Manchester City may have played against Watford in the Carabao Cup last night, but there is still a big focus on the pulsating 2-2 draw with Arsenal.
Manchester City got back to winning ways at the Etihad Stadium last night, beating the Hornets 2-1.
It was a bit untidy at the end from City after Tom Ince had scored, but Pep Guardiola‘s side managed to get over the line.
Just 48 hours earlier, City had played against big Premier League rivals Arsenal.
John Stones scored a late equaliser for City, after a second-half of huge pressure on the 10-man Gunners following the sending off of Leandro Trossard.
This morning, pundits Alan Brazil and Dean Saunders questioned one thing Pep had City doing on Sunday.
Man City boss Pep Guardiola criticised for repetitive approach against Arsenal
In the second-half against Arsenal, City had to be very patient.
It was always going to be that they would sit in and defend given they had lost Trossard, and there was little to no attacking threat from them.
So City were invited to attack at every opportunity.
Fans were frustrated at times though, because the ball kept going from side to side on the edge of the area.
The likes of Ruben Dias and Manuel Akanji were picking the ball up very often, and this was something that surprised Sky Sports pundit Jamie Carragher, who felt Phil Foden should have been on the edge of the box.
This morning, talkSPORT pundits Brazil and Saunders questioned Pep for having City just play on the edge of the area, rather than attacking from out wide.
Brazil said: “When they were down to 10 men and there’s so much possession, I’m like ‘well someone beat someone on the outside, will someone get past the full-back, get to the byline and whip one over?’
“They come inside every single time, no one goes past the full-back.”
Saunders added: “Grealish kept coming in-field and the right winger kept coming in-field, so their full-backs come in tighter. So the back five, you could all dance with the five of them.
“You have to stretch them, so I was surprised that they never had people getting overlaps and cutting the ball back to the penalty spot.”
It’s the City way
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This criticism has been levelled at Pep by quite a few people since Sunday’s game.
But it should not have come as a surprise to anyone how City played in that second-half, as this is just how things have been for the longest time under the Spaniard.
City always work the ball across the opposition box, and rarely have players getting to the byline and standing the ball up to the back post. Even since Erling Haaland has joined.
It’s what Pep wants and although it can sometimes be frustrating, it is a proven method.
By playing inverted wingers as well, you are naturally going to have the ball coming inside, rather than those wingers taking their man on on the outside.
