West Ham United 0-5 Manchester City: Three things that we learnt

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Guardiola remains a good tactician

There were eyebrows raised when the teams were announced as Pep Guardiola opted to field Pablo Zabaleta in central midfield. It was a position that we haven’t seen him in during his time in England and there were doubts about whether he could compete there. However, it was once again proven that Guardiola knows what he is doing as the Argentine delivered a good performance in central midfield. It wasn’t a dominant one, but he played very well and did his bit to help City go on to win the match convincingly.

In the first half, he showed that he was more than a defensive option as he twice surged into the box to help assist the attacking players. The first time resulted in a shot that was blocked by a defender, while later on he won a penalty for his side. It was a good driving run and his attacking contribution will have impressed Guardiola. He ended the match with an 84% pass completion rate, which is impressive considering he was operating in a new position on the pitch. It may have been done out of necessity after the suspension of Fernandinho, but it worked and Guardiola deserves great credit for that.

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