Our passing (The Athletic) and what it tells about this team.

[Adisa]

Saw an interesting graphic on reddit earlier. I had some observations (mostly negative). To be honest, our graphic to me has shown a poor tactical structure for years, not just this past season. The Athletic release this stuff after every season.

Will start from the back.

• Our goalkeeper is not involved in our play. Less than 3%. For a top club, that's criminal in 2022. No passes to the GK or from the GK.
• Our CBs are barely involved in building attacks.
• Although we have a double pivot our CMs do not offer passing lines to our CBs.
• Our RCM (mostly McSauce) is most guilty of it.
• Our progression from defebse to attack is mostly through the wide areas. If you mark our fullbacks, chances are you have stopped our progression and we have to go long or cede possession.
• The bulk of our play goes through Bruno. An bona-fide inconsistent player when it comes to ball circulation. This team structure will never consistently keep possession.
• Bruno and Ronnie occupy the same spaces. Bruno is more of an SS than an AM.
• Ronaldo is barely involved in the buildup (compared to the forwards of the two best teams). I think that has to change.

On a side note, Burnley...Jesus Christ.

 

[DoctorEvil]

And our wide forwards are two central and do not push forward enough. (Chelsea are similar.)

 

[Adisa]

And our wide forwards are two central and do not push forward enough. (Chelsea are similar.)

Our wide players are central because our fullbacks stay wide. That's deliberate

 

[DWelbz19]

That’s why someone like De Jong would be massive for retaining and circulating possession. His favourite thing to do is drop deep, receive the ball from the CBs, and spin away 10-15 yards up the field to instigate the next phase of play.

I know he gets a lot of stick already but, McTominay man. If there was ever a waste of a 6’4 athletic frame it would be him

 

[McGrathsipan]

So were shite. Nothing new here

 

[roonster09]

It doesn't tell anything new, everyone knew we had poor coaches and we didn't have a system.

Not that anyone said it, I don't think this old data is of much use this season.

 

[Cassidy]

Our wide players are central because our fullbacks stay wide. That's deliberate

its not working and we also don’t have to do it. Were not the only top side to have fullbacks that push wide. Doesn’t help that the fullbacks are useless in attack too

 

[NoLogo]

Our 3 attacking players are disconnected, the right side even more so than the left and the midfield and defense don't work together at all. Nothing new really.

Only positive for us there are a couple of teams whose graphs look even worse.

 

[Wicked_Badger]

I can imagine Pep wanking over the symmetry of City’s graph. Probably give him more pleasure than a win.

 

[DickDastardly]

I can imagine Pep wanking over the symmetry of City’s graph. Probably give him more pleasure than a win.

It does look wankable to be honest.

 

[Godfather]

Bruno occupying the exact same spot as Ronaldo is so infuriating. Also McT's hiding is something else.

 

[Trex]

If ETH uses Bruno the way he used VDB I expect Bruno to still occupy this high position pinning the opponent center backs creating room for others to drift into in between the lines.
Its all about having defined patterns.

 

[Raw]

I think this shows that we do include Ronaldo in the buildup, it's just that there's a poor "possession value" when he does get the ball. Probably because we're not allowing him the space to do something with it.

In fact a lot of teams in the league seem to barely pass it to their striker. Only City, Liverpool and United have a sizeable dot for their strikers. Interestingly, Kane for Spurs barely gets passed the ball, but when he does get it he does a lot more with it (if I'm interpreting that correctly).

 

[Semper Fudge]

I can imagine Pep wanking over the symmetry of City’s graph. Probably give him more pleasure than a win.

It's pretty satisfying to look out, even if I have no idea what it actually means. Must be good!

 

[MDFC Manager]

Not surprising. For one part of the season we had a manager who didn't want to coach players (Ole) and for the latter part we had a manager who was incapable of coaching (Ralf).

 

[Smores]

It's basically what people mean when they describe Englands football as being like Ole.

Yesterday was a good example between England and Germany constrasting style. England get the ball and just try to get up the field through wide areas as quick and direct as possible. Germany circulate it in midfield and open up opportunities.

Back to United it's why we so often run into tight defences because we don't shift the other team around first.

 

[Suv666]

A graph wasn't necessary for these observations. Everyone and their gran knows our shortcomings

 

[harms]

It’s incredible how City line up exactly in the preferred shape of Pep’s juego de posicion, filling in all of the zones.

