Originally compiled from: The Athletic
Written by Sam Lee
原标题：How Manchester City 'switched on' to win the Premier League
Manchester City stormed 11 consecutive wins, and finally won three rounds early with the "help" of Arsenal, achieving a third consecutive Premier League title. Haaland scored 36 goals in 33 games, but the Blues were able to complete the comeback thanks to him alone.
Manchester City got off to a tough start to the new year
When 2023 arrives, Manchester City are four points behind Arsenal and have also been charged with more than 100 violations of the Financial Fairness Act. England international Calvin Phillips was overweight at the World Cup, and Cancelo, the original workhorse, was unhappy with his reduced playing time and publicly complained about youngster Lewis who stole his place.
Marc Setori, a masseuse who spent 15 years at Manchester City, has a close relationship with the manager and the players, but after the World Cup final, he moved to Burnley to support Vincent Kompany. The news came as a shock to many, with many players hoping he would stay, and City have never publicly revealed the reason for his departure.
In January, Manchester City's senior management met with captain Gundogan, vice-captain Kevin De Bruyne, Rodri, Walker and Ruben Dias to try to resolve the issue. The players are looking to host dinners at the Ivy Restaurant in Manchester for themselves, staff and the rest of the club's first team to foster relationships.
On 11 January, Manchester City were eliminated from Southampton in the Carabao Cup, with Gundogan criticising after the game: "It feels like there's a special ingredient missing, performance, desire and hunger are not like in recent years. Three days later, Manchester City lost to Manchester United at Old Trafford and the players reflected in the away dressing room.
Five days later, Manchester City defeated Tottenham by four goals from 2-0 down, finally ending a two-game losing streak, but still five points behind Arsenal in one game more games, and Guardiola was still very dissatisfied: "If we play like this, Arsenal will destroy us, they will beat us!" ”
Reverse, starting with purging
The real reversal starts with the cleansing of Cancelo. The boss mercilessly handed him over to Bayern, on the one hand, to warn players who had similar complaints. On the other hand, it is also telling everyone who is the one who really has the final say.
Manchester City were revenge by Tottenham Hotspur away on 6 February, but this was their last game to lose, with club president Hosni Mubarak and CEO Soriano personally coming to the dressing room after the game to stabilize the army.
And after being held to a draw by Nottingham Forest on February 18, Rodri said: "We had a conversation and it's not enough to play well, you need to punish. From that moment on, we started, and you can see now, the behaviour and character of the team. We discovered the fact that we need to punish our opponents. ”
At the same time, Guardiola also showed a psychological master. He has been telling his players that they need to chase their opponents before facing Arsenal on April 27 to avoid being pulled apart. And they did, especially beating Liverpool 4-1 on April 1.
After the game, the boss boosted morale with great confidence: "I feel very similar now to my previous game against Liverpool, when we were able to win 17 or 18 games in a row to become champions, and I feel the same way. ”
How to use Haaland well?
With the dressing room stable, Pep Guardiola's biggest dilemma on the pitch is how to better integrate Haaland into the squad without sacrificing City's control of the game over the past two seasons.
Haaland did score a lot of goals, but he didn't seem to be integrated into City's passing system, which was questioned a lot. Pep Guardiola said in early January: "In previous seasons, we played pseudo-No.9 many times, with one more player in between. Now there are players in the opposing box, so we have to adjust a bit. ”
In this regard, Pep on the one hand let Haaland play his height advantage and impact, on the other hand reuse Gundogan, Rodri, and De Bruyne together to control the rhythm of the central midfield, and on the wing, Grealish and B bench become the main force, because they can control the ball and change the rhythm, while Mahrez is more to break through.
"When the action is clear, we have to attack, but when we feel that the action is not clear, we try not to force the attack, otherwise we will not have time for our defenders to join us and then control the opponent's counter-attack," he explained. ”
Change formation, Gua Shuai is worthy of being a master of tactics
Cancelo was an important pawn in Pep Guardiola's tactics: full-back inducted and took on the role of a defender, but the younger Rico Lewis replaced him. In early May, the boss praised: "No Rico this season? Well, it's going to be more difficult, and he makes a lot of things flow in the team. ”
Starting from the Champions League quarter-final against Bayern, Guardiola let central defender Stones play a cameo at the back, confirming the 3241 formation that has been playing since then. Stones not only protects the defence, but also controls and passes the ball, and is the "extra" attacking player City are looking for throughout the season.
At the back, Guardiola changed into three centre-backs, "the defenders are the real defenders," he said. 'They defend well and that helps us stay solid.' Ake has been regarded as City's most reliable and consistent defender this season, but after his injury, new signing Akangi stepped up well and made an impression.
And next to Stones, Rodri is the hub of Manchester City's offensive and defensive conversion, reaching an incredibly high level. Guardiola praised: "People talk about Haaland, but what a good year Rodri had. I don't know if there are any better midfielders than him right now. ”
After an 11-game winning streak, Manchester City turned around despite the collapse of Arsenal to complete their third consecutive Premier League title. Now that the first crown has arrived, there are two more, can it become a triple crown? We'll see!