How Vieira found the right formation to take a winning hold on City

Guardiola suffers rare defeat after being out-thought by his potential successor

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola, right, and Crystal Palace manager Patrick Vieira on the touchline on Saturday. Photo: Hannah Mckay/Reuters

Ian Whittell

November 01 2021 02:30 AM

Tactics

It is not often Pep Guardiola finds his match in terms of tactical acumen, and even rarer that he is out-coached or out-thought, but that is what happened at the Etihad against Crystal Palace on Saturday.

Patrick Vieira opened the game in a fluid 4-2-3-1 formation, that switched to 4-3-3, but which crucially always had at least two holding midfielders – Cheikhou Kouyate and James McArthur – in situ.

In either system, the excellent Wilfried Zaha played as the central striker, relatively common under Vieira’s predecessor Roy Hodgson, which meant Palace won the battle of the “false nines”. City operate without a traditional centre-forward and Phil Foden took that job against Palace.

Otherwise, it was Guardiola’s tried-and-trusted 4-3-3 formation, with Rodri the only defensive-minded midfielder among the six forward-looking midfielders and attackers. It is a policy that puts added pressure on Guardiola’s centre-halves and, so far this season, the form of Aymeric Laporte and Ruben Dias has been good enough to cope with that stress.

Against Zaha, and the pacy and committed Palace forwards who hunted the ball in packs around him, Laporte, in particular, looked hurried and panicked, as he gave away the ball for the goal and then fouled Zaha for his red card.

The signings of defenders Marc Guehi and Joachim Andersen have given Palace two centre-halves who can cope with a high opposition press and use the ball constructively. The defensive solidity enshrined by Hodgson remains but, under Vieira, a better use of the ball and more dynamic approach is showcasing Palace’s attacking talents. “The difference now is that we keep the ball from the back and build and make our chances,” Zaha said. “We are exploiting our talent.”

Selection

Vieira gambled big in dropping Christian Benteke, who had scored in each of his previous two games, and selecting Zaha in the No 9 position. And how that gamble paid off.

“In the one versus one, Wilfried is a dangerous player and he can stretch the opposition team by running behind,” Vieira said. “It’s good to show to the players that we have an interesting team, and it’s important for them to understand that anybody can bring some things to the team.”

It takes a bold and intelligent manager such as Guardiola to adopt that sort of “horses for courses” team selection and get it right more often than not, and Vieira is already showing his ability. The recall of Kevin De Bruyne, in place of Ilkay Gundogan, was City’s only change, but the Belgian was oddly subdued and substituted before the hour while Jack Grealish has also seen his form under the spotlight. “Playing or rest is my decision because I know a lot of information,” Guardiola said.

“But our standards as a team, individually and collectively, are so high. We know how difficult it is to maintain it, but not just him. Riyad [Mahrez], Raheem [Sterling]... all the top players who help us win.”

Game management/motivation

The turning point was arguably the sending off of Laporte in first-half injury-time. Guardiola did not make a substitution at the time, playing with three instead of four at the back, until the hour, when he brought on John Stones, whose first touch led to Gabriel Jesus netting, only for the “goal” to be ruled out for offside.

The ineffective De Bruyne was sacrificed, Joao Cancelo pushed further upfield, and, with 12 minutes left, Mahrez and Sterling were also thrown on. Despite the embarrassment of attacking riches, City were not able to carve out many other threatening chances and Palace’s defensive organisation and commitment – plus the one-man advantage – kept them at bay. Palace’s “game management” – often a euphemism for “time-wasting” – began almost immediately after the opening goal, and the only surprise was how long it took ’keeper Vicente Guaita to be booked for doing it.

As gaps appeared in City’s defence, Benteke was brought on to try to hunt out a second goal, and provide a focal point for the under-pressure Palace players to hit up front, while Michael Olise was brought on to stretch City’s defence – as he did for the second goal.

Prospects

This could be a big 12 months for Vieira, who has long been talked about – even within the club – as a potential City manager. He cut his coaching teeth in City’s youth academy and at their Major League Soccer side New York City and all that is missing on his CV is some credible Premier League experience to make him a prime candidate to succeed Guardiola if, as expected, he leaves the club in 2023.

Early signs are promising for Vieira, although this was still only the second Premier League win of his career. For Guardiola, this was an unexpected setback, but recent history has thrown up countless examples of the City manager recovering from such a dip in form.