Guardiola’s tactical surprise shows strength of champions

Alex Keble reviews Manchester City’s 4-1 victory over Arsenal and analyses where the match was won.

Match analysis

The most daunting and ominous feature of this Man City side is how easily they can pivot from one tactical system to another.

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Try to disrupt their usual rhythms, as Arsenal did on Wednesday night, and Pep Guardiola will simply hurt you in a different way.

The tactical story of this match was Arsenal pressing high and hard in the hope of beating Man City at their own game, only to find City can play long-ball football; only to find Kevin De Bruyne and Erling Haaland are even more lethal when – once the opposition press is evaded – they are afforded space in which to stretch their legs.

More specifically, there was one tactical feature repeated again and again throughout a first half that ended 2-0 but could have been four or five – and that appeared to break Arsenal psychologically.

It began after five minutes with the build-up to Man City’s opener.

Arsenal’s high, man-for-man press had two players stick tight to midfielders Ilkay Gundogan and Rodri, who, stood side-by-side, drew the visitors forward to leave a gap between the defence and midfield lines.

Tactical twist

That’s precisely where Man City repeatedly struck Arsenal, as we will show, but if it seems strange Mikel Arteta did not plan for the possibility of his high press being broken here, that’s because Guardiola provided a twist.

He sprung a significant surprise with his use of a 4-2-4, using Kyle Walker and Manuel Akanji as traditional wide full-backs when Man City passed out from the back, which meant Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli were distracted by their presence.

Forced to sit higher, they vacated that crucial central midfield zone, whereas normally they would be able to sit off a little and close the gap.

The pattern had been set.

“When they play man-to-man we just have to go a little bit longer, because there’s no space to play the short passes,” De Bruyne said after the match. And that’s exactly what they did.

KDB's opener

Here’s another example from a first half that left Arsenal on the ropes.

Note how Arsenal’s wingers remain distracted and, Arteta’s side pushing dangerously high, allowed De Bruyne to sneak between the lines.

Perhaps the clearest illustration came midway through the first half, when De Bruyne was put clean through on goal by Haaland and should have scored.

Again, Arsenal’s man-to-man press coupled with Man City’s wide four-man back-line pulled the visitors into uncomfortable positions, leaving the dove-tailing Haaland or De Bruyne free to dominate the No 10 zone.

“The connection of Kevin and Erling is extraordinary and we tried today to use it as much as possible,” Guardiola told BT Sport. That feels like an understatement given his surprise tactical tweak that allowed for it to happen.

It’s ironic that Guardiola’s great twist here was to normalise the use of full-backs; was to innovate until he had gone full circle and could bamboozle Arsenal by using a standard back four.

But his plan was nevertheless complex, merging short-passing at the back with sudden long passes forward, using a disconnection between his own defenders and forwards to pull apart the opposition shape.

As for Arsenal, this was a harsh lesson in the dangers of pressing Man City high up the pitch.

Very few teams do this, and with good reason: if you sit back, compressing the space between the lines, then Haaland and De Bruyne are denied room to drive at the centre-backs, whereas a high press invariably stretches things out and opens up pockets.

Look at how Tottenham Hotspur, the last team to beat Man City, rushed to retreat into this safe shape.

On Wednesday, Arsenal didn’t start doing that until it was too late.

But you can’t blame Arteta for trying, and Arsenal would likely have looked too passive had they retreated early on into a defensive shell.

Herein lies the problem with facing this extraordinarily varied Man City side.

Block one angle and they find another.

Sit deep, you get suffocated. Push up, you face Haaland and De Bruyne at their riotous, terrifying best.

Also in this series

Part 1: Why City have gained more than three points on Arsenal
Part 2: Guardiola hails connection between De Bruyne and Haaland
Part 3: Arteta: We're not going to give up
Part 4: Haaland sets record for goals in a 38-match season
Part 5: De Bruyne and Haaland put Man City in control in title race