The Genius Tactical Change That Won Man City The Premier League
Arsenal forced Manchester City to go to the final day, but Pep Guardiola's side were ahead within 3 minutes and never looked back. But as a fourth Premier League title heads to the Etihad, one player in a squad of superstars shone above all others. Phil Foden, finally trusted in the most important part of the pitch, has dragged City through a difficult season. Adam Clery looks at why his goal against West Ham was the perfect summation of his incredible season.
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00:00 Hello, Bonjour, Howdy Partners, What's Left of Adam Clear here for 442 and that's it,
00:08 it's finished, it's over, the Premier League season has come to an end and Manchester City
00:13 have won a fourth in a row.
00:16 Now on the one hand, winning any Premier League title is an incredible defeat, it's an ever
00:22 changing, ever evolving, dynamic, complex, nuanced thing that it is simply impossible
00:28 to credit one player alone with achieving.
00:32 But also, on the other hand...
00:34 Okay so just a few things before we get started here, obviously Phil Foden didn't single handedly
00:41 win Man City the title, we're going to get into a couple of things here, I just think
00:44 he and he alone really neatly encapsulates the journey they've been on and also I thought
00:48 that was a really good title and also...
00:51 Have you seen the state of me?
00:52 I was literally in New York City like 10 hours ago or something, we were doing some filming
00:57 with New York City FC, part of the City Group so that's nice, isn't it?
01:01 We got straight on a plane, flown back, come to the office because the Premier League's
01:04 finished and what option have I got?
01:07 So just, if this is the worst, most incoherent, babbling, tired video you've ever seen me
01:13 make that's why.
01:15 And also I've just realised this has blue in it so it's going to be going mad with the
01:18 blue screen background but just to be completely frank with you, the club gave me this on the
01:23 day we left and it is thus the only clean thing I have.
01:27 So don't worry about it.
01:29 Okay, so yes, Manchester City, they won the league yesterday, Arsenal ran them right to
01:34 the wire, they pushed them as far as they possibly could but this XI set up against
01:38 West Ham United and got the job done.
01:41 And while it maybe got a little bit nervy towards the end, I'm sure some bums were twitching
01:45 when that West Ham second goal went in and then didn't, the actual nerves of the day
01:50 were gotten rid of almost immediately by Phil Foden and that is just so, so fitting based
01:57 on the season he's had and the journey he's gone through in this squad.
02:02 Because let me just cast your mind back to this time last year.
02:06 Phil Foden does not start in the Champions League final for Manchester City and I know
02:11 we sometimes talk about Pep overthinking these things and playing with the XI in big games,
02:16 he did not do that, he learned his lesson and ergo, Phil Foden was not in his best XI
02:23 this time last season.
02:24 Now, I, as I'm sure you did as well, saw the departure of Ilkay Gundogan last summer and
02:28 thought oh well that opens that central berth for Phil Foden to play in.
02:33 But come the start of this very season, Man City go away to Burnley and this is the XI.
02:40 Pep sticks Julian Alvarez in the centre alongside Kevin De Bruyne and Foden is stuck out on
02:47 the left.
02:48 This is his heat map from that match.
02:50 They lost Kevin De Bruyne in the first half, there was a big creativity vacuum and still
02:55 Pep made him hold the width of the team.
02:58 Very rarely allowed him to move into that central area.
03:02 Also as a total aside, do you want to see something absolutely insane from that Burnley
03:06 game?
03:07 He's subbed Harland off in the 80th minute for this man.
03:12 Like just as a show of hands, did anybody else not realise the Palmer didn't play the
03:16 full season for Chelsea this year?
03:19 He actually had a few games for City right at the start because that passed me by.
03:24 But I digress, right Kevin De Bruyne, he gets that injury at the start of the season and
03:27 yet astoundingly Foden is still forced to play either on the left or the right and pundits
03:33 across the land cannot help themselves but suggest that maybe Cole Palmer's form at Chelsea
03:39 shows that Foden himself should have left Man City.
