Muzi watching the tiger fight | How did Manchester City get a point away from Crystal Palace?

With a win over Luton Town in the last round, Manchester City finally stopped their run in the Premier League.

However, the last round was so special: there was no Haaland and no centre-backs up front. Manchester City almost honestly used a set of 4231, playing a game with an assist from a full-back.

The level of retro is comparable to when Mendy and Walker played at the same time.

Against Crystal Palace in this game, Haaland has not yet returned, so Guardiola can continue to follow this line of thinking, if you are a little more tolerant, in fact, you played quite well, but if the fans who watched the score this morning come to ask the fans who watched the live broadcast last night, how did the game draw?

It's not easy to say, because the harsh reality is being exposed.

In this game, Crystal Palace, who are playing away, put their posture very low.

In order to let the team survive the game as much as possible, the old coach Hodgson changed to a three-back system, saying that 541 is okay, and 532 is no problem.

After all, the only one who can help striker Mateta on a regular basis is Olise.

Based on the opponent's idea of being so far back and not trying to press in the high post, Manchester City easily pressed through the half, and the two full-backs quickly came to the attacking position, but in comparison, the direction of the attack was still on the right:

More often than not, Gvardiol still plays the role of widening the width and pulling the defensive line on the wings:

Only occasionally can you attack directly from the weak side:

Most of the time, he can only be seen when he catches the two points of the attack on the right side:

Crystal Palace's five-man defense line is actually to occupy as much space as possible, and the wings, ribs, and middle are basically guaranteed to have people.

However, just as Walker was able to kick in early stages of the game from the area around the right rib, it was not enough to build an airtight defensive structure that could not be relied on at the back line.

In the 24th minute of the game, Manchester City made a circle around the middle and found that Olise's side was not in time and leaked a space:

Of course, Reedwald in front of Ruben Dias was slow to get forward, which is one of the reasons why Ruben Dias was able to observe space after going around.

However, from this point of view, you can think that Crystal Palace played a 532, so Manchester City played a chance from here, and Grealish scored first:

From this attack, it can be seen that Manchester City has piled up a full 7 men on the front line, and 5 people have been pressed in the range of the two horizontal lines in the big penalty area.

So as we said after the last game, if the central defenders don't go forward, the back will naturally not have the authority to step forward, and without Haaland, Manchester City will seriously lack the striker element, so it can only be solved by making heads.

In the second goal of the last game, Manchester City was helpless, relying on Rodri's back insertion to break open the gap, and this one was the same:

So under this set of traditional thinking, Manchester City does need to take care of both forwards.

Just like Sergio Aguero back then, he can not only drop back to participate in crosses, open up some space, but also return to the box in time to complete his job as a striker, not only to score goals, but also to create space for other teammates.

Among Manchester City's existing forwards, Haaland and Alvarez are just two extremes: the former is not involved in crossing, and the latter has limited finishing efficiency in such a small environment. Let them play at the same time, Guardiola does not have the idea of two strikers, he can only be placed as a striker and a midfielder, which makes Alvarez have defensive responsibilities when he is without the ball, leaving Haaland himself in front, and when people need support, Alvarez may not be in place in time.

So, it's awkward overall.

However, although it is awkward, the home team is still leading by two goals, and after 2-0, Manchester City is actually not Mingjin to close the troops, and the attacking threat on the right side can still be played:

So it turned into a draw, which is indeed a bit unexpected, but in addition to the accident, it actually exposes the problem.

Crystal Palace is a very special team, and the special thing is that most of their basic players are black, and they will not be biased in terms of physical fitness, such as center forward Mateta, who looks tall and big, but the threat of counter-insertion is also great:

Note that this was the 42nd minute of the first half, and the physical level did not suffer much.

So before the goal, in the face of the siege of Manchester City players, he can still twist it out and take the ball out:

And it's not just him, many teammates can do it:

Taken together, this means that City's defenders cannot afford to relax, and the pressure and threat played by the Crystal Palace players at the physical level will not be as fast as expected.

Otherwise, it will be like in the goal round, Mateta first took a point against Ruben Dias:

Then after the ball fell to the back, he and Schlupp counter-inserted and scored:

From the long shot, you can see:

In this attack, in fact, Crystal Palace has been preparing for a long time, and Manchester City's defenders should be mentally prepared, but after being beaten, Ruben Dias was able to rely on it first, but Schlupp took his arm to prop himself up and gave himself room to get up, and Ruben Dias's footsteps couldn't keep up:

This close-up view is very clear.

So, it's true that there aren't many chances for Crystal Palace, but that's the characteristic of the black players, and the more they get to the end of the game, the more their physical advantage becomes apparent.

According to common sense, Schlupp has been defending in front of this position for more than 70 minutes, and the away environment should have been boring for a long time, but Manchester City's attack in front of him is not particularly efficient because of the lack of striker elements, and the defense behind is exposed at this delicate time.

In addition, in this goal, Ruben Dias was exposed, and another reason was that Walker was old. When Walker was two years younger, he should have been able to chase the ball to his side, at least from behind, so as to provide a little help to Ruben Dias.

However, in the past year, we have often seen Walker's tired appearance at the end of the game, and even being directly attacked by opponents, and it is not uncommon to send crosses from this side:

Walker is not as perverted as before, so the central defender on this side naturally needs to bear more pressure, and if he can't bear it, it will naturally be dangerous and conceding the ball.

As soon as this goal was lost, Manchester City was a little confused, and I didn't know whether to defend or attack when the game was about to end, so Guardiola did not change at this time, did not provide a clear signal, and the players could only act independently on the field, and in more than 10 minutes, there was only such a good attack:

If you want to accept it, Crystal Palace will naturally have the guts.

So in the 15 minutes after the goal, Hodgson sent on three substitutes to add energy, while Manchester City only replaced John Stones in injury time, which is a signal at this time, rather than a little delay.

So in the 92nd minute of this scramble, Crystal Palace started the ball on the right side and pressed on the left side, and finally created a penalty opportunity for themselves:

The penalty was awarded and the game ended in a draw.

So as we mentioned earlier in the defeat to Tottenham, Manchester City's current problems, the defense is the big one:

And it has something to do with the offense, but it's not as big as you think, because the team scored 40 goals in 17 games, and the average of 2.35 goals per game is about the same as last season, as for Haaland himself, 14 goals in 15 league games, his efficiency has remained roughly stable.

The core is still on the defensive end, but the simple defensive intensity is not enough.

Walker's age has become more and more apparent, and he is about to lose his grip on Ruben Díaz next to him.

In this case, Gvardiol had previously taken turns playing in the same position with Ake, and without Akanji today, the weaknesses in the defence were clearly apparent.

So if you want to solve the problem, it is actually not difficult, it depends on whether Guardiola has the determination and courage.