Crystal Palace handed Manchester City another setback in their title race with a 2-2 draw at Selhurst Park on Saturday, with manager Oliver Glassner explaining how he identified weaknesses in the defending champions’ performance.
The result leaves City eight points clear of the leaders and Liverpool with a game in hand, while Arsenal and Chelsea, both a point clear of the title-holders, will go one better with the London derbies. Live on Sky Sports on Sunday.
As fitness issues continue to limit Pep Guardiola’s options and stretch the players he has, it became apparent at Selhurst Park how opposition teams plan to hurt City right now.
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Crystal Palace-Manchester City Premier League Highlights
Bring on the intensity!
“We knew we could play with more intensity than City, all the stats showed that,” Glassner said.
City have so much of the ball per game, but they’re the lowest in high intensity and sprinting spaces, and we’re fifth or sixth in the league.
“Also, the games they’ve lost this season they’ve lost to very high-intensity teams – Bournemouth, Tottenham and Brighton (and Liverpool).
“We were talking about it. it’s our strength, our intensity, the runs we can make at the back with our full-backs, our forwards, and we thought that could help us win because it’s not easy to dominate City. I don’t know much of teams who can do it, so you have to find different things.
“These worked pretty well, but it’s just a draw.”
Indeed, the stat Glassner refers to to illustrate his point: Manchester City finished second in the Premier League this season in sprints.
Manchester City have been eliminated in 10 of the 14 games they have played in this round, losing four of the six games in which they have been outscored.
Seven of their eight wins came when they either outscored their opponent in terms of distance traveled or were within 2km of their opponent.
After the draw, Guardiola highlighted the tension in his team right now. “The last 15 minutes we played 10 against 11 (after Rico Lewis’ red card). We have 7 potential starting 11 players injured, a lot of players ) minutes (played), the physical preparation is there from Palace..”
Finding space around Gundoghan
Crystal Palace planned to exploit Ilkay Gundogan’s surroundings
Rodri’s absence is regularly and rightly highlighted as a reason why City can be vulnerable to transitions and fast breaks, which Glassner mentions. Mateo Kovacic’s injury hasn’t helped either, and 34-year-old Ilkay Gundogan is struggling to put out the fires.
With City playing in a 4-1-4-1 formation, Glassner created opportunities for his side, with Eberechi Eze and Ismaila Sar playing alongside Jean-Philippe Mateta, Will Hughes and Jefferson Lerma in central midfield to exploit areas around. sometimes isolated Gundoghan.
Hughes helped the opener into that position.
“There was so much space on the opposite side and we didn’t find this space that often,” Glassner said. “You have to have a touch or two there. We can find it more often To create more and more chances. The (first) goal was the space we wanted to find. We have to do it more.
“When you play one number 6, 4-1-4-1, like City do, there is a lot of space to the left and right of the number 6, then that’s how you find this space. It can be a pass – City found this space with their second assist.
“When we speed up our runners and get space, it’s not that easy to defend us. That was part of the idea to get into these spaces and one thing was to get long balls and long balls.”
Sets
Manchester City had conceded just once before Saturday but Glassner created a chance and Palace benefited greatly from Maxence Lacroix rising above an entrenched Kyle Walker to head home Hughes’ corner in the second half.
It is an area of strength for Pallas. only three teams have scored more from set pieces this season, but also a potential untapped weakness for City given the players they are currently without.
“They miss a lot of headers,” said Glassner. “Manuel Akanji, Nathan Ake and Rodri are very tall players and good headers in defense. So the forwards were a big opportunity for us.”
With City’s problems clear, it’s clear that their upcoming opponents will be targeting similar weak areas. :