03:43 And for the rest of 2023 it all kind of gets a little bit weird for Man City.
03:48 Harland starts to go off the boil a bit and they can't quite make it work without De Bruyne
03:52 and they go on some really un-City like runs of form.
03:56 They have back to back defeats against Wolves and Arsenal in September and October.
04:01 And then, and this is something you really do have to remind yourself of when you look
04:04 at the run they went on at the end of the season, between November and the start of
04:08 December they get one win in six and it's against Luton.
04:13 After a two-all draw at home to Crystal Palace they sit fourth in the table and Pep once
04:19 again goes back to the drawing board and this time finally puts all of his trust and all
04:25 of his faith in Phil Foden as a central attacking threat.
04:30 Starting with that aforementioned win against Luton, Phil Foden moves into the number 10
04:34 role in a sort of 4-2-3-1.
04:37 Obviously it was very Pep, you had another midfielder who would push up and then the
04:40 defence would all sort of get in the middle as well.
04:43 But Foden regardless was here, right in the middle during all of these games and from
04:47 that game onwards they did not lose a single match in the Premier League.
04:54 Now obviously this is a Pep Guardiola side isn't it?
04:58 So you can't just say "Oh Foden was in the middle now for the rest of the season"
05:01 and that was that.
05:02 Birds chirped in trees, it rained candy and everyone was happy forever.
05:07 De Bruyne got back in so he got shuffled out to the left, he got shuffled out to the right,
05:10 he did move around his starting position but the difference was how he was now used.
05:15 So to show you what I mean by that, this is that heat map from that first game against
05:19 Burnley again when he was used out on the left.
05:22 You can see Guardiola wants him to hold the width, to stretch the defence, do all of his
05:26 work out here.
05:27 But then just a few short weeks ago with Alvarez still in the side, with De Bruyne still in
05:31 the side, he fielded Foden out on the left hand side and this time this is his heat map.
05:37 And you can see the difference straight away, like yes his starting position is here and
05:40 there are times when he is going to be stretching the defence but he's now trusted, he is now
05:44 instructed to get into these busy central areas where he can do really, really damage-y.
05:52 Brains already gone here.
05:54 Damage.
05:55 Really, really damage-s.
05:57 Wait no, hang on, did I say this was the Aston Villa game or the Brighton game?
06:01 Because this is the Brighton game where they went away and he scored twice, not the Aston
06:04 Villa game.
06:05 That was something else entirely.
06:06 No, I didn't sleep very well on the plane, why do you ask?
06:10 But anyway, the question this invites is like, why now?
06:14 Why did Pep suddenly trust him in that central area of the pitch when he seemed so reluctant
06:19 to throughout his entire previous City career?
06:22 Because don't get me wrong, Foden has played right in the middle for City before but he
06:26 never does it for a long run of games.
06:28 He does it sort of situation-y or where he's the best fit is what I was trying to say.
06:36 And there are like three answers to that.
06:39 The first one is the form was bad and City weren't really clicking and he had to try
06:42 something and Foden probably deserved that shot so that's the easy answer.
06:46 The second is he managed to do something clever with Guardiol which allowed him to sort of
06:51 have that sort of stability on that side and let him move in.
06:53 We'll talk about that in a second.
06:55 But the third one, the most important one, is that Foden massively improved a very particular
07:01 part of his game over the last 12 months and that's now been rewarded.
07:05 And that stat specifically is his chance conversion.
07:09 Now these are his shooting numbers from two seasons ago and these are his shooting numbers
07:15 from this season.
07:16 Now the obvious part of this is just the numbers game.
07:19 Like he's playing in a more central area, he's getting more chances so obviously these
07:22 stats are gonna go up.
07:23 It's just proximity to the goal.
07:25 What should be absolutely leaping off the screen at you is these two bottom bars here.
