In some ways this was a freak. Manchester City won xG 2.6-0.5. The goal that made it 3-3 was the second goal scored by Tottenham’s Dejan Kulusevski with his head (actually his shoulder) in his professional career. City hit the goal twice. Referee Simon Hooper could have sealed a late winner for Jack Grealish’s foul on Erling Haaland as he headed straight into the goal; nor was it an advantage that Pep Guardiola admirably restrained in his post-match comments. It was 3-3 but it was a game City dominated; Truly champions should have nothing to worry about.
And yet this keeps happening. City have drawn their last three matches in the Premier League. Their three draws came after 95 minutes, after 80 minutes and after 90 minutes. They beat RB Leipzig 3-2 last Wednesday, but only lost 2-0. So much for those who dismiss City’s obvious genius as risk-free and bloodless.
Guardiola himself looked relatively unconcerned. He conceded that City were not justified in defending against Chelsea, but his attitude appeared to be that it was just one of those things. His record against Spurs (in various replays) is inexplicably poor; just two wins in the last nine league matches. City are just 3 points away from the top. John Stones was back on the bench as he recovered from a muscle problem, but is likely to regain fitness quickly, allowing Guardiola to ease him back into the deep midfield role that has been so difficult to fill in his absence.
However, Rodri will miss Wednesday’s trip to Aston Villa after picking up his fifth yellow card of the season on Sunday. City have lost the last four games they have missed and Villa, who are just one point behind City, have won six of six league games at Villa Park this season, scoring more home goals than any team outside Europe’s top five leagues. Bayern Munich.
The assumption remains that City will click in the spring when Guardiola’s training program reaches its peak; The question is how big of a handicap they will be fighting against by then, and the game at Villa looks set to give Arsenal (away at Luton) and Liverpool (away at Sheffield United) the opportunity to extend their advantage.
City have conceded nine goals in their last four Premier League matches; This is his worst series since 2016. In the entirety of this season, they have given away 16 goals in 14 matches, or 1.14 goals per game. the previous season and 0.84 in 2020-21. City have become a team to oppose; It’s a problem they haven’t faced consistently in the Premier League since Guardiola’s first season in charge.
There are obvious explanations for this: a drop in intensity after the treble was almost inevitable, especially given how long and difficult their quest for the Champions League had been; They are now more direct towards Haaland, making it harder to prepare to defend against counter-attacks; Despite being an excellent dribbler, Jérémy Doku distributes the ball more than usual in Guardiola’s team and exposes them to passes; and Rúben Dias suffered a dramatic loss of form.
But perhaps most interesting is the dependence on Stones, who has been limited to just 257 minutes of league action in four games this season. Guardiola’s football, based on his philosophy and prioritizing the team so much, should in theory reduce the focus on individuals, but Stones has emerged as a vital player as he is the only player in the squad capable of performing hybrid central defence. He plays the midfield role. Manuel Akanji has struggled with this function, and it was notable on Sunday that Guardiola pushed Akanji back into the defensive line against three forwards standing high.
This fits with one of the fundamental tenets of the Cruyffian theory that underlies Guardiola’s thinking: a team should always have one more defender than the opposition’s forward; however, Guardiola moved Akanji deeper, making it easier for Spurs to play in midfield. . It is at this point that Julián Álvarez poses a dilemma. His quality is unquestionable and he has four goals and five assists this season, but the use of him and Haaland weakens the midfield; That’s why there was a need for a defender to step up in the first place.
The fascinating thing is that this is the kind of game of positioning and balance at which Guardiola usually excels. It is almost certain that he will find a solution sooner or later; The imminent return of Stones and possibly Kevin De Bruyne at the end of January will also help. But for now, City’s switch to a more direct style appears to have left them more vulnerable than they have been in years.
Today
Some goals are special because of the power of the strike, some because of the finesse of the football, some because of the complexity of the move that precedes them, and some because they are unlike anything you have seen before or since. Everyone knew that Alessandro Del Piero had great potential. Juventus signed him from Padova last summer and he scored a hat-trick against Parma in his first match. But what made him truly special was the goal he scored against Fiorentina on 4 December 1994.
It was partly context. Fiorentina was ahead 2-0 in the first half, but Gianluca Vialli’s goals in the 74th and 79th minutes equalized the score. Then, with six minutes left, left-back Alessandro Orlando sent a long ball into the box from just inside the Fiorentina half. As Del Piero ran, the natural thing to do was to bring the ball down and perhaps try to win a corner or penalty from one of the two Fiorentina defenders following him. Instead, he unleashed a powerful volley with the outside of his right foot that raced past Francesco Toldo, confirming his genius status.
This is an excerpt from Soccer with Jonathan Wilson, the Guardian US’s weekly look at matches in Europe and beyond. Subscribe for free here. Have a question for Jonathan? Email soccerwithjw@theguardian.com; he will answer the question best in a future edition.