Michail Antonio has revealed that Manchester City's players explained their tactics to him after they secured an impressive 2-0 win at West Ham on Sunday.
City got their Premier League title defence off to the best possible start last weekend, as new striker Erling Haaland scored twice to earn the Blues all three points at the London Stadium.
There were spells of pressure from the hosts, but in truth, the scoreline was not a true reflection of City's dominance. Pep Guardiola's side enjoyed 75 per cent possession, starving West Ham of the ball, and clocked an expected goals rating of 2.23, as opposed to the host's 0.49.
READ MORE: Pep Guardiola can further unlock Jack Grealish with key Man City signing
Speaking on the Footballer's Football Podcast, Antonio revealed that after the final whistle some of City's players gave him an insight into how the Blues had made such light work of a traditionally tricky opponent.
"I spoke to a couple of their players," Antonio said. "They said to me that how they set up and how they were playing was to counter our counter-attackers. To shut it down so we couldn't counter them so quickly.
"Over the last couple of seasons we've been able to counter them quite quickly and they have struggled, whereas this game their tactics worked to a tee. We struggled to get out."
City did that by having both their full-backs, Joao Cancelo and Kyle Walker, tuck into the centre of midfield alongside Rodri, creating a numerical advantage in the centre of the field with a 2-3-5 formation. Outnumbering West Ham in the area made it easy for City to win the ball in those areas and build attacks, while also guarding against counter-attacks through the centre of the pitch.
West Ham boss David Moyes admitted after the game that he and his players had not expected City to set up that way.
"It caused us a different problem, they outnumbered us in midfield, we couldn't get on the ball," Moyes said. "We hadn't prepared for that because we hadn't really seen it but was really difficult tactically to deal with it."
While it was Haaland who ultimately won City the points, it was Guardiola's tactical shift that allowed City to control proceedings and restrict the Hammers to barely a sniff at goal.
ALSO READ:
