Crystal Palace proved that Manchester City can be got at… but Pep Guardiola’s men knew exactly what to do
The Eagles highlighted a rare weakness in Pep Guardiola's side when the two clubs came head-to-head on New Year's Eve
CRYSTAL PALACE finally proved on New Year’s Eve that Manchester City CAN be got at.
Roy Hodgson got his tactics spot on and Palace were a last-minute penalty away from taking all the points instead of finishing 0-0.
Despite this, Pep Guardiola has adapted quickly to teams sitting back with men behind the ball.
In some of their recent games — against Swansea and last time out against Watford — they combated the same opposition tactics in completely different ways.
Regardless of how teams line-up against City, they invariably end up in a 4-5-1 formation looking to keep things as tight as they can.
Last month Swansea said ‘OK, we’re going to sit deep and keep our midfield close to the defence, and limit the space between the two banks’.
But, as ever, Guardiola adapted to the situation. And it was stunning to see.
As the average position map shows, he moved full-backs Fabian Delph (No 18) and Danilo (No 3) into the centre of midfield.
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So, their midfield three turned into those two plus Fernandinho (No 25), playing a 2-3-4-1 when in possession. And it worked a treat.
Swansea moved up to stop the trio dictating play. But the gap between their defence and midfield became massive and City romped home 4-0.
They faced the same obstacle against Watford. This time Leroy Sane (No 19) and Raheem Sterling (No 7) provided more width higher up the pitch, making life tough for full-backs Daryl Janmaat and Marvin Zeegelaar.
If they got tight to the wide players, that left huge gaps between them and Watford’s centre-backs.
Yet if they came narrow then attackers Richarlison and Andre Carrillo are effectively playing full-back — and there is no attacking outlet.
If I was left-back and left a gap for De Bruyne to run into, I’m completely out of the game as I am the wrong side.
At least if I play narrow and the ball goes wide to Sterling, he might cross or look to take me on but I am in the game.
What Palace did so well is get support up to Christian Benteke. He was really physical playing with his back to goal, allowing Wilfried Zaha and Andros Townsend to get to him quicker.
Watford’s problem was that Andre Gray was up against John Stones, Nicolas Otamendi and Fernandinho on his own.
You can have the fastest man on the planet but City are so good on the ball that wide players are stuck defending and can’t get up to support.
Because of this you can’t just hit it down the channels to your striker.
He would be too isolated and you’re banking on him to beat three players and score on his own.
Against City, you really are damned if you do and damned if you don’t.
