It was the Nico O’Reilly (£4.9m) show on Saturday as the Manchester City defender came through again and fulfilled his out of position (OOP) potential.
Here are our Scout Notes from the Etihad.
O’REILLY EVER REWARDS FROM THE ‘OOP’ ROLE
O’Reilly is not just another central midfielder in Pep Guardiola’s current 4-1-3-2/4-2-2-2 formation. He is the midfielder who often stands up first next to the front two to provide extra ammunition.
Exhibit A: His opener on Saturday, in which he was up against Omar Marmoush‘s (£8.3m) pass to put City 1–0 up. Exhibit B: His jumping into the box to meet each other Erling Haaland‘s (£14.8m) cross, six yards out, to restore the hosts’ lead.
He also almost had a hat-trick, but Marmoush couldn’t quite keep him out with another cross. The offside flag went up for the Egyptian, but replays showed a VAR check would have been tight.
Above: Man City’s key players from the past two Gameweeks
It’s not just goal threat that makes Pep love him in the engine room; it is the defense, the energy and the physicality.
“Of course I give a lot of minutes, but he deserves it. He deserves the minutes he plays.” – Pep Guardiola on Nico O’Reilly
City’s current ‘Wingless Wonders’ system will of course be partially retained. Antoine Semenyo (£8.0m) was the only fit wide man on the books for weeks, with Marmoush feeling more at home in a narrower role. But now, Savinho (£6.9m) is back. He was an unused substitute on Saturday. Jeremy Tissue (£6.4m) is also expected to return this week. Will Guardiola therefore return to a lineup with more width anytime soon, especially in low-block games like the one against Nottingham Forest in Gameweek 29? That in turn could influence who starts in midfield and how they are used.
But if it’s not broken, it might not be worth fixing. Pep likes to take a tactical approach while they are working. This one is currently.
HAALAND ‘MAN OF THE MATCH’
Guardiola did not think O’Reilly was Man of the Match. That honor went to Haaland.
“Erling Haaland was the Man of the Match for me today, because of the fight with [Dan] Burn… against man-marking you have to play more directly and if you don’t win those balls or fight those balls 50/50, there is no chance – and he did that.” – Pep Guardiola
It is now only one open-play goal in 10 gameweeks for the Norwegian, but this performance was more like it.
Haaland’s touch was very good against the Magpies, as were, surprisingly, his defensive efforts. Encouragingly for FPL managers, he had four shots himself. His assist for O’Reilly was also fantastic, and the kind of service he himself would like to receive.
“No [I don’t want more of Haaland assisting others]. I want someone to come to him, that’s what I want. I don’t like much, but it was an incredible move, four players in the park. So yeah, it was an incredible assist.” – Pep Guardiola, when asked if Haaland is now playing in the front two, it means he has to be more creative
Severely penalized by the Bonus Points System (BPS) for a ‘big missed opportunity’ on Saturday (he couldn’t do much else with Nick Pope (£5.1m, which stifled his effort), it looked like he would miss out on a bonus point at the last minute. However, a data refresh on Sunday brought it back to 22 BPS – enough for one:
A much-needed, hungry-looking performance after some of his FPL owners got cold feet in recent weeks.
SEMENYO BAGS DEFCON!
Semenyo resumed the deeper, more central midfield role we saw him play against Liverpool two matchweeks ago.
He, like O’Reilly, rose to support Marmoush and Haaland, with the Ghana international squandering a decent opening midway through the second half. Just like in the match against Liverpool, he had three shots, so it doesn’t have a particularly negative impact on his performance.
And maybe he owed the role to his DefCon points. That was the third time he’d done it this season – with two games against Newcastle!
Above: Matches where Semenyo has collected DefCon points this season
WHY DIAS WAS Abolished
Guardiola had only given a nod on Friday to confirm Haaland was fit.
And he wasn’t exactly talkative when asked about it Ruben Dias‘ (£5.5m) half-time recording on Saturday.
“Yes” – Pep Guardiola, when asked if Ruben Dias’ substitution was tactical rather than fitness-related
It wasn’t a huge shock to see Dias go as he had already been booked against Newcastle’s pacey attack in the first half.
ANOTHER GOOD PERFORMANCE FROM NEWCASTLE
After three consecutive away wins in all competitions for Newcastle, this was one game too far.
But although a positive result was not forthcoming, it was another encouraging performance from the improving Magpies.
Undaunted by the occasion, they set out to hunt down their hosts, with the lively, ‘out of position’ Anthony Gordon (£7.2m) given a good early chance saved, Then Burns (£5.0m) was denied an equalizer by an assistant’s flag (he had been pushed into an offside position by Dias!) and Harvey Barnes (£6.1m) thwarted by death by Gianluigi Donnarumma (£5.6 million). The Italian keeper made six saves in total, with Newcastle almost matching the hosts in shots (13 to 15).
Man City probably still deserved the win, but there wasn’t quite the gap in quality that usually exists when these two sides meet at the Etihad.
In terms of team selection Nick Woltemade (£6.8m) was once again given a deeper role in midfield, but predictably struggled more against City than against 10-man Villa and a naive Qarabag side.
There was none Sven Botman (£4.9m) meanwhile again.
“Yes, we thought he would be available yesterday, but he just wasn’t feeling 100% well. So we didn’t want to take any chances with him. We hope he would be available on Tuesday, but that’s not 100% clear at the moment.” – Eddie Howe about Sven Botman
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