 

[didz]

The pass network itself isn't really that bad, but there are clear areas where we could do with improvement.

Our centre halves, relative to the top teams, aren't doing a great job of progressing the ball. This could be connected to the GK issue, as other sides use their keeper to create a numerical advantage in their own third building up which gives more space to pick a pass. Or the players in front of them aren't making themselves available (looking at you RDM). Or maybe they just dawdle too much. Probably it's all 3.

The centre forward and #10 having similar average positions isn't a bad thing in and of itself, but because it's Ronaldo it isn't optimal, because his current skillset should have him further forward rather than having to come deep looking for the ball. The average possession value of passes received by Ronaldo is roughly the same as those received by Newcastle's centre forward and almost half that of Man City's right winger (who leads the metric for them).

The left sided bias wouldn't be a problem if we were actually using it to create chances on the right. Unfortunately, whether it was Sancho or Elanga on that flank, they both tended to get too attracted to the play, rendering overloads on the left pretty pointless.

Anyway, definitely some tweaks to be made. The biggest issue might be that we actually have the most compact passing network in the league, which means we're shrinking the area that the opponent has to defend. I'd imagine Ten Hag will be looking for something a bit more expansive.

 

[amolbhatia50k]

I think it reflects what a lot of us feel about our footy. The build up play from GK to attack is wank. Keeper is old school, and we refuse to upgrade with the times. Defence usually has a couple of liabilities who can't contribute and central midfield is poor as it gets in terms of control, playmaking and incisive play.

We just haven't' modernised as a football team

 

[tomaldinho1]

It does look wankable to be honest.

I feel the very slight asymmetry of LW and RW will rile him up no end and he’ll have Foden and Mahrez in doing double sessions.

 

[youngrell]

It’s incredible how City line up exactly in the preferred shape of Pep’s juego de posicion, filling in all of the zones.

The balance shown is impressive. Burnley on the other hand, yikes!

 

[Keefy18]

Whatever else is said on this thread about our mess and laughing at Burnley.... everyone should pause for a moment and truly admire Man City's.

That is a thing of beauty!

All the talk of him just being a chequebook manager is blown apart, that is amazing.

 

[Zlatattack]

It’s incredible how City line up exactly in the preferred shape of Pep’s juego de posicion, filling in all of the zones.

It's perfection. Amazing to see on a graph.

 

[elmo]

Saw an interesting graphic on reddit earlier. I had some observations (mostly negative). To be honest, our graphic to me has shown a poor tactical structure for years, not just this past season. The Athletic release this stuff after every season.

Will start from the back.

• Our goalkeeper is not involved in our play. Less than 3%. For a top club, that's criminal in 2022. No passes to the GK or from the GK.
• Our CBs are barely involved in building attacks.
• Although we have a double pivot our CMs do not offer passing lines to our CBs.
• Our RCM (mostly McSauce) is most guilty of it.
• Our progression from defebse to attack is mostly through the wide areas. If you mark our fullbacks, chances are you have stopped our progression and we have to go long or cede possession.
• The bulk of our play goes through Bruno. An bona-fide inconsistent player when it comes to ball circulation. This team structure will never consistently keep possession.
• Bruno and Ronnie occupy the same spaces. Bruno is more of an SS than an AM.
• Ronaldo is barely involved in the buildup (compared to the forwards of the two best teams). I think that has to change.

On a side note, Burnley...Jesus Christ.

This is damning because we got rid of Smalling for Maguire because apparently one can play the ball well and Smalling's a donkey on the ball.

 

[choccy77]

We look like Everton

 

[Red Stone]

All the talk of him just being a chequebook manager is blown apart, that is amazing.

I mean, to amass a squad full of players that are able to so perfectly execute what is clearly one of the most defined game plans ever seen in this sport (if not sport in general) requires a pretty fecking big chequebook, but kudos to City for finding the right players and kudos to Pep and his team for succeeding with their coaching to this degree. It's a remarkable accomplishment. Shows what smart spending gets you, compared to whatever the feck we're doing with a similar net spend to theirs.

Makes you wonder why Pep so often falls victim to his own tinkering in big knockout games. The man clearly knows how he wants to play and his team have been drilled on that style to a near robotic level. Why deviate from something that is pretty much perfected at this point?

 

[arthurka]

Whatever else is said on this thread about our mess and laughing at Burnley.... everyone should pause for a moment and truly admire Man City's.

