It made perfect sense with Kevin de Bruyne on the pitch, because with a false nine who is dropping deep, the opposition defence can push right up, reducing the space for De Bruyne to operate in.
Pep told him to go and stand on the shoulder of the Marseille centre-halves and use his pace try to get in behind their defence when he could.
To see Torres leading the line this time was a surprise, because I thought Sterling would get the job - and the Spaniard was no false nine either - his role was something different, which again was a bit unexpected. City had 66% of possession before the break against the Hammers and 68.2% against Marseille - but they operated much higher up the pitch against the French side. Heat maps of City's possession in the first half of their games against West Ham (left) and Marseille (right). It was very different to the way they struggled to make inroads against a similar formation in the first half of their draw with West Ham at the weekend - when Foden and Torres were both on the bench. They would react quickly and win the ball back because of the pressure they put Marseille under - and they scored their first goal by forcing a mistake on the edge of the home side's area. In contrast, even City's centre-backs Aymeric Laporte (14) and Ruben Dias (3) were near the halfway line. How far did City force Marseille's back-five back? During the first half, the average position of the touches of all 11 Marseille players was inside their own half. Yes, Marseille sat in and stayed deep with five at the back so a lot of the game was being played in their half, but what was noticeable was how fast the turnover was whenever City lost possession. Raheem Sterling, Ferran Torres and Phil Foden set the tone from the start with their energy, with and without the ball, and their dynamism helped City impose themselves on the game right from the start. I was really impressed by the intensity of the whole City team against Marseille, and I think the way they went after the French side had a lot to do with their front three. In contrast, 37% (23/62) of City's successful challenges took place in the Marseille half, including when Kevin de Bruyne (17) won possession on the edge of the home side's area to set up his side's first goal. No trouble this time vs five at the back The graphic on the left shows where Marseille won the ball back - only three of their successful tackles (green triangles), interceptions (blue) and ball recoveries (yellow) took place in the City half.
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The Magyars will prove a stern test as ever, but Flick has an abundance of well-rested attackers and Bundesliga stars who are aware of and can quell the threat of Szoboszlai, which should ultimately lead to a professional performance and win for the visitors.But Pep Guardiola's side responded with an impressive display in a comfortable 3-0 victory that keeps them top of Group C and, as well as the result, there were plenty of positives all over the pitch. The goalscoring luck of a disciplined Hungary side on home soil may run out against a well-drilled German outfit, who will feel aggrieved not to have come away from any of their two opening encounters with all three points. Marco Rossi's side went down 2-1 to Italy on matchday two, whereas the visitors were forced to settle for a 1-1 draw against England on their own turf. Hungary will aim to claim another memorable result against Germany when they face off against their League A Group 3 rivals in Saturday's UEFA Nations League contest at the Puskas Arena. > How England could line up against Italy > How Italy could line up against England
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