Man City need more creativity from deep to conquer Europe

Expert Opinion

15Nov

Man City need more creativity from deep to conquer Europe

by Michael Cox

There was plenty of amusement earlier in the season when Manchester City boss Roberto Mancini suggested that he needed another central midfielder. A few hundred million spent, Roberto, and you need yet another player?

Yet it makes perfect sense, and partially explains why Man City have struggled in Europe this season, in comparison to their astonishing dominance in the Premier League. They have almost everything in the attacking department – finishing ability (Edin Dzeko), pace and power (Mario Balotelli), creativity (David Silva and Samir Nasri), intelligent running (James Milner), a deep-lying forward (Sergio Agüero) and tricky wing play (Adam Johnson). They also have Yaya Touré’s strength from the centre of the pitch, plus good support from full-back.

The one thing Man City lack is a top-quality deep-lying midfield playmaker – a ‘regista’, as Mancini would call them.

They have Nigel De Jong, who is one of the best in Europe at breaking up attacks, and is reliable with his short-range passing. There’s also Gareth Barry, who has enjoyed a decent opening to the season, but his form has been greeted with a mixture of praise and surprise, rather confirming the feeling that he’s not quite of the standard City need. Look at recent winners of the Champions League and they have almost always had one of the world’s best at creating play from deep – Xavi Hernández, Andrea Pirlo, Paul Scholes and Xabi Alonso spring to mind. Barry, with respect, is not in that class. No side can be a complete attacking force, but it is arguable that this type of player is even more important to a side’s attacking potential than talented wingers or strikers.

It is certainly not easy to defend against City, but sides like Everton and Napoli have shown that sitting deep and getting players goalside of the City midfield is the obvious approach to stopping them. At present, there’s no need to close down Barry and De Jong – they’re not going to open up your defence. Joleon Lescott and Vincent Kompany are decent on the ball but no more (although Kompany did play a superb volleyed diagonal pass for Belgium at the weekend) – so there’s little incisiveness from deep positions. Having someone like Pirlo forces the opposition midfield to come higher up the pitch to close down, therefore leaving gaps between the lines, or in behind the defence, for others to exploit.

Mancini’s surprise decision to sign Owen Hargreaves indicates his need for extra bodies in that zone, but even the most optimistic City fan won’t be expecting him to have a consistent impact on the side. Therefore, City might look to strengthen this area in January; Mancini is a fan of Roma’s Daniele De Rossi and Fiorentina’s Riccardo Montolivo – both are out of contract in the summer, and the clubs might prefer to take the cash while they still can. Importantly, neither have played in the Champions League this season, and would therefore be eligible for the knockout stages.

In the Premier League it won’t be a problem. There, the physicality of De Jong, Toure and Barry will be enough, but City might need a little more nuance if they are to triumph in their debut Champions League campaign.

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http://twitter.com/stefan_gla Stefan Bienkowski

Although I agree that Barry isn’t the be all and end all in terms of midfield playmaking; I feel you’re perhaps being a little harsh on De Jong. If accompanied by such a Gung ho forward thinking midfielder such as Toure, surely it would be advised to have a simple ball winning player who can easily offload to Silva/Nasri/Toure without overcomplicating the situation?
Michael

Hi Stefan

To be honest I don’t think NDJ’s place is up for question, he’s excellent. But when it gets to the bigger games, I think from time to time, especially in the knockouts away from home, Mancini will want to go with three central midfielders – NDJ, Toure and another – which would be Barry…
http://twitter.com/james_hawthorne James Hawthorne

I reall
http://twitter.com/stefan_gla Stefan Bienkowski

Ah, I see your point. I simply misread the point.
Thanks for the response Michael.
Michael

James – yeah De Rossi’s not quite a Pirlo or an Alonso (I guess Pizarro has been playing that role for Roma in the last few years), but still a good ball player, better technically than an ankle biter, I think.
John

Michael- Do you think Javi Martinez could fulfil this role? he has been linked with man city in the rumour mill
http://www.sofaball.com/?p=2690 November 15 – fed up by pointless friendlies and FIFA’s self-serving agenda – Sofa Ball

[...] Enough ranting about prescriptions to fix football. Well, mine anyway. Michael Cox diagnoses the lack of a deep-lying playmaker as the source of Stockport Massive’s problems in [...]
Bano

Michael -
James Milner has been a utility player for Villa, England and now City. Can you see him being honed into the role described in the article?
Craig

Not sure why slating Gareth Barry is becoming as trendy as slating Coldplay in England these days, he’s performed at a consistantly high level for City this season, probably been our unsung hero so far, and anyone who watches us on a regular basis will tell you that.

Agree though at times we do lack a player like Alonso, but I’m not sure how you would fit that style of player into our team given that Mancini always plays two defensive midfielders, that would either force a player like Alonso out wider, or would mean we would have three deep midfielders on the pitch. It may also result in Yaya Toure not playing every minute of every game, which would be a breach of his contract…
DSonBlue

To describe Milner as an intelligent runner is in my opinion doing him a massive disservice. He is more than capable of providing midfield creativity. He is the fittest midfielder in the prem, abd possibly the most versatile. The thibg about City this season is they have enough multi-purpose takebt to be able to change the system to get the best out of whoecer is on the pitch. Any shortcomings in the CL are, in my opinion, down to the emphasis ob ractical play. More experience against CL teams is the only way to address these shortcomings. It would potentially set the team back if another midfielder were brought into the frame. The team(s) city put out at this stage of the clubs development are gelling, more time is needed!
DSonBlue

.. apologies for the bad spelling, fingers too big for this phone!
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[...] What Man City still need to conquer Europe. [Life's a Pitch] [...]
Citysucks

dirty little club funded by bloody dictatorship money 194 millions loss per one year 900 millions pumped in allready, and yet journalists and people like this one don’t see any problems with that, how much all you paid by that dirty arab dictator?
OrangeCoach

I don’t really agree. It’s true Toure is not the deep-lying midfielder Scholes, Xavi or Pirlo are, but he did play some wonderful balls through the defense in the last 15-20 minutes of the match. It’s a weakness of theirs, but it’s not as glaring as their lack of wide play.

When the defense is as compact as Napoli’s was, the space Man City needed to exploit was from wide positions. But all of City’s wingers are inverted – Nasri on the left cutting in on his right, Silva and Johnson doing the opposite from the right side. There’s tremendous danger posed by true wingers like Aaron Lennon and Gareth Bale; players who can reach the touchline, forcing defenses to defend the near post, far post and center of the 18-yard box and opening up room for second-chance opportunities from outside the box. City don’t have this weapon and in that sense their tactics were incredibly predictable – tame, lofted balls into the heart of the defense. For that matter none of their wingers are known for crossing the ball, either, and that, too, was found out yesterday.
SC

Cue Modric to City for eleventy billion dollars rumors.
http://www.zonalmarking.net/2011/11/23/napoli-2-1-manchester-city-tactics/ Napoli 2-1 Manchester City: Cavani double puts Napoli on the verge of qualification | Zonal Marking

[...] central playmaker, a talented midfielder who could play key passes from the centre of midfield. That is the missing part of their jigsaw – and with De Jong and Toure getting plenty of time on the ball, they were the key players in [...]
http://www.zonalmarking.net/2011/12/08/basel-2-1-manchester-united-united-into-the-europa-league/ Basel 2-1 Manchester United: United into the Europa League | Zonal Marking

[...] poorly and (aside from Giggs) lacked quality with the ball. Their main tactical problem in Europe, like City’s, has been the lack of quality deep-lying midfielder, and that should be their next transfer [...]
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