising signs for next season. Players who are not yet over last season, others who will need to be moved on, and the new signings that have bedded into the squad quickly.

For a squad that looked devoid of confidence on and off the pitch, the tournament would have helped a lot in rebuilding those relationships, bedding in new players, and improving the atmosphere around the group ahead of next season. You can see that in all the training clips, along with the impact of the new coaches on the pitch. They’ve gotten to work with Guardiola and players, understand what’s needed, and will be prepared for the new season.

As mentioned above, the new coaches have helped to refresh Guardiola himself by having different people to bounce ideas off and bring their perspectives. On the pitch, we’ve seen James French having an impact on set-pieces. Across all the games, they’ve looked more threatening and organized.

Against Juventus, Manchester City recorded more than ten high possession regains in a single match. The last time that happened was 13 months ago. This is just one way to highlight the improvements that we saw across all the matches that the team is making in its high press, counterpressing, and overall defensive work. Speaking of the Juventus match, we saw in possession fluid rotations across the pitch, especially with the relationships between the wingers and full-backs.

Tijjani Reijnders (27) and Rayan Ait-Nouri (24) are first-team starters based on their performances in the tournament. Settled in quickly, look up to speed in possession, and have some work to do out of possession.

Rayan Cherki (22) displayed his quality, linking up with Foden and Haaland; he’s able to change a game with his delivery. Phil Foden (25) looked like the player we’re used to seeing, moving across the pitch much better, demanding the ball, and looking confident.

Claudio Echeverri (19) got to show his talent in the game against Al-Ain, along with an excellent free-kick. More likely, due to squad competition, he’ll go on loan, but that’s a player capable of making it at Manchester City. Encouraging full ninety minutes from Vitor Reis (19) in the first group match, and it doesn’t surprise me that City are inclined to keep him this season. Looks ready. Bright minutes from Oscar Bobb (22) on top of his goal. He’ll be pushing for the starting spot once up to full fitness.

Jeremy Doku (23) attacked space in behind for his goal against Juventus, was attacking the back-post for corner routines, which got him a goal against Wydad, and looked like he was ready for a step up next season. He averaged per 90 2.20 possessions won in the final third during the CWC, compared to 0.77 per 90 in the Premier League last season. Much more effective pressing high up the pitch.

If you want to hear a more in-depth discussion on the improvements Jeremy Doku has to make next season, if he wants to increase his goal output and overall performance, check out the video below. 👇

When you take a step back, there were a lot of positives to take away from the tournament. If you want a more in-depth review of the three games in the group stages, then check out the links below. 👇

• Manchester City 2-0 Wydad

• Manchester City 6-0 Al-Ain

• Manchester City 5-2 Juventus

Al-Hilal Goals

It wasn’t all positives from the tournament, and the goals the team conceded against Al-Hilal were a good representation of the work the team has to do on the pitch. That’ll they’ll need to put right to regain the Premier League title.

Leonardo 46' 1-1  
The first goal Al-Hilal scored, just after the second half started, involved drawing Manchester City out to press them high. Moving the ball across their backline spread out wide. The pass was fired down the line for the winger to collect. Ait-Nouri gets turned after being caught being too aggressive on the inside. Full-back provides the overlap, left untracked by Doku. Gundogan comes over and fails in his attempt to win the ball.

Ait-Nouri and Gvardiol try to pressure the ball carrier, full-back left free to receive the ball in a crossing position. Neither of those two nor Doku picked up. Dias tracks the near-post runner. Ederson makes a terrible parry, which goes off Dias. The near-post runner back heels it to his teammate, and Dias manages to block that shot. Leonardo was there to head in, left uncontested by Nunes, not ready to react in the box.

Malcom 52' 2-1  
City corner cleared, and Reijnders makes a poor effort heading it back into the box, right to Cancelo. Then, as he bursts forward looking for a pass, Gundogan makes no effort to stop him, and Reijnders/RAN are just watching the ball instead of the runner. Too late to start sprinting. Malcom then goes through 1v1 on Ederson, and we know that story well.

It’s worth mentioning that the 53’ subs of Gundogan, Akanji, and Ake were planned to take place before the second goal. Not a reaction to it. Guardiola mentioned after the match he expected more of a high press from Al-Hilal, so the changes fitted with him attempting to help to team gain back control of the match. To better deal with the long balls.

Koulibaly 94' 3-2 
Quite simple on the face of it, delivery into the six-yard box for Koulibaly to score. He moves from next to Ake to behind Dias, without Ake reacting. Pushes Dias to create space for himself and puts him off the jump. Ederson goes to come collect, then hesitates, and backs off, putting him in a poor position to make the save.

Leonardo 112' 4-3  
Al-Hilal throw in that Ake hesitates in coming to win, and Foden makes no effort himself. Foden/Cherki/Bernardo leave all three Al-Hilal midfielders free, so slow to react to the knockdown and spot them finding the spare man in Neves. Savinho tries to support, which then means he's too far away to help Akanji on the far side once Neves switches it.

