Pep Guardiola is not always appreciative when suggestions are made that his tactical alterations do not, on occasion, help his team out.
Those doubts inevitably surface after Manchester City fail to win a particularly notable match; it’s natural that the City boss gets irked, therefore, when he has probably won half a dozen or more lesser-fixtures to be in that position in the first place. Even so, suspicion will always linger when his flexes and plans fail to yield positive results after more orthodox, more consistent, lineups seem to point the route to regular victories.
And so it was both a surprise and yet no surprise whatsoever when the lineups at the Emirates Stadium were announced: Bernardo Silva ultimately the one who was the very, very odd man out, slotting in at left-back in a roving role intended to mimic that of Oleksandr Zinchenko in the Arsenal side - or perhaps of Joao Cancelo.
Perhaps Guardiola saw something he enjoyed, part of the performance he had in mind before the match. To the eyes of most, however, it produced a disjointed and uncertain half of the pitch for the visitors and the experiment lasted just an hour.
Tellingly, Silva was involved in notable attacking moves almost instantly; one through ball saw a half-opening down the left, then he began the sweeping move, right to left, which saw City take a lead and ultimately go on to win, 3-1. With that sending City top and leaving the Gunners having dropped eight points in their last three matches, the question will once again be simple: would Guardiola not be better off trusting the players and the plan from previous games, previous victories, to do the job on the biggest occasions too?
There is nothing new, so to speak, about the role Silva played. Defensively and out of possession he was left of a four; with his team on the ball he shifted centrally, alongside Rodri for a two-man centre of the park.
City have done it for years, Pep has done it for longer - the inverted, playmaking full-back.
What was new here was the player, but also the fact City went back to that system after the manager made a point of noting he had found an alternative method of playing from the back.
“After the World Cup, we made a pre-season and started to play in a different way in some patterns. I liked what I watched and I decided to give more time to players who I saw on the pitch who liked it,” he said after the January transfer window closed - a window in which Cancelo, one of the world’s finest in that particular inverted role, was allowed to depart without a replacement.
Inevitably, Silva struggled in defensive situations. Several times he was run off or played in behind without much cover, without much help or without much chance of getting back into place.
On other occasions, the strange sight was on show of Nathan Ake, pressing high out and of central defence, being higher upfield than both Silva and left winger Jack Grealish.
Guardiola hauled his players to the touchline more than once to reiterate instructions, to impress upon them what he needed, but the fact was that a playmaker as excellent as Silva was marginalised in City’s buildup play and they were miles off their best in that regard.
On the hour, the boss made his move. Manuel Akanji came on, Silva moved further forward into Riyad Mahrez’s right-sided attacking role. Instantly, he was involved in more than one smart move; soon after came his involvement in the go-ahead strike by Grealish.
Overall, though, it’s less about Silva being in a suitable role and far more about City themselves having a cohesive unit in each area of the pitch.
After that switch, Arsenal didn’t touch them. City were not at their best, but they had more nous, more creativity and fewer errors on the ball in their defensive third. And, of course, they had an Erling Haaland in their team.
Guardiola didn’t get it precisely right from the start here, but he certainly ensured his team finished the stronger, had the right approach to cause the hosts countless problems and, in the end, finish the night top of the Premier League table.
With Mikel Arteta’s team faltering, this might not be the victory to claim the title, but it might be one of the last very big games which matter. Pep tinkered, Pep rectified and Pep this time got the win - in spite of, not because of, his tactical surprise. Perhaps for the next huge occasion it’ll be a new, new plan - or perhaps he might finally opt to stick instead of twist when only the result is all-important.
