THE FA Cup is Pep Guardiola’s only realistic chance left to win a trophy this season.
Had you said last summer that in March Manchester City would be out of the Champions League, far out of the Premier League title race and nowhere close to the Carabao Cup final, you would have been laughed out of the room.
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But that is the reality facing the Cityzens as we approach the run-in.
City’s ageing squad has come back to haunt them and they have been a shadow of the team which has dominated the English football landscape for the best part of a decade.
The FA Cup, and by extension their quarter-final against Bournemouth this weekend, represent the final chance at silverware for Guardiola’s serial winners.
In the latest edition of Tactics Exposed, we answer YOUR questions about Sunday’s clash and ask whether Guardiola can get his flops firing against the Cherries.
Will City go long ball against Bournemouth’s press?
A Guardiola Man City team being accused of going long ball is another sentence which may have got you some worried looks a few months ago.
But again, it is a reality City faces as they adjust to their new standing as the third or fourth-best team in the country.
City have found success in going long against sides who press high, including Chelsea.
Andoni Iraola‘s Bournemouth are another ball game altogether, with the stats showing that they press more than any other team in the Premier League this season.
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Despite currently being five games without a win if you include their FA Cup penalty shootout win over Wolves, Bournemouth have been one of the best teams to watch in the league this season,
They have won possession more times than anyone else in the middle and final thirds, while they rank second for interceptions and third for possession won in their own third.
Iraola has coached his side to press in a way that forces the opposition to play through a congested area or play the ball backwards.
One way City could counter this high press is by going more direct.
It is a style which worked wonders for Newcastle against Liverpool in the Carabao Cup final, with players being pushed high before the ball goes long and therefore removing Bournemouth’s pressing threat.
What City could look to do is lure the opposition into a stretched zone in their final third, creating an overload out wide after too many players commit to the press before the ball is quickly played forward.
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Another option is to play more centrally into Erling Haaland, who can then bring the ball down to play into Omar Marmoush and Phil Foden.
The three-versus-two overload is a high-risk, high-reward system, but it worked wonders when deployed against Chelsea.
Semenyo or Marmoush?
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Surely if I have Man City’s money I should be able to have both Marmoush and Antoine Semenyo, right?
Unfortunately, that’s not the case so what splits these two immensely talented attackers?
Semenyo has had an impressive year, but if he was a bit more clinical in front of goal the Cherries might be even higher up the table.
The 25-year-old is brilliant at timing his press.
When team-mate Evanilson blocks the passing lane of a goalkeeper, Semenyo is clever enough to hover in the shadow of the opposite direction before springing into life when the ball is played there.
He is helped by another player having a superb season, Milos Kerkez, who is up there with the best in the league.
It is not unusual to see Semenyo and Kerkez pressing together in the opposition’s final third and a large factor in this is that Semenyo’s work rate covers for Kerkez if he loses the ball.
Despite all the Semenyo praise, Marmoush still edges the debate.
His pace, his ability to take the ball on the run and his intelligence to read the third-man run without being offside make him a deadly threat to any opponent.
This is of course not to mention City’s pure wingers, likely to be Jeremy Doku and Savinho, who work in tandem with the interior players like Foden and Marmoush.
How to get Foden flying again?
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This is probably the biggest question in the Premier League at the moment.
Foden, 24, has had an underwhelming season considering his previously lofty standards.
He was equally poor starting for England against Albania, but his cameo off the bench against Latvia could hold the answer on how to get him back to his best.
In that game, Foden was played more centrally and would often come deeper to collect the ball.
Foden is an expert at spinning his marker before popping the ball off to a winger.
Guardiola could find some consistent success in playing him as one of the two attacking No10s, given how Foden’s versatility has meant he has never truly found rhythm in his career.
He is still a world-class talent, but the question is how you get enough out of him to show that talent and influence the game.
The change of tactics to a more direct system is affecting him, but Foden’s talent means given the platform he should be in a position to get back to his best if he is given a run in one position.
