Manchester City who were Premier League winners have altered their style in the absence of a striker to better suit the adaptability and wit of their group.
The 2020 tactical approach of play by Manchester City:
Man City typically started up as a 4-1-4-1, though Guardiola’s preference for having a more fluid in-game structure made their beginning configuration less significant.
Their approach, which was based on controlling possession, creating overloads out wide, utilising passing triangles to advance the ball, and promoting constant movement, highlighted particular players’ strengths.
David Silva and Kevin De Bruyne’s incredible creativity, Raheem Sterling and Leroy Sane’s blistering speed and technique, and Sergio Aguero’s relentless goal-scoring ability, helped to implement this tactic initially.
Guardiola had a wealth of gifted players at his disposal, and this was made possible by Guardiola’s coaching philosophy. However, less well-known players play just as important a role in the sophisticated and complex Spanish system as players like Aguero and De Bruyne.
2021/2022
Manchester City’s 2021–22 Premier League season was not the best of starts, but they still played excellent football and mounted a formidable title campaign for another season.
Pep Guardiola started the 2021–22 season by implementing novel techniques that had never been used by the Manchester City team during his five years as manager.
Manchester City continued to play in the 4-3-3 formation that has been so successful for them over the past few seasons, even though it rarely actually looks like a 4-3-3 in action. Guardiola’s system allows for a lot of positional rotation and, well, fluidity.
It is not only very functional but also highly fluid.
2022/2023
Although Manchester City have one of the strongest beginning fixture schedules, it is always challenging to know which assets to rely on.
Depending on the opponents, form, team system, competitions, etc., City fantasy assets move through phases of involvement throughout the season. Pep handles the squad differently depending on these phases, which has repercussions for Fantasy Premier League (FPL).
International Break will be a sensible and well-liked moment for Wildcards because of the FPL rules this year, which require us to employ one Wildcard between Gameweeks 1 and 16.
The City offense is one of the best in the league in terms of depth and width, which means that many players from many different positions score goals.
De Bruyne was the lone outlier with 196 points last season, with 7 City MIDs and FWDs scoring between 120-165 points. From an FPL standpoint, it is exceedingly challenging to own City attackers because of the City’s goal distribution and Pep’s rotational policy.
Even while we are aware of how hard it may be to control City attackers, going for broke might be just as alluring. One of the league’s better opening schedules for City and several of our midfielders in FPL are inexpensively priced.
Gabriel Jesus and Raheem Sterling’s departures have made the remaining wingers, Foden, Grealish, and Mahrez seems more alluring.
City now have Haaland who might steal goals from other spots, but he might also make City’s assault more effective as a whole. Haaland’s backup is Julián Álvarez who can also do some damage.
With all of these considerations in play, it is very alluring to start the season by betting on a City attacker.
The questions is: will City’s attackers continue to be difficult to control? Or will the City onslaught recur in some new form?
Guardiola is correct to highlight the talent of his team, but it also helps when they have a tactical genius who knows how to take advantage of their strengths.
