After Manchester City’s victory at Wolverhampton Wanderers at the weekend, Pep Guardiola explained that the best way to play against a deep, packed defence was to be patient.
He has previously described it as “taking a coffee” and it is an approach that does not always thrill the City fans, some of whom would prefer a bit more cut and thrust: more risks, a bit more action.
That is not in Guardiola’s thinking at all, though, to the extent that when he suggested an alternative, albeit one he seemingly hated the sound of, it was nothing like putting the ball in the mixer more often.
“The other option is to say, ‘OK, you don’t come? I don’t come’,” he said at Molineux. “We’ll stay with Edi (Ederson), and then who decides to come? That will be so difficult for our spectators. Imagine Ruben (Dias) has the ball and says, ‘OK I don’t attack’, stay there. What would happen? I don’t know what would happen but it would be a problem.”
But maybe he inspired himself, because City actually trialled it on Wednesday night. Once they had gone 3-0 up against Sparta Prague — a threshold which made Guardiola feel comfortable enough to make some substitutes — his defenders started to do exactly what he suggested on Sunday — stand and wait.
And guess what? It was not a problem for the spectators, because Sparta did not, as suggested, stay back and wait as well; they pushed up, coaxed away from their own goal and into applying a bit of pressure, and it cost them.
Note the time difference in the two pictures below — City really were just waiting for something to happen, and this was after it had already created a goal.
For that fourth goal, Manuel Akanji did as shown above: he did not just hold onto the ball and wait for things to happen, he actually turned his back to play and walked back towards his own goal — twice.
After a while, the Sparta players approached, leading Akanji to exchange some passes with Ilkay Gundogan, but then he just ended up in the same position again.
So he waited again, and this time they came so high up the pitch that he was able to drive through them and pick out Rico Lewis, who turned and set off, with City creating a counter-attack out of their own very sterile possession.
When asked about it after the game, Guardiola did not sound especially convinced it would work again — if it had worked at all.
“What would happen if we do that from the first minute? What would happen in football?” he asked.
When it was suggested it might lead the opposition to press, he replied: “I don’t think so. Maybe. But if they don’t want to attack and we don’t want to attack, what happens?
“In basketball you have 24 seconds, in tennis you have to do something, but if Ruben or Manu stays there and says, ‘OK, I don’t attack’, what happens? I don’t know.”
He may have a point, of course, because this is not exactly a new idea: Roberto De Zerbi is credited with the art of baiting teams into pressing by getting a centre-back or goalkeeper to put his foot on the ball, and despite its successes, there were times — notably in a 0-3 home defeat by West Ham United last season — when teams just simply refused to engage the Seagulls.
But it was put to Guardiola that it had in fact worked against Sparta, to which he said: “We scored when they were deep and we scored when they jumped.
“I’m not judging but it’s 2-0, they don’t want to come, why should I attack? We’ve won the game. But of course we have fans and we have to attack and the moment they attack, we contact and can run and always we punish them.
“In football, because of the rules, one team can stay 90 minutes in the 18-yard box, do nothing, make a transition, score a goal and after, ‘Oh, it’s a masterpiece, master genius’. I’m not judging, don’t misunderstand me, but that is the reality and I said to the players, what we have to do is how we attack better against teams that defend so, so deep.
“And step by step we are learning but there is just one thing: don’t be impatient. I know the players and the team want crosses and shots and whatever but there are 18 players there, there is no space in behind, no space between the lines, and when you cross we have Erling Haaland but the rest? Phil Foden, Bernardo Silva… he is like my son (short). We don’t have Peter Crouch, otherwise we would use it more.”
‘Patience’ is obviously still the watchword. You could certainly argue it does not come much more patient than walking towards your own goal, and even if there are teams who would not take the bait, the very fact Sparta pushed up and left some space on a couple of occasions might have suggested to Guardiola this is worth trying in the Premier League, at least at some point.
And it really did succeed in drawing Sparta out: three minutes after Haaland’s second goal, Akanji again strolled back towards his own goal, and this time he exchanged a few passes with John Stones before dragging the ball backwards under his studs, attracting some pressure. When the time came to play the ball, Akanji went left to Nathan Ake and after a few passes it ended up at Akanji’s feet again — but that opened up enough space to spring up the right wing quickly, again reaching the box — this time unable to break into it.
Dias, the man Guardiola originally had in mind for this ploy, later replaced Akanji and played his part, too, albeit not quite with the same enthusiasm.
Maybe this is destined to be confined to a straightforward Champions League victory, but as City continue to look for ways to combat their opponents, many of whom like to sit deep to stop spaces opening up for Guardiola’s side to exploit, it could be something we see again.
