⬇️ Man City's gloomy defense in transition🔴 Nuno's Forest His Master-Front runners🔶 how Agbadou improved the defense of wolves
Carlos Baleba had a late chance to win the game for Brighton away to Manchester City, but the ball bobbed, his shot balloon over the bar and it ended 2-2. But that escape still emphasized something that Pep Guardiola has pursued this season.
This home game against Brighton was the 19th Premier League match this season in which the city of Guardiola admitted a chance of a counterattack against them. This failure to control the transitions has fatally undermined their defending defense.
For context, this means that City has allowed a shot in more games than any other side in the competition – a more than both Ipswich and Leicester. And although it has been a theme of conversation in the city for some time, the scale of the problem is a new one.
Even with nine games of the remaining Premier League season, City has already allowed a shot in more competitions than ever before. It is a growing problem. But why? Rodri's absence in the middle of the field is of course a clear explanation.
However, there is more than that. Although the problem is structural, as evidenced by the space that Balba could exploit, and perhaps also a mentality problem, since he was able to run away from different city players, it is also a gloomy one-on-one defense.
Three seasons ago City won the ball back from a higher percentage one-on-one situations than any other Premier League team. Now they win the ball back from a lower percentage of those one-on-one situations than any other Premier League team.
It is a seismic shift, a weakness that was once a force, and one that is punished Guardiola time and time again. City was lucky to escape from that punishment against Brighton, but Baleba's chance illustrated some worries in this respect.
Danny Welbeck was able to lift Omar Marmoush. Abdukodir Khusanov was completely circumvented. Rico Lewis was not tight enough to influence Kaoru Mitoma. Nico Gonzalez could not catch Joao Pedro. Ruben Dias could not be employed.
This is a city team that is busy being rebuilt and major changes are for us. But unless Guardiola can find a way to improve the defense of the team, individually and collectively, their failure to manage the transitions will remain a problem.
Forest are the master leaders
Nottingham Forest came closer to Champions League qualification next season with a convincing victory over Ipswich. At first glance, their 4-2 victory was very different from the 1-0 defeat of Manchester City last weekend, but in fact there were remarkable similarities.
Nuno Espirito Santo mentioned the same starting line-up for both games and although Forest's three-target Blitz could suggest in the first half in Ipswich, both versions were built to keep it early-IS that a Nuno handles brand became.
Two -target hero Anthony Elanga summarized the plan: “We knew in the first 15 minutes here in Ipswich, they are really strong, so we wanted to see it and when we get the opportunities, break them and hurt them – and I think we have done it fantastic today.”
This was the first half of a clean sheet no. 20 for Forest in the Premier League this season and reached the interval without giving up more times than any other team. Nuno never wants to be the one who open a game and prefer to wait until the opposition offers gaps.
It is a popular strategy away from home, but Forest also does it for their own fans. They have only admitted one goal throughout the season in the first 45 minutes and are the only team that never lags behind during the break. Manchester City has left 12 in.
Even champion-elect Liverpool has admitted more goals than they have scored in the first 10 minutes of matches this season. Forest are different. No team has scored more opening goals in the first 30 minutes of matches – or the last 30 minutes.
In fact, 22 times this season, Forest scored the opening goal of the game, which is more than any other team. It does not always bring the victory – they did this in both games against Newcastle and lost every time – but it is the basis of their success.
Agbadou's aggression saved wolves
Wolves moved nine points free from the bottom three with the victory to Southampton on Saturday to illuminate the fear of relegation. Since they were five points of safety when Vitor Pereira was appointed in December, it was quite the turn.
It cannot be denied that Matheus Cunha de Ster was, but the victory at St. Mary's was won without him and it was the defense of Wolves, not their attack, which had to improve under Pereira. And it is the signing of Emmanuel Aggbadou who has been the key to there.
That was clear against Saints when Aggbadou won, which could be considered a routine head on the half line in the structure of the second goal of Jorgen Strand Larsen that turned out to be the winner. Simple? Maybe. But an example of the change.
Without the signing of January in the heart of the defense, such seemingly simple moments would have happened very differently. When Agbadou was injured and the recent defeat against Fulham missed, Rodrigo Muniz terrorized his replacement Santi Bueno.
Pereira wanted to see an more aggressive approach. The Portuguese were often seen for his defenders to get closer to their opponent and go in instead of putting down for their lack of pace. The popular Craig Dawson soon fell out of favor.
Aggbadou has brought speed and strength to the back line, but the most striking desire to win the ball. In fact, 27-year-old Ivory Coast International regularly wins possession in the defensive third party than any other Premier League player.
Together with the fit again Toti Gomes, the defense looks mean. Only Liverpool defeated wolves when the couple started. They left the door Ajar for the three promoted teams with their terrible start of the season. But the arrival of Agbadou seems to have closed it.
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