Manchester City and Pep Guardiola don’t need chaos. In fact, it actively does. His pleasure is to inflict death through a thousand passes, protecting himself through possession retention, moving the ball to move his parties at war until a hole opens. Then comes the ball, relief and tap-in.
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Except, in the second half at Brentford last night, there was none of that.
Without its blue sky shirts, it would have been difficult to identify this visiting team as the city of Guardiola. The 2-2 draw threw many of the repeated disorders from more than 3 months: a vulnerable upper line, weaknesses that protect crosses and disorders that granted objectives in bursts.
Thomas Frank and his Brentford squad have a well-refined game plan against City. An initial 3-5-2 becomes a compact, counter-attacking 5-3-2 when they are in their own half, and they shift into a man-for-man pressing scheme. Often they have scored first, and early, in matches with City, which has facilitated them subsequently sitting back.
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That didn’t take place this time at GTech on Tuesday.
Tired setting after an hour and 2-2 full time. Brentford took a point with two targets in the final 10 minutes after a 12-minute Phil Foden splint that looked to have sealed 3 problems for the city.
Brentford’s shape (a 4-3-3) but its principles remained. They were competitive in the marking field of their men, combined their accumulation (some short passes to pass with a lot) and defended well in trios. Its rear back was widely left at the ends of the city, with the central fields and the ends guilty of tracking the races inside, providing central policies and preventing overloads.
City did very little with a lot of first-half possession: 301 passes produced only eight shots and a single big chance.
They tried to collect in the center of the field, passing through one of the two No. 6, then to bounce widely in the Akanji right Central Defender Manual, who can pass or drip forward. Sometimes, the two No. 6, Bernardo Silva and Mateo Kovacic, were deeply in structure and the city looked 4-2-4 with a quartet disconnected at the top.
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In the final third, the champions were tough and never generated anything close to a reduction. Savinho and Matheus Nunes featured width and crossing options, such as left and right feet on their grassy sides. Threats.
Six of their 10 outdoor players at the beginning were left -handed footprints, which made them a little unbalanced, specific with Foden and Bernardo in the partial space, from which the two sought to enter inside. The disappointing demonstration of the first part of the city joined in the part -time when Kevin de Bruyne, who had derived to the left, skip an attempt from Cruz so up that he hit the roof of the position.
City succeeded with a transfer to a direct technique in the opposite game of September, which won 2-1, and a part-time adjustment last night took a step forward.
The Pasalkeeper Stefan Ortega began to pass Haaland for a long time, which has an objective man, the circles of the city box that run beyond him. Bernardo and Kovacic began making cross clues in accumulation, to manipulate the Brentford brand.
Seven of the eight passes Ortega made to Haaland came after half-time, and there have been only two matches across all competitions since the latter joined City in summer 2022 where their goalkeeper has played long to the Norwegian striker more.
Brentford’s urgent game has traced its central Er Sepp van den Berg opposite to Haaland. He refused in touch, obviously aware of being turned and suspicious of the balls played in the back. He allowed Haaland to play several keys and gave De Bruyne and Foden time to go shopping.
The city needed some attempts to overcome it. In the first attempt, Haaland won the opposite shot to Van Den Berg and Foden ran, only to panic with two defenders when he recovered and passed Savinho to the left. The end tried to locate Foden with a hung cross but headed clearly.
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“Long balls we won and we could run, and in that moment we didn’t take the right decisions,” Guardiola said later. “Matheus in the first half, Savinho once or twice, Erling once or twice. Phil, with a bit more composure, would attack more the goalkeeper.”
Then, from Ortega’s fourth long pass of the second half, everything clicked and the entire front four were involved. Haaland held the ball up and set it for Savinho, with City’s wingers coming narrow from wide starting positions.
After a short dribble inside, Savinho hit an outside-of-the-foot pass to De Bruyne on the wing. The Belgium international took it on his back foot and sent in an early cross for Foden, who attacked between two Brentford defenders to glance home a far-post finish.
City’s second came from a long ball too, though this was much more of a clearance from Nunes after a throw-in downfield. Brentford’s right-back Mads Roerslev mistimed the bounce and Savinho won the ball. He dribbled straight towards goal and fired off an angled shot which ‘keeper Mark Flekken could only parry, allowing Foden to roll in the loose ball.
The game was transitory, with any of the groups, completely completing the attacks and referee Anthony Taylor remarkably indulgent: he only gave 8 faults throughout the game, and none of Brentford in the first half. An effective, but without a serpenitor, to create opportunities.
The challenge that the city continued to play for a long time and in transition after his two goals.
There is a time in 1-0 when, after receiving the long pass from Ortega and the turning point, Haaland tried to return to Foden, and the movement broke. In two passes, Brentford had a Tap opportunity at the other end. A bullet crossed the left of the city, Josko Gvardiol and Bryan Mbeumo, ran on her, dripping through Ortega while looking to sweep. Nathan Ake needed to save you Yane Wissa with the equalization of the Mbeumo pass.
“Of course, at 0-2 we have to close it, but to close it we don’t have specific players to defend a result in the box for a long amount of time,” said Guardiola. “We have to do it with the ball and have the ball and create and control there in the final third.”
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City ended with nine direct attacks (including seven at the time), its maximum in a Premier League game since the 2018-19 season. Options define them as possessions that begin in part of a team, with at least 50% movement ahead and ending with a blow/contact in the opposition box. From the moment there were 1-0, there were 3 movements of the city with 10 or more passes.
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Frank has beaten Guardiola twice before (home and away in City’s 2022-23 treble-winning season), and he hinted post-match last night that this draw might have completed his hat-trick if Brentford had scored first.
It is a sign of an authentic compliment, not the empty edition of IT Guardiola that gives the ambitious coaches and strikers whose groups beat comfortably, this city ended up playing such a game of its norm.
(Top photo: Ben Stansall/AFP Getty Images)