On Saturday 13th of August 2016, Pep Guardiola made his long awaited management debut in English football.
Expectations were high, as they should be for a man that has won 20 major trophies in just 8 years in top flight football. He’s hailed as an innovator and as the man that made Barcelona the best in the world once again, but against David Moyes’ Sunderland it was a dull affair. Manchester City had possession for 77% of the match, but failed to convert that into chances. In terms of xG City had 1.1 (+1 pen and +1 OG) to Sunderland’s 0.9 and looked uninspiring.
Despite this, Guardiola managed to intrigue football fans up and down the country with his team selection. Aleksandar Kolarov appeared to be playing as a centre-back when the lineups were announced, but in reality he was the left-back in a back three.
This is because Bacary Sagna and Gael Clichy were playing as wing-backs, an idea that has been long neglected in the top tiers of English football, but one that was brought back into the mainstream by Brendan Rodgers at Liverpool, when he used Lucas as the player that dropped into the defence to allow Alberto Moreno and Glen Johnson to join the midfield.
The difference with Sagna and Clichy, however, is that they played as inverted wing-backs, which means that instead of staying wide when they went forward, they moved centrally into the midfield. This allowed City to control possession in the midfield with David Silva, Clichy and Sagna, have Fernandinho drop into the centre of defence to support John Stones and Kolarov, whilst also giving Kevin de Bruyne a more free role further up the pitch to create chances for the front three.
Gundogan Conundrum
However, it does seem to be wasteful of Silva’s obvious creative talent , and leaves Guardiola with a headache over who to drop when Ilkay Gundogan is fit and ready to play. Perhaps, however, it would make more sense for Gundogan to play in a pairing in midfield, as both Silva and De Bruyne showed a depressing lack of incisiveness in their passing and only seemed to look to play it sideways. Perhaps Guardiola may think to ditch his fluid formation to instead play Gundogan in a pivot, to maximise the creative potential of his midfield.
The other obvious issue with Pep’s inverted wing-backs at City, is that he doesn’t have any inverted win backs. When he started to use them at Bayern Munich, both David Alaba and Joshua Kimmich had previously played midfield roles, and Phillip Lahm was a player that regularly came inside the pitch, and this meant that the players took to the role very quickly and efficiently.
Contrast at City
At City, however, his options are more limited. Both Sagna and Pablo Zabaleta are better known for staying wide on the right-hand side and Clichy has always been a player that rarely ventures into more central areas. Kolarov seems a more natural choice for the role but Guardiola clearly disagrees. Perhaps Guardiola has been looking for players that he can play there and has been unable to sign them thus far, or perhaps he realises that three of his four ageing full-backs only have one year left on their contract and next summer is the best time to look for replacements.
If that is his plan, then it means he has a year of hard work developing Clichy and Sagna into inverted wing-backs. The pair only had one cross between them against Sunderland, which is some evidence of learning the role and keeping tucked in inside the pitch, but will need to improve their combined passing accuracy of 82% if the system is going to work.
Stones Alternative
One option that Guardiola could well attempt would be to play John Stones as his wing-back. Stones is not only a competent, calm passer of the ball with excellent vision, he’s also competent defensively and previously played in midfield for Barnsley, and the role of inverted wing-back could be simplified by describing it as a holding midfielder.
Stones also has pedigree as a full-back on the right-hand side, but if Guardiola wanted to maximise his potential as an inverted wing-back, he should play him on the left. Because Stones is right footed, being the left inverted wing-back would give him a greater passing range, and would allow him to link well with De Bruyne for more of the game as well as providing a more direct route to Nolito.
It remains to be seen how long Guardiola will stick with his 4-3-3/3-4-3 formation as well as how successful it’ll be in a league that is punishing to poor decisions from top teams. Guardiola has never been as well liked in England as he is in other European countries that have a more sophisticated footballing culture and so he arrives in Manchester with a big point to prove.
