Manchester City Formation: Guardiola's 4-2-3-1

Manchester City formation — tactical board

How Manchester City's 4-2-3-1 is organised

On the team sheet City are a 4-2-3-1: Gianluigi Donnarumma behind a back four, Rodri and Bernardo Silva as the double pivot, a band of three in front of them and Erling Haaland alone at the top. In possession the shape changes within two passes. Matheus Nunes leaves the right touchline and takes a position beside Rodri, the two remaining centre-backs spread, and Nico O'Reilly pushes up the left, so the back four becomes a back three and the middle third becomes a three-man platform.

Width comes almost entirely from the wingers. Because both full-backs work inside or ahead of the ball, Doku and Semenyo are asked to stand on the touchline and stay there, and that is what makes City's switches so productive: four or five players overload one side until the block slides across, then Rodri turns the ball to the isolated winger on the other. Rayan Cherki works between those two poles, receiving in the right half-space behind the opposition midfield line and drifting wide to combine.

Build-up starts with Rodri dropping towards Donnarumma or between the centre-backs, which turns City's first line into a three or a four against most pressing schemes. Marc Guéhi's left foot opens the far side and Abdukodir Khusanov's recovery pace lets the line sit high. Out of possession the front four press together, Haaland and Cherki through the middle, Doku high on the left and Semenyo shifting on the right, with Rodri and the inverted Nunes screening behind them as the rest defence.

The tactical units

1. Goalkeeper

   On the pitch: Gianluigi Donnarumma

   Donnarumma was City's league goalkeeper after arriving from Paris Saint-Germain, and the brief is narrower than that of Guardiola's earlier keepers: hold the back door, dominate the six-yard box, and give Rodri a safe first pass rather than build for its own sake. Behind a high defensive line he also covers a large area on his own. James Trafford took both cup finals.

2. Back four

   On the pitch: Nico O'Reilly, Marc Guéhi, Abdukodir Khusanov, Matheus Nunes

   The line only looks like a four when City are defending. Nunes tucks inside to make a midfield three, O'Reilly advances up the left and underlaps into the box, and Guéhi and Khusanov hold the centre as a pair. That pairing was formed by necessity: long-term injuries to Rúben Dias and Joško Gvardiol in early January brought Guéhi in from Crystal Palace later the same month. Guéhi's left foot switches play; Khusanov's pace is what allows the line to defend so far from goal.

3. Double pivot

   On the pitch: Rodri, Bernardo Silva

   Rodri played only twenty-one of the thirty-eight league games, sidelined by two spells with hamstring and groin trouble, but he remains the reference point: dropping between the centre-backs to build, screening in front of them when City lose the ball, and switching play across the pitch. Tijjani Reijnders, signed from Milan in the summer, made twenty-eight league appearances in the same midfield. Bernardo Silva, the captain, is licensed to leave Rodri, pushing up to support Haaland, drifting wide to cross, and arriving late in the box.

4. Attacking band

   On the pitch: Jérémy Doku, Rayan Cherki, Antoine Semenyo

   Doku and Semenyo are kept apart on purpose. Both are one-v-one wingers, both hold width, and neither is asked to come inside until the ball arrives. Cherki is the connector: he receives in the right half-space behind the midfield line, breaks a line with a dribble, then drifts towards Semenyo to create a switch. Semenyo joined from Bournemouth in January, scored on his debut and finished the season with the FA Cup final winner. Omar Marmoush filled the central slot in that final.

5. Centre-forward

   On the pitch: Erling Haaland

   Haaland is not a false nine and does not drop to link. He stays between the centre-backs, pins them ten yards deeper than they would like, and turns the space in front of them into the zone City actually attack. He scored twenty-seven league goals, and reached a hundred in the competition in only 111 appearances, the quickest anyone has managed it.

