It’s hard to remember the last time Manchester City were dominated at home. Even Pep Guardiola struggled to recall.
“I don’t remember in eight or nine years a team that played in the way Brentford did in the first 20-30 minutes, and I give credit to them,” said Guardiola after the 2-1 victory against Thomas Frank’s team. “We weren’t at our best, but they deserved to win 2-0 (or) 3-0. Every time they had the ball they created a chance.”
Dominating Guardiola’s City is a near-impossible task because it requires perfection on and off the ball. Yet for half an hour, Brentford were closer than ever with their man-to-man pressing and defensive organisation, limiting City’s threat in possession, their build-up slicing through City’s press.
This season, a notable feature of Brentford’s approach on the ball is their move towards a 4-2-2-2 shape in the build-up phase, with Yoane Wissa dropping into midfield…
… which proved to be a problem for City’s initial 4-4-2 pressing scheme.
From the outset, City wanted to aggressively press Brentford’s build-up. Kevin De Bruyne constantly signalled for Savinho to be in position to press Ethan Pinnock in case the Belgium midfielder moved towards the goalkeeper.
However, Mark Flekken usually waited for the right moment and played the ball directly towards his left-back, Nathan Collins, when Savinho moved up.
That was aided by the positioning of Keane Lewis-Potter, who pinned Kyle Walker and didn’t allow him to pick up Collins while the rest of City’s back four shifted to cover. The positioning of Wissa also made this an unfavourable option because of the distance Manuel Akanji would have to cover to mark the Brentford forward when John Stones picks up Lewis-Potter.
Wissa’s positioning presented other problems for City’s pressing too. In this example, De Bruyne leads the press by moving towards Pinnock…
… and Mateo Kovacic follows to mark Vitaly Janelt when Brentford’s left centre-back plays the ball back to Flekken…
… but the Croatia midfielder realises that Wissa is free and stops his run. Meanwhile, De Bruyne moves across to pick up Janelt while signalling for Savinho to press Pinnock, leaving Collins in acres of space.
Flekken finds Collins with a lofted pass, and Kovacic fails to move across because of the presence of Wissa and the late arrival of Stones (out of shot)…
… which allows Brentford’s left-back and forward to combine and play through City’s midfield, but Collins’ pass to Lewis-Potter is easily collected by Walker.
In another example, Brentford build up around City’s 4-4-2 press and Lewis-Potter combines with Wissa because neither Kovacic nor Stones are close enough to the DR Congo forward, who is positioned between the lines.
Lewis-Potter then crosses the ball towards the far post, where Mikkel Damsgaard heads it back to Bryan Mbeumo, who fails to connect with a bicycle kick.
Brentford managed to play through City’s press down the right side as well. Here, De Bruyne’s focus on pressing Brentford’s left centre-back (out of shot) allows Flekken to find Janelt…
… and the positioning of Damsgaard manipulates Kovacic while Ilkay Gundogan is trying to keep an eye on Christian Norgaard. When Janelt plays the ball to his right centre-back, Sepp van den Berg…
… Grealish presses him and Rico Lewis follows by moving towards Kristoffer Ajer, which leaves a three-versus-two scenario in midfield as Brentford progress the ball down the right wing. Kovacic moves across the pitch to mark Damsgaard and Janelt’s dash forward occupies Gundogan…
… leaving Norgaard free to receive the ball from Ajer.
Unsure who to mark out of Janelt and Damsgaard, Kovacic freezes for a moment and Norgaard finds Damsgaard in space but the latter’s pass to Mbeumo is overhit.
After 30 minutes, City tweaked their pressing shape by dropping De Bruyne next to Gundogan to mark Janelt and Norgaard, leaving Erling Haaland and Grealish to press Brentford’s centre-backs while Savinho maintained his position to defend Brentford’s left-back.
In this example, Haaland is trying to press Pinnock while blocking the passing lane to Van den Berg…
… which forces the centre-back to play the ball to Janelt, who is marked by De Bruyne. Janelt quickly plays the ball back to Flekken because Norgaard and Van den Berg aren’t free…
… and De Bruyne continues the press while blocking the passing lane between them. Without a viable passing option, Flekken tries to find Ajer…
… but Lewis is in the right place to press him and Kovacic is marking Damsgaard. Under pressure, Ajer’s attempt to flick the ball towards Mbeumo fails and City retrieve possession.
In another example, City’s adjusted pressing neutralises Brentford’s attack. Haaland starts the press by arriving from an angle that blocks the pass to Pinnock, Grealish is ready to move towards Van den Berg, De Bruyne and Kovacic are close to Norgaard and Janelt, Gundogan is picking up Wissa between the lines and Savinho can defend the last remaining option in Collins after Flekken plays him the ball.
As for Brentford’s other No 10, Stones moves up to mark him which leaves Collins without any progressive passing option. Brentford’s left-back plays the ball to Janelt…
… but Kovacic’s proximity allows him to press the midfielder, whose forward pass finds no one.
Even when Brentford wanted to build down their right side, City’s pressing was intact. Here, it’s the same pressing approach with De Bruyne and Gundogan marking Norgaard and Janelt.
Grealish tries to press Flekken, but the goalkeeper manages to find Van den Berg…
… who plays the ball to his right-back because of the limited passing options. Before Van den Berg plays the pass, Lewis is in position to press Ajer…
… and Kovacic is picking up Damsgaard a couple of yards behind them. City manage to box Brentford’s build-up towards the touchline with all of Ajer’s passing options under pressure, leading to a throw-in from which Guardiola’s team regains possession.
The introduction of Rodri and Josko Gvardiol at half-time added more physicality, which strengthened City’s pressing scheme.
In the second half, it was more of the same: Haaland pressing Pinnock while blocking the passing lanes to Flekken and Van den Berg, De Bruyne and Gundogan marking Norgaard and Janelt, Savinho ready to defend Collins…
… and Rodri and one of the back four picking up Brentford’s attacking midfielders.
Despite the success of City’s adjusted pressing scheme, there were three situations when Brentford played through it in the second half: first because of De Bruyne’s positional error in the 58th minute and twice more in the last 10 minutes, when tiredness crept in.
However, the change in the pressing approach limited Brentford’s threat on the ball and allowed City to regain control of the game.
Ederson’s saves and Haaland’s brace put City back in the lead, but tweaking the pressing scheme was as important.
It’s difficult to dominate City because Guardiola’s side will always find a way to adapt.
