Man City could be in a little trouble this year with all of their injuries and losses. Man City managed to avenge their FA Community Shield defeat by winning the second “early season” trophy in the UEFA Super Cup 1-1 (5-4 on penalties) over Sevilla, yet the midfield woes they had in this game might come back to haunt them later in the year.
Will a lack of depth FINALLY haunt Man City for a season?
Manchester City reigned supreme in the first European trophy of the season as they beat Sevilla 1-1 (5-4 on penalties) to win the club’s first ever UEFA Super Cup trophy, yet Man City’s lack of depth and injury woes in the middle of the park really hampered their creativity and attack in this game. And, unless Pep figures something out or City spend big in the transfer window, the Citizens are REALLY going to struggle this season.
Okay, not to take anything away from Sevilla as they played really well and compact (as they always do in European Cup Finals), but the reason this game wasn’t 3-1 City or a larger scoreline was down to a single factor: no midfield creativity
. Man City bossed possession of the ball from the very first minute to the last as they finished the game with an astonishing 74% of the ball, while they also managed to rack up 23 shots on goal and complete 665 passes (89% passing accuracy) in 120+ minutes of football.
It’s not a real surprise that City, the single team in the last 7 years of world football who have defined their game with overwhelming possession, had nearly 3/4th of all ball possession in the game, yet what is the real surprise is how wasteful City were with their numerous attacks due to the lack of Kevin De Breyne, İlkay Gundogan, and Bernado Silva in the midfield.
With De Bruyne out for the next four or so months with a hamstring tear or something of such that needs surgery, Bernado Silva out for the game due to an illness, and İlkay Gundogan now playing for Barcelona after his free transfer, Man City just couldn’t break down Sevilla’s resolute backline of Marcos Acuna, Loic Balde, Nemanja Gudelj, Jesus Navas, and maybe the world’s most underrated goalkeeper in Yassine Bono.
Seriously, the guy’s fantastic and has been one of the sole reasons Sevilla won the 2020 Europa League, 2023 Europa League, and has finished in the Top-4 twice in his four-year spell at the club (with this season being the fourth).
Anyway, back to the UEFA Super Cup, Man City only got 30% of their total shots on net (7/23) to Sevilla’s 50% (4/8), they didn’t generate any meaningful chances from their 8 corners (Sevilla didn’t even get one), and they needed app. 30 passes for every shot they fired towards Bono’s net and nearly 100 for every shot they actually fired AT Bono.
I know City relies far more heavily on breaking down defenses through complicated, intricate passing schemes than most teams in the world, but needing 100 passes to just get a shot on target is a little extreme by even City’s standards.
I guarantee if City had one of the three midfielders I listed in their lineup last night, they would have scored at least one more goal as those three provide immeasurable goalscoring creativity (De Bruyne: picking put a killer pass; Silva: dribbling through defenders to create space; Gundogan: making runs from the midfield and through the defense to score goals) from the middle of the park.
And the loss of these three creative players nearly cost them the game as they went down earlier from a Youssef En-Nesyri header in the first half, and then they nearly went down 2-0 early in the second half when Lucas Ocampos broke through the City defense and squared the ball across the 18-yard box to a wide open En-Nesyri…who shot the ball straight at Ederson’s feet.
If he literally placed the ball anywhere apart from Ederson’s feet, he would have scored his second of the game and won the trophy for Sevilla. That’s how great of an opportunity it was.
And, when you don’t punish City, they end up scalping you as on the 62nd minute, Rodri dinked in a beautiful cross for Erling Haaland…who saw the ball sail over his head and land straight onto the noggin of Cole Palmer. It was the young City academy player, not the 50-goal scoring Erling Haaland, who lofted his header over Bono and into the far side of Sevilla’s goal to level the score 1-1 and give all the momentum back to City.
Though, before I get back to City, let me just praise how well City’s academy has progressed these last ten or so years as they’ve now put out some seriously gifted players in Phil Foden, Rico Lewis, and now Cole Palmer to bolster this side.
In years past, you would never have put City’s academy anywhere near the likes of Man United’s, Arsenal’s, Liverpool’s, Barcelona’s, Bayern Munich’s, Real Madrid’s, or AC Milan’s, yet I’d argue City has had far better results and outputs than all of those clubs combined. Foden, Lewis, and now Palmer have all contributed significantly to a Treble winning City side and have not looked out of place in Pep Guardiola’s system, which might be the biggest compliment I can give to these players.
Nevertheless, as for the result, En-Nesyri once again missed a golden opportunity to put Sevilla into the lead before City eventually dialed up the pressure and forced the Spanish heavyweight to bolster down and play for a penalty shootout.
And in the shootout, Kyle Walker squeezed through City’s 5th penalty past Bono to set up a “must-score” situation for Gudelj…but he rifled the ball off the crossbar to give City the win and the first step for the next milestone goal to reach: the quintuple (5 trophies).
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