There is never a good time to make a point that nobody wants to hear, especially when it comes to Manchester City’s resources, but perhaps after the defeat at Wolves, we should point out that the treble winners might have, for once, run out of options.
Nobody will get the violins out but, contrary to popular belief, City have the smallest squad in the Premier League. Look at the numbers: they have 20 senior players registered.
City fans have been happy to point out their team’s limited numbers since the prevailing opinion is that they have “two players per position” or the “deepest squad in the country”.
Quality, yes, they have that in abundance. But numbers? Not so much.
One thing that might come as news to some City supporters is that Pep Guardiola does not want it any other way.
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Even on Friday as he complained about the number of fixtures in the football calendar and the compressed recovery time between games and entire seasons, he did not feel adding more players to his squad would ever be the solution.
“No, no, no,” he interjected as the suggestion was put to him.
“It’s not sustainable for the club. People say, ‘You have 18, 19, 20 players, and you have six injuries, so you should have a longer squad’, but what happens after that when you don’t have injuries and you have 25 players? How can I handle and manage just 11 guys playing and 14 not playing in a long, long time? I don’t want to be a manager. I prefer that situation (with a smaller squad).
“It’s a risk, but OK, it’s more sustainable for the club because every player is a transfer fee, salaries, whatever, and that’s why when you recruit them you have to say, ‘This guy can play three or four positions’.
“Bernardo Silva can play in two or three positions, Phil Foden can play in two, three, four positions, Julian Alvarez as well, Oscar Bobb can play in different positions, so you don’t need extra.
“People say, ‘You have two players for every position’. I do not agree because to be effective, you need a regular starting XI and then make two or three changes. When you make six or seven rotations in a week it doesn’t work well.”
It is about squad harmony — keeping players happy when not playing — and City’s approach to the transfer market, which is to spend money when they think it is right, sometimes a lot of it, but not frivolously.
It is why they decided to sign Matheus Nunes from Wolves instead of Michael Olise from Crystal Palace, rather than both of them (and because Wolves were likely to demand less for Nunes than for Palace for Olise).
Matheus Nunes up against some of his former team-mates (Robbie Jay Barratt – AMA/Getty Images)
Guardiola’s argument about his players’ flexibility is evident. He listed a few examples there but in reality, Ruben Dias, Jack Grealish and Erling Haaland are the only outfielders who have not been asked to play in more than one area of the pitch.
The rest of City’s squad have shown their versatility, and thanks to their quality and Guardiola’s coaching, it means City have come up with solutions to a vast array of problems already this season.
John Stones has not played a minute, Kevin De Bruyne has played 23 league minutes, Bernardo has been in and out (currently out), Grealish has missed games and Mateo Kovacic has just returned from injury, and Ilkay Gundogan and Riyad Mahrez left altogether.
Those absences weigh heavily but they have also ushered in a different way of playing this season: the passers are missing, the dribblers are in.
“If you have David Silva or maybe Ilkay or Rico Lewis in the middle, or Riyad or Jack on the wings, then it’s more passes,” Guardiola says. “When you have Phil and especially Julian, or Kevin when he was there, our game was quicker,”
He acknowledged that he wants the shift in approach that Nunes, Kovacic and particularly Jeremy Doku represent, and City have managed to find the kind of balance that Guardiola likes to have despite that change.
“I like it but when you lose the ball and concede the counter-attack, you think, ‘Ah (we need) the extra pass’,” he said a week ago and it would be no surprise if he thought exactly that on Saturday evening.
Guardiola explained well before the Wolves game that he likes to play Foden and Alvarez close to Haaland because it gives them a goal threat, and added: “If I wanted more control I would put more players like Kovacic in attacking midfield, or Rico in that position, so maybe we would have more control and less runners in the final third, it depends of the quality.”
Julian Alvarez scoring City’s goal against Wolves (Daniel Chesterton/Offside/Offside via Getty Images)
On Saturday, in what turned into a cauldron at Molineux, those options finally seemed to run out.
In fairness, Lewis was on the bench and was an option, but Guardiola resorted to solutions that he had never used and, in reality, would never normally have done so.
He brought on the 20-year-old Bobb in an inside position at half-time (his previous Premier League minutes have come in stoppage time) and with Kovacic on a yellow card and giving the ball away often, it was Kalvin Phillips, whose struggles are well-documented, who came on as City’s sole holding midfielder.
Guardiola has said twice in the past week that Phillips is not the man he needs “when everything has to be perfect” and yet there he was in a game that was far from under control. He tried to keep things simple but the issue was that the others around him, City’s centre-backs, were doing that too.
Maybe it is the obvious reaction to a shock defeat but perhaps this was the day that they did in fact miss Rodri’s (usually) cool head and ability to spot a pass in midfield, and Stones’ contribution in possession at the back and alongside him.
“Rodri missing was a big plus,” Wolves boss Gary O’Neill said afterwards. “Rodri makes that team tick a lot better and when he’s the pivot it’s a lot more difficult to stop.”
“When they defend that well, Kovacic and Ruben have to attack the opponents’ central defenders and we didn’t do it, that is why it was more difficult,” Guardiola said, explaining his side’s big tactical issue on the day. Together, these problems meant they registered their lowest expected goals figure on the season, showing how they struggled to create chances.
Wolves defended very well, they scored with their few attempts on goal and the rare ones that City had were swatted away under the crossbar by the impressive Craig Dawson. These things happen.
Guardiola’s City remain unmatched in their ability to make countless tweaks and come up with the right answers, and they have looked excellent with their new, quicker approach.
Perhaps a lack of depth was not their biggest issue in a thunderous game but if there was ever a time to note it, it was this one.
(Top photo: Michael Regan/Getty Images)
