Man City 0-0 Stoke Six Things: Silva impresses

A frustrated KDB – skysports.com

A stubborn defensive display saw Stoke City hold Manchester City to a goalless draw, despite a late rally from the hosts. But what have we learnt from the game?

City’s cautious full-backs

Gael Clichy was shy to get forward in the first half, which made it hard for City to isolate Phil Bardsley against Leroy Sane, partly due to the defensive contributions of Mame Biram Diouf. The latter forced a good save from Willy Caballero on five minutes after a cross from Erik Pieters, who was a more adventurous full-back in the first half than Bacary Sagna.

Stoke occupied the opposing half

Stoke only created two chances, the second of which an opportunistic effort that imperious centre-back Bruno Martins Indi could not connect with. Outscoring the opposition was not necessarily the plan for Mark Hughes, even though he started attacking wide men Diouf and Ramadan Sobhi, as well as two forwards in Saido Berahino and Jonathan Walters. The presence of those players gave City things to worry about in their own half, so that their attacking momentum was disrupted.

No-one in the box

The above was a factor behind City’s lack of bravery off the ball in the first half. In front of Sagna was Jesus Navas, who got into good areas but was let down by a shortage of forward runners when he was ready to cross. There were times when he would break into the final third yet only see two men into the box, Sane and Sergio Aguero, who himself was often forced into deeper areas. Wide men would either cross early to nobody, or give Stoke

The tide turned

Two changed the dynamics of the game in the second half. Firstly, Sagna and Clichy made more overlapping runs to create space for De Bruyne and Sane. This stretched the defensive requirements of central midfielders Joe Allen and Geoff Cameron, who looked strong in the first half but began to get overrun. Secondly, substitute David Silva replaced an ineffective Yaya Toure and helped City retain possession better in the final third. He slipped a number of clever through balls to Kevin De Bruyne, who drilled in crosses from the right which created chances for Aguero and Sane. Wasteful finishing in the second half meant the hosts managed just one shot on target all evening.

Stoke clung on

As the match progressed, the intensity of City’s attacks slowly built. In tandem with that, Stoke’s focus switched from keeping the ball further forward to the more short-term view of clearing their lines, Ryan Shawcross integral to their defensive efforts. Every player worked so hard defensively that when Sobhi or Allen got forward, they did not have the legs to create anything of substance.

What it means

Despite the talk of stagnation at Stoke, they have been in excellent form with 15 points from nine games in 2017. This stubborn defensive display goes some way to answer criticisms of capitulation against the top teams, with no wins against top six opposition since Boxing Day 2015. City’s failure to capitalize while on top however, means they are ten points adrift of leaders Chelsea. The next seven days sees trips to Middlesbrough and Monaco, upon which their hopes of silverware now hinge.