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As Manchester City continue their unrelenting quest of dominance, there is a style of play manager; Pep Guardiola owes a lot of thanks to. Of course it is not just the sole factor behind City’s 21 game winning run yet nonetheless has played a crucial role in it. “Juego de Posicion” is the term coined to describe a style of play so synonymous with the Rinus Michels sides of the 1970’s, Johan Cruyff’s dream team and Guardiola’s teams over the past decade. A lot of people are confused about this method of play. The key thing to remember is that a philosophy is simply “a way of thinking”, positional play therefore is merely just one way of understanding the wonderful chaos that is football. Guardiola is not bound to the idea out of sheer romanticism rather he believes this method of play gives his side the best chance of success. Contrary to the otherwise and throughout his time at Bayern Munich and now Manchester City, Guardiola and his staff have dispelled any myths that such a system is only tied to a fixed, rigid 4-3-3. The following article does not aim to be a definitive guide on positional play however it will highlight some of the key principles underlying the what and how Guardiola’s team have exerted their influence on the English footballing landscape through this philosophy.
THE WHAT
Positional Play consists of generating superiorities out of the defensive line against those who are pressing you. Everything is much easier when the first progression of the ball is clean.”
– Juan Manuel Lillo
Manchester City coach; Juan Lillo refers to positional play as an unrelenting pursuit of superiority. The idea being to generate superiority behind the next line of opponent pressure. Superiority not only can be derived numerically but also qualitatively and positionally. The best example of qualitative superiority would be freeing up Raheem Sterling on City’s left through the common overload and isolate move City regularly demonstrate on their right. Positional superiority can be gained from placing a player in a space brewing uncertainty among the opponents pressing structure. The most famous example here being Guardiola’s use of JoãoCancelo as an inverted right back to facilitate City’s build up structure and guard against counter attacks. However the most commonly used form of superiority is numerical. In possession City always look to create situations of advanced platforms where they overload the opposition by sheer numbers alone. How they occupy these spaces is best understood by the diagram of a football pitch below split into five vertical zones. The pitch presents Guardiola’s players with a firm framework as to where they ought to be positioned in relation to the ball. A general rule of thumb is that no two players should be positioned on the same vertical line while that no three players should be positioned across horizontally.
THE HOW
SPACING
“Our strength when we have the ball is everyone knows where their teammate is on the pitch and that helps us. Helps us to be more calm, use the process.”
– Pep Guardiola
“It is not the man who has the ball who decides where it is going next but the man without it”
– Johan Cruyff
Pep Guardiola constantly refers to football as being a question of space and how to use it. A key factor in City’s success lies in their ability to generate a free man in possession. How do you reverse engineer this? The preconditions for City in possession are that all eleven players must be evenly distributed throughout the pitch. Guardiola & Lillo have not only considered City’s shape in possession but also without the ball, their spacing on the pitch enables them to quickly transition from attack to defence. It is akin to the petals on a flower opening and closing, but how exactly do they achieve this? Regularly we see Ederson or the central defenders begin the play at the back, this depth allows City more space to play in their own half when circulating the ball. Gabriel Jesus or any of the false 9’s we have seen recently then provide the height pinning the opposition centre halves. If Jesus is not pinning the centre halves, you can be sure he is dynamically occupying space interchanging with members of the City front line. This depth and height stretches the verticality of City’s game enabling some of their diminutive playmakers in Phil Foden and Bernardo Silva to wreck havoc within the half spaces. Finally having width stretches the horizontal connections between the opponent’s defensive lines.
Establishing these positional preconditions enables City to circulate possession in a triangle or diamond like fashion. As discussed above once an opponent player “jumps” and vacates their position, City will advance possession by methods such a third man pass, rotation of position or a player moving into the defence/midfield to generate that free man. A terrific example was in last Tuesday’s clash versus Wolves. City showed great composure throughout in breaking down Wolves low block. Furthermore they exhibited all of the above preconditions in scoring their opening goal of the night.