07:30 Now this is a stat that even though it's XG based and a lot of people would rather hoist
07:34 themselves into a threshing machine and talk about XG, I actually really like because it
07:37 does bear out in the eye test as well when you watch him.
07:41 This is goals minus XG.
07:43 So the big nerdy part where it sums up how good his chances are but then actually factors
07:48 in with what's happening in real life.
07:50 And if you get a positive number out of this, it basically says boy oh boy, you can finish.
07:56 And two years ago Foden was just pretty much absolutely bang on the average.
08:00 You give him a chance that's supposedly worth like .8 XG, he'll score that eight times out
08:05 of ten.
08:06 You give him a really low chance, he won't score it that often.
08:09 But this season, those numbers have skyrocketed to the very top of the league.
08:14 Getting a plus .27 score in this category when just two seasons ago he had like minus
08:20 0.02 is a huge, huge improvement in his ability to finish hard chances.
08:26 And this is why that first goal against West Ham that just sorted out all the nerves and
08:30 put them on their way to winning that title is such a perfect encapsulation of the season
08:35 he's had in this new role because he's almost got this trademark goal now of receive ball
08:41 in tight area, push it away from a defender, let it go early and accurately and score.
08:47 He's got this absolute pinger in his locker now.
08:50 And there he is, he is bang in the center of the action.
08:53 He's not stuck out wide trying to stretch West Ham across the pitch.
08:56 He is demanding the ball despite being in probably the worst position to receive it.
09:01 James Ward-Prouse even reads that this is where the ball is going to go.
09:05 He is on his way to Foden before the passes and yet just somehow with that one touch,
09:11 he takes him completely out of the equation, pushes it slightly far ahead of himself and
09:16 then lets it go.
09:17 And we have seen this exact goal more than a couple of times this season.
09:21 Like he loves to get the ball in this area.
09:23 Look here he is getting the ball in this area, moving in field and then letting it go.
09:29 And this is why this is all about trust from Guardiola because he famously does not like
09:34 his players to shoot from range.
09:37 To him that's just like giving the ball back to the opposition and there is no way Foden
09:42 would feel comfortable or confident repeatedly doing this unless there was an instruction
09:47 from a manager.
09:48 Like yes, I hate long shots, I think they're a waste of time, but you sir, you son, you've
09:53 got that about you.
09:54 Look here's another one of these that I just absolutely loved this season.
09:58 Once the ball receives it, little touch into space and then wham, top corner.
10:03 And even though it took him like half the season to get this integral to everything
10:06 Man City are doing, Opta just put this graph up this morning showing like attacking move
10:12 involvements.
10:13 Nobody in the Premier League this season was involved in more than Phil Foden.
10:24 And yeah, alright, you might be sitting there going, well, of course he's in a graph like
10:27 that.
10:28 He plays for Manchester City.
10:29 He's probably in it every single year.
10:31 And no, he wasn't in that graph last year or the year before.
10:35 And the reason for that is, well, look at this.
10:38 Across all competitions this season, Phil Foden is two episodes of friends away from
10:45 being Man City's most used player.
10:48 Last season, and this will shock you because it shocked me, he was their 14th most used
10:54 player.
10:55 And going back to that thing I said about Guardiola helping with this, like part of
10:58 the reason Foden found himself stuck out wide was because Man City's system always needs
11:03 somebody to be out wide.
11:05 And it was kind of bad luck on Foden's part that he was able to do that role.
11:09 But now that he was moving into the centre, he found a way to fix that.
11:12 Didn't really bear out too much in the West Ham game because they had Doku starting on
11:15 that side.
11:16 But if we rewind to like the Buller match where we had Foden on the left, you can see,
11:20 and this is Guardiola's map, how he is sort of encouraged to get up the left hand side,
11:25 be that bull carrier he was born to be and get into this area.
