Three ways Man City could line up as they look to defend their Premier League title

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Manchester City head into the new Premier League seasons as defending champions.

In all their history, the Sky Blues have never retained the league title. They will be out to do just that in 2018/19, but they know it’s a huge challenge. After all, no one has retained the Premier League since Manchester United won three in a row between 2007 and 2009. Moreover, the last three title-winning managers have gone on to be sacked the very next season.

Worse still, Guardiola missed out on the key transfer target of a defensive midfielder, only bringing Riyad Mahrez into the fold as some wing depth.

With all of these ‘issues’ working against them, just how will City approach what could be a defining season for their status as an elite side? How could Pep Guardiola set his side out to take advantage of what he has?

We’ve taken a look and come up with three ways City could line-up this season!

Man City 2018/19 line-up No.1: Ain’t Broke

The old saying “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” applies here.

City’s system very much isn’t broken as it allowed them to steamroller the Premier League last season, posting records in points, wins and goals scored. So why change this year?

Ederson is in goal, with Kyle Walker out on the right. In the middle of defence, City rotated amongst all four of their centre-backs but this season should see John Stones and Aymeric Laporte establish themselves as the main duo; the pair have everything Guardiola could want from his centre-backs.

Fernandinho anchors, providing a steady link between defence and midfield allowing Kevin De Bruyne and David Silva to dominate as “free 8’s” – this midfield trio dominated so many opponents last season and provided great service for a talented young front line.

Raheem Sterling and Leroy Sané flank Gabriel Jesus, who gets the nod over Sergio Aguero because his interplay and positional intelligence makes him a better fit for Guardiola’s system. Sterling and Sané were two of the most complete forwards last season and both will hope to build on that (especially with Riyad Mahrez in the wings ready to take their spot).

The only major change between this XI and last season’s is that Benjamin Mendy, fit again after being sidelined for the vast majority of 2017/18, returns at left-back. Mendy is an absolute freight train of a full-back whose barn-storming runs and impeccable low crossing will make him a game-changing presence.

Man City 2018/19 line-up No.2: Shark Attack

Every team needs a change-up, especially when trying to defend a league title.

Guardiola was always evolving his previous title-winning sides, so you can expect to see 3-5-2 emerge as a viable alternative for City this year. Again Ederson keeps goal, because, honestly, Claudio Bravo is just a less good version of him.

City have three great centre-backs (four when Kompany is fit) so spread them across the defence. Otamendi and Laporte, being the more athletic ones, take up the wide spots with John Stones the controller in the middle. This trio would play wide, strung across the pitch, thus reducing the temptation for a back three to become a back five.

In midfield, Ilkay Gundogan anchors things. The German is a more athletic and offensive presence than Fernandinho, so makes more sense with three defenders. De Bruyne and Silva are once again the free 8’s, except this time they are flanked directly by Kyle Walker and Benjamin Mendy; the fitness of the latter is directly linked to how often this system is deployed. Unleashed as wing-backs, these two will focus almost solely on providing deadly width in the final third.

In attack, City will pair their two formidable frontmen: Jesus and Aguero. The pair showed last season that they can dovetail well if given the chance, and this system would allow them to do that.

The entire formation would give them vertical and horizontal freedom to find space and hurt opponents with their prolific goalscoring.

Man City 2018/19 line-up No.3: Mad Scientist

Pep Guardiola is something of a tactical mad scientist, and he loves to experiment. This XI has a group of them in one team, and whilst they may not all be deployed at the same time they are indications of where his team is going, or may go in the future.

Obviously, Ederson is in goal and Walker at right-back, because come on.

Kompany and Otamendi is a rugged centre-back partnership that would offer more protection against aerial bombardment and crosses should City be subjected to such tactics outside of their two games against Manchester United. At left-back, Fabian Delph resumes his role as a quasi-underlapping false full-back, providing cover in the middle of the pitch.

City’s failure to sign a defensive midfielder has led Pep Guardiola to speculate that he could use John Stones there in a pinch. The Englishman is a magnificent footballer, so it’s easy to see how he could adapt there. Ahead of him would be Phil Foden and Bernardo Silva, two brilliant back-ups for the “free 8” spots.

They can play well together as we saw in the Community Shield win over Chelsea, and individually are ready to break out and provide depth. Bernardo Silva, in particular, should see considerable minutes as City look to give David Silva more rest.

In attack, we move Raheem Sterling to false nine. This may not happen this year, but at some point soon we expect that Sterling will see major minutes at this key role as part of City’s next evolution (probably once he becomes more reliable in front of goal).

Flanking him would be Sané, obviously, but also new signing Riyad Mahrez. The awesome Algerian is a dazzling winger in his own right and his presence is the reason Pep could afford to move Sterling centrally if he wanted to.

He just has to move ahead of Sergio Aguero and Gabriel Jesus in the pecking order. Scary.

The post Three ways Man City could line up as they look to defend their Premier League title appeared first on Squawka News.



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