German midfielder Gundogan has been in superb form this season and shone again in last Sunday’s 3-1 win at Chelsea with former City and Queen’s Park Rangers central defender Onuoha praising his pivotal position in Pep Guardiola’s set-up.
Recalling his own days at City, Onuoha also recalled his own memorable introduction into City’s guiding philosophy of building from the back with the accent firmly on possession and skill sets across all positions.
And speaking during the latest edition of We’re Not Really Here, our matchday chat show, Onuoha recalled how one pre-season fixture in particular helped illuminate him as to City’s new-found approach with the focus fixed on passing and possession.
SUBSCRIBE TO THE OFFICIAL MAN CITY PODCAST
“I think instead of say solely being a number six he (Gundogan) leans towards being an eight. He’s a very important link between defence and attack. There’s so much trust in the system you know the ball will come to you,” Onuoha asserted.
“When the defender plays it to Rodri who plays it to Gundogan, you don’t have to come and receive the ball because you know it’s going to get there.
“In my early days we used to have the ball at the back, and you’d see a lot of numbers because people didn’t want the ball.
“You went long and went for the second balls, but I’ll never forget this.
“We were playing a pre-season game, David Silva’s on our team, he had someone on his back like a foot away. I played the ball away and he had a go at me saying: ‘Why didn’t you give me the ball’?
“I was like: ‘Because there’s someone behind you.’ I was like: ‘Oh my god, this is different!’.”
Fellow former City centre back Joleon Lescott, who was also a special guest on Sunday’s edition of We’re Not Really Here, took up the theme of how he too quickly acclimatised to City’s possession-based approach.
“On my debut at Crystal Palace I gave the ball to Robinho and was all excited, but I also wanted to showcase that I could play it long. Not like hoof it but play you in on goal,” Lescott recalled.
CITY+ | SIGN UP TO ACCESS EXCLUSIVE CONTENT
“Emmanuel Adebayor made this run, and I played this clean ball over the top. He looked at it, turned around and shook his head. So, I was like: ‘OK, I’ll play to feet!’”
Onuoha also expanded on how the possession-based, attacking approach adopted by City for many years now, has subsequently been taken up more widely across the English game.
“The mentality whereby it was more about controlling the game, when you were looking for 60, 70% possession, one or two teams started to bring it in and there’s more now,” Nedum added.
“To do that you need a good manager who believes in it 100%.
“Because I’ve played with some managers who want to keep the ball, then you make a few passes around the back and they tell you to send it long.
“But more managers now believe in the system and say: ‘Persist, this is how I want you to play.’”
Get the Official Manchester City Start page for your Chrome browser. Add the extension to your browser, for the latest news and wallpapers in your desktop tab.
