PEP GUARDIOLA’S new signings can make a Real difference in Madrid as Manchester City’s ‘mini Rodri’ and Omar Marmoush look ready to start.
It was a case of Marmoush? You can’t handle Marmoush… for Newcastle at the weekend.
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Here, Dean Scoggins from our brilliant Tactics Exposed show, explains how Pep destroyed Newcastle and what that means for the Champions League second leg on Wednesday.
HAALAND’S THE DECOY
Seems amazing – using the world’s best striker to be a decoy runner.
But that’s exactly what Guardiola did against Newcastle as Marmoush bagged a hat-trick.
Unselfish captain for the day Erling Haaland dragged Newcastle’s defence upfield and they kindly followed him to allow flying Egyptian Marmoush to run in behind for his first goal.
His third was more good work from Haaland – who cleverly took the defenders to the back post, allowing space in front of Marmoush for Savinho’s cross to find him.
Haaland may not have scored – but City hit four.
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MINI RODRI GLUES CITY TOGETHER
Nico Gonzalez gave a midfield masterclass that Rodri would be proud of, and Pep labelled him ‘mini Rodri’ after the game.
He’s not very mini at over 6ft and was dominant against a physical Toon.
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But it was his ability to read the game that was so impressive – he is almost one pass ahead of everyone else.
He read where the next Newcastle pass was going and was there to press or cut it out.
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Exactly 100 completed passes knitted City back together and kept them going forward against a stretched Newcastle.
EDERSON VOLLEYS
Another assist for City keeper Ederson showed his value, with that help from Haaland’s run.
But Ederson also hit some great passes out of his hands to the chests of the City widemen who maintained their width to stretch Newcastle sideways and loosen their grip on midfield.
The keeper also stepped into the defensive line to create an overload which meant Newcastle, who press 1v1, didn’t know whether to stick or twist.
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NOW A REAL CHALLENGE
City set up in attack with a 2-3-5 shape, with the right-back inverting into midfield to give them more dominance and Josko Gvardiol providing attacking width on the left.
But that often leaves them exposed defensively, as Real showed in the final ten minutes of the 3-2 defeat in the first leg.
With the emergence of Nico and Marmoush, who were both subs in the game, Pep could opt to make it a more 3-2-5 shape with Stones staying in defence from right-back to replace the injured Manuel Akanji.
Nico could be trusted to play the ‘2-in-1’ role that Rodri plays in attack and defence and it could be Kevin De Bruyne who misses out in attack to allow Marmoush to play in attack for direct balls with Haaland again.
But it’s a big call for a big game!
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