Manuel Pellegrini’s Manchester City 'getting away with it at the back'
Wednesday 6 January 2016 08:44, UK
Manchester City’s class could see them through but issues remain at the back, writes Adam Bate...
The unique threat posed by the pairing of Troy Deeney and Odion Ighalo has been one of the stories of the season. The Watford forwards can cause many problems for defenders. But what they should no longer be for any Premier League opponent is a surprise.
Tottenham coach Mauricio Pochettino changed his formation to counteract the threat last month, switching to a back-three in order to provide greater protection. The Spurs boss explained his thinking after eking out a 2-1 win at Vicarage Road.
"The way that they play and what we analysed, we found that they play a lot of long balls to make it dangerous for the opponent," said Pochettino. "So it was a good solution to give calm to the team and manage the game from the back."
Manuel Pellegrini made no such change to his starting line-up for Saturday Night Football. For much of the match that looked like proving costly as Watford exploited the gaps behind City's attack-minded left-back Aleksandar Kolarov to expose the left-sided centre back Eliaquim Mangala.
"It must have been a plan they've been working on all week," Thierry Henry told Sky Sports at half-time. "At times they are bullying Mangala on that left side. Ighalo never moves from Mangala. They try to go straight away when Kolarov leaves the space."
In one sense, the approach is understandable. Why should City's expensively-assembled squad be the one to adjust for their opponent? For example, at Leicester last time out, it was the home side who switched from their 4-4-2 formation to combat City's dominance in midfield.
But it hints at a complacency that, without Vincent Kompany, this side can scarcely afford. Mangala and Nicolas Otamendi might have cost somewhere north of £60m between them but they are yet to inspire much confidence as a pairing.
Mangala was letting balls bounce and conceded unnecessary corners in both halves - the second of which led to Watford's opening goal. "It's not good enough," added Henry. "If he had maybe Kompany with him maybe he could've been a better player, but Kompany is not there."
It's absurd just how badly the City skipper is missed. With Kompany starting, the team has not only picked up 20 points from eight games but they've only conceded one goal - in a 2-1 win over Norwich. Without him, they've lost five of the other 12 Premier League matches.
This match was won but only after Manuel Pellegrini withdrew Mangala in favour of Wilfried Bony. While Pochettino's change of system was born on the training ground, Pellegrini's decision to drop Fernandinho into the back-four was, by his own admission, a risk that paid off.
"We were losing 1-0 so of course we had to take a risk to win the game," he told Sky Sports. "A draw was not good for our team. Maybe it's not Fernandinho's position but he's a very intelligent and tactical player. Watford were not going to attack too much so we took the risk in those 10 minutes."
Two brilliant goals from the team's long-time match-winners Yaya Toure and Sergio Aguero turned the game around late on and Pellegrini deserves some credit for the sense of urgency he created with his substitution.
They won today but at the back it's still not good enough for me.
However, even in victory, there is a sense that it's the individual qualities of City's players that could propel them to the Premier League title rather than any superiority in terms of organisation and planning. In short, they seem to be getting away with it.
"Okay, they won today but at the back it's still not good enough for me. They know what Watford are all about," added Henry. "The problem is this: when is Kompany going to come back?" It's a problem that needs solving, one way or another, before City can be backed for the title with any conviction.
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