How Nico O’Reilly grabbed his chance as Guardiola’s latest goalscoring left-back

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“Against Plymouth, he scored two goals, today he got the first assist, so in the semi-final he is going to play,” Pep Guardiola said of Nico O’Reilly after the youngster helped send Manchester City to Wembley.

After Guardiola left the press conference room following City’s 2-1 victory in Bournemouth at the end of March, many of the assembled journalists spent a good 10 minutes trying to work out if he was joking or not. He was, but O’Reilly has actually started all five of City’s games since then, and it would now be a surprise if he did not face Nottingham Forest in the semi-final at Wembley on Sunday.

The 20-year-old only started his first league match three weeks ago but has added a lot to City’s game in such a short space of time, which is quite something. Not just because of his age or that he is playing out of position at left-back, but because he is not a defender at all: he is an attacking midfielder.

Guardiola seems hell-bent on converting him into a holding midfielder because of his height and physical presence, something that the youngster does not sound entirely sold on. To be fair to O’Reilly, given the way he moves in the final third, he has plenty to offer at the top end of the pitch.

Not that it is a compromise, but playing at left-back seems to offer the best of both worlds: Guardiola can improve O’Reilly’s defensive traits by throwing him into the defence, and because of the way that City are playing, there are plenty of opportunities to impact the game at the other end too.

“It looks like, in this team, if you play left-back, you score goals,” Guardiola remarked at the weekend. “Josko (Gvardiol) before and now him.”

Gvardiol made a name for himself as a goal threat due to his contributions between April and November of last year, and O’Reilly has made a big impact already: in the FA Cup he scored once against Salford City, twice against Plymouth Argyle and made two assists against Bournemouth. Since starting matches regularly he has Premier League goals against Crystal Palace and Everton.

O’Reilly celebrates his goal against Crystal Palace (Justin Setterfield/Getty Images)

It is all the more impressive considering how quickly he has had to get used to senior football. “I’ve never played in front of crowds like this before so that’s new,” O’Reilly said during pre-season. “I can’t really hear what the coach is saying and what the players are saying, but I enjoy it.”

The goal against Everton on Saturday was a perfect demonstration of his instincts: it was the movement of a forward. If you look at City’s No 7, Omar Marmoush, you’ll notice that O’Reilly makes a better run.

Guardiola explained afterwards how City’s setup helped O’Reilly to join the attack from left-back.

“When you play as a full-back and the game is quick, the transitions are quick, you cannot arrive,” he said. “But if you move left right, right left, left right, a lot of passes, it gives you time to arrive there. He’s an attacking midfielder, he always is there.”

From there — after ambling into the box — his abilities were on full display. O’Reilly drops into Dwight McNeil’s blind spot to lose him and then stays behind Michael Keane, allowing him to dart around the defender as soon as he spots the ball has been played to the byline for Matheus Nunes.

When Guardiola was describing his talent during pre-season, he said: “As an attacking midfielder, you will see him arrive (in the box)”. On Saturday evening, he remarked on it again, “I’m pretty sure if he plays attacking midfield, every cross he is on the penalty spot.”

Guardiola has also mentioned O’Reilly’s ability in the “small spaces”, which is always a good sign for a City midfielder or forward. That was on display in the Bournemouth game, when he got on the ball on the edge of the box, tip-toed around his man and poked the ball through to Marmoush.

He had already got down the outside and provided a low cross for Erling Haaland to equalise. After the game, he gave a brief insight into his instructions: “He (Guardiola) was just saying run in behind, try to get high, come inside when the winger goes outside.”

That intention to run in behind was evident in that second assist. As soon as O’Reilly spots Ilkay Gundogan receiving the ball, he sets off, attacking the space behind Antoine Semenyo. It is only because Gundogan’s pass is short that he ends up coming inside.

And his first City goal, against Salford in the FA Cup in January, came after he made an underlapping run when Jeremy Doku had the ball wide on the left.

Defensively, he has not let anybody down either, despite his age and the unfamiliar position.

This is a fairly extreme example below, but it shows his pace and awareness, as well as his comfort in possession. Against Palace, he chases back with Daniel Munoz, collects the loose ball, feints to come inside and then pirouettes away into space. City were 2-0 down at this point.

He was impressive again against Aston Villa on Tuesday night, which is also notable because, ahead of the game, Guardiola said that he still needs to develop his fitness enough to play every three days; at Old Trafford, he was taken off due to fatigue.

But O’Reilly had no such problems against Villa, three days after the game at Everton, and afterwards, Guardiola explained his progression at left-back.

“I never thought Nico could play there, but after Manu Akanji’s injury, he started to play there in training, and I said, ‘Hmm, OK’.

“He did not play but after he played the last minutes in Bournemouth, I said, ‘He can play’. (Against Villa) defensively, he had to handle players and, of course, it’s not his position, but he gives us an incredible alternative because at left-back we have just Josko and that’s all, because Nathan (Ake) has been injured unfortunately.

“And I have the feeling that game by game he is playing better, today he played better than at Goodison Park and that is a good sign for him and for us.”

At 6ft 4in (193cm), O’Reilly is a physical presence both defending and attacking set pieces, something City are not especially blessed with, particularly with Rodri and Haaland out. And despite that height, he also moves very well when carrying the ball, and seems to relish dribbling at an opposition player.

Since the Bournemouth game when O’Reilly came into the side, City have won five of their last six games. And while he isn’t the only reason for their upturn in form, they now head to Wembley with a well-defined game plan.

O’Reilly is very much a part of that — maybe Guardiola was not joking after all.

(Top photo: O’Reilly with Pep Guardiola earlier this season; by Alex Pantling via Getty Images)

This news was originally published on this post .

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