Key player relationships

Gianluigi Donnarumma → Rodri — Builds play through

City's first pass out is rarely a long one. Rodri drops towards his goalkeeper or into the gap between the centre-backs, giving Donnarumma a third and fourth option in the first line and forcing a pressing side to commit someone extra.

Nico O'Reilly → Jérémy Doku — Underlaps

Doku stays on the touchline, so O'Reilly runs inside him rather than around him. That underlap drags the opposing full-back's eyes inwards and leaves Doku the isolation he wants, and it is how a left-back ends up finishing chances in the six-yard box.

Marc Guéhi → Nico O'Reilly — Covers

When O'Reilly advances the back four is a back three, and Guéhi slides across to take the space behind him. That cover is the condition for the whole left side: without it, the inverted structure would leave the flank open to a first-time switch.

Matheus Nunes ↔ Rodri — Inverts alongside

The signature City movement. Nunes leaves the right touchline and takes a position beside Rodri, giving a numerical advantage in the middle third against two central midfielders and, when possession is lost, a second screen in front of the centre-backs.

Matheus Nunes → Antoine Semenyo — Creates space for

Nunes moving inside is what makes Semenyo's flank empty. The right touchline is vacated deliberately so that a switch finds Semenyo one against one with a full-back who has no cover, which is the situation City spent the second half of the season trying to manufacture.

Rodri → Abdukodir Khusanov — Screens

City attack with three defenders and rely on the pivot to protect them. Rodri stays central rather than joining the attack, cutting the first pass into the space Khusanov and Guéhi have left behind by defending so high up the pitch.

Rodri ↔ Bernardo Silva — Rotates with

The pivot is only nominally a pair. Bernardo Silva pushes on to support Haaland or drifts wide to cross and Rodri covers the vacated space; when Rodri steps out to press, Bernardo takes the deeper station. The two never leave at the same time.

Rodri → Jérémy Doku — Frees

Rodri's long switch is the delivery mechanism for the isolation. Once City have overloaded the right and the block has shifted, one pass across the pitch gives Doku the ball facing forward with a full-back to beat and no double team available.

Bernardo Silva → Nico O'Reilly — Supplies crosses

Bernardo drifts towards the flank and O'Reilly arrives from the far side of the box, into the space Haaland has cleared. That far-post arrival is one of City's repeatable routes to a goal from wide areas: O'Reilly's two headers in the EFL Cup final both came from crosses, the first of them delivered by Rayan Cherki.

Bernardo Silva → Erling Haaland — Supports

Haaland spends long spells alone against two centre-backs, and Bernardo is the player who joins him. He arrives at the top of the box to give a wall pass, take a lay-off, or attack a second ball, turning an isolated forward into a pair.

Rayan Cherki ↔ Antoine Semenyo — Combines with

Cherki starts in the right half-space and Semenyo on the line, and the two exchange positions as the ball comes over. Short combinations in that corner draw defenders towards the flank and set up the cutback rather than a crossed ball into the middle.

Rayan Cherki ↔ Erling Haaland — Links play

Cherki works in the pocket Haaland's presence creates. Because the centre-backs are pinned, the space ten yards in front of them is available, and Cherki receives there facing goal, the closest thing this City side has to a classic number ten relationship.

Jérémy Doku ↔ Erling Haaland — Presses with

City press with four in the first line. Haaland takes the centre and Doku pushes high on the left rather than dropping to mark a full-back, which narrows the routes out and forces the ball back towards a goalkeeper City are happy to attack.

Antoine Semenyo ↔ Erling Haaland — Counterpresses with

Semenyo's pressing brief is less fixed, and he shifts inside or out depending on who is receiving. With Haaland he squeezes the far centre-back, and because City hold a high rest defence behind them, a regain in that area arrives with the goal still open.

