Thread by @city_tactics

The European Cup Final:
Chelsea’s shape vs City’s press.
A tricky conundrum for Pep 1/

Tuchel’s Chelsea set up in a 3-4-2-1.
3 centre backs across the back line play behind a midfield 2 of Kante and Jorginho with wing backs wide and Mount, Havertz and Werner up top 2/

There are various challenges this formation creates for City.
Here I’m going to concentrate on City’s press. City have generally pressed in a 4-4-2/4-2-4 in the last few months. It matches up well against a back 4 and midfield 2, as we can see against Gladbach in the last 16 3/

Pressing in a 4-4-2/4-2-4 also allows City to keep a flat back 4 in place. The full backs are only pulled out of position if the press ahead of them is broken, meaning City have numbers back to deal with any through balls or balls over the top 4/

Chelsea’s back 3 with 2 midfielders ahead of them pose a different problem. In the build up the midfielders drop close to the back 3, giving Chelsea a compact 5 man build up
5/

In the FA Cup semi final City tried to combat this by dropping De Bruyne off the front line. The front 3 pressed Chelsea’s back 3 with De Bruyne sat on their midfield 2. But Chelsea still enjoyed a numerical advantage 6/

City’s wingers tried to help De Bruyne by tucking into midfield when the ball was on the opposite flank to match up with Kante and Jorginho. Here we can see Torres taking up a central position 7/

Chelsea’s wing backs generally stay very wide. In the build up they often drop back to offer an outlet. Here Chelsea have the 5 vs 4 advantage to begin with. Their wing backs are also offering support wide. Let’s run this move on 8/

Torres’ central position, trying to match up Chelsea’s midfield, naturally leaves a Chelsea centre back free, in this case Rudiger. Chelsea work it across to him and he has the time afforded to him by Torres’ position to take a touch and play a simple pass wide to Chilwell 9/

Pep decided to use his full backs to press Chelsea’s wing backs in the semi final. We can see Cancelo rushing towards Chilwell here. City’s midfield 2 were sat deeper covering the centre of the pitch 10/

We wouldn’t normally see City’s full backs this far up the pitch pressing. But this is a symptom of Chelsea being able to include 7 players in their build up by dropping the wing backs in 11/

Chilwell plays a one two inside with Jorginho. Cancelo follows him. Sterling has pulled off the front line to mark Jorginho but this leaves Silva free for the pass from Chilwell. Cancelo retreats.
Chelsea always have a numerical advantage somewhere from the initial 5 vs 4
12/

Within 3 passes the ball is with James, the right wing back. He’s immediately pressed by City’s left back Mendy. Note Mount’s position at the bottom of each shot - he stays pushed high, he hasn’t followed Cancelo back and is often ahead of City’s midfield 2
13/

James and Kante work the ball down the line to Ziyech. Throughout this move Ziyech and Werner have been ahead of City’s midfield, often 2 vs 2 with the centre backs because City’s full backs are pushed on pressing 14/

In this case Cancelo has managed to make it back from his initial press but this still leaves City 3 vs 3. Ziyech can’t turn quickly enough to take advantage this time and the move fizzles out 15/

There were plenty of other examples where City were caught 2 vs 2 at the back or even 2 vs 3. The goal came from such an occasion 16/

https://twitter.com/city_tactics/status/1384817970535411715

Chelsea’s build up is a difficult puzzle to solve. If you want to press them you need lots of numbers to combat what becomes a 7 man build up when the wing backs drop in 17/

In theory using your full backs to press the wing backs shouldn’t be a problem. It leaves 2 mids and 2 cbs against Chelsea’s 3 attackers. But with City’s mids wanting to hold the centre of the pitch and Chelsea’s attackers happy to play ahead of them, it creates problems 18/

2 vs 2s are something City have managed to avoid since Dias’ arrival. But there is no easy answer to pressing a build up featuring 7 players without leaving opportunities for the remaining 3 attackers 19/

City have taken control of matches this season, often stifling the opposition in the press. To do that against Chelsea could require a little more thinking than usual for Pep 20//

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