Premier League 2018-19: 5 Talking points from the Manchester City vs Huddersfield match

#4 City’s tactical experimentation

Pep switched to his usual style of play in the second half

Guardiola is famous for his tactical shrewdness and he has never shied away from trying creative things on the field. In the first half, he slightly tinkered with his team’s plans and in order to counter the defensive tactics of Huddersfield, he asked his defenders to stay back and wanted Huddersfield defence to come to move up the field in an effort to win the ball.

The tactics did not work out initially as City struggled to execute it properly and resorted to sideways passing. But once the midfield started drifting up City’s defenders released Sterling and Sane with brilliant long balls and this caused a lot of problems for the Huddersfield fullbacks.

Surprisingly, Kyle Walker was given a more disciplined role and his runs on the right flank were calculated. Aguero did not benefit much from this experimentation as he rarely got the ball and was marked well by Huddersfield defenders. Pep switched to his usual style of play in the second half and the team looked very comfortable as they scored two goals to finish the game.