Tactical strengths

• The inverted right-back gives City a permanent extra passer in the middle third without giving up a defender.
• Two touchline wingers make the pitch as wide as it can be, so a single switch turns a compressed block into a one-v-one.
• Rodri can both build from between the centre-backs and screen in front of them, so one player solves two phases.
• Haaland's pinning of the centre-backs creates the pocket that the ten and the arriving midfielders are designed to attack.
• The rest defence of three defenders plus Rodri and the inverted full-back allows immediate counterpressing in the opposition half.
• The shape travels into one-off knockout football, where City won both the EFL Cup and the FA Cup in the same season.

Tactical weaknesses

• With one full-back inside and the other high, a first-time switch behind the advanced side finds a lot of grass.
• The build-up depends heavily on Rodri, who played only twenty-one of the thirty-eight league games because of hamstring and groin injuries.
• A high line asks Khusanov and Guéhi to defend large distances at speed, and Real Madrid scored three times in the first half at the Bernabéu on the way to a 5-1 aggregate win in the Champions League round of 16.
• Doku and Semenyo are asked to win their duels almost every week; when neither does, City can circulate for long spells without producing a cutback.
• Haaland does not drop to link, so if the pocket in front of the centre-backs is closed there is no second route into the box.

Famous tactical characteristics

The inverted full-back

Guardiola has been moving a full-back into midfield for a decade, and in 2025/26 Matheus Nunes did the job. He starts on the right touchline, leaves it as soon as the centre-backs have the ball, and takes a station beside Rodri. The gain is numerical, a midfield three against two, and structural, because he is already inside when possession is lost.

Overload one side, isolate the other

City deliberately crowd one flank with four or five players, passing in a small space until the defensive block slides across. The purpose is not to break through there; it is to compress the defence so that one switch reaches the far winger with no cover behind his marker. Doku and Semenyo are kept on the touchline for exactly that moment.

Pressing with four in the first line

Out of possession the attacking band stays forward rather than dropping into a mid-block. Haaland and Cherki cover the centre, Doku pushes high on the left and Semenyo adjusts on the right, so the opposition back four has no clean forward pass. Rodri and the inverted full-back hold the line behind them and collect what comes through.

Rodri as the whole first phase

Rodri drops between the centre-backs, receives beside the goalkeeper, or steps up to take the ball on the half-turn, and the choice depends on the press he is facing. That single player gives City a three-, four- or five-man first line without moving anybody else, which is why so much of the build-up is organised around whether he is on the pitch.

Cutbacks instead of crosses

One of City's most productive finishing patterns is a low ball pulled back from the byline rather than a cross floated into the six-yard box. It forces defenders tracking backwards to turn, and it arrives in front of runners rather than above them. The FA Cup final was settled that way: Haaland's low ball from the right, flicked in by Semenyo.

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Related formations

• Arsenal Formation and Tactics Under Mikel Arteta

  The side that beat City to the 2025/26 title, and the opponent City faced in the EFL Cup final.

• Liverpool Formation and Tactics: Slot's 2025/26 4-2-3-1

  A Premier League contrast: the same league and a front-foot press, but width and progression built differently.

• FC Barcelona Formation and Tactics Under Hansi Flick

  Guardiola's original positional-play project and the clearest reference point for City's build-up ideas.

Frequently asked questions

What formation does Manchester City play?

Manchester City line up in a 4-2-3-1 under Pep Guardiola, with Rodri and Bernardo Silva as the double pivot and Erling Haaland alone up front. In possession it becomes a back three with a full-back inverting into midfield.

Who plays in Manchester City's midfield?

Rodri sits deepest as the pivot, with Bernardo Silva alongside him and licensed to push forward. Rayan Cherki plays as the right-sided number ten between the lines, and the right-back, Matheus Nunes, moves inside to make a third central midfielder. Tijjani Reijnders and Phil Foden take a large share of the same minutes.

Why does Manchester City play with inverted full-backs?

Moving a full-back into midfield gives City an extra passer in the middle third without removing a defender, and leaves him well placed to counterpress when the ball is lost. It also empties the touchline for a winger to attack one against one.