TA: Leverkusen’s formation changes have yielded results, but Manchester City’s defense on both wings is full of loopholes

Hupu News, November 26, In the just-concluded Champions League, Leverkusen, an impressive team, defeated Manchester City, who was in poor form, with a score of 2-0, their first defeat in the Champions League this season, and narrowed the point gap with their opponents to two points.

The visiting team opened the scoring early with Grimaldo. The Spaniard broke through the door of Trafford, who was making his Champions League debut, with one touch. The adjusted Manchester City lineup created few chances. The best equalizer opportunity in the first half came when Leverkusen lost the ball near their own penalty area, but Reinders shot the ball directly towards goalkeeper Mark Flecken.

Foden, Doku and O'Reilly were substituted at the beginning of the second half, but this substitution failed to reverse the situation. Although Manchester City had the advantage in most statistics, Leverkusen soon expanded the lead with a header from Schick. This attack cooperated smoothly. Haaland and Cherki then came on as substitutes, and the Norwegian striker had two good chances, but a comeback never really seemed possible.

Analysis of Guardiola's substitution adjustments

Guardiola made three consecutive substitutions at halftime, which showed that he was extremely dissatisfied with the team's performance in the first half. Aite Nouri, Rico Lewis and Oscar Bob were substituted, replaced by O'Reilly, Foden and Doku. Even before the referee blew the half-time whistle, Guardiola had already made up his mind, pointing to which players should start warming up early.

Rotations are natural during periods of intense schedules, but it was surprising that Guardiola replaced almost the entire starting XI from the defeat to Newcastle - especially since he described this game against Bayer Leverkusen as a "real final" as he was keen to ensure his team finished in the top eight and avoid the play-off round, where they were knocked out by Real Madrid last season. There was another substitution in the 65th minute, with Haaland and Cherki brought on, but the Norwegian striker missed two big chances and Leverkusen held on.

Leverkusen's two goals came from very similar sources.

drew the home team out, found Tillman in the open space in the midfield, transferred the ball, and then received the cross to complete the goal. It was this tactic that helped captain Grimaldo open the scoring when one wing-back crossed for the other, highlighting how City's two wings exposed huge defensive holes after losing the ball.

In the first half, Leverkusen frequently sent passes through Manchester City's midfield with surprising frequency. Gonzalez repeatedly found himself in situations where he was playing more with less, and when he stepped up to mark a player, Tillman or another Leverkusen player would run into the space he left. This continued in the second half and even in the build-up to the second goal, both Haaland and Cherki showed their chagrin on the touchline.

The Leverkusen head coach chose a parallel 5-3-2 formation instead of the 3-4-2-1 he has always used in the Bundesliga. This change of formation paid off. The forward duo of Schick and Christian Cofane suppressed Stones and Nathan Ake at the back, resulting in neither of them being able to participate in the midfield organization.

How should we view Trafford's Champions League debut?

There was almost nothing he could do against Grimaldo's powerful and heavy shot. The speed and angle of the ball shot from 12 yards out made it difficult for any goalkeeper to save it. The second goal conceded was also an extremely difficult cross as he was moving to meet an inswinging ball and then had to adjust his steps. However, this is a rare opportunity for him and the door remains open for England at next summer's World Cup. There were a few times when he looked less than clinical when coming out to clean up the ball, or chose to go wide of the field unnecessarily.

Trafford was expected to be Ederson's replacement when he signed, but had to endure the disappointment of being pushed aside due to the arrival of Donnarumma. The cup may be his only chance - and given City's last three games (against Real Madrid, Bodegaard and Galatasaray) are even more crucial, they could be his last Champions League games of the season.

On the other hand, his opponent Flecken is in excellent condition. Manchester City fans are quite used to seeing the Dutch goalkeeper produce some of his best performances against them, having done so on a number of occasions for Brentford in recent years. In February 2024, despite losing 0-1 to Manchester City, Flecken made 12 saves, which was the joint-highest number of saves by a Premier League goalkeeper in a single game since De Gea made 14 saves against Arsenal in 2017. He made another 8 saves in this game, rejecting Ake from close range and preventing Haaland from passing him in a one-on-one situation; and made two beautiful saves to deny Cherki's shot.

What did Guardiola say?

Guardiola told broadcaster TNT Sports that he takes full responsibility for the outcome of the game. "I think the players who started the game are all good players, but we are missing something that we need to compete at the highest level. We now have to fight for the next games. Leverkusen did a good job and in general we did a lot of good things and we had more chances than them but those were half-chances. "

"I have to accept that if we win it won't be a problem, so I have to accept that maybe the rotation is too much, but considering that there is a game every two or three days, we need to make a change, but looking at this result, maybe it is too much.source:bong da 7m