Here we see Rodri in position. To his right looks the most obvious pass to Kyle Walker. Let me draw your attention to João Cancelo on the far left keeping the width. Then look at Jesus up front occupying two of Wolves three centre halves. This leaves their left back; Jonny in a precarious position, being doubled up on by Bernardo Silva and Riyad Mahrez. Furthermore as discussed City are occupying the five vertical channels as per Guardiola’s instructions.
As Bernardo offers himself towards the ball, Mahrez darts in behind to devastating effect sending a low fizzed ball across the corridor of uncertainty leaving Leander Dendoncker with no option but to deflect into his own net.
“PAUSA”
“We went back to our principles.....with the ball we were not good, every four passes we attack, attack, attack, everyone was so quick football needs to be played with some pausa, when you play high high rythym you cannot surprise the opponent.”
– Pep Guardiola
Pep Guardiola constantly references the 1-1 draw at home to West Bromwich Albion as the turning point in City’s season. He recently told Rio Ferdinand that after this game he informed friends he “did not like his team”, Guardiola said his players were running too much in possession, they simply needed to slow down, to bring some “pausa” to their game. In particular both this team and the side who lost 5-2 to Leicester in September were paltry imitations of the side who have since gone on to surge clear at the top of the Premier League. City are controlling games a lot better now than back then, matches against Leicester and Leeds this season resembled basketball games. Now City are a lot more controlled in possession, slowing down the game and guarding against dangerous moments in transition. In his role as pivot Rodri plays a huge role in dictating the tempo of City’s game. However it was the inclusion of the man to his left; Ilkay Gündoğan who missed that fatal day at home to Leicester which has restored a new level of calm to this City team. It is no coincidence that when Guardiola asked for “pausa”, it was the German who headed his instructions to a tee with 11 goals over 12 games.
It is important to note some players will interpret instructions differently within a system. Case in point being Ilkay Gündoğan v Kevin De Bruyne. Gündoğan is known to contain a lot more “pausa” in his play compared to the more direct De Bruyne. In a game of weighing risk versus reward, Gündoğan is more likely to play the extra pass than his Belgian teammate. He will frequently stand still while opponents begin to pressure him and abandon their defensive positioning. The knock on effect this has is that it will create holes in the opposition defence thereby freeing his City teammates. Gündoğan had his own interpretation of the position; “Maybe I was also interpreting the position in a way which allows me to make runs into the opponents box or trying to be in the right space at the right time”. It’s all about very responsible training so you get into a certain rhythm”. As David Silva’s time at City came to a close last season so did City’s ability to incorporate “pausa” into their play. The ability to organize your own team mates while destabilising the opposition, the “pausa” to wait for the right pass cannot be appreciated enough within this system of play.
Matias Manna (Lillo’s former assistant) once said “this type of midfielder’s principal objectives are to control the game and give the last pass.....by carrying the ball as little as possible and releasing it as quickly as possible...” Without Gündoğan; “the players who charge ahead quickly aren’t where they’re supposed to be when your team lose the ball, which is going to lead to a counter-attack for sure, leaving the defenders outnumbered”. Without sounding completely reductionist the omission of Bernardo and inclusion of De Bruyne in City’s XI versus United yesterday made for a more frenetic game than City would have hoped. Although De Bruyne may be guilty of the above in this game of risk versus reward he is more likely to produce the sublime. It’s not that one is necessarily better than the other, it’s more like “pausa” is a skill to be honed over time. Guardiola even said; “Our transitions with Kevin are much better — he is unique in the world. Without Kevin maybe we are calmer and have more ‘“pausa”, but it’s not that we want one way or the other, it’s the quality of the players we have.” Ilkay Gündoğan is simply the yin to Kevin De Bruyne’s yang, there is no reason why this Manchester City team cannot accommodate both in midfield.
OVERLOAD & ISOLATE
“Move the opponent, not the ball. Invite the opponent to press. You have the ball on one side, to finish on the other.”
