Manchester City 4-1 Dortmund Review

CL League Phase GW4

Winning against Dortmund has taken Manchester City to fourth in the Champions League table after four games played. They remain one of five teams yet to lose a game in the competition this season. Putting them in a great position ahead of home games against Leverkusen and Galatasaray, trips away to face Real Madrid and Bodo Glimt. The aim will be a top-eight finish this season, and they’re on track for it.

MOTM: PHIL FODEN

Notable Stats:

• Phil Foden has completed 12 through balls across all competitions for Manchester City this season. Other than the 23/24 season (21), that is more than he's managed in any season for the club. The per-90 during the 23/24 season was 0.54, and he's averaging 1.21 this season.

• Ten ball recoveries by Nico Gonzalez against Dortmund are the second most he's made in a single match, across his career.

• Tijjani Reijnders now has more assists (5) this season for Manchester City than he had during either of his two seasons with AC Milan, across all competitions.

• So far in the Champions League this season, Erling Haaland (5) has scored the most non-penalty goals, Phil Foden (8) has completed the most through balls, Tijjani Reijnders (3) has provided the joint most assists, and Savinho has completed the most progressive carries (27).

Game Stats:

Manchester City 4-1 Dortmund

• xG: 1.94 - 1.1

• xThreat: 1.33 - 1.26

• Possession: 50.0% - 50.0%

• Field Tilt: 48.8% - 51.2%

• Penalty Box Shots: 11 - 9

• Deep Entries: 17 - 9

• PPDA: 11.8 - 9.0

• High Turnovers: 2 - 7

In the Champions League for Manchester City this season, Phil Foden has been that guy. Heavily involved in the buildup to and creating chances, but recently he’s started to add goals he’s had in previous seasons.

Here is how the current T10 looks across the Premier League and Champions League for Manchester City. The likes of Haaland, Reijnders, Foden, and Doku won’t be a surprise to see at the top. In recent weeks, we’ve seen Nico Gonzalez and Nico O’Reilly step up their contributions. Savinho is also returning to fitness. Cherki and Marmoush are yet to get significant minutes and work their way up this list.

Tijjani Reijnders (1,040) has now played more than 1,000 minutes for Manchester City this season across all competitions. Joining Haaland (1,200) and Dias (1,096).

Jeremy Doku has started eight of the last ten matches he's been available for. The best run of his entire Manchester City career.

Nico Gonzalez has now played more minutes this season (935) than he played during the 24/25 season (890) for Manchester City.

If you want to stay up-to-date on individual player minutes, back four combinations, underlying numbers, and more, check out the live Google sheet below. 👇

Here is how Manchester City looked to set up against Dortmund, after a few changes from the game against Bournemouth. Reijnders for Silva, Stones for Dias, and Savinho for Cherki. The latter offers plenty of pace to carry the ball across big spaces. You’d imagine the rest for Dias and Silva is with Liverpool in mind.

Svensson would track Reijnders inside, which gave City some issues early on. Bensebaini had to cover Savinho. That left him in acres of space once Foden was able to drop into space between the lines, receiving in the buildup, and play the quick pass into him. Haaland marked 2v1 by Anton and Schlotterbeck meant even more space was afforded to the wide players.

Guardiola mentioned that the team didn’t know where they were in the first ten minutes. Stones said after the match that they had to adjust to the pressure of Dortmund. It wasn’t the press they expected. The wing-backs were following inside, Svensson marking Reijnders, and so it took them time to find the players between the lines. Once Foden dropped into pockets, and they found Savinho, Manchester City were able to play through Dortmund quite comfortably. Dropping them deeper.

P. Foden 22' 1-0  

City initially looks to progress down the right side, before backing off, and then Stones skips a player to find Reijnders in space as the Dortmund midfield is pushing up. Svensson closes down Reijnders, Bensebaini is tracking Savinho, and the two CBs are marking Haaland 2v1. Leaving Foden free as Nmecha moves across to Reijnders. Receives on the half-turn, drives forward, and passes the ball into the far left corner. Similar to the one he scored against Slovan last season.

