As two of Manchester City’s three January signings made their debut, Alex Keble assesses how Omar Marmoush could help power the champions’ resurgence.
A beaming Pep Guardiola just couldn’t hide his delight in the final minutes of Manchester City’s 3-1 victory over Chelsea on Saturday evening, and you hardly blame him for revelling in the moment after months of angst and unrest.
But the smile probably wasn’t just for the three points, for the recovery after a disastrous opening spell, or for Man City re-entering the top four and taking control of the race for UEFA Champions League football.
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No, the smile was because within City’s victory was the seed of a tactical discovery; a new way to revive the project, with Omar Marmoush at the heart of things.
It would be naive to get carried away, mind, considering the passive nature of their opponent today.
Chelsea were well off their best, unable to capitalise on the early advantage before falling to an all-too familiar mistake from goalkeeper Robert Sanchez.
City hint at ‘modern’ tactical direction by going long
Guardiola made some interesting points in the week about the direction of the game.
“The way that modern football is, is the way that AFC Bournemouth play, the way that Brighton play, that Newcastle play, like we were [playing], that is modern football,” he said.
“Today, modern football is not positional, you have to ride the rhythm.”
As one of the forefathers of juego de posicion (positional play), which has defined the last decade or more with passing triangles and neat possession football, Guardiola’s comments were pretty seismic.
They suggested he realises the game has moved on and his Man City side, at risk of getting left behind, must move with the times.
Maybe we saw the start of that – the beginning of the Man City rebirth – on Saturday evening.
Chelsea attempts to counter long balls backfire
From the off, City were different, not only playing lots of long balls forward but making a remarkable number of runs on the shoulder of the Chelsea defence.
Marmoush, their new signing from from Eintracht Frankfurt, was positioned very narrowly alongside Erling Haaland, with both players making direct un-City-like runs, and helped out by surprise arcing runs from both Josko Gvardiol and Matheus Nunes.
At first, Marmoush’s (circled) runs dragged Reece James over and left Gvardiol unmarked to storm forward and get on the end of the long balls.
But Enzo Maresca attempted to correct this by instructing Noni Madueke to sit very deep on that side and telling James to effectively man-mark Marmoush, who was causing havoc with his movement.
Unfortunately for Chelsea, that tweak led to the equaliser, because Madueke (circled) – not used to being in the defensive line – played Nunes onside as he made an unusual run.
His shot was saved but Gvardiol was there to score the rebound. There were runners everywhere, including both full-backs: it was a whole new approach from City.
Gvardiol’s equaliser v Chelsea
Striker’s instinct from @JoskoGvardiol4! ? pic.twitter.com/MZLfRnXhrt
— Manchester City (@ManCity) January 25, 2025
Even before the equaliser, City’s runners and direct football was pinning Chelsea’s wingers, yet this became even more pronounced in the second half, when Man City scored two more goals from longer passes forward.
Haaland’s goal was a Sanchez error, but his rashness was arguably forced by the number of times he had watched his defenders scrambling back.
On the other hand, Sanchez – not quite backed by his manager after a mistake against Wolverhampton Wanderers on Monday, with Maresca admitting “he’s still far, far, far from where I want him to be” – has made five errors leading to a Premier League goal this season, more than any other player.
The third goal was even more retro, “a goal from the 1990s” in the words of Sky Sports co-commentator Gary Neville, with hold-up play and flick-ons like a traditional strike partnership.
By this point Marmoush wasn’t on the pitch, but he had played a major hand in setting the tone for the two-pronged direct football.
Man City’s use of long balls v Chelsea
It could be the future of the club.
“We have to realise it is not enough what we are doing,” Guardiola told BBC Match of the Day. “I asked them to step up and we did it.”
Chelsea overly passive not capitalising on Khusanov’s struggles
A desperately difficult first half for 20-year-old debutant Abdukodir Khusanov (who did well to recover having been thrown in at the deep end by his manager) gave Chelsea a dream start.
They should have capitalised upon it far better.
“The game started very well for us,” Enzo Maresca told Sky Sports. “We scored the first and could have scored the second goal two or three times. The game would have completely changed.”
Indeed it should have been 2-0 as early as the ninth minute, only for Cole Palmer, clean through, to fluff a simple pass to Nicolas Jackson, and at that point it looked like Khusanov’s panic – and the sheer desperation in the Man City team – would gift Chelsea a dominant victory.
That it did not was their own fault. Maresca’s instruction to patiently sit back, allow Man City to have the ball, and attempt to counter-attack ought to have been abandoned when Chelsea smelt blood in that early period.
By sticking to their original tactics, Chelsea let Man City gain a foothold and play their way into the game.
Worse, it ultimately made Chelsea far too passive when out of possession. City played all those direct passes partly because they had the time to pick out the runner, such as in this example, when the score was 1-0 to Chelsea.
Passive in the press and passive by failing to go for the kill, Chelsea did not give a very good account of themselves, which partly explains how Man City flourished with a new and wholly unexpected tactical approach.
No wonder Guardiola was grinning ear to ear. Man City used to be the arbiters of modern football. With Marmoush and Haaland together, they can be again.