In fact, the game was not a surprise, City 4141, defenders Akanji, RubenDias, Walker, Gvardiol, back Rodri, midfielders B.Silva, DeBruyne, Foden, Doku, Haaland forwards
Defenders Zouma, West Ham out of 343, Mavropanos, Cresswell, wingbacks Coufal, Emerson, back Soucek, Ward-Prowse, Kudus in the forward line, Antonio, Paquetá
(Pre-emptive linking)
The game started with just 1 minute 19 seconds to go. City attacked the West Ham box, hit it to the right and then passed it back to the center. West Ham retreated too deep, exposing the top of the box.As soon as Foden got the ball, he snapped the ball straight at him, dodging an intercepting Wardden.-Prowse pushed a step up to the top of the box for a 19-yard, left-footed strike to the top-left of the box that broke through to give City a 1-0 lead.The ball was played into the center of the box, and then back into the center of the box.
City could easily score the first point and then only need to get a safe second point, which is to form a king. City cannot draw in this game. If the Gunners on the other side of the draw win, they will become the King of the Gunners. Therefore, to be safe, City must get the second point, leading to a two-goal lead in order to be safe.
After City, Foden was in pretty good form in the second half of the season, especially towards the end of the season, when Pep Guardiola put him in the middle of the midfield and allowed him to charge freely. In this game Doku and Boku were assigned both. ...Silva on the wings, using the constant pounding on both flanks to force the West Ham defense back, and then passing back into the middle of the field after which Foden had space to use. It had been in that mode since the first half.
Doku invaded from the left flank with 17 minutes to go, he saw time to kick a ground ball pass, the ball was played near the 12 yard point for the follow up Foden to push easily, the ball broke at speed through Zouma's defensive area, the ball or Ward-Prowse didn't stop it, and of course Doku's pass was at such a good pace and angle, that unless Ward-Prowse got right down and shoveled the ball in. It was unstoppable and West Ham's back line was not well enough positioned.
West Ham couldn't get on the board. The loss of the general in the center of the field makes it almost impossible for West Ham to counterattack. It was easy for City to get on the front foot, Coufal was forced back after Doku started to blitz but he couldn't break the ball for a counter attack. He had to keep letting City pass the ball from the left and then was forced to retreat back into his box to defend.
It was City who were happy but before the end of the first half West Ham finally hit the front and played in a corner. After hitting it, Gvardiol failed to get to the top of the ball from a long way out, causing it to land.Kudus seized the opportunity to kick the ball up the pitch and went straight backward, bursting through the City goal. West Ham recovered a goal before the end of the first half.
At the start of the second half, West Ham tried to push forward as quickly as possible behind the defense in an attempt to start a counterattack by getting the ball through Andruw. However, Doku still couldn't solve the problem of eating Coufal on the left. West Ham's formation was still behind them. Not enough passing routes for forward and backward passes. City soon continued to get the ball back and attacked. 58 minutes, City were again fully pressing. deBruyne had moved to the right and Rodri released the ball for him to break through. deBruyne played the ball to B. Silva who had entered the final line of defense. b. Silva saw that he was being blocked and flicked the ball back to Rodri first time. rodri shot straight into the 18-yard box and broke through. The breakthrough made it 3-1 for City and a two-goal lead again.
Once in safety, City became relaxed. After that, they obviously tried to pass the ball to find Haaland, including corner kicks. It seemed like they wanted Haaland to keep brushing up on his goal scoring stats.Haaland got a lot of shots in this game. West Ham barely kept him out, but he also had good goal scoring chances kicked away by him.
