Really important to get three points yesterday, given absences and lack of playing time so far this season for Foden.
Fulham have been impressive so far and recently turned over Newcastle. Hadn't lost since the opening day either.
However, we have run into a problem in recent games with teams all using this hybrid 541/532 out of possession and then shifting into a 433 on the ball. Fulham have played 433 all season and shifted to this yesterday.
By doing this, it's forcing City into attacking perfection, which we just don't have at the moment.
Iwobi was sacrificed to allow Traore to maintain a higher position throughout and Fulham played 541 off the ball.
They also looked to isolate Traore with Rico by playing out through Bassey, Lukic & Robinson. It was either working the ball to Robinson to play into Lukic behind Bernardo & Foden, or a longer ball into Traore's body.
Teams want to create transitions. If you have 10/11 players defending, we are going to attack with similar numbers. There are times where a transition is created simply by City having a shot blocked and given Traore is a unique threat, if he can pick the ball up with 50/60 yards to run into, it's going to be a problem.
We did well to get ahead. Doku scored a great goal and Bernardo had the chance to kill it prior to their second.
Fulham also used the formula of moving into attack with 20 minutes left by bringing on a number of quality players. They pinned us through width and Pep made a rare error putting Walker on for Akanji. I think he felt they would continue to frustrate and we could use 3241 to pin them. Stones came on and we looked resilient enough.
I've seen us be pinned before by teams using width - Brighton did it a couple of seasons ago too and we got through.
My takeaways are -
- It's likely time for a change in personnel and attacking. Pep will find a solution to this 541/531 shifting.
- I think the PL has reached a stage where most teams can comfortably play through pressure - perhaps moving to a more mid block would help, rather than our typical high press
- How we attack has a significant bearing on how we defend. We can't afford to turn the ball over 30/35 yards from goal at the moment. Pretty much attacks have to end with the ball out of play to prevent these transitions. Even corners are a risk, if the goalie catches the ball - this is what did for Bayern at Villa midweek.
- There is a bit of lethargy given our success. It's in the stands & on the pitch.