The young Argentinian star is performing very well and continuously shines in the supporting role assigned by Pep Guardiola.
Since this year’s season started, fans have been extremely surprised to see Julian Alvarez become Kevin de Bruyne’s replacement in the playing position behind Haaland. Then out of the blue, fans were satisfied with this guy’s amazing performance in his new role. Few people know that Pep’s decision to let Alvarez step down to defend the attack is an epoch-making innovation.
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In a very good analysis titled: “Pep Guardiola plays 4-4-2! Super product perfect combination between Haaland and Alvarez” by journalist Richard Martin published in GOAL newspaper, has a very notable passage. Specifically, Martin writes:
“Pep is the most perfectionist in the world. Before officially owning a true striker, Erling Haaland, Manchester City even played football without any strikers. Yet after only 2 years, not just one, Pep has now built a completely new system with 2 strikers in the classic 4-4-2 formation. More surprisingly, one of those two people was the innovation that brought Julian Alvarez back to the role of a public servant. Pep Guardiola now values quality more than simply controlling the ball.”
“Not just a simple transformation, the Spanish coach’s 4-4-2 is much improved compared to the classic formations thanks to Alvarez. In Pep’s hands, this diagram is not built to serve counter-attacking football, but on the contrary, Julian Alvarez’s ability to penetrate the penalty area and exploit space extremely well is the key that opens the door to help 4- The 4-2 could become a signature formation for control play.”
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Not only Richard Martin recognized this new change and innovation of Pep Guardiola, the numbers given by Opta also proved that Pep was right. According to Opta, Julian Alvarez created up to 15 dangerous situations in just the recent match against Red Star Belgrade. In the Champion League, Alvarez is the third person to reach this milestone after Benzema and Robben.
This season, while Erling Haaland is still Manchester City’s scoring king, Alvarez has perfectly replaced the role left by Kevin de Bruyne. Indeed, using Alvarez to play in defense to change the characteristics of Pep’s 4-4-2 formation is an innovation of the era.
