F365’s early losers: Gael Clichy and Bacary Sagna

Sunday August 12, 2007. That’s the date on which Gael Clichy and Bacary Sagna first started together as a full-back pairing in English football. It was in a 2-1 win for Arsenal over Fulham, during which Aleksandr Hleb scored a late winner past Tony Warner. David Healy scored Fulham’s goal.

You would have got lengthy odds that day on Clichy and Sagna still starting together nine-and-a-half years later, let alone for a club with higher ambitions than Arsenal. There was anger and resentment when Samir Nasri and Emmanuel Adebayor left for the Etihad Stadium, but not when Clichy and Sagna made the same trip. Most shrugged.

Looking for problems in Pep Guardiola’s side against Monaco was like searching for a haystack in a pile of needles, but it was the full-backs who stood out most in comparison with the opposition. While Djibril Sidibe and Benjamin Mendy, aged 24 and 22 respectively, surged down the flanks to create overlaps and thus chances, 34-year-old Sagna and 31-year-old Clichy could not offer the same threat. Monaco’s full-back pair attempted nine crosses to Manchester City’s three.

There is nothing wrong with having defensive full-backs, of course. In an interview for a recent biography, Guardiola spoke about how he counteracts this lack of overlapping by keeping his wingers wide and moving the full-back inside, but he has always said that successful attacking is impossible if you’re lacking width. Monaco’s width on Wednesday night won the game, assisted by City’s own self-inflicted wounds.

There is nothing wrong with Clichy and Sagna per se, but they are hallmarks of the ‘old’ Manchester City. While both would consider themselves defensive full-backs, neither are amongst the top six in that role in the Premier League, let alone the Champions League. For a club of City’s financial might, that should be deeply embarrassing.

Compounding the problem is the lack of adequate back-up in these defensive positions. Aleksandar Kolarov is the same age as Clichy and now being used as an auxiliary centre-back, while Pablo Zabaleta’s energy is not what it was, and he turned 32 in January. For all their talk of dynasty, how has a club with City’s resources ended up with four full-backs all over the age of 30, none of whom would get close to a Premier League select XI?

The answer to the problem, as with City’s other problems, lies in the transfer market. Guardiola has previously said that he believes the type of superhuman players who can run non-stop up and down the wing will die out, or at least struggle to keep up that intensity over a number of years. “The beasts who can go all season charging up and down, eighty metres at a time,” Guardiola called them.

In the Stade Louis II on Wednesday evening, Mendy at least offered evidence to disprove Guardiola’s theory, although Monaco did tire after the hour mark in both legs. Manchester City’s manager doesn’t need to employ the same tactics as Leonardo Jardim to be successful, but he does need to find improvements in both full-back positions. If you can’t assist the attack, at least make sure you don’t undermine your defence. Clichy and Sagna are jacks of all trades; Guardiola needs masters.

Daniel Storey