Pep Guardiola is making a ‘mistake’ as Man City continue to ignore one thing
Pep Guardiola may be able to give his Man City team a marginal gain in matches if he doesn’t continue to ignore one thing.
Man City’s 1-0 defeat at Aston Villa last time out in the Premier League has left the Citizens six points behind leaders Arsenal.
Rayan Cherki starred in Man City’s win over Swansea in the Carabao Cup in midweek to seal progression to the quarter-final stage.
Erling Haaland was rested at Swansea, with Omar Marmoush returning from injury to score his first goal of the season.
Chris Sutton says Pep Guardiola is making a ‘mistake’
Speaking to BBC Sport, [30 October] Chris Sutton believes Guardiola could take the goalscoring burden off Haaland if he was work on set-pieces.
Ahead of Man City‘s clash with Bournemouth, Sutton said: “It also feels like a mistake for Pep Guardiola to ignore the rise in the importance in set-pieces – City are the only Premier League team not to score from one this season.
“He [Guardiola] says he wants to focus on creating more chances in open play but it is proven that corners and throw-ins work, so my advice to Pep is that maybe it is time for him to get some big players in, and launch it!“
Guardiola should embrace set-pieces
Set-pieces and long throw-in’s have become more frequent goal scoring options for teams this season but Man City have yet to embrace the change.
Guardiola is still reliant on teeing up Haaland to net all of Man City’s goals, and that avenue dried up in their defeat at Aston Villa.
| Erling Haaland | 11 |
| Matheus Nunes | 1 |
| Phil Foden | 1 |
| Rayan Cherki | 1 |
| Tijjani Reijnders | 1 |
The likes of Haaland and Dias would be threats from set-pieces, and in a game of fine margins Guardiola needs to work on them on the training ground.