Manchester City under Pep Guardiola have always avoided chaos on the pitch. The Citizens’ style of play relies on tight possession, stretching opponents with countless passes before finding space to shoot. However, the 2-2 draw with Brentford showed a completely different side of the “Blue Half” of Manchester, especially in the second half.
Brentford approached the game with a tight strategy. From a 4-3-3 formation, they flexibly switched to a 5-3-2 when needed to defend and implemented a man-to-man pressing style to put pressure on. The Bees' discipline made it difficult for Man City despite having more possession.
In the first 45 minutes, Pep Guardiola's team dominated possession with 301 passes but only created 8 shots and 1 real chance. Bernardo Silva and Mateo Kovacic, playing as 2 deep-lying defensive midfielders, could not help the team create effective links with the attack.
One of the factors that caused the squad to be unbalanced was the use of many left-footed players. This limited the attacking flexibility, especially in the right half space with Phil Foden and Bernardo Silva often cutting inside instead of opening wide.
After the break, Pep Guardiola changed his approach, instructing goalkeeper Stefan Ortega to make a series of long passes towards Erling Haaland. With the role of the highest striker, the Norwegian striker became the fulcrum for teammates around him such as De Bruyne and Foden to charge forward.
Man City’s moment of brilliance came from direct play. After a combination that started with a long pass from Ortega, Haaland created a wall for Savinho to break through before setting up De Bruyne. The Belgian maestro then made a perfect cross for Foden to open the scoring.
Man City's second goal came from another chaotic situation, when Savinho took advantage of a mistake by the Brentford defence and forced the goalkeeper to make a save, creating an opportunity for Foden to finish.
Despite leading 2-0, The Citizens were unable to hold on to their advantage. They continued to play long balls and transitions, allowing Brentford to exploit the gap with two late goals. This once again highlighted their defensive problems when faced with sharp counter-attacks.
“At 2-0, we needed to keep the ball to control the game, but we didn't have the players with the skills to do that in the penalty area,” Pep Guardiola said.
Man City finished the match with 9 direct attacks, the highest number in a Premier League match since the 2018-2019 season. Notably, from the moment they took a 1-0 lead, they only had 3 combinations with more than 10 consecutive passes - a rare thing for a Pep Guardiola team.
The draw continues to highlight the problems Man City are facing with their current tactics and squad. Despite their explosive moments, the Etihad team still needs to find the balance between direct attacking play and controlling the game that has made them successful under Pep Guardiola.
