Not a bad debut for half an hour, was it? Sergio Agueroβs star turn at the Etihad Stadium has many a Fantasy manager scrambling for a way to fit him in their shiny new Wildcard team ahead of Gameweek 2. According to Roberto Mancini, he’s not even 100% fit yet. Let’s hope they give him penalties, too. Hereβs the Scout Notes from last night:
Mancini Tries a 4-4-2
Roberto Mancini dropped Mario Balotelli to the bench for the home game with Swansea. Adam Johnson took the Italianβs place as new boy Gael Clichy started at left-back at the expense of Aleksander Kolarov as Mancini started with a 4-2-3-1. While thereβs no doubt about the star of the show, it was noticeable that Sergio Aguero replaced Nigel de Jong upon his introduction.
This allowed City to play him alongside Edin Dzeko up top in a 4-4-2, with Yaya Toure bombing forward from a regular central midfield position. Not to take anything away from Agueroβs performance, of course, but this change in personnel and shape from Mancini helped City really take the game to the Swans. It will be interesting to see if this becomes a more prominent formation for City over the months ahead- certainly, it makes them a better proposition going forward and Aguero has already shown what returns he can offer.
Manciniβs introduction of another new boy, Stefan Savic, also saw another alteration- Joleon Lescott movd to left-back and Gael Clichy played at left midfield in place of the withdrawn Adam Johnson.
Swans Keep on Passing
Brandan Rodgers kept to his passing principles last night. Swansea had the greater possession at the Etihad Stadium and made more passes than any Premier League team over the course of Gameweek1 , but a lack of cutting edge saw the Swans swept aside. Michael Vormβs debut in the Swansea was almost as eye-catching as Agueroβs- the new signing from Utrecht made an incredible 12 saves, with some of them outstanding stops.
Sweanseaβs 4-3-3 was pretty lop-sided; Scott Sinclair was higher and wider up the pitch on the left in comparison to Nathan Dyer on the other flank. Dyer was far narrower and deeper, which enabled Angel Rangel to bomb forward down the flank on numerous occasions.
