Pep Guardiola has challenged his Manchester City attackers to continue to get close to the box as he discussed his ‘Plan B’ for scoring goals without a recognised striker.
The premier league champions were punished for not finishing their chances at PSG and Pep Guardiola has addressed the issue ahead of the trip to Liverpool.
City didn’t need a centre-forward to beat Chelsea last weekend, with new winger Gabriel Jesus scoring the vital winner at Stamford Bridge.
However, despite creating a number of good opportunities, City couldn’t find a goal against Paris Saint-Germain and were left to rue missed opportunities from Raheem Sterling, Bernardo Silva and Kevin de Bruyne.
Such frustrations led to a predictable reaction from some quarters that City still need a traditional centre-forward to finish chances, but Guardiola had a fairly short reply when asked what his side need to do to take their chances more.
“What would be the Plan B? Buy a striker for £250m?” Guardiola said, before offering a tactical solution to games where City are struggling to convert opportunities.
“We have to play better, arrive more people in the box. There is no secret in football. The biggest strikers in the world score because they are infront of the goal, there is no secret.
“When we are there have to have the quality to put it in the net. It is impossible to score goals if you are not close to the box. It’s mathematics, physics. Make the process so that when we get there try to finish infront of the goal.”
“I want to provide to the team is to create chances, make the process to be there defensively, offensively to be there as much as we can create the chances. After that is momentum, sometimes you arrive and score three, four, five goals, you say wow we scored these goals when we were not scoring.
“Even the top strikers have moments where they don’t score goals. What we have to do is play better, we are in a high level but have to play better.”
These Guardiola’s comment on what would be the Plan B has prompt Plenty of Sky Blues to react on social media.
yes do that
— ¹⁰ (@SxrgioSZN) October 2, 2021
That’s actually a good plan. Let’s do that
— ⚡️🇧🇼 (@Priceless_Silva) October 2, 2021
world class plan
— ً (@Broly1Oii) October 3, 2021
Plot twist: He’s not joking
— AJ (@MCFCAJ10) October 2, 2021
People think he’s joking
— R (@RaheemMCFC) October 3, 2021
his mind games are unreal
— Jack🇮🇳 (@TheGingerPele69) October 3, 2021
hes being deadly serious no jokes here
— 🇧🇼 (@MCFCmata) October 2, 2021
Haaland and vlahovic 🔥
— Ferrandowski #TxikiOut (@Ferrandowski3) October 3, 2021
Great plan,now do it
— Allan (@crystallan21) October 3, 2021
