{"id":1401780,"date":"2025-09-29T10:52:49","date_gmt":"2025-09-29T09:52:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/?post_type=features&#038;p=1401780"},"modified":"2025-09-29T10:52:49","modified_gmt":"2025-09-29T09:52:49","slug":"tactical-analysis-man-city-attacking-trio-burnley","status":"publish","type":"features","link":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/features\/tactical-analysis-man-city-attacking-trio-burnley\/","title":{"rendered":"Man City analysis: How attacking trio helped Citizens extend unbeaten run"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Erling Haaland triple-captainers breathed a sigh of relief when the Norwegian powerhouse bagged a late brace in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/outright-markets\/man-city-outright-odds-25-26\/\">Manchester City\u2019s<\/a> 5-1 win over <a href=\"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/outright-markets\/burnley-outright-odds-25-26\/\">Burnley<\/a> on Saturday. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It wasn\u2019t until second half injury time that Haaland scored his seventh and eighth <a href=\"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/bet\/football-tips\/premier-league\/\">Premier League<\/a> goals of the season as Man City returned to winning ways in England&#8217;s top tier..<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Few can doubt that Man City were deserving winners against the Clarets. They managed 21 shots to Burnley\u2019s nine and 68.5% possession in a dominant home display. The question will have been why it took so long to put up a score befitting of their control in the home triumph.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-yoast-seo-table-of-contents yoast-table-of-contents\"><h2>In this article, we&#8217;ll cover:<\/h2><ul><li><a href=\"#h-gvardiol-s-link-up-with-doku\" data-level=\"3\">Gvardiol&#8217;s link up with Doku<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"#h-haaland-dropping-deeper-to-create-space\" data-level=\"3\">Haaland dropping deeper to create space<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"#h-the-importance-of-savinho\" data-level=\"3\">The importance of Savinho<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>As Pep Guardiola lined up in a 4-1-4-1 setup, Man City were always expected to dictate proceedings. As such, Scott Parker sought to frustrate the hosts by lining up in a 5-4-1 formation. The resolve lasted just 12 minutes when Maxime Esteve scored the first of his two own goals of the afternoon. Even so, Parker\u2019s plan was to remain as compact as possible in order to try and limit Haaland\u2019s influence, and in truth\u2026 it did almost pay off.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The average player positions from Man City\u2019s win on Saturday showed Guardiola\u2019s side pushing as high up the pitch as possible. Gianluigi Donnarumma cast an isolated figure in the Man City box as the defence and midfield essentially morphed into one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/media.squawka.com\/images\/2025\/09\/29101517\/team_-average-positions-1-1024x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1401787\" srcset=\"https:\/\/media.squawka.com\/images\/2025\/09\/29101517\/team_-average-positions-1-1024x1024.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/media.squawka.com\/images\/2025\/09\/29101517\/team_-average-positions-1-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/media.squawka.com\/images\/2025\/09\/29101517\/team_-average-positions-1-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/media.squawka.com\/images\/2025\/09\/29101517\/team_-average-positions-1-768x768.jpg 768w, https:\/\/media.squawka.com\/images\/2025\/09\/29101517\/team_-average-positions-1-1536x1536.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/media.squawka.com\/images\/2025\/09\/29101517\/team_-average-positions-1-267x267.jpg 267w, https:\/\/media.squawka.com\/images\/2025\/09\/29101517\/team_-average-positions-1-200x200.jpg 200w, https:\/\/media.squawka.com\/images\/2025\/09\/29101517\/team_-average-positions-1-60x60.jpg 60w, https:\/\/media.squawka.com\/images\/2025\/09\/29101517\/team_-average-positions-1-40x40.jpg 40w, https:\/\/media.squawka.com\/images\/2025\/09\/29101517\/team_-average-positions-1.jpg 1620w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>As the above image shows, Ruben Dias was essentially the only other Man City player in their half, with Josko Gvardiol allowed to push forward and essentially act as an auxiliary midfielder. The Croat is a master distributor, with Guardiola essentially tasking the versatile defender with instigating attacks from the back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-gvardiol-s-link-up-with-doku\">Gvardiol&#8217;s link up with Doku<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>The former RB Leipzig man did so with ease. Not only did he rank fourth for passes completed (69), he placed first for completed final third passes (30). Of those 69 completed passes, 19 were for Jeremy Doku (more on this later). For context, though, winger Doku completed 27, while a rejuvenated Phil Foden completed 24. Josh Cullen was Burnley\u2019s top performer for this metric\u2026 with eight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>With Nico Gonzalez and Tijjani Reijnders dropping deeper to provide additional protection to the backline, Man City had complete control in the middle of the park. What did prove key, though, was that Haaland wasn\u2019t operating as a conventional No.9. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We\u2019ve seen Pep use a similar setup before, where Haaland dropped deeper to allow Kevin De Bruyne the chance to break forward to hurt a team, notably in Man City\u2019s 4-1 win over Arsenal towards the end of the 2022-23 season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-haaland-dropping-deeper-to-create-space\">Haaland dropping deeper to create space<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Man City essentially operated in a 4-2-4 setup that day with De Bruyne tasked with getting as close as possible to Haaland before making darting runs in behind the Arsenal backline to capitalise on a lack of pace at the back owing to William Saliba\u2019s absence.