For each week here at Goal Breakdown, I’ll do my best to write a breakdown of what I believe were the best three (or five) goals of the week. I’ll do my best to write one a day or so. Here’s number three in my countdown.

3) Edin Dzeko – Manchester City. 52nd Minute , 1-0

Edin Dzeko’s goal here is a fantastic example of link up play between strikers, in this case Kun Aguero and Dzeko. Like last week, we see these two playing nifty balls to find each other, and they seem to be on point. City does lose this match to Cardiff, but nonetheless take the lead with this beautiful goal. Let’s look at it.

Here’s the reminiscence of the attack just a few seconds before Dzeko’s goal. We see Fernandinho, a deep playmaker pushing up. We see Clichy, Dzeko, Silva and Aguero missing just to the right. City is getting high up the pitch, but this is what helps to make this goal great.

Now we see the ball was cleared back to Yaya Toure at the halfway line. It seems like the assumption would be that Toure would thump the ball forward back to that high attack of City’s to see if they can win the header. Instead, the opposite is coming. Fernandinho has already tracked all the way back and Cardiff’s defenders are following.

Aguero picks up the pass and has loads of options. Remember when I showed how high up City were? See where they are now, fifteen yards out of the box, coming back for the ball and all with the weight leaning on the attack. This is great awareness of the play. We can see here has already made up his mind but let’s go through the progressions.

If the ball comes correctly to his right foot, Aguero keeps the ball, runs to the open space (red arrow) and takes a shot. He’s a goal scorer, and he wants this for himself. If his first touch comes in front, feed Silva into open space for a shot (yellow arrow). However, David Silva’s shot probably wouldn’t be as lethal as his next progression. Feed Dzeko. A fancy touch, but also to his fellow striker. These two are clicking well and know where each other are. Aguero is aware of his best scoring option, and knows he can lay the ball onto the right foot of Dzeko. He makes that decision. The defender is nearly falling down and the ball is onto Dzeko’s better right foot. He tees it up for a near perfect shot. Finally, if Aguero’s touch lands out in front of him, he can feed Jesus Navas who is out to the other side (green arrow) and look for a cross. This may have been the second best option for me, since three scorers would be in the box, but the ball didn’t fall correctly.

After one touch, Dzeko opts for the shot. With great form here, he winds up. The defender who was off balance before hand had to give Dzeko space in order to recover. This results in a few yards for Dzeko to power the ball. The rest is history, or maybe not.

Typically, I might end a goal at the previous screen. But here is part of the reason why I love this goal. Both Aguero and Silva here stay with the play and are ready for a rebound if need be. They could have stopped and let Dzeko’s shot fall where it may. Instead, they are looking for the goal and both continue to attack. Even if there were a rebound on this shot, it would have been finished off by one of these two.