December 6, 2014. It’s a cool day in Manchester as Roberto Martinez and his Everton squad look to put a dent in the title hopes of Manuel Pellegrini’s Manchester City. In only the second minute, Muhamed Bešić and Sergio Agüero clash for a loose ball on the edge of the Everton penalty box. The challenges from both men seem relatively routine but immediately, the Argentine striker goes down agonizingly, clutching his knee, much to the discomfort of City fans everywhere. His injury left the void up top to be filled by José Pozo and Edin Džeko. Ultimately, the only difference between the sides was a Yaya Toure penalty.
As Agüero went off in tears, the general perception slowly became that Chelsea would start to pull away when City lost their talisman striker. Even from the perspective of a City fan, the worry was indeed becoming that Pellegrini’s men were relying too heavily on the lethal finishing and silky touch of the little Argentine. However, in the coming weeks, 3-0 and 3-1 wins against Crystal Palace and West Brom respectively reassured any critics that City have more than enough firepower in their ranks to continue mounting a challenge both in the league and in Europe. However, the fact of the matter remains that City’s strongest XI, regardless of who else you include in defense or in midfield, will definitely involve Agüero up top.
Several media outlets have begun reporting talks of a move to bring Swansea City striker and part-time dancer Wilfried Bony to the Etihad for a fee that is rumored to be somewhere in the region of £30 million. Many are skeptical over City pursuing the Ivory Coast international, citing the high transfer fee and their current depth at the forward position. However, City’s current number two and three strikers, Edin Džeko and Stevan Jovetić, have shown no consistency in either form or fitness to warrant being a trustworthy striker to back up clear-cut number one Agüero, so a move for Bony makes sense.
Source: swanseacity.net
For the calendar year of 2014, Bony was the Premier League’s leading goalscorer, hitting the back of the net a whopping 21 times. Agüero will remain the number one option for Pellegrini, but Bony will not only give Kun protection and time to rest, he will also bring a technical and physical aspect to City’s game that Džeko and Jovetić cannot (or to be fair to them, have not).
Aerial presence
Football fans, City or not, probably notice how weak Pellegrini’s men are in the air. Outside of Kompany and Džeko, there are no real threatening targets for which the set piece takers can aim for. Even so, City’s indirect set piece takers right now (Silva, Nasri, Milner) have been dire more often than not. At this rate, it would be worth a few quid or so to bring a man like Seb Larsson to the Eastlands in the hopes that maybe a City corner will eventually make it past the defender at the near post. (That was totally sarcastic, just to clarify.)
With Bony in the line-up, City set pieces and goal kicks should have more clarity as to where the ball should land. He has won 51 aerial duels in the league so far this season, a 51% success rate, compared to 27 aerial duels won by every other City forward combined this season. The likes of David Silva, Samir Nasri, and James Milner should have an easier idea of where to put the ball in the penalty box with the big Ivorian in their ranks. Similarly, Joe Hart will have the option of booting the ball up the field and know Bony will have a chance to contest it, rather than wastefully bombing it down the touchline. Also, hypothetically speaking, it gives defenders a potential conundrum in trying to cope with the aerial presence of Bony in the case that he nods a header onto the speedy Agüero. A hypothetical, but one I am sure that Premier League defenders would like to avoid.
Link-up play
Source: mcfc.co.uk
One thing that has been highlighted in Bony’s short stint at Swansea has been his affinity for linking up with the midfield behind him. Namely this season, he and former Spurs man Gylfi Sigurdsson have ended up on the highlight reel several times this season. He has completed 362 passes this season with a 77% completion rate; Stevan Jovetić is the closest to him of the City forward group with 295 passes completed. He has also registered more key passes and created more chances than any of Pellegrini’s strikers, 17 key passes and 19 chances created. Agüero and Jovetić have already shown similar skill in the area of link-up play as Bony has, but the one forward who is undoubtedly poor in this area is Edin Džeko. City fans will always have his good goalscoring record to fall back on, but the fact of the matter is that he is often frustrating with the ball at his feet.
Contrasting styles
Perhaps the best benefit to come out of City’s probable move for Bony is seeing how he and Agüero will mix. There is no doubt that City boast one of the world’s greatest striker cores, but for some reason, the three current strikers often do not seem to combine well when on the field together. As far as we know, it may yet be the same with Bony, but City fans will hope not and they have good reason to think it will not.
Manchester United fans will remember Robin van Persie complaining of other forwards, namely Rooney and Welbeck, taking up spaces on the field that he often occupied, leaving him confused as to where to position himself. This is often the problem with having any of the two of Agüero, Džeko, or Jovetić on the pitch. All three strikers often gain the fruits of their labors from cunning movement in and around the box. With two forwards, they often find the box congested or do not leave enough space for each other. With Bony, a striker who has grown accustomed to dropping deeper and mixing with his midfielders, the idea is that he and Agüero will be able to interchange on the forward line and create space for each other, rather than occupy each other’s spaces. A boy can hope, but on paper, they go together in harmony better than ebony and ivory.
The move remains yet to be confirmed by either side, although Bony’s agent has now claimed that his client will be ready to finish the deal in the coming days or weeks. Again, City’s current striker core should not be scoffed at even without Agüero. However, for the demanding position that City are in right now, chasing Jose Mourinho’s men for the Premier League title and looking to exact revenge on a seemingly weakening Barcelona squad, they need all the help they can get and cannot wait on either Džeko or Jovetić to pick up the slack. They need results right now and signing Wilfried Bony could be the potential move that pushes them back into title defense and into pole position for Europe’s biggest crown, the Champions League.
All statistics were provided by Squawka.
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Emilio Calderon
Latest posts by Emilio Calderon (see all)
- Agüero and Bony: A Match Made in Heaven - January 10, 2015
Excellent article. I hope your insights prove true on the pitch. Being a beast lover though, I have to lament the loss of Negredo. He seemed to have excellent chemistry with Aguero and Dzeko both. I wish City would bring him back from Valencia.