LONDON — On the subject of fullbacks, Pep Guardiola has tried all of it. His proper and left backs have been wingers, inverted midfielders, spare middle backs. This season, it could seem, Guardiola has reached his most radical method but. In a dreary 1-0 fourth spherical FA Cup win, his fullbacks had been, for probably the most half, fullbacks.
After all of the inversion of final season, the fullbacks transferring inwards as a central defender stepped into midfield, Metropolis lined up on the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in a trend that has develop into fairly acquainted this season as Pep Guardiola has tailored to the frequent absences of John Stones, Kevin De Bruyne and Erling Haaland. Bernardo Silva may need had license to float wherever the temper took him, however this was what most would perceive to be a comparatively orthodox 4-3-3 out of possession, the usual 2-3-5 in assault fashioned by the huge forwards drifting infield and the total backs attacking down the flanks.
On the fitting, Kyle Walker was in his factor. A number of yards away from what was his outdated stomping floor, the previous White Hart Lane, the Metropolis captain rolled again the years, the one man flank who can fly to the byline and be again to snuff out a counter within the blink of an eye fixed. Future Udogie has dealt manfully with a few of the hardest assignments within the Premier League since arriving in England this summer season. Inside six minutes he was despatched sprawling to the deck when matched up with Walker, whose low cross compelled the very best probability of the primary half, Guglielmo Vicario spilling Phil Foden’s low flick earlier than an offside Oscar Bobb bundled residence the rebound.
On the different finish it took the very best a part of the primary half for Timo Werner’s new group mates to genuinely imagine it was price even testing Walker’s qualities in a foot race, virtually each cross for a get away seeing Spurs go proper fairly than unleash the German V8 on the opposite aspect.
Maybe that was not all that stunning, as a result of whereas Walker seemed largely relaxed along with his project, Josko Gvardiol had larger points managing the left hand aspect. He is likely to be the second costliest defender of all time, one with a good bit of expertise at fullback (extra from his days at Dinamo Zagreb than RB Leipzig), however nobody goes to confuse the 22-year-old with what Guardiola tasked him with being on Friday.
His attacking sport particularly just isn’t but mature sufficient to essentially pose questions of opposition defenders, and it was notable how ready Pedro Porro and his teammates had been to sag off the Croatian when he had the ball within the last third. There have been flashes that may persuade you that, given a preseason to be taught the function, there may very well be one thing on this, significantly an outdoor to in run early within the first half to assert a Phil Foden flick. However for a stable intervention in his personal field by Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg (one other rare sight), he may need examined Vicario. Nonetheless, when a Metropolis assault resulted in a Gvardiol shot, one thing had gone proper for Spurs.
He seemed no extra relaxed when defending the left flank both. Spurs persistently seemed to hit the house Gvardiol had vacated with fast passes and although they exited the FA Cup with a solitary shot to their identify, there was multiple event the place they had been a greater Johnson cross away from actually testing Stefan Ortega, a making an attempt evening for Gvardiol solely easing when Metropolis’s press ratcheted as much as its greatest stage late on.
Gvardiol may need struggled, however it’s honest to supply a mitigating case. The expectation on his arrival was that he would possibly provide the next grade model of the hybrid defensive function at this time’s match winner Nathan Ake was deployed in with such aplomb final season. There’s nothing about his kind for the reason that $97.8 million transfer to the treble winners that means he can’t be that. It’s simply not what he’s being requested to do. Maybe that can change when Stones, among the many substitutes tonight, is ready to characteristic extra usually. Equally if that is going to be the default method when a 29 12 months outdated with an more and more checkered damage historical past is unavailable, would possibly an precise left again make a radical different for Metropolis? In any case if any squad can afford to hold one other physique it’s the one with, formally at the least, $899.9 million in income and bumper income.
Equally Gvardiol’s travails had been merely the grain of sand in an in any other case good mechanism. There may need been a number of nervy moments on the counter, however Metropolis had been good worth for his or her first win on the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium lengthy earlier than Nathan Ake bundled Kevin De Bruyne’s nook throughout the road within the 88th minute. Early and late on this contest, their press suffocated a Tottenham aspect whose ambition to play out crashed into the technical limitations of Hojbjerg.
All that gave the impression to be stopping them from successful this sport was that individual hoodoo that this floor appears to carry over the world champions. Julian Alvarez, Bernardo Silva and De Bruyne delivered baffling misses as the strain ratcheted up within the second half, however the latter’s introduction together with Jeremy Doku introduced simply an excessive amount of stress and power, trapping Spurs able the place all they might do was concede possession again to their guests. After fluffing his strains with a shot simply earlier than, De Bruyne’s unerring supply in the direction of the purpose line requested an excessive amount of of Vicario, who couldn’t impose himself as Ruben Dias defended his floor. His appeals for a foul had been baseless as Ake responded first to the bouncing ball, hooking Metropolis into the final 16.
There could also be work to do to get Guardiola’s successful machine firing at most effectivity however there often is at the moment of the 12 months. It tends to not matter for a lot in a number of months’ time. For now, Metropolis are simply the place they must be.
