Was wondering how they do it so well and sure it’s been that way since Sheikh Mansour bought the club. At other big clubs there’s a first XI that’s going to play most weeks with some squad players on the fringes when fit whereas at City I’ve noticed that they could probably field 2 good starting XIs from one week to the next and wouldn’t struggle. Like sometimes you’ll see Stones and Ake in defence then another game it’s Dias and Gvardiol, sometimes Akanji plays there. Been like that for quite a while remembering when it was 4-4-2 under Mancini and Pellegrini having Aguero and Tevez up front with Dzeko and Balotelli before Negredo and Jovetic as back up. Whenever someone gets injured it’s barely even a problem and they seem to know how to manage big players really well, bit jealous as a United fan as whenever one player is dropped, it’s such a big deal.
Noticed that the formation also changes as well quite often, for example
3-2-4-1 vs Chelsea
3-4-2-1 vs Bournemouth
4-2-3-1 vs United
I think you’ve misunderstood quite a few things.
Rotation - saw a stat after around 10 games this season they had made less subs and rotated the starting line up less than any other team in the prem. It’s a myth they have a huge squad.
System - they rarely change their system (don’t confuse formation with system). They always shape up in a 325 in possession and 442 out of possession. The only times I’ve ever seen them deviate from this is against some teams later in the champions league. They play the same way every game. Controlled possession, high press, high emphasis on positional awareness.
Injuries - they have lots of players who can play multiple positions. Say foden gets injured, they have 2 or 3 replacements who can play the number 8 in their system. Same for the defenders, akanji, gvardiol and ake can either play centrally or LB. They also don’t have answers for every position, when rodri is injured their system really struggles. They lost 2 out of 3 games without rodri during his ban.