3 weapons for Man City to deal with Tottenham's 'pressing machine'

Haaland's pace , ability to stretch the opposition defence and long passes from goalkeeper Ederson could help Man City neutralize Tottenham's high pressing system.

"Man City are used to facing deep-lying defences every week. So it will be interesting to see how they fare against Tottenham's high-profile line-up at the Etihad," the Premier League homepage commented on the highlight match of round 14 of the Premier League tonight.

Few clubs have the ability or the courage to push their defence high up the pitch to close the gap, while their forwards try to press and compete in Man City’s half. But Tottenham will likely still choose this risky style of play, even when playing at the Etihad.

New coach Ange Postecoglou insists he will not change his tactical approach even without his top centre-back duo of Micky van de Ven and Christian Romero, and playmaker James Maddison. So how will Pep Guardiola deal with this very different tactical challenge?

Haaland (No. 9) headed a high ball from Man City threatening Tottenham's goal in the first half of last season's Premier League match at the Etihad Stadium, January 20, 2023. Photo: Reuters

Haaland and Foden's running ability

The most obvious way to hurt opponents willing to take risks with a high defensive line is to play long balls behind for attacking players to exploit gaps.

In theory, Erling Haaland - one of the fastest and most powerful strikers in world football - would love to play against opponents who play like that. The Norwegian has made 363 off-the-ball runs in the first 13 Premier League games, the seventh-highest figure in the competition. His teammates have passed to Haaland on 32.5% of those runs. Phil Foden is ninth with 351 such runs.

Tottenham's defence will therefore face a huge challenge against the champions' ability to move and switch positions, with Foden and Julian Alvarez given free rein. If the visitors play loosely, the duo are capable of combining and then feeding the ball to Haaland to finish.

The examples of Haaland's goals against Fulham in the Premier League and RB Leipzig in the Champions League below clearly show how Man City build up the ball with the Norwegian striker often being the finishing touch.

The combination that led to Haaland's goals against Fulham in the Premier League ...

... and against RB Leipzig in the Champions League group stage. Screenshot

Stretching Tottenham's defense

But Man City are a very different proposition for Postecoglou. Arsenal faced a number of problems when they pressed hard in all three meetings with Man City last season and lost all of them. One of them was that Man City’s wingers stayed close to the touchline to stretch Arsenal’s defence and open up spaces.

If Tottenham stick to their high pressing approach, City will be able to play long vertical passes towards Haaland – a 6ft 4in striker with wall-building abilities – as seen below against Arsenal last season.

Man City's long pass behind Arsenal's defense to Haaland in the Premier League last season. Screenshot

Tottenham must focus on blocking these passes. From there, gaps will be freed up on both sides for Man City's wingers to exploit, especially rising star Jeremy Doku.

Different from Ederson

City can also break Tottenham's first line of press with long passes from the box. Pep Guardiola encouraged Ederson to make such passes to Haaland against Arsenal, and it's a simple play City have sometimes used as a weapon.

Over the first 13 rounds of the season, Ederson has had 85 accurate long passes, reaching a rate of 52.8% - the highest in the league. Following him are Brentford's Mark Flekken with 41.1%, Everton's Jordan Pickford with 38.7%, Sheffield United's Wes Foderingham with 35.7% and Luton Town's Thomas Kaminski with 33.5%.

Ederson's passing map shows that he can pass long to the strikers, helping to shorten the time for Man City to get the ball. Photo: Livescore

If Tottenham's defence pushes too high, Ederson can help Man City transition from defence to attack with just one long pass and put Haaland in a shooting position on the opposite side of the pitch.

"If Man City play at their best, Haaland certainly has enough skills to make Tottenham pay if they continue to use high pressing tactics," the Premier League homepage concluded.

Hong Duy

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