Team Focus: City Collapse Highlights Continued Reliance on Old Guard

The puncturing of Manchester City’s aura of invincibility has been remarkable. It’s not two weeks since they were cruising at the top of the Premier League with a 100% record and a lead of at least five points over the other realistic title challengers, and were 1-0 up against Juventus in the Champions League.

Then came Mario Mandzukic’s equaliser and, five minutes after that, Vincent Kompany limped off with a calf strain. Six minutes later, Alvaro Morata scored Juve’s winner. Since then City have beaten Sunderland in the League Cup - although that barely ranks as an achievement these days - and lost to West Ham and Tottenham in the league.

What was troubling at White Hart Lane on Saturday - and Manuel Pellegrini made no attempt to deny it – was the way City capitulated. Yes, they were unfortunate that Tottenham’s first and third goals weren’t ruled out for offside, but that didn’t excuse the insipid way City faced those set-backs. This was a team missing its spine: Joe
 Hart, David Silva and Kompany didn’t start, Yaya Toure struggled with a hamstring injury before going off early in the second half and Sergio Aguero is still apparently feeling the effects of a knee injury suffered against Crystal Palace, but that is no excuse for appearing so spineless.

It’s Kompany’s absence that perhaps is the biggest concern. He was initially named on the bench on Saturday but replaced by the 20 year old George Evans after apparently feeling unwell. In the 524 minutes he has played this season, City have conceded a single goal (and even that may have been after he suffered his calf problem); in the 286 minutes City have played without him they’ve let in eight.

Kompany began the season as though on a personal mission to put right the complacency that seemed to undermine City last year. Against West Brom and Chelsea he scored from corners, on both occasions seemingly because he had simply decided enough was enough and he needed to settle the game there and then. Against Juventus he induced an own goal from Giorgio Chiellini (probably by fouling him).

But defensively too, he’s been impressive. He has effected 1 offside per game, the fourth highest figure in the league (although his teammate Eliaquim Mangala is top of that particular metric on 1.2). He has made 0.8 blocks per game, more than any other City player and made 4.6 clearances per game, more than any City player other than Nicolas Otamendi, who has made 8.5.

Defensive stats, though, can be misleading, and require more context than stats at the other end of the pitch. The best defenders often defend simply by being in the right place. Otamendi hasn’t only made more clearances than Kompany but has also made more tackles and more interceptions, won more aerial duels and committed more fouls. Yet when he has been on the pitch City have conceded a goal every 36 
minutes.

Perhaps most significant in that regard is the fact that Otamendi has been dribbled past 1.5 times per game, more than any other City defender. Kompany has been dribbled past just 0.2 times in comparison. There are those who will swear Otamendi was the best defender in La Liga last season but he is a different type of defender to Kompany, shorter, but less mobile and more reliant on physical attributes (not that Kompany is exactly lacking in that regard).

With Otamendi and Mangala together, the centre of defence is slower and that means they have to sit deeper, which in turn has an impact on the positioning of the midfield. City are missing Kompany’s leadership, but his absence has also created tactical confusion – and that, of course hasn’t been helped by the other absentees. The fact remains, though, that for all the investment City have made over the past four years they remain reliant on the core group of players who inspired them to that first championship in 2011/12.

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