MANCHESTER CITY VS SPURS TACTICAL ANALYSIS MINI THREAD:
As usual, City dominated and controlled the ball. But conte had a plan that centered around the world class, Harry Kane. This short thread will be going through some key aspects of the match! Enjoy!
City lined up in their usual 4-3-3 with the wingers on their natural sides and Bernardo as the false 9. Cancelo on the left to create overloads with Walker staying central.
Spurs lined up in a 5-4-1 which transformed into a 3-4-3 whenever they had possession of the ball.
Conte's classic buildup:
Conte went with the buildup structure he used at Chelsea with a 3-2 shape, both wingbacks slightly deeper with an emphasis on baiting the City high press and finding the striker who dropped deep. The overload + movements made it a safe and smart approach.
The overload in the buildup is also another way to cover for the techincal defincies in some of the Spurs backline. Compared to his time at Inter where he used a 4-2-4 buildup shape as he trusted the likes of Brozovic, De vrij, Handanovic under pressure.
CONTE'S AUTOMATISM:
Conte utilizes automatisms which are repeated patterns drilled into the players to help reduce the amount of thinking made by the players which could lead to costly mistakes. In this case, it's exactly like his 16/17 Chelsea which is pass from wide CB to cf.
The 1st goal as shown above, clearly shows how Son was used as a decoy to gain the attention of Rodri. Once Son made the run-in behind, the trigger was set for Kane to drop and receive from the LCB Davies. These movements left Rodri and co in "no man's land". Bravo Antonio!
#ManCity players held a frank discussion in the dressing room after the defeat to Tottenham. The conclusion was that their biggest problem lay in deciding whether to follow Harry Kane as he dropped into the No 10 role.
[via @mcgrathmike]
City themselves knew he was the problem!
City's shape and Conte's adjustment:
City mainly built up with a 3-1 shape, Rodri as the lone pivot with Walker inverting. Gündo, Foden, Bernardo BTL with KDB deeper in the right half-space. Conte addressed the danger of Cancelo by assigning a man-to-man role for Kulusevski.
City struggled to find their men in the halfspaces which are known to be a pathway to attack for Guardiola's sides. Spurs created a box-like shape with wide CBS aggressive and the wingers and double pivot wary of any movements between them.
Once again, Conte's automatism create a goal!
1 pass from deep to Kane, bypassed 5 City players as Kane received deeper. This triggered the run from Son and the ball far WB Sessegnon who was free. Kane's technical quality was a major reason why Spurs found it easy to transition.
The lack of a goal threat for City:
It was obvious City lacked a major goal threat throughout the match. With 3 cb's this meant that Spurs had more than enough cover around the goal and were comfortable against any cut backs etc.
In conclusion:
The technical quality was simply out of this world from City but Conte had a plan, which was to utilize Kane and Son to the maximum. His instructions to his players off the ball also proved vital as they managed to leave the Etihad with 3 points!
From the press forcing LFC one way, to the midfield overload that confused the LFC players. City’s performance in possession was superb, and that stems from Pep’s approach.
Let’s talk tactics:
The approach from Pep was similar to the Bournemouth game, with wingers coming inside to overload and overwhelm the LFC double pivot.
Bernardo/Nico dropping into the backline to overload the LFC first line.
Szoboszlai dropped at times to pick up one of the midfielders, but that meant that LFC had one less player higher up = City possession.
Due to the overload, Szoboszlai was often bypassed as he wasn’t sure if he should pick up Foden or jump as part of a front 2. LFC’s best presser was lost, and that’s quite simply due to being outnumbered.
The rest of the frontline were quite passive, which frustrated Szoboszlai and once he made that jump, the pass to Foden or Nico was on.
Man City’s in possession approach vs Bournemouth THREAD 🧵!
Pep set up his team with the intention of overloading the center against Bournemouth. In possession, they did that brilliantly and found success thanks to a typical Pep "masterclass".
Let’s talk tactics:
With Bournemouth pressing in a 442, Pep had one of Bernardo/Nico drop in to form a back 3, simple 3v2 on the first line of pressure.
Higher up, he had Cherki and Doku drop centrally to overload the Bournemouth double pivot.
With fullbacks wide, they were able to go outside, then access the center with ease.
Here we see O’Reilly step in centrally with Doku wide, Adams can’t commit to jumping as Cherki/O’Reilly are in the half spaces higher up.
Scott jumps on Nico, and the free man Foden is found, due to the overload, City progress with ease.
City's out of possession issues vs Villa THREAD 🧵!
City's press has been a huge topic of discussion with Pep Lijnders as part of the coaching staff this season. Against Aston Villa, we saw a poor City press that was consistently bypassed.
Let's talk tactics:
City pressed in a 4-1-5 shape.
Bernardo and Foden joined Haaland in the first line of pressure, they would jump on the ball side cb with Haaland pressing the GK, the wingers were tasked with pressing the Villa fullbacks.
When Villa chose to go down the left through Pau Torres, City shifted with Bernardo shifting to press the ball side 6 (Onana).
Reijnders was the +1 screening the backline rather than jumping and taking part in the press with Savinho disengaged from the press.
In this example here we see what happened frequently which is City being late in their press, and simply “jumping” without real pressure.
Foden jumps with Bobb focusing on the ball, Digne starts moving forward out wide and receives the pass, Reijnders who’s focused on screening the backline jumps late once Villa bypass the first line of pressure leaving the center open.
Nunes then jumps late as well, which allows Villa to progress, play it to the gap centrally as the City backline opt to retreat and maintain a +1 in the backline.
With Slot constantly praising PSG's approach in possession and the fluidity they have with the ball, we're slowly seeing his side try to emulate the rotations/fluidity/movement that made the PSG team so great last season
Let's talk tactics:
Last season Gravenberch was predominantly the first receiver in midfield from the backline.
He'd be receiving on his own or have Mac Allister form a double pivot next to him.
We still saw that vs Everton but we saw Grav often receive pass then rotate out of the pivot.
In this example we see Grav form a double pivot with Mac Allister.
Mac Allister goes deeper as a LCB in possession allowing Kerkez to push high and wide ,dragging Ndiaye with him.
With Kerkez wide we see Gakpo inside making the run in behind and Ekitike come short.
Basic principle of maintaining width, depth, and having an option BTL.
Chelsea with their usual 3diamond3 but Andrews did brilliantly to counter that with his OOP shape. At half time we saw a change from Maresca, who saw his team take control and score twice. Ultimately, a draw seems like the fair result!
Let's talk tactics:
Chelsea went with their usual 3diamond3 IP.
Brentford countered that with a 5 diamond 1, one of the strikers followed Caicedo, with the other one situationally pressing the CBs.
Occasionally, Brentford would jump collectively to press Chelsea and found some success in doing so.
On goal kicks we saw Brentford try to press high but with a flat back 4 + GK Chelsea almost always had a free man and were able to circulate.
What Brentford did do well is trap Chelsea out wide with the 8 and WB jumping + far side 8 tucking in as well.