I saw what Savinho did in plain sight to send Man City challenge to underperforming teammate
Just when Savinho was starting to attract some criticism, he has hit back in style. In his last two games he has won a penalty, scored his first goal and then clipped in a perfect ball for Erling Haaland to score at Leicester. It has been exactly what fans have been begging for since the summer.
Savinho made an instant impact when he joined from Girona, but for all his pedigree in La Liga it was clear very quickly that he was still a raw talent. A winger in a squad that had learned to play without them.
Yet with Haaland in the middle, wingers could be the way out of Manchester City's mess. Get Haaland scoring, and City will soon start getting points again. The issue is getting the ball to Haaland.
READ MORE: Man City's dream XI after Pep Guardiola is given three transfer wishes in January
READ MORE: Premier League CEO Richard Masters just scored huge own goal with two Man City blunders
Savinho, for all his frustrations, has done that in the last two games. Haaland couldn't convert the penalty he won against Everton, but made no mistake with the header at Leicester.
In fact, the pair had combined pre-match for an identical header thanks to a new pre-match routine that looks to be paying off.
Instead of forwards firing in balls at a goal, City have started to replicate attacking scenarios by getting number eights to cut inside and shoot from 18 yards, or pass out towards the wings for the wide men to cross for Haaland, the opposite winger, and a midfielder.
There are no defenders in the drill, so converting is not much of a challenge. But it remains an interesting pre-match shift and at Leicester one move saw Savinho cross and Haaland score in a mirror image of the goal (where incidentally Leicester left as much space in the box as pre-match).
Pep Guardiola will be pleased that the change is paying off, because the fact remains City need to supply their striker more and the wingers are key to that. In fact, of Haaland's 109 City goals, few have come from wide players - ten from Phil Foden, seven from Bernardo Silva, five from Jack Grealish, three each from Savinho and Riyad Mahrez,
Some of those assists won't have come from 'traditional' wing play, so the Grealish, Mahrez and Savinho figures are maybe more representatives. A breakdown of his goals further show that 32 of Haaland's 109 strikes have come from crosses (29 per cent), but we know not all of them have been from wingers.
Maybe the most damning statistic of all is that Jeremy Doku is still waiting for his first assist for Haaland. With 14 assists so far since signing in 2023, the closest he has come is two penalties won converted by Haaland, and two assists for Julian Alvarez - but it is 53 games and over 2500 minutes of football together without Doku putting a cross in for Haaland to score.
Savinho has earned a start against West Ham to continue his form from Everton and Leicester. Doku did assist on Boxing Day and has four this season. But he trails Savinho and Matheus Nunes in the assist charts and has as many as Rico Lewis.
Both wingers will do their chances of playing more no harm if they can simply set up Haaland more. Or in Doku's case, set him up at all.