Man City’s vulnerabilities explained and exploited by Oliver Glasner and Crystal Palace | Football News

Crystal Palace dealt Manchester City another setback in the title race with a 2-2 draw at Selhurst Park on Saturday. Coach Oliver Glasner then explained how he recognized the weaknesses in the defending champions’ game.

The result leaves City eight points adrift of top spot, with Liverpool still having a game in hand, while Arsenal and Chelsea – both a point ahead of the defending champions – are eager to make further inroads in London derbies Live on Sky Sports on Sunday.

As fitness issues continue to limit Pep Guardiola’s options and overwhelm the players available, City are struggling. At Selhurst Park it was clear how opposing teams are currently making plans to harm City.

Bring the intensity

“We knew that we could play with a higher intensity (than City), all the data showed that,” Glasner said afterwards. “We knew we would be behind in transition. If we get them going, they might have a little trouble.”

“City have so much possession in every game but they are the worst at high intensity and sprint distances and we are fifth or sixth in the league.”

“Also, the games they have lost this season have been against very intense teams: Bournemouth, Tottenham and Brighton (and Liverpool).

“We talked about it – it’s one of our strengths, our intensity, the runs we can make behind with our full-backs and our strikers and we thought that could help us win because it’s not that easy, City to beat with possession.” I don’t know many teams that can do that, so you have to find other things.

“That worked pretty well – but it’s only a draw!”

In fact, the statistics Glasner refers to prove his point. At the start of this weekend, Man City were second to last in the Premier League in this season’s sprint standings.

Man City had been sprinting in 10 of their 14 games before this round of fixtures. They had lost in four of the six games in which they had the largest lead.

Seven of their eight victories came when they either overtook their opponents in terms of distance traveled or came within 2 km of their opponents.

After the draw, Guardiola emphasized the current pressure on his team. “We played 10 against 11 for the last 15 minutes (after Rico Lewis’ red card). We have seven potential starting XI players injured, many players with (many) minutes played, Palace’s physicality is there.” ..”

Find space around Gündogan

Rodri’s absence is regularly and rightly highlighted as a reason why City can be vulnerable to the substitutions and quick attacks mentioned by Glasner. An injury to Mateo Kovacic didn’t help either. And 34-year-old Ilkay Gündogan is fighting to put out the fires while in possession of the ball.

With City playing a 4-1-4-1 formation, Glasner recognized the opportunity for his side to play Eberechi Eze and Ismaila Sarr against Jean-Philippe Mateta, with Will Hughes and Jefferson Lerma in central midfield to fill space around temporarily isolated Gündogan.

Hughes helped the opener get into that position.

“There was so much space on the other side next to Gündogan and we didn’t find that space that often,” said Glasner. “We showed it to the players at halftime. You have to have one or two touches of the ball to be there. If we find that more often, we can create more and more chances. The (first) gate was the space we want to find. We should do that.” it more.

“If you play with a number 6, 4-1-4-1, the way City play, there is a lot of space to the left and right of the number 6, then it depends on how you find that space. That can happen through passing.” – City found that space by passing for the second goal. We found him at the first goal. Sometimes you need the long ball and go for the second ball.

“When we get our runners up to speed and get the space, it’s not that easy to defend. It was part of the idea of ​​getting into those spaces and one thing was long balls and going for long balls.”

Standard situations

Man City had only conceded once from a set-piece before Saturday, but Glasner spotted an opportunity – and Palace took advantage when Maxence Lacroix got past a stricken Kyle Walker to head into Hughes’ corner in the second half.

This is a strength for Palace – only three teams have scored more goals from dead balls this season – but also a potentially untapped weakness for City given the players they are currently missing.

“They are missing a lot of good headers,” said Glasner. “Manuel Akanji, Nathan Ake and Rodri – very big players and good headers in defense. So offensive set pieces were a great opportunity for us.”

With City’s problems laid bare, it is clear that their upcoming opponents will target similar weaknesses. Guardiola and his players will have to adapt – and hope that some of their currently injured players can return soon to help resolve the problems.