Pep Guardiola’s recent starting line-ups and interview comments suggests he has a new strongest Manchester City XI in mind.
If Pep Guardiola was asked to pick his strongest Manchester City starting line-up, assuming everyone was fit, it would look very different to the current Blues side he is relying upon.
In the summer, City added Erling Haaland to their all-star team and made the decision to permanently move Joao Cancelo over to left-back. Phil Foden had just enjoyed his best season at the Etihad from the left wing, and Bernardo Silva was back to his best.
Manuel Akanji was a late addition in the transfer window to add depth to the defensive ranks, but he wasn’t expected to displace Ruben Dias and Aymeric Laporte. How times change.
In light of Guardiola’s various criticisms of his players recently, there is added scrutiny of whoever doesn’t play these days. Some omissions are injury related – whether that’s Foden, Dias or Laporte in recent weeks – but others are on form, and in that regard, a new strongest XI has emerged since the World Cup.
Ederson obviously continues in goal, despite his mistake against Tottenham. He apologised for that error but said nothing will make him change how he plays – and his assist for Riyad Mahrez to complete the comeback win over Spurs shows his value to City.
Rodri is another who is integral to City’s play. Kalvin Phillips is back fit but was very underwhelming at Southampton and isn’t yet at the standard required to compete with Rodri for a regular starting spot. Likewise, in any strongest XI, Kevin De Bruyne is an obvious pick and City’s best player – even if Guardiola dropped him against Spurs and suggested that could happen again in certain games in future.
In attack, despite a debate suggesting otherwise, City are at their best with Erling Haaland leading the line – as his 31 goals reinforce. It’s fair to question how their style has changed with Haaland leading the line, but it’s undeniable that Haaland leads City’s strongest XI.
At the start of the season, a ‘strongest’ back four would have seen Kyle Walker and Joao Cancelo as full-backs, and likely with Ruben Dias and Aymeric Laporte at centre-back – chosen by having a right-footer and left-footer at the back.
Since the World Cup, though, both Walker and Cancelo have been overlooked and have seen their places taken by Rico Lewis and Nathan Ake. Walker, injured for 11 games before the six-week break in November, has started just two league games in the seven post-Qatar fixtures, and completed 90 minutes just once, with Lewis getting praise from the manager for making his teammates better. Cancelo has only started two of the last nine games, with only one coming at left-back.
City ‘cannot play well’ without Ake, Guardiola said, and it was the Dutchman picked against Wolves to add some strength to the defence. Walker and Cancelo remained on the bench, and it’s fair to say that John Stones and Manuel Akanji are City’s next two most in-form defenders. So with Laporte and Dias facing a fight for their places, Guardiola effectively has a defence that would have been second or third choice at the start of the season leading the way at present.
Alongside De Bruyne in midfield would probably be Bernardo Silva in a choice with captain Ilkay Gundogan. Bernardo hasn’t played particularly badly recently, but Gundogan has impressed and is showing glimpses of his attacking runs into the box and eye for a pass. It was Gundogan who featured against Tottenham and Bernardo who wasn’t introduced until City had taken the lead.
Then in attack, Jack Grealish has seemingly overtaken Phil Foden on the left wing – along with Riyad Mahrez’s brilliant rise in form on the opposite flank. Grealish is still returning goals and assists in drips, but his overall performance level is far better than the previous season and is also more consistent than Foden’s. If the upcoming must-win Premier League clash with Arsenal was played tomorrow, a wing pairing of Grealish and Mahrez feels like the combination Guardiola would go for.
The manager always wants his fringe players to show him why they should be starting and make every selection decision as difficult as possible. For over half of his team to have earned their way into contention ahead of more established teammates shows that he’s getting the squad dynamic he wants this season.
Now the challenge is for those players who were regulars last season to react to that challenge, show the ‘fire’ and ‘passion’ the manager has asked for, and ensure that Guardiola genuinely has two options in each position worthy of starting each game.
