David Moyes says that the way Manchester City played with high and wide wingers to give their midfielders more space to create was key to their victory over West Ham United.
City leapfrogged Liverpool to go second in the Premier League table on Sunday as they fought off a blizzard and a spirited Hammers to win 2-1, thanks to goals from Ilkay Gundogan and Fernandinho.
The Blues did so without the likes of Phil Foden and Jack Grealish, who are still sidelined with injury, with Raheem Sterling and Riyad Mahrez manning the flanks in their absence.
Both were influential during the match - especially Mahrez who had a goal ruled out for off-side and teed up the opener - and Moyes believes their positioning helped Pep Guardiola's side stifle West Ham's own threat and win the game.
"I think Sterling and Mahrez played high and wide, City altered a little last year but have gone back to it now," the Irons boss said.
"It's more than positions where Gundogan and Silva cause you problems and nothing would please me more than to wrestle more possession off them but there's a lot of top talent and it's taken a long time to build a team like that.
"So the job today was to try and make sure we were hard to play against but create chances to give us an opportunity to win the game. I thought we did that as much as we could.
"Yeah, they're missing three really good players. We're missing Angelo Ogbonna, who's really important to us as well. So maybe in our terms we are missing a player who is vital for us as well."
The game looked as though it could have been in doubt at half-time as the snowfall intensified and made visibility on the pitch difficult, with the lines indistinguishable from the layer of snow on the pitch.
However, Great work from City's ground staff and a welcomed respite from the blizzard ensured the match could be continued, but Moyes has revealed he was never worried about it being called off.
"No, I didn't because I thought that the referee did a good job and I thought that we all wanted the game to be played," he said when he was asked if he thought the game could have been ended early.
"I hoped that it helped us, I thought it might have affected Man City more than it would affect it us. But when they got the goal that was actually the worst of the snow and I thought if anything we lost concentration a little bit.
"I've got to say the visuals for the ball were quite difficult in that period of the game. But look, it was difficult conditions but I was happy to play the game."
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