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Manchester City have had a lot of problems to deal with in the opening weeks of the season, so their performance in Tuesday’s win over Marseille was exactly what they needed.
In an irregular form, City lost points in three of their first five Premier League games, and had no fit forwards in France after injuries to Sergio Agüero and Gabriel Jesus.
But Pep Guardiola’s side responded with an impressive display in a comfortable 3-0 win that keeps them at the top of Group C and, in addition to the result, there were a lot of positives across the field.
No issues this time vs five in the back
I was very impressed by the intensity of the entire City team against Marseille, and I think the way they went after the French team had a lot to do with their three forwards.
Raheem Sterling, Ferran Torres and Phil Foden set the tone early on with their energy, on and off the ball, and their dynamism helped City prevail in the game early on.
Yes, Marseille sat down and stayed deep with five on the back so much of the game was played in their half, but what was noticed was how fast the loss was every time City lost possession. .
They would react quickly and get the ball back due to the pressure they put Marseille under, and they scored their first goal by forcing an error on the edge of the home area.
It was very different from the way they fought to advance against a similar formation in the first half of their tie with West Ham at the weekend, when Foden and Torres were on the bench.
There is no false nine role for Torres
Seeing Torres leading the line this time around was a surprise, because I thought Sterling would get the job, and the Spaniard wasn’t a false nine either, his role was somewhat different, which again was a bit unexpected.
Pep told him to get on the shoulder of the Marseille media and use his pace to try to get behind the defense when he could.
It made perfect sense with Kevin de Bruyne on the field, because with a false nine that is falling deep, the opposing defense can push up, reducing the space for De Bruyne to operate.
Instead, having someone play fast like the actual number nine stretched the game and gave De Bruyne more room to roam.
Torres did well in an unfamiliar position and the only thing I felt he lacked was the late play that City would get from Agüero or Jesús, although he improved in the second half.
I’m not sure having him in that position is ever considered a long-term answer, but it certainly worked against Marseille.
In fact, I think Guardiola will mix things up with his attack while he’s without Aguero and Jesus for the next several weeks, either with Sterling in an identical role to what Torres played here, or as a false nine.
In the past, Pep has used De Bruyne later on alone or together with Bernardo Silva, so he has many options.
Sterling, for example, can play anywhere through those three forwards. Pep regularly plays with him from the left so he can cut in to the right to finish, or leave room for his side to surround him.
He’s very good at it, but I enjoy seeing him on the right against Marseille and he had a productive afternoon.
It was also a pleasure to see De Bruyne, on his first outing for City since 3 October.
Without him they haven’t been as good as usual in recent weeks, but when he’s in top form and playing like that, they have nothing to worry about attacking.
Good team performance
City’s defense has been viewed as suspicious for a while now, but they were so comfortable for the first hour or so on Tuesday that center-back partner Aymeric Laporte and Ruben Dias could have put on the slippers.
It took Marseille until the last half hour to find a way to beat the City press, but when they did, Laporte and Dias were ready.
Dias made a couple of really big punt heads when dangerous balls got into the city area, and it was a very good sign that he didn’t drop his concentration levels after such an easy start to the game.
Yet every City player had that kind of focus, and there seemed to be a really nice balance for the whole team.
Once they realized that Marseille was not leaving their own field, Ilkay Gundogan and Oleksandr Zinchenko were able to advance and join the attack.
It turned into a very skilled team performance. In total, 760 of City’s 821 passes were successful, which shows how good they were, both collectively and individually.
You have to remember that Marseille had lost their previous 10 Champions League matches, so City was expected to win, but they made it look very easy.
Michael Brown was talking to Chris Bevan of BBC Sport.
