ESPN pundit Frank Leboeuf has been discussing Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City side and had some strong words to say about their style of play.
City recently defeated Arsenal in the Premier League 1-0 thanks to a goal from Raheem Sterling at the Etihad Stadium which sealed just their second win of the league campaign so far. The hosts had 59% possession but only managed two more attempts at goal (13) than their opponents (as per BBC Sport), prompting Leboeuf to criticise their “horizontal” football.
Here is what the former Premier League defender had to say in full:
“I’m bored, I’m fed up. When Manchester City starts an action you can go to the restroom – and come back one minute after and they [haven’t] finished the action.
“There is nothing to say because it is boring. They don’t play soccer, they don’t play football anymore, they barely shoot at goal. I’m fed up with those horizontal passes.”
Does Frank Leboeuf have a point about Man City's playing style?
Yes
No
TIF Thoughts…
It’s clear from the Frenchman’s comments that he is not a fan of City’s current playing style and he pulled no punches when he was asked to reflect on last weekend’s fixture. However, in our view, the criticism of Guardiola’s side feels harsh given they were without the influential Kevin De Bruyne and Sergio Aguero was playing his first game since June following a knee injury (via BBC).
This season so far, De Bruyne has played the most key passes for City, averaging 4.7 per game (as per WhoScored) and so we feel it could be argued his absence significantly impacted their performance against Arsenal.