– Pep Guardiola
A key reason why Pep Guardiola has been able to adapt and evolve has lied in his ability to add ideas from other sports to his arsenal. One arguably which has it’s roots in rugby is the principle to overload one side and attack on the isolated side. What’s more is that Gündoğan has typically shared a berth on the left side with Raheem Sterling. Gündoğan and Sterling may be getting the plaudits but is their output a mere consequence of the preconditions Guardiola’s side have in other areas of the pitch? A key feature of positional play under Pep’s City has been to overload one side and isolate another. This was particularly visible in the 17/18 & 18/19 seasons when the City left back, David Silva & Leroy Sane would overload the left flank leaving the opposition with a dilemma; do they shift across ball side and leave themselves vulnerable far side or do they hold their positions and let City play through them? An example here below being City’s away win at Watford in the 18/19 season. Here on the left we see Fabian Delph, David Silva, Leroy Sane & Gabriel Jesus overloading Watford’s right side.
Gabriel Jesus receives the ball on the left before delivering a low cross to an isolated Riyad Mahrez on the far post to finish.
This season that has evolved to the right hand side of City’s attack. João Cancelo, Bernardo Silva and Riyad Mahrez are quite the trio when combining down City’s right almost akin to a three man weave in basketball. At the start of City’s imperious run, we saw how teams simply did not know whether to stick or twist. Invariably Gündoğan and Sterling were able to regularly profit from some neat buildup play on the right. Here below against Everton, Walker, Bernardo and Mahrez are stationed on City’s right.
Through some neat intricate play and clever rotations City are able to manufacture a chance for Riyad Mahrez to shoot.
Having someone akin to Mahrez cutting in at pace on his preferred left foot against a stationary opponent is just one example of qualitative superiority which we spoke about earlier on. Although Mahrez shoots this time, often in other instances particular when City are deeper the ball would be played to the back post where an unmarked Raheem Sterling lies. Sterling has frequently found himself unmarked in this position this season and it will be no surprise should he break the 20 goal mark for the fourth consecutive season.
CONCLUSION
In his quest for longevity Guardiola has learned to evolve. He perhaps isn’t as dogmatic on team selection as he was between 2017-2019, instead now partly enforced by fixture complications to utilize a full roster. It speaks volumes that whoever comes into the first XI appears to seamlessly fit in. Although Guardiola was reluctant to rotate in previous months we have seen Kyle Walker, Aymeric Laporte, Kevin De Bruyne & Gabriel Jesus all slot back in to devastating effect. It is not just Pep Guardiola who utilizes this style of play. Chelsea’s Thomas Tuchel is a firm advocate as is Bayern Munich’s treble winning coach; Hansi Flick. Furthermore the success of Roberto De Zerbi at Sassualo has quashed theories that the success of incorporating a positional play system rests solely on the quantity of resources at your disposal.
The tactics may change from game to game or yearly but the principles remain the same. In “The Age of the Unthinkable” author Joshua Ramo compares team sports to those of complex systems. Going forward there is an added need to make users participants of such decentralized systems to elongate their life cycle. What’s ironic is that the latest adaptation to positional play is brought to us by a man who was at the forefront of a certain Johan Cruyff’s innovation in the early 90’s when he made Guardiola the single pivot in Barcelona’s dream team. It has been enjoyable and fascinating to watch the process of Guardiola handing over the baton of responsibility at various intervals to different players throughout his time in Spain, Germany and England. One would be naïve to think this is the last chapter of one man’s quest to perfect positional play.
RECOMMENDED RESOURCES
As already discussed this article is a mere quick run through of positional play and how City have incorporated it this season. There are far more comprehensive resources online to delve deeper into the topic. Some of which are the following;
Caño Football; https://twitter.com/CanoFootball?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor
Christian Dobrick; https://twitter.com/chrdob?lang=en
Donald McRae; https://www.theguardian.com/football/2021/mar/05/ilkay-gundogan-a-surgeon-wanted-to-put-a-big-screw-in-my-back (2021)
Joshua Ramo; The Age of the Unthinkable: Why the New World Disorder Constantly Surprises Us And What We Can Do About It (2009)
Lee Scott; Mastering the Premier League: The Tactical Concepts Behind Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City (2020)
Spielverlagerung; https://spielverlagerung.com/2014/12/25/juego-de-posicion-under-pep-guardiola/ (2014)
Yiannis Tsala; https://twitter.com/YiannisTsala
***All screenshots are courtesy of City TV.