During Pep Guardiola’s first season at Manchester City one of the biggest problem areas was between the posts as Claudio Bravo struggled to adapt to the Premier League.
The former Barcelona goalkeeper was brought in to replace England international Joe Hart but made too many simple errors and couldn’t fulfil Guardiola’s expectations, concerning the style of play.
Looking back at last season Bravo’s performances and the way he threw away clean sheets because of handling mistakes or a lack of decisiveness was a significant weak spot for City.
This summer Guardiola set to work attempting to turn the Citizens into a more impenetrable unit, bringing in a number of new personnel, one of them being goalkeeper Ederson, who joined from Benfica for £35million.
When the Brazilian joined for a considerable amount of money there were those that wondered how he would adjust to the transition between the Portugese league and the Premier League.
Although the 23-year-old had been key in helping Benfica claim a league and cup double last campaign this move would see him pitted against a completely different standard of opposition.
However he quickly started to dispel any suspicions he might take time to adapt to the pace of the game over here, looking assured on his debut during a 2-0 victory away to Brighton & Hove Albion.
There may not have been many efforts on goal for Ederson to deal with but he still did a good job of organizing his defence and being forthright in claiming corners and snuffing out long balls.
Despite conceding two goals in the games against Everton and Bournemouth they were both great strikes and he did still make some outstanding saves to keep the two sides from scoring any more.
A key requirement Ederson needed to meet when Guardiola brought him to the Etihad was an ability to quickly identify players in the best forward positions and help speed up the transition between attack and defence.
That was a trait which the Brazilian soon started to demonstrate in abundance, wasting little time in releasing his fellow teammates often with pinpoint distribution, as evidenced during the rout against Liverpool until he was taken off.
After sustaining minor injuries during the clash with Sadio Mane, he returned days later and was another calming presence between the posts, helping City keep their first clean sheet in the Champions League for a year.
There will undoubtedly be games where Ederson is helped by the sheer dominance his side enjoy in attack, limiting the amount of work he has to do in goal, like the Watford and Crystal Palace matches.
The victory over Shakhtar Donetsk was a complete contrast and was a far better example of Ederson’s shot-stopping ability, as he made a number of key saves to keep the visitors scoreless.
Laying a solid foundation and denying the opposition from going in front was a key component of City going on to secure another Champions League victory.
With each clean sheet Ederson helps his side record the confidence will continue to flow throughout the team. City will undoubtedly become more aggressive in attack and take more risks as they continue to see how composed and assertive Ederson is.
Although the former Benfica stopper only joined City a few months ago, his seamless transition and ever-growing influence on the rest of the team could make him the most significant signing by Guardiola yet.
