The truly great sides always come with an aura. One of the elements that makes them so hard to beat is that beating them seems so inconceivable. Even when they hit a bad run, the expectation is always that at some point they will rediscover their form. To some extent, Manchester City did that last season. As miserable as much of the campaign was, after losing to Nottingham Forest at the beginning of March, they put together a run of 10 games unbeaten and ended up third – even if defeat to Crystal Palace in the FA Cup final demonstrated the shortcomings that remain.
That game showcased City’s flatness at times going forward but also a strange openness at the back that was apparent again in the 4-3 defeat to Al-Hilal in the Club World Cup. Pep Guardiola sides, given how high their line is, will always be susceptible to direct balls played in behind them if something goes awry with the press; it’s an inevitable part of the risk-reward of that style of play.
Even in the 4-0 win over Wolves on the opening weekend, there were signs in the early stages of a potential weakness to that sort of tactic. It was just that flaw that led to Richarlison breaking the offside trap and crossing for Brennan Johnson to open the scoring for Spurs at the Etihad on Saturday. Spurs’s second goal, though, was just as worrying: goalkeeper James Trafford played an inexplicable pass to Nico González’s wrong foot under pressure at the top of his own box. It wasn’t an error of execution so much as one of conception. If it were a one-off, that might not necessarily be of too much concern, but it was very similar to an error Trafford made in Burnley’s defeat at Crystal Palace the season before last, leading to a red card for Josh Brownhill.
Ederson was the perfect goalkeeper for Guardiola, being both good at the traditional aspects of goalkeeping and an exceptional passer of the ball. It’s perhaps an understated feature of Guardiola’s success how fortunate he has been in his goalkeepers: inheriting Víctor Valdés at Barcelona and Manuel Neuer at Bayern, then signing Ederson at City. While he, or City, deserve credit for identifying a talent like that from Benfica, it came after an error the previous season in replacing Joe Hart with Claudio Bravo.
Although Ederson only turned 32 earlier this month, there was a sense last season that he was on the wane. There were, for instance, two big errors late in the first leg of the Champions League knockout tie against Real Madrid, and Guardiola preferred Stefan Ortega for certain games. Given his high wages and apparent desire for a big payday in Saudi Arabia, it’s perhaps no huge surprise that Ederson should be nearing the exit. What is surprising is the profile of players lined up to replace him.
In terms of his passing, Ederson’s stats remained strong last season. Despite an average of 5.3 long balls per game, he still averaged over 86% pass completion, registering four assists. Trafford last season played 4.3 long balls per game in the championship – which at least in theory means he was playing more straightforward passes – yet his pass completion rate was just 70%. In the Premier League the season before, it was 62%, albeit with 6.5 long balls per game.
City have reportedly agreed personal terms with Gianluigi Donnarumma, who has surprisingly found himself outside Luis Enrique’s plans at Paris Saint-Germain. Further negotiation is required on a fee, but this seems a strikingly odd move for City. Donnarumma is a fine shot-stopper and has made a habit of match-winning displays in the biggest games, but he has nothing like Ederson’s long-range passing. Although he had an 85% pass completion rate in Ligue 1 last season, that was with an average of only 2.6 long balls per game. That might suggest Guardiola is looking to go back to basics, to a shorter-passing, more possession-based style – but that would go against the recent trend both of his football and the wider game towards something less risk-averse and more direct.
In fact, one of the features that stood out in the game against Wolves was how quickly City’s midfield tried to play the ball forward. Tijjani Reijnders, in particular, thrived. He was significantly less effective against Spurs, with a midfield that harassed him, gave him no space, and saw his pass completion drop from 88.3% to 81.4%.
City have won only one of their last five at home against Spurs, so in that sense Saturday’s result was nothing unexpected. What it demonstrated, though, was that a team needs to do more than beat Wolves handsomely to prove it is back. Guardiola’s rebuild of City remains a work in progress.
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On this day …
The Premiership, as it was then called, was only 10 days old when the first hat-trick in the new competition was scored. Eric Cantona had already got a treble for Leeds United in a 4-3 victory over Liverpool in the Community Shield when, on 25 August 1995, he scored another hat-trick as Leeds hammered Tottenham 5-0 at Elland Road. Rod Wallace pounced on an Erik Thorstvedt error to score the first and Lee Chapman added a fifth from Cantona’s lay-off, but in between it was all about the Frenchman. First he volleyed in a misplaced clearance from Justin Edinburgh, then he headed home David Batty’s cross, before he added his third with another volley.
But after a 4-0 defeat to Manchester City in November was followed by elimination from the League Cup by Watford, the manager Howard Wilkinson left Cantona out for a 3-0 win over Arsenal, offering as an excuse a fictitious groin strain. A furious Cantona demanded a transfer and soon joined Manchester United. Wilkinson seemed almost relieved to be rid of a turbulent player, but it was Cantona who inspired Alex Ferguson’s Manchester United to their first league title in 26 years.
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This is an extract from Soccer with Jonathan Wilson, a weekly look from the Guardian US at the game in Europe and beyond. Subscribe for free here. Have a question for Jonathan? Email soccerwithjw@theguardian.com, and he’ll answer the best in a future edition.
