Three things we learnt from Manchester City’s 2-0 victory over Bournemouth

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Manchester City climbed to second in the table and they have emerged as the most serious contenders to Chelsea in the process. It wasn’t long ago that people were talking about the club potentially missing out on a top-four finish and now they could be title contenders. Pep Guardiola has managed to arrest the slide and his side are now playing some incredible attacking football. There remain defensive issues, but they are being masked by the attacking flair. Bournemouth competed well and stayed in the game, but they lacked the quality of the visitors. Here are three things that we learnt…

Attack is the best form of defence

There were many people that thought Pep Guardiola was crazy when he announced his line-up ahead of the Tottenham match a few weeks ago, but it is now looking to be a masterstroke. Since Pep Guardiola moved to this attacking 4-1-4-1/4-3-3 formation, his side have taken ten points from a possible twelve. It should have been maximum points, but they were unfortunate against Tottenham and lost a two-goal lead. The current formation has six attacking players, with Yaya Toure being the player expected to shield the back four, something that is hardly his strong suit. On Monday evening, Fernandinho started at left back, highlighting Guardiola’s innovative positioning of players.

Although logic suggests that this shouldn’t work, it has done and further emphasises Guardiola’s excellent coaching ability. He is getting the team to play as a unit and dominate possession, to the extent that there isn’t much pressure on the back four. The Spaniard has moved back to the type of tactics he has used in the past with Barcelona and Bayern Munich to great effect. At Dean Court, they managed to have 62% possession and restrict Bournemouth to only five shots. The current formation is clearly working and they are starting to position themselves as real challengers to Chelsea.