Guardiola upgrades Man City with attacking full-backs.
Guardiola pushes his full-backs high up the pitch and his wingers narrow: Man City create dominance in the center of the field and then quickly open up wide, as demonstrated against Bournemouth, Liverpool, and Dortmund.
Man City are operating a new attacking style under Pep Guardiola: full-backs push high to take control of the width, forwards narrow to create dominance in the center and switch extremely quickly to the flanks. The 2024/25 season wasn't perfect, but this idea helped them stabilize towards the end of the campaign and provided sharp examples against Bournemouth (3-1), Liverpool (3-0) and Borussia Dortmund (4-1).
New approach: two wing-backs push forward, striker positioned narrowly.
During the rebalancing phase, Guardiola often pushed both Matheus Nunes and Nico O'Reilly high up the pitch to control the width, while midfielders and forwards moved into the central flanks. Instead of the full-backs tucking inwards as before, this approach has become more frequent this season.
Flexibility is key: at times O'Reilly would surge down the left wing while Jeremy Doku drifted inwards, then they would switch seamlessly, as in the 3-0 win against Manchester United in September. When the opposition had to close down their defensive block, the two flanks would open up and City would change direction with just one pass.
Central dominance and wing play: a systematic approach.
Short passing triangles in the midfield helped City trap opposing defenders before switching to space further down the wing. In the 4-1 win against Borussia Dortmund, Phil Foden, Savinho, and Tijjani Reijnders completely neutralized the left flank of the opposing five-man defense. Waldemar Anton was drawn to Erling Haaland, leaving Julian Ryerson vulnerable to a two-on-one situation against O'Reilly and Doku.
O'Reilly pulled a player inside, creating space for Doku to run onto. Haaland played a one-two with O'Reilly to get the ball to Doku, but his subsequent shot went straight to the goalkeeper. The pattern remained clear: press tightly in midfield, open up the flanks, and deliver the decisive blow.
Before Bournemouth 3-1: O'Reilly finished from the left flank.
Doku's inward-facing position left right-back Alex Jimenez hesitant. Rayan Cherki found Foden between the lines; the number 47's turn forced Jimenez to defend from a tight angle, opening the way for the next pass out wide.
Foden passed to O'Reilly, who was pushing forward. The decisive detail came from Haaland's positioning: instead of pinning the defenders between the two centre-backs, he attacked the space beyond Bafode Diakite, stretching the structure and preventing the centre-back from leaving his position to press O'Reilly.
O'Reilly had the time and space to control the ball, scoring City's third goal. Manager Andoni Iraola admitted after the match: “They bring a lot of players into the box, especially against us; they don’t let their wingers stand wide. They draw you in and then exploit the space outside with their full-backs. Even if you defend tightly and don’t leave much space, Cherki and Foden can still play one-touch passes. We weren’t positioned too far back, but their passing was fantastic.”
Against Liverpool 3-0: Doku punishes the space.
City repeated the pattern with an early change of direction. When Savinho released the ball into the center for Nico Gonzalez, Conor Bradley was marking Doku near the center circle. Nico immediately switched to O'Reilly on the wing before Bradley could adjust.
Bradley was forced to rush out wide to stop O'Reilly, and the space immediately opened up for Doku to penetrate the center. The City left-back passed the ball to Doku; the distance to Ibrahima Konate was large enough for the Belgian to maneuver.
Doku broke away from Konate, opened up the angle, and curled the ball into the net. This is a prime example of the "narrowing the midfield – drawing defenders – changing direction – exploiting the flanks" strategy that City pursues.
Right wing and Nunes: speed creates errors.
It wasn't just O'Reilly who benefited from the new structure. In the 5-1 win against Burnley in September, Oscar Bobb cut inside to draw away the opposing wing-back, opening the way for Matheus Nunes to run onto. Although Nico opted for the safe option of passing the ball back to Doku before switching flanks, City still managed to maintain numerical dominance on the right wing.
Quilindschy Hartman was unable to fill the gap; Nunes' low cross forced Maxime Esteve to score an own goal. Speed and depth on the right wing provided additional attacking threat to the system.
Guardiola's perspective on the pitch and his message.
Following the 3-1 victory over Bournemouth, Guardiola spoke about empowering Doku: “Today I gave Jeremy Doku the freedom to go wide or cut inside. I said, ‘Jeremy, when you feel you need to go inside, go inside; when you want to go wide, go inside. When you’re on the wing, Nico and Phil can play inside.’”
Conversely, coach Andoni Iraola correctly identified City's "trap": concentrating players in the midfield to lure opponents into a trap and then launching a direct attack using the wingbacks.
Impact on the 2024/25 season
Guardiola admitted that last season left him with a difficult lesson, but from the chaos emerged a new tactical seed. Pushing the full-backs forward alongside the more compact attacking players is making City more flexible in possession and sharper in their transitions. When opponents are forced to retreat, City have more space to strike where they are least expected: the flanks.
