Pep Guardiola must adapt at Manchester City again to deal with Europe's surprise package Monaco
Updated 21/02/2017 at 13:22 GMT
At the start of the season Manchester City would have jumped at the chance to face a knockout-stage opponent ranked in the fourth pool of teams in the Champions League. But the reality is a tricky last-16 meeting against a Monaco side who have gone from bottom seeds in their group to dark horses for the Champions League title - writes Tom Bennett.
Monaco’s dangerous style
The full-backs play like wingers, the wingers play like attacking midfielders … Both holding midfielders are intelligent, physically strong, they arrive to the box. It is a complete team.
That was how Man City boss Guardiola described Monaco ahead of Tuesday’s tie.
Attacking full-backs, creative players who drift, strength in midfield… ring any bells? The French side have more than a whiff of Tottenham about them – and as Spurs found out to their cost in the group stage, that isn’t the easiest to cope with.
But, unlike Mauricio Pochettino’s north Londoners, Monaco have shown that they are capable of significantly adapting their style for big games. In the decisive home game against Spurs the Ligue 1 leaders ran riot with an incredible display of attacking football, winning 2-1. But at Wembley, in the opening game of the group stage, the principality club sat deep, defended in numbers, and hit their English opponents with ruthlessly clinical counter-attacks, again to win 2-1.
It is that adaptability that will have most worried Guardiola as the City coach attempted to piece together a game-plan for the first leg.
The Monaco danger men
Radamel Falcao is happy again, playing in a system that suits him and banging in the goals. The Colombian has 19 in 25 games this season, that’s a goal every 77 minutes.
But the striker is far from the only threat in Monaco’s free-flowing attacking line.
Valere Germain and the exciting prospect Kylian Mbappe have also been racking up the goals this season, but it is midfielder Bernardo Silva who really pulls the strings.
Vincent Bregevin from the Eurosport French office told us this week:
He makes a huge difference with the ball, creating spaces in the defence, while he’s an inspired passer and has got a good instinct in front of goal. He showed it earlier in the season against Tottenham, and he’s up there with the best players in Ligue 1 this season. City, beware.
However, the parallels between Monaco and Spurs are never greater than when looking at the full-backs. Just as Kyle Walker and Danny Rose are the attacking linchpins of the Spurs side, full-backs Djibril Sidibe and Benjamin Mendy are vital to Monaco’s attacking structure.
The perfect modern full-backs, Sidibe and Mendy possess relentless energy, paired with the combination of an eye for a cross and solid defensive positioning. With both in their early to mid-20s it will be no surprise if both leave in big-money moves in the summer, but in the short-term they will pose a huge threat to a City side whose defensive capabilities in wide areas leaves a lot to be desired.
What is City’s best approach?
For all of Monaco’s threat, Manchester City are still the bookies’ clear favourites to win the first leg, which is hardly surprising when you look at the talent available to a manger of Guardiola’s pedigree.
But the outcome of Tuesday’s first leg will largely rely on the tactical approach that Pep opts for. Play his trademark passing out from the back style and City will be at risk of repeating the results against Tottenham (0-2) at White Hart Lane and Liverpool at Anfield (0-1) earlier in the season, where they were picked off with relative ease by teams capable of pressing with intensity.
On the evidence of City’s 2-2 draw with Spurs at the Etihad last month, Guardiola would be best advised to opt for similar tactics to those he used in that game, playing long and early to what essentially appointed to a four-man forward line.
City deserved to win that game against Spurs and succeeded in unsettling the Tottenham full-backs by playing their pacy wingers very high throughout. Using a similar approach against Monaco would theoretically make Sidibe and Mendy defend more than they are used to, simultaneously forcing the visiting attacking players to move away from the shape that has served them so well this season.
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