Pep challenged the laws of football with his line-up against Palace!

BeSoccer 5 years ago 1.7k
Guardiola lined up two central defenders as left wingers. AFP

The Catalan man formed against the London team with Fernandinho and Rodrigo as central defenders and with two attacking wingers on the side.

Manchester City beat Crystal Palace 2-0 and, without knowing it, took advantage of Liverpool's stumble at Old Trafford, to close the gap even more on the 'Reds' at the top of the table.

The clash was very interesting from a tactical point of view, as Guardiola tried to give a twist more to the scheme and the football proposal and put Rodrigo and Fernandinho as centrals.

It's true that the sky-blue team had quite a few casualties, but also that Pep had Stones available and left him on the bench.

Along with Fernandinho and Rodrigo, His team had an offensive defense on the sides, with Cancelo and Mendy always attentive to recover the ball up and provide solutions in attack.

Those four joined Gundogan, Bernardo Silva, Silva and De Bruyne to try to recover the ball as high as possible. In practice, it was as if City were playing without central defenders, as Rodrigo and Fernandinho were at all times more defensive pivots than anything else.

AS' reports that for 83% of the time in the first half, the ball was always in the Crystal Palace end, without the Londoners being able to put Ederson in big trouble.

Once he recovers, it will have to be seen if Guardiola continues betting for this type of risky line-ups or returns to a more measured formation. In the Champions League, where the sky-blue team have almost walked all the way, new similar proposals could arrive.

 

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Premier League
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