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<\/p>\nManchester City look like themselves again. Not because Rodri is back, not because they are the only team at the Club World Cup who ended with a perfect group-stage record, but because Pep Guardiola\u2019s side are carving teams apart from out wide again.<\/p>\n
\u201cI liked the way we did it,\u201d Guardiola said after the 5-2 win against Juventus.<\/p>\n
Their opponents had only conceded eight in 11 games under Igor Tudor before facing City. The prospect of trying to cut open a stubborn 5-4-1 block in the Orlando heat could have become torturous quite quickly.<\/p>\n
City made it look rather easy, even without Erling Haaland for the first 45 minutes. Omar Marmoush was the focal point instead.<\/p>\n
Juventus mixed their out-of-possession approach \u2014 man-to-man in the high press, and a 5-4-1 mid-block where the centre-backs were relatively touch-tight but the midfielders defended zonally \u2014 and City showed flexibility too.<\/p>\n
When building up in their own half, Jeremy Doku and Savinho, City\u2019s wingers, drifted inside and became No 10s close to Marmoush. This made space for full-backs Matheus Nunes and Rayan Ait-Nouri to push on.<\/p>\n
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The risk was leaving big spaces out wide that could be exploited in transition, by Juventus\u2019 wing-backs especially. Guardiola, as he always will be<\/a>, was full of praise when this did not happen. He loved \u201cthe patience to make a lot of passes to be calm.\u201d<\/p>\n Savinho and Doku\u2019s narrow positioning looked to be less about getting them on the ball centrally and more about pinning Juventus\u2019 outside centre-backs deep. This would create a problem when a midfielder wanted to jump and press a City defender \u2014 it would create space for Rodri, Bernardo Silva or Tijjani Reijnders.<\/p>\n In Juventus\u2019 half, City flipped their wide scheme. The wingers went wide and full-backs narrow. This gave extra cover and set Doku and Savinho up for one-v-one scenarios.<\/p>\n City were good at not rushing crossing scenarios (just four in the first 27 minutes), partly because it made less sense without Haaland, and they could wear Juventus down with a short passing game and off-ball runs.<\/p>\n That desire for quality runners is something City have recruited for. Last December, about halfway through the Premier League season, (when adjusted for possession) they had attempted the fewest overlaps and and fewest passes to runners in-behind<\/a>.<\/p>\n This game, and the first three goals, showed the added quality that comes from Doku when he has Ait-Nouri\u2019s attacking support, and how effective a pairing Nunes and Savinho are.<\/p>\n City\u2019s opener came in classic fashion. Often, the best time to pick the lock of a compact defence is when the defence jumps as the attacking side recycles the ball.<\/p>\n Here, Ait-Nouri becomes a second No 6 as play is connected from right to left: Nunes, to Rodri, to Ait-Nouri. If the passage seems harmless enough, that\u2019s because it is.<\/p>\n But this move was 2021-22 City-esque in bringing the tempo of the game down before immediately slicing opponents open.<\/p>\n Ait-Nouri recognises wing-back Alberto Costa is jumping forward to Doku. He is so focused on shutting the Belgian down that he moves outside the vertical line of the ball<\/a>.<\/p>\n The Algerian international splits the back line inside Costa, with a straight pass for Doku\u2019s diagonal run.<\/p>\n Doku cuts in and curls a far-post finish beyond Michele Di Gregorio. City have good box occupation too: Savinho has locked off the back post for rebounds, Marmoush is on the penalty spot and Rodri has arrived late should a cutback be on.<\/p>\n City\u2019s second came 15 minutes after Teun Koopmeiners had equalised following an Ederson error playing out against the press; there were multiple times he picked a bad pass and executed it poorly, but City more than compensated in attack.<\/p>\n On one of the rare occasions that Juventus doubled up out wide, City exploited it. Savinho and Rodri are playing two-v-three, and there is little protection for Juventus in the left half-space.<\/p>\n This makes Nunes the dangerous runner from deep.<\/p>\n Juventus are too passive, and Savinho has the time and space to thread a diagonal pass outside left wing-back Filip Kostic.<\/p>\n Nunes makes the straight run behind Koopmeiners (a reverse of the straight pass and diagonal run from Doku for the opener).<\/p>\n The approach play is excellent and earns the luck of an own goal from Pierre Kalulu. City have four plus Nunes in the box, fairly well-spaced, though nobody makes a penetrative run beyond the defensive line \u2014 the biggest downside to not having Haaland on the pitch.<\/p>\n City completed four through balls against Juventus. They only managed more in three Premier League matches in 2024-25 and their most in a Champions League game last term was four away to Sparta Prague.<\/p>\n Haaland came on at half-time and Nicolo Savona stayed deeper defending him. He almost scored within a minute of the restart when Bernardo slipped a diagonal pass for Savinho\u2019s straight run inside Savona, and his low back-post ball was just out of Haaland\u2019s reach.<\/p>\n The third goal was the pick of the bunch for how City manipulated and dismantled Juventus\u2019 man-for-man pressing.<\/p>\n Here, City show flexibility again as Nunes has moved into midfield and Savinho is wide. Weston McKennie\u2019s jump to Ruben Dias forces the wide pass, and City\u2019s midfield rotates like clockwork.<\/p>\n Nunes\u2019 run \u2014 for a possible first-time Savinho pass in behind \u2014 takes Koopmeiners away.<\/p>\n This allows Reijnders to drop in and receive from Savinho. The Dutch international was marked by Kalulu, but ended up between two Juventus players and neither wanted to go with him.<\/p>\n Reijnders drives to the edge of the final third in a five-v-five. Haaland has already moved into Savona\u2019s blind spot.<\/p>\n Koopmeiners has done well to track Nunes\u2019 run but his body shape is awkward and \u2014 as with Costa for the first goal \u2014 he is outside the vertical line of the ball.<\/p>\n A straight pass from Reijnders; a diagonal run from Nunes.<\/p>\n The full-back gets his assist (his cross for Kalulu\u2019s own goal is not counted) for Haaland\u2019s tap-in.<\/p>\n![\"\"\/](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/MCI-opp-half-shape.png\")
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