Pep Guardiola’s side registered a comfortable 3-0 victory over Olympiacos in the Champions League on Tuesday, courtesy of goals from Ferran Torres, Gabriel Jesus and Joao Cancelo.
However, Manchester City played themselves into trouble at 1-0 when Phil Foden’s loose ball to John Stones inside the area almost cost them a goal, with Mathieu Valbuena missing the target.
The Citizens are now set to host Liverpool in the league on Sunday and De Jong wants his former side to avoid taking risks trying to play out from the back.
De Jong explained that Manchester City should opt to play the ball long rather than risking playing themselves into trouble by playing out from the back, especially against Liverpool, both home and away.
“If I’m on the pitch [I would say] ‘coach, listen, just kick it long’“, De Jong said on beIN SPORTS.
“Don’t do that [take risks playing out from the back] at Anfield, kick it long and just compete for the second ball, and then we play out from the that.
“Yes, exactly [don’t do it in Manchester on Sunday].“
De Jong went on to admit that playing out from the back is working for Manchester City, but stressed the need to be on the safer side on occasions.
“It works for them now at the moment and sometimes you just have to be careful when they play out from the back“, the Dutchman added.
“But the main thing is that they can score, with a lot of good players up front.”
Both Manchester City and Liverpool go into the game at Etihad Stadium on the back of home comfortable wins in the Champions League, having beaten Olympiacos and Atalanta, respectively.
