Why Julian Alvarez is the perfect De Bruyne replacement for Man City
Newcastle United would’ve fancied their chances against Manchester City at the Etihad this weekend.
The champions were without Kevin De Bruyne, a deal to sign Lucas Paqueta has been called off and a replacement for Riyad Mahrez had yet to be brought in. It could even be argued that the Magpies had better depth on their bench with Eddie Howe naming Callum Wilson, Harvey Barnes and Tino Livramento as part of his matchday squad but not in the starting XI. By comparison, Pep Guardiola had no senior attackers on his bench.
In the end, Manchester City edged it and claimed a 1-0 win. The Magpies had managed to keep Erling Haaland relatively quiet by his standards, though he did manage four shots on the night, the most of anyone in the match. They struggled to contain Phil Foden with the versatile attacker finding a teammate with 90.7% of his passes while also playing seven key passes and claiming an assist.
Despite this, most Expected Goal models had the hosts at around 1.01 for the match. The away side handled a usually rampant home side relatively well. But all of their hard work was undone by a stunning Julian Alvarez finish.
We may only be two games into the new season but the 23-year-old World Cup winner is certainly enjoying himself in the Manchester City starting XI.
His match-winning effort on Saturday night capped off an all-around impressive performance by the Argentine. He played two key passes against the Magpies, completed 85.2% of his passes and attempted three dribbles, a total that no player could better.
The strike was worthy of winning any game. Having picked up a pass from Foden just inside the penalty area, Alvarez took a touch to set himself before aiming for the far corner. Even the 6ft3 Nick Pope, at full stretch, could only get fingertips to it before it nestled into the side netting. The No19 pulled the trigger from basically a standing start having had to stop his run to collect the pass, and yet generated all of that power. It was an underrated strike by an underrated player.
Alvarez has been used as an attacking midfielder this season. He’s positioned behind Haaland and his role is to knit play, retain possession and then support the No9 as a second striker. It really does suit him too.
He’s more than just a goalscorer and his on-ball stuff goes under the radar.
Following the 4-1 win over Liverpool last season, Guardiola heaped praise on the former River Plate forward.
“Tactics is players. Erling is something special. Julian is something special too.
“The vision in that second goal to know Riyad is there. He was involved in the first three goals. He was so clever. He played with the World Cup champions. If you are not good, you cannot play in the world champion team.
“Thank you so much to the club and Txiki (director of football Begiristain). He is a young player. Of course, he played a really good game.”
His playing time was limited last season and he made just 13 starts in the Premier League as City went on to retain their crown while also completing a historic treble.
He appears to have much more of an integral role in the squad this time around. He’s started both Premier League matches, the Community Shield loss to Arsenal and the Super Cup win over Sevilla.
Against Burnley in the season opener, he completed 86.8% of his passes, claimed an assist and made six key passes - the most of any player in the match. He didn’t get on the scoresheet but he got goal involvements in each of his starts in the English top tier this season. Furthermore, only Foden (9) and Kaoru Mitoma (9) have more key passes than Alvarez (8) so far this term.
City might be without De Bruyne until the New Year and their pursuit of Paqueta may have come to an abrupt halt, but with Alvarez in this type of form, they are going to continue to cause problems, be a serious threat and, ultimately, win games.
