Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola felt his side’s struggles against Leeds United stemmed from his wingers Ferran Torres and Riyad Mahrez. Roll the clock back three years and Manchester City had the best defence in the Premier League, conceding just 27 goals during the title-winning 2017-'18 season. And this despite "not training tackles", as Guardiola famously admitted during his first season in Manchester to much incredulity. How is it that City conceded the fewest shots of any top-flight team last term but those shots were, on average, the best quality shots that any team conceded in the league? Guardiola's job is to rediscover that balance and restore City to their very best, but while adding an Allardyce defence to a Guardiola attack may sound simple, solutions rarely come so easy.

Source: Irish Independent October 05, 2020 01:30 UTC