Haaland and Drogba up front? Semenyo key to Guardiola's bold new Man City blueprint

ETIHAD STADIUM, MANCHESTER — It's become one of the cliches of this Premier League season, after the latest long throw hurled into a penalty area or in-swinging corner boomed towards a packed goalmouth. So much af what we see in 2025/26 is "old-school", a throwback.

That label definitely applied to Manchester City's opening goal in their 3-1 win over Fulham. Overlapping full-back Matheus Nunes curled a teasing cross into the penalty area, Erling Haaland mistimed his jump for the header but the ball ricocheted off visiting midfielder Sander Berge and Antoine Semenyo was on the spot to prod home.

If one doesn't get you, the other one will. It was a classic strike-partnership goal from a cross that you could pluck out of any era of English football. And here was a Pep Guardiola team scoring it

"He has an incredible sense of goal," Guardiola said of Semenyo, his £62.5m January signing from Bournemouth. "These type of goals, chaos in the boxes, second balls, always he is there. He smells the situation."

MORE: Man City vs. Fulham score, stats, talking points, highlights as Semenyo, Haaland reel in Arsenal

When City signed Semenyo, he appeared to address an obvious shortfall in the City squad, that of an attacking, goalscoring right winger. Except that he hasn't played there all that often. Against Fulham, Semenyo operated as a centre-forward alongside Haaland. He has also played on both wings, as a split striker with Omar Marmoush and, during last weekend's dramatic 2-1 win over Liverpool at Anfield, as one of the attacking midfielders at the front of Guardiola's box midfield. He's played eight games and scored five goals.

"It's been very different," Semenyo told reporters afterwards, having switched life under the highly regarded Andoni Iraola at Bournemouth for a crash course in Guardiolisme. "Very intense, ball-dominant. I haven't really been in a team that's ball-dominant before. It's just like being really patient, understanding when to slow down the game, when to speed up and being in the right positions, being an option. It's a lot, but in the month I've learnt so much and it's improving me as a player, so I'm grateful."

This gets to the heart of how Guardiola is adapting to this physical and transition-heavy Premier League. It's City, but it's not City. A player coming in and being asked to be versatile and adaptable, learning when to slow and push the tempo of the game. That's all classic Guardiola stuff. But signing a forward who is not used to being in "ball-dominant" teams and him instantly becoming integral. That's new. Perhaps the same applied to Riyad Mahrez and Jack Grealish, but they were deft technicians in a way that Semenyo isn't. 

The Ghana international is someone who provides a wide attacking goal threat unlike anyone at City since Raheem Sterling was in his pomp, as evidenced by him charging in from the back post for a close-range finish in the first leg of City's Carabao Cup semifinal win over Newcastle. That looked like a classic 2017-2020 City goal, and also the sort of thing Guardiola would orchestrate at Bayern Munich. Semenyo roving around Anfield as an attacking No. 8, not so much.

"That was different as well," he said, raising his eyebrows slightly. "Listen, I'm learning on the go and it's helping me as a player." From Guardiola's point of view, playing Semenyo in the role he did to disrupt Liverpool is the simplest and most logical thing in the world. It's maybe his greatest skill: to bring players along with apparently madcap schemes and convince them that they're normal because they work time and time again.

"Sometimes you make a player play in a position when that position requires some attributes that the player has to have and [Semenyo] has. It's no more complicated than that," Guardiola explained. If you need an attacking midfielder to receive [possession], turn and attack the central defender, he has the attributes. 

"Play right, left, both sides, he can do it. Striker, in behind, he can do it. He has the incredible skills to do that. After that, he is so open-minded and generous in his effort. When he jumps [to press], the pace that he does is unbelievable."

More than anything else, it's the sight of Semenyo forming a two-man battering ram with Haaland that feels like the most exciting potential difference-maker if City are to hang on to Arsenal's coattails in this title race. If Guardiola sticks with this ploy, the 26-year-old will take some of his cues from one of the most un-false nines in Premier League history.

"I loved watching Didier Drogba. I did want to play as a number nine a few years back," Semenyo said. "I just loved his playing style when I was at Bristol. That was someone I looked up to and wanted to replicate his game."

A forward who can play in several different positions to help the team, depending on the situation. Also, a player who idolises Didier Drogba and is thriving in the most duel-laden Premier League in recent memory. It's Guardiola's City, but it's not Guardiola's City. A throwback and something entirely different.