Manchester City vs Bournemouth
Introduction:
Pep Guardiola's Manchester City made it five wins from five in the Premier League, this time after dismantling Eddie Howe's Bournemouth.
Manchester City have started the season in successful fashion (at the time of writing they have won their first 9 games in all competitions). Guardiola's side have been creating high quality goalscoring chances with ease, similar to the rampant City that we saw during Pellegrini's best spells with the club. Last year though after a fantastic start, City began to decline and ended up just pipping Manchester United into 4th place after an extremely disappointing campaign.
City have been playing with a 4-1-4-1, so far this season and the main variation within that has been the positioning of their fullbacks. In City's first game vs Sunderland, Pep opted to use his fullbacks very central, creating large central overloads which were useful in build up, but also freeing up the passing lane out wide to the wingers, Nolito and Sterling. Out of possession, the narrow positioning of the fullbacks allows City to counter-press in a smaller compact zone. While City certainly look much better than they did at the end of last season they still have had some issues with preventing their opponents from creating goalscoring chances, and with a little bit of less luck a couple of their wins may have ended up as draws. This however, is good news for most Manchester City supporters as it suggests City are far from the finished article, despite a perfect start.
Eddie Howe's Bournemouth are known for playing possession football, despite not necessarily having the best players at their disposal. Pep later credited Howe's side for attempting to build from the back vs City, and exposing some flaws in City's pressing.
The Free Man: Kolarov's Vertical Progression
In the game vs Bournemouth, City often utilised Kolarov very efficiently as the free man. In football, the team with the ball will always have a player free somewhere as the goalkeeper of the other team will not press an opposing player. Finding the freeman is crucial to Pep's philosophy, i.e. Gerard Pique advancing the ball into midfield at Barcelona, attracting pressure and then passing so his teammates could utilise the space. At City, Pep has played Kolarov in central defence, and his dribbling and passing ability have been on display for all to see. Kolarov previously played as an attacking fullback with a deadly whipped cross and good set-piece taking abilities. In Pep's system, Kolarov drives forward with the ball aggressively, or makes vertical passes into the feet of player's further up the pitch, typically Gündogan. Driving into space, he eventually drags an opposition player out of position and creates a free-player elsewhere on the pitch.
Sterling Switch
Raheem Sterling has started the season superbly, scoring and creating goals for City. Against Bournemouth, City often built up along the left hand side creating overloads and triangles with Kolarov, Clichy, Fernandinho, Gündogan and Nolito. After attracting Bournemouth players towards the left side of the pitch where they have numerical superiority, City switch the ball out to Sterling on the right hand side, who finds himself with space to run into and isolated 1v1 against Bournemouth's left-back, Charlie Daniels. Sterlings ability in 1v1s is fantastic and from this position he was able to frequently beat Daniels and put dangerous low crosses into the box. This type of build-up was seen often at Guardiola's Bayern where he possessed unbelievable wingers for 1v1's in Costa, Coman, Ribery and Robben.
Bravo build-up
Manchester City's final signing of the window may end up being one of their most crucial. Chilean goalkeeper Claudio Bravo, is a key component in City's build-up, whos calmness on the ball and passing ability is only rivalled by David De Gea in England. When City are building-up, Bravo will often wait for an opposition player to push forward, freeing up a City player on the pitch. His calmness on the ball is a huge asset and against Bournemouth this was on display. Most frequently, Bravo would pass to Fernandinho and Kolarov (see above). Most teams will struggle to find any success in pressing Manchester City and eventually give up, allowing City to progress forward with the ball safely and unchallenged, however when City are pressed, they are able to evade their opponent and then utilise the space effectively by progressing the ball forward until it eventually finds the feet of the deadly Kevin De Bruyne, who thrives when given a bit of space.
Conclusion:
City's performance vs Bournemouth was their most dominant in the Premier League to date, and many of the characteristics that have been introduced by Pep were on display for all to see. Their calm build-up with Bravo, their vertical progression with Kolarov and the dangerous switches to the isolated Sterling were key in their win and are features which will be seen again and again.