Ilkay Gundogan Playing Key Role As Man City Resurgence Continues

LONDON, ENGLAND – JANUARY 03: Ilkay Gündogan of Manchester City during the Premier League match … [+] between Chelsea and Manchester City at Stamford Bridge on January 03, 2021 in London, England. The match will be played without fans, behind closed doors as a Covid-19 precaution. (Photo by Visionhaus)

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Manchester City are heading into a period of games without their talisman, Kevin De Bruyne, but thanks to the way Pep Guardiola has set his side up in recent weeks, and thanks in particular to the performances of İlkay Gündoğan, they may not miss him too much.

Even though this very effective and very fluid 4-3-3 system will make the loss of one player less of an issue, De Bruyne is no ordinary player. He’s both City’s captain and their best player, and with him injured someone in the ranks will need to provide that extra spark of creativity and attacking verve from midfield.

Against West Bromwich Albion, Gündoğan was that player, but this has been facilitated by the fact the 30-year-old midfielder has, on the quiet, already been playing the ‘De Bruyne role’ in recent weeks anyway.

Since De Bruyne has regularly been used in more attacking positions, either as a centre-forward, a false nine, or in a free role across the pitch when his side are in possession, Gündoğan has been the steady presence in the Man City engine room.

MANCHESTER, ENGLAND – JANUARY 20: Ilkay Gundogan of Manchester City interacts with team mate Kevin … [+] De Bruyne during the Premier League match between Manchester City and Aston Villa at Etihad Stadium on January 20, 2021 in Manchester, England. Sporting stadiums around the UK remain under strict restrictions due to the Coronavirus Pandemic as Government social distancing laws prohibit fans inside venues resulting in games being played behind closed doors. (Photo by Martin Rickett – Pool/Getty Images)

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Steady is perhaps an understatement. Gündoğan has been one of the best players in the division during this time, if not the best, and his brace against West Bromwich Albion on Tuesday night took him to seven goals in his last eight Premier League games—already his best-ever season in terms of goals scored.

With Sergio Agüero and Gabriel Jesus in and out of the side due to injury or illness, or simply not fancied by Guardiola in he case of the latter, Man City’s resurgence has come without a recognised striker featuring regularly in the lineup.

It has seen them adopt a very distinct if fluid system which has seen the formation of a solid centre-back pairing, the emergence of João Cancelo as Guardiola’s go-to tactical tool, and an impressive run of form from City academy product Phil Foden.

The pairing in defence, made up of new signing Rúben Dias and a renascent John Stones, has been more secure thanks in part to the changes Guardiola has made in front of them.

Rodri anchors the midfield as before but the regular use of right-back Cancelo as an extra midfielder rather than a typical overlapping full-back means there is always some element of cover in the middle of the park, even if they are high up the pitch.

MANCHESTER, ENGLAND – OCTOBER 21: Ilkay Guendogan of Manchester City celebrates with teammate Joao … [+] Cancelo after scoring his team’s second goal during the UEFA Champions League Group C stage match between Manchester City and FC Porto at Etihad Stadium on October 21, 2020 in Manchester, England. Sporting stadiums around the UK remain under strict restrictions due to the Coronavirus Pandemic as Government social distancing laws prohibit fans inside venues resulting in games being played behind closed doors. (Photo by Victoria Haydn/Manchester City FC via Getty Images)

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Gündoğan has also been part of this cover, but the full-back or full-backs coming into the centre rather than out wide has meant there is less one-on-one defending for the centre-backs to do when the opposition counter-attack.

Man City have regularly struggled with that side of the game, and many will recall images of all their centre-backs, bar perhaps Aymeric Laporte, being turned inside out or coming up with an error when isolated against quick, clever counter-attacking opposition players.

Dias has come in as a replacement for Nicolás Otamendi and is similarly proactive when defending but without the rashness and costly errors of the Argentine.

Few would have predicted Stones would end up as his partner rather than Laporte, but the immediate impact of Dias, and the improvement in Stones, has been as much down to Guardiola’s new system as it has about the undeniable quality of the two players.

It’s a similar story with Gündoğan, whose natural creativity and attacking instinct has been able to thrive in a system which operates with a fluid front five but also serves a purpose in terms of defensive solidity.

Gündoğan’s resurgence is all the more impressive considering he has come back from two very serious and almost career-threatening knee injuries suffered in 2016.

With this in mind, perhaps the most notable thing about his play this season has been his ability to use his deceptive burst of speed to dart into good positions, and the endurance he has shown to regularly play 90 minutes of football, sometimes on a twice-weekly basis.

This will have been in Guardiola’s thinking when he took him off with just 52 minutes gone in the game against West Brom. The early substitution was also confirmation of how important the German is and will be to this team, especially in the absence of De Bruyne.

Man City were always the bookies’ favourites to win the league this season and they are now starting to show this on the pitch. As the league’s standout player, at least in recent weeks, Gündoğan has played a big part in their push to reclaim the Premier League title from Liverpool.