Manchester City cannot afford to play out from the back, and must deal with the attacking talents of Adam Lallana and Divock Origi
Pep Guardiola must play in a similar way to how they did in the second half against Barcelona at the Etihad, and support Sergio Aguero when he holds up the ball
WHEN Manchester City played Barcelona at the Etihad earlier in the season, Pep’s team were playing the ball out from the back and trying to knock it through the lines in the first half.
But Barca use a high press with three up front leading the charge and they caused City all manner of problems and took the lead.
In the second half Pep decided to play a bit longer up to Sergio Aguero to beat the press. And it worked a treat - they ended up winning 3-1.
True, Aguero is no giant but he can hold the ball up well because he’s so strong. City have fast players such as Kevin De Bruyne and Raheem Sterling who can get up the pitch quickly and support the striker.
They have Fernandinho and Toure/Fernando who can sit deep and let the quicker players bomb up to support Aguero.
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Liverpool play 4-3-3 with a high press too. So it will be interesting to see if Guardiola tells his side to play a bit longer tonight. It’s certainly an option – especially as he’s had recent success with it.
Stoke tried it in the week against Liverpool when they played Jon Walters and Peter Crouch up front and it worked for 20 minutes and they could have been 2-0 up.
At the back, City need to beware Adam Lallana who is brilliant at popping up in pockets of space between the defence and the midfield.
Divock Origi is great at stretching the pitch and creating space and Lallana has been exploiting it brilliantly this season with his late runs.