The pass that enables both of those things to occur as naturally as possible is more significant than either the goal or the assist in a typical Manchester City goal under Pep Guardiola.

Although the concept of a “pre-assist” is frequently mocked, it does underline the importance of a player making a decisive forward pass, removing several defenders from the action, and performing the trickiest element of a move.

Under Guardiola, City has been scoring goals of this nature for years. In the half of the opponent, they pass the ball back and forth while they wait for a gap to open up. 

A midfielder will play the ball forward when the time is appropriate rather than sideways into the path of a winger or fullback who is making a dash to the byline or into the box.That player knows to cut the ball back for at least one player waiting in the middle rather than shooting. Erling Haaland is the player in question most frequently, but there have been countless additional instances in the past. The player who made it all happen is frequently forgotten while the scorer receives praise and the assister increases their stats.Ilkay Gundogan had a flair for timing his runs into the box such that he could score, thus it might be a touch oversimplified to state that he was more of a pre-assister than a scorer in these circumstances. He was still able to spark a teammate’s entry into the area, such as Riyad Mahrez, Raheem Sterling, or Bernardo Silva.Since Gundogan left this summer, other players have had to assume responsibility for determining when to make a forward pass rather than continue moving the ball from left to right. Although Bernardo Silva is capable, he is better at making runs and is needed on the right. Similarly, Phil Foden and Julian Alvarez profit more from making the crucial pass and completing the movements.As a result, Mateo Kovacic, a recent acquisition, is under a lot of strain after being inserted into the lineup to replace Gundogan in midfield. Since the Belgian limped off at Burnley, Kevin De Bruyne has been forced to play every game due to an injury.In each of the following three games after that, he started the play that led to City’s first goal. When Kyle Walker sent the ball to him in the middle during the game against Newcastle, he turned to send Phil Foden scurrying toward the goal. Alvarez found Foden, and Foden discovered the top corner.Just before City took the lead at Sheffield United, Kovacic had already put a similar pass into the direction of Haaland, but the Norwegian inexplicably missed the target. A few minutes later, Kovacic continued to move the ball from right to left before putting it in front of Jack Grealish so that he could attack his full-back. Grealish raised the cross to the back post, where Haaland successfully connected.And in the tense first half of the weekend match against Fulham, Kovacic cut through the defense to send Haaland into the box to his left. Alvarez won’t complain, albeit Haaland’s ‘cross’ may have had a hint of a shot to it because the ball found its way into the goal.Kovacic has three ‘pre-assists’ in three games.Strangely, Kovacic has only made an average of one ‘important pass’ per game this season, falling short of six colleagues and numerous Premier League competitors. Kovacic is sixth in pass success rates, although five City players average more passes than he does. Although the Croatian doesn’t always make the game-winning pass, it appears to work when he does.