WHEN Benjamin Mendy picked up his nasty knee injury, Manchester City fans must have been cursing their luck.
The left-back made a flying start and looked like a sure-fire star of the season. But such is the genius of boss Pep Guardiola, City have adapted brilliantly. They are no weaker, despite the loss.
It has all revolved around Fabian Delph, their new left-back. The way he played in the Champions League against Napoli was very interesting, as he kept drifting into midfield from full-back.
Guardiola normally likes his full-backs to provide width, as you can see from the average player positions on Graphic A against Crystal Palace. Mendy (No 22) is keeping wide and high.
This allows Leroy Sane (No 19) to go high and narrow and interchange with Sergio Aguero (No 10) and Raheem Sterling (No 7), causing chaos through the middle. But against Napoli, Guardiola used a different tactic.
Look at Graphic B. Napoli are brilliant on the ball, especially in midfield, so by having Delph (No 18), a natural midfielder, drift into that area it stiffened up the midfield for City.
Nicolas Otamendi provided cover in the left-back position. In fact, a lot of times it looked like he WAS left-back.
Delph moving infield gave extra support to Fernandinho, City’s sole defensive midfielder, and allowed the front five to do their thing further up the park.
But it does have attacking benefits too. When Delph moved into midfield, the natural instinct for Napoli’s wide man was to follow him.
This created space for Leroy Sane, because Delph wasn’t overlapping and dragging his marker into that area.
Suddenly, Sane is one-on-one with his full-back — and with his pace that is dangerous. This season Sane has three assists and four goals. Two of those assists and three goals have been when Delph has been on the pitch.
It all highlights how Guardiola is able to spot the strengths of players and adapt accordingly.
From The Sun
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