E. Haaland 29' 2-0  

After the attack down the right side, through Savinho, ends with the cross flashing across the box. Jeremy Doku picks up the loose ball. Waits for the defender to close him down and bursts past towards the byline, cutting it back across the box to Erling Haaland. Dortmund have left him and Savinho 2v1 at the back-post. Movement similar to the goal he scored against Monaco and Everton, hanging at the back-post, then stepping into the middle of the box.

There wasn’t a shortage of good chances for Manchester City to score more in the first half. Huge opportunity for O’Reilly (28’), which probably goes in if he keeps it down, but the pass is a touch behind him. Reijnders shot just inside the box (33’). Foden, Nico, and Haaland had some shots outside the box. Header from Nico Gonzalez.

P. Foden 57' 3-0 

Initial attack doesn't lead to a shot, Manchester City moves it back out to Nico Gonzalez, and then he finds Reijnders, who can play the pass inside to Foden, just like he did for the first goal. Neither Nmecha nor Bensebaini closes him down. Free to turn, drive, and shoot from outside the box.

Shortly after the third goal, you saw Manchester City begin to take its foot off the gas, and Dortmund pushed for a goal to get back into the game. Guirassy has a couple of chances (64’,65’). Dortmund were constantly overloading the backline to make 6v4s as the wing-backs pushed up. Nunes and O’Reilly are unable to get out wide quickly enough to support.

Quadruple sub by Kovac, which included more midfielders to run into the box (Chukwuemeka, Bellingham) and taking off a CB for Emre Can, as they committed more players forward.

A mistake by Gvardiol leads to the free-kick being given away. Confusion between the players, as Doku was meant to be on the wall, so there wasn’t a player alert to close down the cross in time. Reijnders was beaten to the near-post by Anton, who scored. Getting one back for Dortmund.

Ruben Dias came on (79') for the final minutes of the second half, shifting Manchester City to a back five. As Guardiola mentioned after the match, Dortmund were pushing players up to make a 6v4 against the backline, and that they couldn't get out wide quickly enough. Once this change was made, you saw the team become stable again to defend those positions. Not a single shot by Dortmund after Dias came on.

Bernardo and Cherki also came on with Dias. Off came Reijnders, Doku, and Savinho. Giving you two players capable of slowing down the tempo and retaining the ball.

R. Cherki 90+1' 4-1  

Ait-Nouri and Marmoush came on for the final few minutes (86’). Dortmund is playing out from the back, and Gvardiol follows his man as he drops to receive, forcing the turnover Cherki picks up. From there, going past Jobe Bellingham, he dribbles inside the box. The two runs on either side leave the CBs hesitant to close him down. The shot takes a slight deflection past the keeper into the right corner.

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Moving Forward

As I mentioned at the start, this was a big result in their bid to make the top eight in the CL and avoid the additional qualifying round next year. The standout was the quality and variety of ways the team attacked Dortmund across the match. Dealing with the initial struggles and Dortmund pushing for a goal later on is a good sign of what’s to come in the latter stages of the competition. They’re moving in the right direction, putting in the performances, and have the full squad now competing for places ahead of the match against Liverpool on Sunday.

An excellent performance from Phil Foden, who scored twice from outside the box, created three chances, and completed two dribbles. Made 5 ball recoveries. 3/5 ground duels won. The glue connecting players in the midfield, getting back to recover the ball, and decisive in the final third. He's back.

Below is the aerial duels won per-90 by the top four midfielders, by minutes, for Manchester City over the last few seasons in the Premier League. They didn’t have a midfielder capable of dominating aerial duels last season, which was made worse by the injuries to central defenders. This season, Nico is providing that platform for the smaller, technical players ahead of him.

Next up for Manchester City is Liverpool (H) in the Premier League on the 9th of November at 16:30 (UK). The winners of the title last season have gone through a run of one win in seven games, but have since beaten Aston Villa and Real Madrid at Anfield. For either team, if you lose this match, the narrative will be that you’re out of the title race.

If you’ve not already checked out the YouTube channel, you can start with the video below on Nico O’Reilly. 👇