Pep’s Tactic Twister Dilemma…
Erling “The Viking Voyageur” Haaland returned to the City lineup after a month’s holiday in the football equivalent of Narnia but looked more like an extra in a game of musical chairs against Southampton. Southampton, who were defending so deep you’d need a submarine to find them, turned Haaland into a statue while their coach had misplaced the instruction manual for scoring goals. The great Pep Guardiola now faces a tactical Everest as tall as the Norwegian to conquer before the FA Cup Final.
In a formation seemingly inspired by spaghetti diagrams, Haaland touched the football as many times as he might check his hair in a mirror: 25! City’s 4-2-2-2 lineup was like trying to fit a square peg in a round hole while trying to play chess with Marmoush and company. The strategy left room for the kind of chaos usually reserved for a comedy sketch, so much so that Pep called in Doku and Savinho, who must have been wondering if they accidentally wandered into the wrong show.
A carnival of substitutions led to the architects revamping the playbook at halftime. As if in a cartoon where characters learn life lessons in 30 minutes or less, City’s realization came just in time. Pep’s brainwave had him summoning Haaland not once, not twice, but thrice to whisper tactics in his ear. Whether the final result is Haaland swinging like a tornado at the FA Cup, or Pep sticking with a strategy that turns Haaland into a decorative figure, City’s next seven days will be like the cliffhangers even soap operas would reject!
