Some statistics last November indicated that the team passes an average of more than 5 times for consecutive passes that exceed 20 passes during the match (which is the largest rate for any team since the beginning of Opta in recording statistics), and even 55% of the team’s total possession was in their offensive third Which confirms that the idea of ​​possession of the ball for Guardiola is not only in order to protect it without a threat to the opponent's goal.

However, Guardiola always finds that he changes the game plan (tactic and style of play) according to the opponent and what he deems appropriate to confront him, which is what happened in the confrontations of big teams that have great coaches such as Manchester United, Tottenham and Shakhtar, where he pressured the opponent from the start and always provided intensity in the last third .

Building play and moving to the second and third phases of the attack:

Guardiola's teams are known for adopting the process of building from the back and gradient with the ball until reaching the last third of the field. Yes, Pep has instilled his ideas in the players since last season, but the team has significantly improved in understanding those principles and ideas this season.

We also made it clear that the season began with 3-1-4-2 with a back three moving in front of them, Fernandinho, while the wingers Walker and Mendy advance to the far edges of the field in attack to be on one cross line with the duo Kevin De Bruyne and David Silva behind the attacking duo Gabriel Jesus and Sergo Aguero, and indeed when using that The method did not defeat the team, but on the other hand, the possession was not as good as Pep is looking for, there are some problems, such as the presence of a large number of players behind the ball when possessing it (the defense trio + Fernandinho), but the worst thing was the importance of Fernandinho's center being the only one responsible for The process of linking and gradient with the ball is the one who receives from the defense players to pass to one of the four in front of him, but Fernandinho was not the ideal element to provide that role, but was very close to the defense players and most of his passes were for them.

It was also easy for any opponent with a compact defense to end the danger of the two front lines of City, with a four-man behind a duo in a four-way confrontation, and a four-way behind him closing all spaces and opportunities.

In some cases, the two offensive lines of the team even merged. Instead of a quadruple behind an offensive duo, there was one offensive line consisting of 6 players, which reduced the chances and options for forward passing for the defensive players.

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