11:29 And lo and behold, if we look at the average positions on this, Guardiola compared to the
11:33 rest of the back four, and where Phil Foden is, you can sort of see that little mechanism
11:38 they've got where one pushes forward and one swings inside.
11:41 I was actually really gutted I couldn't do a video on this game specifically because
11:45 the way these two worked was brilliant.
11:47 Like Foden kept drawing out both Paolini and the defenders into that area by moving out
11:52 from the left, which allowed Guardiola to get his run in and get those goals.
11:56 Like it was absolute perfect play from the pair of them working in harmony.
12:00 And that basically is how Pep Guardiola simultaneously solved the Phil Foden conundrum and, you know,
12:06 completed the non-trivial challenge of winning a fourth consecutive Premier League title.
12:10 After seemingly years of me, you and everybody else saying he needs to put his faith in that
12:14 player in that position, he finally did it and found a way to tweak the system to give
12:19 him the best possible chance of succeeding.
12:22 So if I can find a picture of the pair of them shaking hands, I'm going to put it on
12:26 screen now because well done the both of you.
12:28 And I mean, can we just have another look at Man City's run form from when he made that
12:34 change with Foden against Luton all the way to the end of the season.
12:38 Like I don't ever want to hear anybody telling me that Arsenal somehow bottled this league.
12:42 This is just like an absolutely imperious title closing out performance from Manchester
12:50 City.
12:51 I know they've not had the hype this year.
12:53 Like I even know we've not done that many videos on them because I haven't felt that
12:56 tactically interesting as much as they were last year.
12:59 And maybe Harlan's gone off the boil a bit.
13:02 Maybe Pep needs to retire or leave Man City at the end of the season.
13:06 That's unbelievable, unbelievable form across a Premier League season.
13:11 Like this city side is as good and as worthy of this title as any, any of them.
13:18 And I know I said I was going to do a big thing about Rodri in this, but honestly, I'm
13:22 so tired.
13:24 I just, I can't bring myself to spend another 15 minutes talking about something.
13:29 So look, here is stats from FB Ref.
13:32 What do you need me to say?
13:33 Like, if you've got, if that's the guy who was your sitting midfielder in a possession
13:36 heavy side, of course, you're never going to lose a game of football.
13:39 He's the best midfielder in the world, like playing it forward and just making sure things
13:46 happen.
13:47 And he was sort of, when they were having their wobble at the start of the season, he
13:49 kept it all together.
13:50 That was going to be the gist of what I was going to say, right?
13:53 If you're a Man City fan and you would like to know more about Rodri, if you'd really
13:57 like to see a pure Rodri video, tell me in the comments.
14:01 And when I have had a hot meal and my own bed, I will make it.
14:05 I promise.
14:06 Anyway, that is quite enough for me, I think.
14:09 So please do let us know what you make of this video of Man City's season as a whole,
14:13 of Phil Foden's performances, who else in this team deserves recognition?
14:17 Please get it all in the comments below.
14:19 Man City fans, you should be celebrating.
14:21 And what better place is there to celebrate than YouTube?
14:24 Speaking of which, if you have enjoyed this video, then congratulations on your incredibly
14:28 low bar, but please do consider subscribing to us here on 442.
14:31 Obviously there will be more videos and there will be better videos.
14:35 The Euros is coming up as well.
14:37 So we'll be covering the hell out of that.
14:39 The latest edition of the magazine, the Euros cover is available now.
14:42 Whenever you buy your magazine, that's not really any of my business.
14:45 You can get me on social media at Adam Cleary, C-L-E-R-Y.
14:49 I've probably put it on screen now.
14:50 In the 442 videos, the socials are in the corner of the video.
14:54 That's what I meant to say.
14:57 I mean, I'm not moaning.
15:00 I'm not looking for a medal.
15:01 I've had a very, very nice time, but it just gets you, doesn't it?
15:05 It just gets you in the end.
15:07 Goodbye.