That is a thing of beauty!

All the talk of him just being a chequebook manager is blown apart, that is amazing.

It's a work of art. Beautiful

 

[tenpoless]

We look like Everton

And westham

 

[Keefy18]

I mean, to amass a squad full of players that are able to so perfectly execute what is clearly one of the most defined game plans ever seen in this sport (if not sport in general) requires a pretty fecking big chequebook, but kudos to City for finding the right players and kudos to Pep and his team for succeeding with their coaching to this degree. It's a remarkable accomplishment. Shows what smart spending gets you, compared to whatever the feck we're doing with a similar net spend to theirs.

Makes you wonder why Pep so often falls victim to his own tinkering in big knockout games. The man clearly knows how he wants to play and his team have been drilled on that style to a near robotic level. Why deviate from something that is pretty much perfected at this point?

They spent as much prior to his arrival for various managers and they certainly never looked this good.

Of course he has advantages getting very good players, but he absolutely takes them to another level and there's no doubt about it.

 

[redshaw]

A more effective Everton

Many have seen our limited passing and movement for years

 

[Eddy_JukeZ]

It’s incredible how City line up exactly in the preferred shape of Pep’s juego de posicion, filling in all of the zones.

Actually insane.

I wonder if Pep has seen this graph somehow

 

[Oranges038]

I mean, to amass a squad full of players that are able to so perfectly execute what is clearly one of the most defined game plans ever seen in this sport (if not sport in general) requires a pretty fecking big chequebook, but kudos to City for finding the right players and kudos to Pep and his team for succeeding with their coaching to this degree. It's a remarkable accomplishment. Shows what smart spending gets you, compared to whatever the feck we're doing with a similar net spend to theirs.

Makes you wonder why Pep so often falls victim to his own tinkering in big knockout games. The man clearly knows how he wants to play and his team have been drilled on that style to a near robotic level. Why deviate from something that is pretty much perfected at this point?

It's pretty obvious that the better European teams have figured him out and know how to stop him.

 

[ti vu]

Bruno occupying the exact same spot as Ronaldo is so infuriating. Also McT's hiding is something else.

It's not positioning map though. This is passing map which shows that the CF if involved in build up play, mostly Ronaldo being forced back, and has tendency to prefer left side interchange. Without further context, there is no telling whether there is issue or not.

The clear issue is that we don't build up from the back the modern way from GK to CB to holding midfielder.

Man City usage of the CF is freakish though. It's more of a midfielder/passer in the CF position than the norm of CF. Even Liverpool CF doesn't pass and interchange half as much

 

[tomaldinho1]

Whatever else is said on this thread about our mess and laughing at Burnley.... everyone should pause for a moment and truly admire Man City's.

That is a thing of beauty!

All the talk of him just being a chequebook manager is blown apart, that is amazing.

‘Chequebook manager’ refers to a manager who can only win when they have huge backing. Not sure how this graph would prove or disprove that?

Worth pointing out people are assuming symmetry and lots of green = good but it’s all about how effective a team is. We can assume City are good because they have huge resources, play possession football (hence the lovely uniform colour of their chart) and a top manager but I find Brighton’s map really interesting, also feel Chelsea will be the ones to push City next year if they can find a striker.

 

[Eriku]

Of course City’s looks like holy geometry. feckers.

 

[Blood Mage]

There's a fair chance Haaland will disrupt City's metronomic system next season.

 

[JPRouve]

It’s incredible how City line up exactly in the preferred shape of Pep’s juego de posicion, filling in all of the zones.

It reminds me a comment from Henry who if I remember correctly said that Pep would get upset when players would leave their pre-final third designated area, iirc his point was that if everyone respect the structure the ball will move to whoever needs to have the ball.

 

[harms]

It reminds me a comment from Henry who if I remember correctly said that Pep would get upset when players would leave their pre-final third designated area, iirc his point was that if everyone respect the structure the ball will move to whoever needs to have the ball.

Yeah, it's one of Henry's favourite stories — how Pep subbed him after scoring a goal because he ran into the wrong channel. It's a great story to be fair.

 

[JPRouve]

Yeah, it's one of Henry's favourite stories — how Pep subbed him after scoring a goal because he ran into the wrong channel. It's a great story to be fair.

Which explains why their graph is perfect. In his system players aren't supposed to receive the ball out of position, the impressive part is the frequency, the way players evenly share the ball.