Manchester City fans stood in stunned silence on Wednesday night after watching their side fall 3-0 behind at half-time to Paris Saint-Germain. The home team left the field with no boos accompanying the referee's whistle, only disbelief at being dismantled by the French side.
City were not at their best, but PSG were ruthless. Desire Doue, Ousmane Dembele and Vitinha carved through City with their goals, but the battle was being lost in the middle of the park. Warren Zaire-Emery, aged 20, proved to be a pitbull in midfield, while Elliot Anderson and Enzo Fernandez were cut adrift each time PSG came forward in numbers. Despite being so good at Liverpool, the pair were overrun by the midfield three, causing City all kinds of problems in defence. The back four were all at sea and exposed to the strength of PSG's attack.
First-Half Statistics and Inquest
According to FotMob, PSG had ten shots (seven on target) in the first half compared to City's six (one on target). After Vitinha scored PSG's third, the City players gathered in the middle of the pitch to conduct an inquest into the performance so far.
PSG were dominating nearly all of the stats in the first half - xG, total shots, shots on target and accurate passes were all in their favour. A smart change at the break from Enzo Maresca, however, saw City threaten a comeback.
Bouaddi's Impact Off the Bench
The City boss turned to his bench to bring on Matheus Nunes, Iliman Ndiaye and, crucially, Ayyoub Bouaddi. Considering the hype around the latter, Maresca has used him sparingly, a decision that speaks more to the quality of City's squad than how Bouaddi has settled in England.
Replacing Rayan Cherki, City suddenly became more compact with Bouaddi on the pitch and PSG had no answer. Despite playing just 45 minutes, Bouaddi produced ten line-breaking passes - only Marc Guehi and Anderson made more - according to FotMob.
Second-Half Turnaround
After the break, City were the ones bossing the key statistics. Most prominent was their accurate passes tally. While City improved by 43 in the second half, PSG's dropped from 241 to a mere 134.
Having Bouaddi in the centre was partially responsible for that. He only failed to complete three of his 40 passes and ended the game with an assist after setting up Erling Haaland for his second of the match. This was a performance of the highest quality, and the exciting thing from a City perspective is that he is only 19.
Of course, when Maresca analysed the game on Thursday he won't have been jumping for joy. City still lost and that first half did not correlate with the Italian's assessment that they are close to PSG's quality.
However, it feels like City have found a solution to a major problem. We saw on Sunday how good Cherki can be when he is allowed the space to operate. Against Liverpool, the Frenchman was dictating attacks and had the freedom to roam into whichever position he liked.
But against a side like PSG, who are looking to flood the centre of the pitch, he is less effective. Having Bouaddi, Anderson and Fernandez as your three midfielders combats that tactic. They provided more balance in the centre of the pitch and filled the gaps PSG were exploiting in the first half.
In the big games where City are not necessarily going to have it all their own way, picking Bouaddi to provide that extra bit of protection in midfield could be the way forward. If City can produce more performances like that second-half display, they will be well placed for silverware this season.