<\/p>\n\n\n<h2>How to follow Squawka's Dabble tips<\/h2>\r\n<p>Follow the simple steps below to get all our live tips on Dabble.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\r\n<li>Sign in to your Dabble account via the app or sign up to Dabble through this <a href=\"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/go\/dabble?q=gb-all-rev-wof-s-spo\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" data-gtm-vis-recent-on-screen1327905_238=\"593\" data-gtm-vis-first-on-screen1327905_238=\"593\" data-gtm-vis-total-visible-time1327905_238=\"100\" data-gtm-vis-has-fired1327905_238=\"1\">link<\/a><\/li>\r\n<li>Select the 'search' option at the bottom of your home screen<\/li>\r\n<li>Search the 'SquawkaBet' profile and press 'follow'<\/li>\r\n<li>On your profile, select the notifications bell<\/li>\r\n<li>You will now receive a notification every time we share one of our tips<\/li>\r\n<li>Make sure to follow us on X - @SquawkaBet<\/li>\r\n<\/ol>\r\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-1395659\" src=\"https:\/\/media.squawka.com\/images\/2025\/08\/19151203\/Screenshot-2025-08-19-at-15.11.33.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"1332\" height=\"716\" srcset=\"https:\/\/media.squawka.com\/images\/2025\/08\/19151203\/Screenshot-2025-08-19-at-15.11.33.png 1332w, https:\/\/media.squawka.com\/images\/2025\/08\/19151203\/Screenshot-2025-08-19-at-15.11.33-300x161.png 300w, https:\/\/media.squawka.com\/images\/2025\/08\/19151203\/Screenshot-2025-08-19-at-15.11.33-1024x550.png 1024w, https:\/\/media.squawka.com\/images\/2025\/08\/19151203\/Screenshot-2025-08-19-at-15.11.33-768x413.png 768w, https:\/\/media.squawka.com\/images\/2025\/08\/19151203\/Screenshot-2025-08-19-at-15.11.33-400x215.png 400w, https:\/\/media.squawka.com\/images\/2025\/08\/19151203\/Screenshot-2025-08-19-at-15.11.33-372x200.png 372w, https:\/\/media.squawka.com\/images\/2025\/08\/19151203\/Screenshot-2025-08-19-at-15.11.33-112x60.png 112w, https:\/\/media.squawka.com\/images\/2025\/08\/19151203\/Screenshot-2025-08-19-at-15.11.33-150x81.png 150w, https:\/\/media.squawka.com\/images\/2025\/08\/19151203\/Screenshot-2025-08-19-at-15.11.33-40x22.png 40w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1332px) 100vw, 1332px\" \/><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Against Burnley, however, Haaland was never going to find much space in the penalty area. While he so often needs just one chance to score, the Clarets\u2019 compactness saw the 25-year-old operate a little closer to the midfield in order to help influence play. This was certainly the case for Man City\u2019s opener, as Haaland received the ball in the middle of the Burnley half before shifting the play to Doku on the left.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Belgian winger drove forward and his low cross was eventually turned in by Esteve for Man City\u2019s opener. Utilising Doku\u2019s dribbling ability down the left was ultimately what broke Burnley open, and he continued to utilise the weapon over the course of the match. With Kyle Walker starting at right-back, Man City capitalised on their former defender\u2019s advancing years to get Doku into one-on-one situations with the 35-year-old.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"819\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/media.squawka.com\/images\/2025\/09\/29102122\/season_stat-leader-top-10-betway-819x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1401797\" srcset=\"https:\/\/media.squawka.com\/images\/2025\/09\/29102122\/season_stat-leader-top-10-betway-819x1024.jpg 819w, https:\/\/media.squawka.com\/images\/2025\/09\/29102122\/season_stat-leader-top-10-betway-240x300.jpg 240w, https:\/\/media.squawka.com\/images\/2025\/09\/29102122\/season_stat-leader-top-10-betway-768x960.jpg 768w, https:\/\/media.squawka.com\/images\/2025\/09\/29102122\/season_stat-leader-top-10-betway-1229x1536.jpg 1229w, https:\/\/media.squawka.com\/images\/2025\/09\/29102122\/season_stat-leader-top-10-betway-214x267.jpg 214w, https:\/\/media.squawka.com\/images\/2025\/09\/29102122\/season_stat-leader-top-10-betway-160x200.jpg 160w, https:\/\/media.squawka.com\/images\/2025\/09\/29102122\/season_stat-leader-top-10-betway-48x60.jpg 48w, https:\/\/media.squawka.com\/images\/2025\/09\/29102122\/season_stat-leader-top-10-betway-120x150.jpg 120w, https:\/\/media.squawka.com\/images\/2025\/09\/29102122\/season_stat-leader-top-10-betway-32x40.jpg 32w, https:\/\/media.squawka.com\/images\/2025\/09\/29102122\/season_stat-leader-top-10-betway.jpg 1620w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 819px) 100vw, 819px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>It worked to great effect as Doku completed at least five more take ons (8) than any other player at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday, while no player created more chances (3) than the former Rennes wing-wizard. With Gvardiol routinely looking to pick out Doku to get him into positions to hurt Walker and Burnley, it wasn\u2019t a shock to 37% of Man City\u2019s attacks come down the left side, the highest proportion in Man City\u2019s 5-1 win.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-the-importance-of-savinho\">The importance of Savinho<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Notably, too, was Savinho\u2019s position on the right side. The Brazilian didn\u2019t have the same impact down his side as Doku down the left, in truth because he was up against a superior full-back in Quilindschy Hartman \u2013 the Dutchman was dribbled past just one time compared to Walker\u2019s four \u2013 but Savinho was still just as important in the victory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>By hogging the right touchline, Burnley had to commit numbers to minimise his influence, thus opening up space in central areas for Man City to capitalise. Savinho keeping as wide as possible meant Burnley had to shift to their left and this presented Doku with the time and space to make his runs at Walker. And once the Burnley backline had well and truly crumbled, this was when Haaland did what he does best \u2013 put the ball in the back of the net.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It&#8217;s another indication on how Man City can use both Haaland and their direct wingers to hurt opponents that will operate in a low block against them this season. While Haaland\u2019s overall game isn\u2019t as refined as, say, Harry Kane, he\u2019s still a presence when he does drop deeper. With Guardiola also willing to allow the likes of Doku and Savinho the chance to express themselves and operate as natural wingers, this variation to the attacking play is what will stand Man City in good stead over the course of the campaign.<\/p>\n\n\n<h3><strong>Read more:<\/strong><\/h3>\r\n<ul>\r\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/news\/\"><strong>Latest football news<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\r\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/bet\/football-tips\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>Football betting tips<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\r\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/bet\/betting-sites\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>Best betting sites<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\r\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/bet\/betting-sites\/best-free-bet-offers\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>Best free bet offers<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\r\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/bet\/football-tips\/accumulator\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>Football accumulator tips<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Erling Haaland triple-captainers breathed a sigh of relief when the Norwegian powerhouse bagged a late brace in Manchester City\u2019s 5-1 win over Burnley on Saturday. It wasn\u2019t until second half injury time that Haaland scored his seventh and eighth Premier League goals of the season as Man City returned to winning ways in England&#8217;s top&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3564,"featured_media":1399036,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_focuskw":"","_yoast_wpseo_title":"","_yoast_wpseo_metadesc":"Manchester City moved up to seventh in the table after their 5-1 win over Burnley at the weekend. And they had their attacking trio to thank.","footnotes":""},"tags":[],"features-category":[],"squawka-category":[],"class_list":["post-1401780","features","type-features","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":{"external_featured_image_url":"","hide_featured_image_pattern":false},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.1 (Yoast SEO v27.1.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Man City analysis: How attacking trio helped Citizens extend unbeaten run | Squawka | EN<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Manchester City moved up to seventh in the table after their 5-1 win over Burnley at the weekend. And they had their attacking trio to thank.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/features\/tactical-analysis-man-city-attacking-trio-burnley\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Man City analysis: How attacking trio helped Citizens extend unbeaten run\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Manchester City moved up to seventh in the table after their 5-1 win over Burnley at the weekend. And they had their attacking trio to thank.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/features\/tactical-analysis-man-city-attacking-trio-burnley\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Squawka | EN\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/SquawkaFootballNews\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/media.squawka.com\/images\/2025\/09\/14191951\/Pepguardiola14092025_ID3CM4MB1-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1707\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@squawka\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"NewsArticle\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/features\/tactical-analysis-man-city-attacking-trio-burnley\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/features\/tactical-analysis-man-city-attacking-trio-burnley\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Ben McAleer\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/d83177c024444113f28c89f65fde90b4\"},\"headline\":\"Man City analysis: How attacking trio helped Citizens extend unbeaten run\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-09-29T09:52:49+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/features\/tactical-analysis-man-city-attacking-trio-burnley\/\"},\"wordCount\":1003,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/features\/tactical-analysis-man-city-attacking-trio-burnley\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/media.squawka.com\/images\/2025\/09\/14191951\/Pepguardiola14092025_ID3CM4MB1-scaled.jpg\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"accessibilityFeature\":[\"tableOfContents\"]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/features\/tactical-analysis-man-city-attacking-trio-burnley\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/features\/tactical-analysis-man-city-attacking-trio-burnley\/\",\"name\":\"Man City analysis: How attacking trio helped Citizens extend unbeaten run | Squawka | EN\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/features\/tactical-analysis-man-city-attacking-trio-burnley\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/features\/tactical-analysis-man-city-attacking-trio-burnley\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/media.squawka.com\/images\/2025\/09\/14191951\/Pepguardiola14092025_ID3CM4MB1-scaled.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-09-29T09:52:49+00:00\",\"description\":\"Manchester City moved up to seventh in the table after their 5-1 win over Burnley at the weekend. 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