Akanji is 2v1, so he cannot apply more pressure. Dias comes across to support and defend the near-post. Bernardo notices and fills in behind Dias. Ake misjudges the cross coming too short, leaving RAN in no man's land between two players. Good header by Milinkovic-Savic forces a save from Ederson, and then Leonardo is there to tap it in.

As you can see across the four goals, it involves a lot of poor individual mistakes, not being decisive in the duels, and struggling to adapt once the press is broken. Last season we saw of lot of these issues, that the team couldn’t bend under pressure, it all fell apart once the first mistake was made. These are goals they’ll be watching back, the first and fourth ones especially.

It’s worth mentioning that a good amount of these issues will be dealt with through personnel changes and having the new players build relationships with their teammates. You’ve seen how quickly they’ve understood some of their roles in possession, but out-of-possession and the smaller details take time to get right.

Moving on midfielders that cannot cover the ground anymore, like Gundogan, bringing in a six who does not switch off and organises the team off the ball like Rodri/Nico, and applying consistent pressure on the ball through the forward line will go a long way to solving these issues.

Looking Forward

When we’re looking at what can be taken away as a positive from the early knock-out out it’s the amount of rest the players will get. No doubt they wanted to win it; you could see that in the reactions after losing to Al-Hilal. But, the prospect of a four-week break, then two weeks of pre-season training ahead of the Wolves (A) opening match in the Premier League. It’s going to help them tremendously long term.

Another benefit of this tournament is getting an early look at the new players in the squad, the players that could stay or depart, to have a better understanding of what’s needed during the summer transfer window. For Hugo Viana and Guardiola, there will be players they were unsure of, and now they’ve shown you perhaps the sale is needed. That a right-back is necessary. That your older players who could have been carried next season are below the level and should be moved on.

Below is a graphic of players’ full 90s (Y) played across the season against their age (X). If we start on the right side, you’d expect that all three of Walker, De Bruyne (Napoli), and Gundogan to be moved on this summer. Bernardo had his minutes inflated due to the injuries of other players. Which should go down next season, and Kovacic will either be moved on or will be at the bottom of the pecking order for midfield.

The oldest central defenders in Stones, Ake, and Akanji will all be departing or towards the bottom end of the pecking order. Tijjani Reijnders (27), Rayan Ait-Nouri (24), and Rayan Cherki (22) all arrive on the right side of the age curve to take on significant minutes. So clearly, next season this graphic is going to look a lot better as younger players are picking up most of the minutes compared to all the aging players this season.

Now, if we look at the top ten minutes played for Manchester City in the Club World Cup, you can see that the change is coming as Tijjani Reijnders and Ait-Nouri go straight into being first-team starters. Jeremy Doku and Savinho are picking up lots of minutes. Still, there is plenty of work to do when you think about a new right-back instead of Matheus Nunes, and a different central defender to Manuel Akanji getting more minutes.

Here is a look at the squad for next season, basing the numbers on the Champions League rules, as I would assume they want the same squad for all competitions. Champions League rules are stricter. The comments by Ortega did not suggest he’s confirmed to stay next season, so he’s a question mark. The right-back and the backup choice are up for debate. I’ve included Vitor Reis since it’s been reported Guardiola is inclined to keep him, but that is another non-HG spot for a CB like Akanji, if he stays.

It’s reported that the club is looking to offer Ruben Dias and Rico Lewis new contracts. That’s why I’ve included the latter. Versatile, intelligent, and homegrown. It’s worth keeping around Rico Lewis and moving him into midfield.

All of the players on the left side list are not included in the squad, and as you can see with the totals on the right, there is only room for two non-HG players from the list of Echeverri, Nunes, Gundogan, Kovacic, Akanji, and Ortega. There needs to be departures.

Now, this is a look at a finalised squad, assuming that Manchester City can sign Tino Livramento to be the first-choice right-back. Nunes is the backup. Every player on the left side list must be moved on this summer. Echeverri to go on loan. Tight for numbers, but the quality of the squad is there to win the title next season.

Departures will be key to reshaping the team’s pecking order, bringing young players into bigger roles, and moving on older players who are physically below the level. Just the personnel changes will make a huge difference in the quality of the team off the ball. From there, you’re looking at a new right-back ideally. Then it’s onto the training pitch to give your coaches team to work on these principles and the players to build relationships with one another, which will benefit them in games. The return to the ‘old Manchester City’ won’t be overnight, but we’ve seen them take a good step towards it this summer already.

Earlier this week, I got the opportunity to talk about the defensive issues Manchester City had in the match against Al-Hilal with Steven McInerney, which you can find linked below. 👇

The latest Ninety Three Twenty podcast goes through all the title rivals, our performance at the CWC, and what else is needed in the market. Well worth listening to. 👇

For a more in-depth talk through all the issues against Al-Hilal for the goals conceded, you can check out the video on the Sky Blue Times YouTube channel below. 👇