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Football London
Football London
Sport
Rob Guest

The Jorginho flaw that Man City boss Pep Guardiola identified at the start of the season

Much has been made of Jorginho's role in the Chelsea team following his big-money summer move from Napoli.

Having started the season off very well with the Blues looking set to be in title contention, the Italian international has come under heavy criticism in recent months and he was even booed by a section of fans in the Europa League clash against Malmo in February.

Many aren't happy with his place in the team given he doesn't really contribute in terms of goals and assists, with plenty not impressed that N'Golo Kante is playing in a more advanced role to accommodate the 27-year-old.

However, he was very good in the midweek win over Brighton & Hove Albion and supporters want to see him replicate that performance over the final few weeks of the campaign.

Chelsea may well not have signed the player in the summer had Man City boss Pep Guardiola got his way.

The Italian looked set to join the Premier League champions but he instead headed for west London following the appointment of his former Napoli boss Maurizio Sarri.

Guardiola and his Man City coaching staff clearly watched the player plenty of times in Serie A and they took full advantage of their findings when the sides met in the Community Shield back in August.

Carles Planchart, analyst at City, revealed how the team exploited Jorginho when giving a presentation at the Congress of Performance Analysis in Madrid in March.

The short video clip shows the player 'jumping' from his deeper position in Chelsea's midfield to close down City, thus creating a big gap for Guardiola's side to exploit with just a single pass to Bernardo Silva.

The Portuguese international then puts Phil Foden through to run at the defence and play in Sergio Aguero, who then finds the bottom corner with a low finished beyond Willy Caballero.

It was a great move by City and they once again got the better of Jorginho and Co when they thumped the Blues 6-0 at the Etihad Stadium back in February.

However, they didn't have much luck two weeks later following the 0-0 draw in the Carabao Cup final before the league leaders won the game on penalties.

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