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Forever Blue with Ian Cheeseman

Manchester City play perfect football. That doesn’t mean they can’t lose, it’s more a comment on the style of play they employ.

Pep Guardiola pointed out, at one of his press conferences, last week, that his team is not about aggressive running with the ball and deep crosses to tall strikers on the far post. He didn’t use those words but that’s certainly how I interpreted it.

City had been linked with a move for their former striker Edin Dzeko, or maybe even Diego Costa, during the January transfer window. Pep was instantly dismissive of those ideas. I understand why. As I studied the 1-0 win over Sheffield United, on Saturday, the thing that was glaringly obvious to me was that every player that Guardiola always selects the right option for the next pass and has great awareness of the space around him. Almost all the time, particularly against the weaker teams they face, they always make the right choice. 

When the ball is passed to each of them they already know what their next pass will be and they play it in such a way that the next link in the chain receives the ball comfortably. The pass is perfectly weighted and with the vision of where that player will move it next. 

It makes their game look easy. It means that City are completely in control of possession and for most of the game they only have to play at three quarter pace. When they have the ball fully under control, in this way, the other team don’t know who to pick up because every option is open and the recipient is capable of controlling with either foot and almost always receives it comfortably. 

It’s a perfect system to win leagues played over thirty eight games but becomes more vulnerable in cup competitions which is why they still can’t guarantee that elusive Champions League win. 

City’s “problem” left full back position perfectly illustrates this. Benjamin Mendy should be the first choice but he can be a bit sloppy in possession and occasionally loses the ball cheaply. At the heights City are trying to maintain, game after game, that can make them vulnerable. Joao Cancelo can play there, his only weakness there would be that he’s predominently right footed. That’s not necessarily fatal, but against the top teams that makes him potentially vulnerable to the overlap. 

Oleksandr Zinchenko fits the bill perfectly for Pep, he passes and moves exactly as demanded. 

There’s never been a perfect team and City cannot, quite, lay claim to that title despite my confidence that they will be Premier League Champions again and may well add at least one cup to their haul of trophies. Sheffield United generally contained City’s comfortable dominance on Saturday afternoon but John Fleck’s late strike, that whistled past Ederson’s post, showed that the old fashioned route one ball, if perfectly executed could have cost two points or in a cup competition might even have led to a shock, albeit against the run of play, defeat. 

Just over a week ago, Cheltenham unlocked City’s perfect match control with a long throw and by then winning the second ball. 

I’ll finish where I started. City play perfect football, but that doesn’t mean they’re unbeatable, but wins against Liverpool, Spurs and Borussia Monchengladbach would prove they’re getting as close to perfection as is achievable.

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