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Andrew Beasley's avatar

I knew Szoboszlai was a ferocious presser, but WOW.

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Butty's avatar

I actually hope that Szobo‘s pressure numbers decrease a bit to free him up for more attacking play. Frimpong/Bradley should help with covering for Mo. While Jota and Nunez offer high pressure numbers, I would not be surprised if with Wirtz and our more athletic fullbacks we see a more coordinated and effective press without generating record numbers.

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Andrew Beasley's avatar

That’s a good point on Dom, hadn’t thought of it that way.

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Stephen's avatar

Hear hear! (the RBs providing some relief to Dom)

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Chris's avatar

The only player other than Wirtz I could be as excited about us getting is Musiala. Wirtz (as you keep pointing out Andrew) is a top quality signing & an absolute statement of intent. City going after Cherki, a quality player by all means but certainly not Wirtz, is also an interesting development in how we have risen & where we are intending to go. Along with a few other signings, hopefully even further exciting times lie ahead.

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Andrew Beasley's avatar

Supposedly Wirtz doesn’t fancy City because it’s unclear how long Pep (G, not L!) will be there.

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Stephen's avatar

City are definitely in transition. No one is sure how long Pep will go on & he was a big draw. They are losing a lot of the players who were the core of recent dominance: De Bruyne, Ederson, Silva & Gundogan. Kyle Walker is gone, along with his recovery pace that managed opponent's threat off the counter. Txiki Begiristain leaving may become as big of an issue as well.

They still have Rodri in his prime and the best pure striker in Haaland. Gvaridiol & Marmoush can become elite. So they won't fold but they won't likely dominate either.

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Andrew Beasley's avatar

The thing about Rodri being in his prime is that it will take him time to get back to best. I guess this could be one advantage of the Club World Cup for them though, to get some 'competitive' football in his legs.

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Stephen's avatar

Thanks for compiling this Andrew. It does seem like Florian will have his work cut out for him regardless of whether he plays CF (false 9) or the 10. Diogo & Darwin's #s were a bit surprising compared to the eye test. They are active pressers but it seems less effective in causing a turnover.

Is there a success metric for pressures in the attacking third, i.e. pressures that resulted in a turnover in possession?

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Andrew Beasley's avatar

That is sadly one of those metrics that will exist but not anywhere that I can find it!

It's worth looking at the overall success rates for the players though (as in, did the team recover possession within five seconds of the pressure, it doesn't have to be the player who applied it).

Among the top men, the order goes Jota (17.7% successful), Diaz (17.2), Nunez (16.2) and Szoboszlai (15.5), so maybe Dom needs to calm down a bit to make more of his pressing!

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Chris's avatar

Haha, yeah be a bit of a surprise to see Pep L at them.

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