Football: Guardiola plans for ‘nine-striker’ formation in return leg against Leipzig
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Manchester City's Erling Haaland (right) in action against Leipzig's Josko Gvardiol.
PHOTO AFP
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LEIPZIG – Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola joked that he could throw caution to the wind to finish off RB Leipzig in the Champions League by fielding “nine strikers” when his side host the German side in March.
City were held 1-1 in Germany on Wednesday in the first leg of their last-16 tie when Riyad Mahrez’s opener was cancelled out by a header from Josko Gvardiol.
“We had to have a lot of control, I didn’t want to come here and lose 4-3,” said Guardiola, who coached Bayern Munich to Bundesliga titles in each of his three years in Germany and said City could not compete with the speed of German teams.
“It will have to be more open in Manchester. We don’t have the team to compete with them (here) with a lot of transitions. They are better than us and they are faster than us, except Kyle (Walker) and Erling (Haaland).
“In these situations, German teams are better than us. The pace they have, we don’t have it.”
Asked about his plan for the return leg, he added: “Maybe in the second leg, I will be crazy and decide to play with nine strikers. But I’ve coached in this country and I analysed Leipzig, and I needed this type of control.”
City had 74 per cent possession and almost double the number of their opponents’ attacks but have now drawn their last two games after being held 1-1 by Nottingham Forest in the English Premier League last Saturday.
The visitors, aiming to reach the Champions League quarter-finals for a sixth straight season, were in complete control in the first half.
They went in front when Jack Grealish easily intercepted a weak pass on the edge of the box and played the ball through the middle for Mahrez to finish.
Leipzig then came out swinging after the break.
City goalkeeper Ederson palmed away an Andre Silva effort from close range before also denying Dominik Szoboszlai in the 69th minute as Marco Rose’s side poured forward.
The German outfit were rewarded a minute later when Marcel Halstenberg floated a cross into the box and defender Gvardiol outjumped his marker to head in the equaliser.
Guardiola gathered his team together on the pitch for an impromptu motivational session after the final whistle in an attempt to lift their spirits.
“They had their heads down, I told them, ‘Why are your heads down, put your heads up’,“ he said.
“It was a really good game, the game you played. If people don’t like it, it doesn’t matter, you played the game the way it should be played.”
The City manager added that the Champions League “used to be quite easy” but is now “such a demanding competition”.
“All of the teams in all of the leagues are really strong,” he said.
Despite being dominated for long periods of the second half after starting the game strongly, Guardiola refused to make a single substitution, even with having attacking players like Phil Foden and Julian Alvarez on the bench.
“I have the opportunity to have five substitutions. It doesn’t mean I have to do the substitutions,” he insisted.
“I was really pleased with what I was seeing. I analysed Leipzig with my people and you need this kind of control because they play with six up front.”
Josko Guardiol of Leipzig celebrates after scoring the 1-1 equaliser.
PHOTO: EPA-EFE
Leipzig coach Rose revealed how his half-time talk, which “started quietly and ended up a little bit louder”, pushed his players to stop “playing City’s game”.
“I told them, ‘What are you doing, coming into a game like this and standing deep – that wasn’t the plan’,” he said.
The German said that he was confident ahead of the second leg in Manchester on March 14 but admitted that “to go to City, we’d rather have a 3-0 advantage to feel better”.
“We can take plenty of positives out of the game, so that we cannot play another first half like we did today,” he added. AFP, REUTERS
