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PositionalPlay Profile picture
@pstionalplay
May 18 • 9 tweets • 5 min read Twitter logo Read on Twitter
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City might have used the same structure in possession and the exact same lineup of 1st leg, but with totally different intention; destroying their opponent.

All of us had talked about how cautious Pep was in the 1stleg. We had all looked for that extra man coming from behind… twitter.com/i/web/status/1… Image
Position is a communicative element in football, and City players are masters of this language. In that sense, De Bruyne is the reference for all teammates. His movement tells his teammates what they want to do in attacking third, while his dynamism (lateral mobility) makes the… twitter.com/i/web/status/1… ImageImage
Switch plays to use +1s or advantageous 1v1s at far field, one of Pep’s trademark plays, were again extremely useful yesterday. ImageImage
The first goal was the perfect combination of all these principles. It was beautiful, it was Guardiola’s football in a nutshell. ImageImage
We also saw an aggressive and smart high press. I have been hearing the term, “the perfect press”, commonly these days. There is no perfect pressing structure to use against every team. You press according to how your opponent builds up, how they attack.
City learned from the first game, saw how Real Madrid overload, progress and attack using left-side channels. Yesterday’s pressing structure was clearly to prevent this. Akanji was between Rodrygo and Carvajal, evaluating the situation to either jump on Carvajal or returning back… twitter.com/i/web/status/1… Image
This approach made it very hard for Madrid to overload at left flank and connect Vini, Benzema, and Modric. And when the trio was disconnected, Madrid couldn’t hold possession and progress the ball. Eventually, the 2nd goal came from a turnover with this press forcing Madrid to… twitter.com/i/web/status/1… ImageImageImage
The first half of yesterday’s game could be the best team performance I witnessed in the recent years, one of the top performances in the history of proactive, short-passing, combination football. Everything, from build-up to creation, high-press to transitions, was just perfect… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…
Screenshots were edited with Once Video Analyser PRO - @11OnceSport #OncePRO

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More from @pstionalplay

PositionalPlay Profile picture
May 17
Few thoughts on City vs Madrid:
- First game, Guardiola preferred to have a style that resulted in a low variance/no surprise result. It was very rare that one of the players from the back 5 joined City attacks. This left 5 City attackers between 6 Madrid defenders, so Madrid… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…
- In the press conference, Guardiola admitted that they will play their regular home game, meaning we will see more overloads. Considering Ake’s absence and Akanji’s limited offensive contribution at left flank, these overloads will mostly come from City’s right wing; either… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…
- If Madrid starts with a similar lineup with the first game, then they may have problems against these overloads. Vini is an important counter attack threat for sure; however, this rest attack threat also leaves Madrid one man less when they wait at low block.
Read 11 tweets
PositionalPlay Profile picture
May 10
I believe Madrid’s defensive strategy against Man City had many flaws that City couldn’t exploit. Let’s look at it closely. Defending 5 against 4 at the tip, Kroos on KdB, Valverde on Gundo, FBs on wingers, and two CBs very close on Haaland. Image
This structure could've resulted in huge pockets between Madrid FBs and CBs, but after first 20 mins, City was usually too focused on control and potential Madrid counter attacks and couldn’t do something they normally do really good; creating 2v1s at wide areas through switch… twitter.com/i/web/status/1… Image
To create these 2v1s they usually needed that extra player; either one of the pivots running into half space or FB overlapping or underlapping. Here are some rare cases when they used it and Madrid’s defensive structure obviously struggled. ImageImageImageImage
Read 5 tweets
PositionalPlay Profile picture
May 9
I believe both City and Madrid are in a better place than where they were at the previous semifinals. City’s reasons are obvious, Haaland, flexibility, new structural confusions over opponents etc. But Madrid’s youngsters are also improving every day.
Today, Vini imo is the best at his position/role, Rodrygo is on a crazy momentum and looks like really found his role in the pockets. Camavinga improved a lot at this underlapping FB role, Valverde overlapping CM role etc.
Especially to deal with Vini and Rodrygo in transitions, I think City needs to build up with 4-2 i/o 3-2. Considering Madrid’s incredible ability to create chances with only 3 players in transitions, Ake’s absence, necessity to start with Walker, and it is the first game/away… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…
Read 6 tweets
PositionalPlay Profile picture
Apr 20
Bayern – City game didn’t cause a lot of surprises but two points should still be noted because Tuchel gave some great tips on how to possibly beat City in future:
1) Build-up and progression against City’s narrow 4-2-4: Firstly, as you probably know, City has been using this… twitter.com/i/web/status/1… Image
In the 1st half, Bayern were effective in progression and entering final 3rd, although they didn’t show high efficiency and efficacy inside City’s box. The enabler of this effective progression is to use the center-backs in an asymmetric way to draw Grealish out of position while… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…
Bayern used almost a backline of 3, during building up, after disconnecting from Sommer. De Ligt came to the center and Upa drifted wide. When Upa received the ball, Kimmich, Coman, or Chopo-Moting offered support and played third man to find available Pavard behind Grealish or… twitter.com/i/web/status/1… ImageImageImage
Read 7 tweets
PositionalPlay Profile picture
Apr 12
It was definitely a very high-level game as anticipated between Man City and Bayern, the strongest two teams in the world right now according to FiveThirtyEight. Eventually, the score line was mostly decided by individual mistakes but there were many things to talk about… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…
Tuchel used 4-2-3-1 to perfectly get the shape with Man City’s on-ball structure. City’s narrow 3-2 build-up was matched with a narrow 3-1, and Goretzka and Kimmich controlling the central channels, 2 CBs on Haaland, FBs on wingers. Image
The narrow tip pushed City to play wider, when the wide CB receives the ball, the ball side DM stuck on City’s AM, and opposite DM came to the center of the pitch. This left the only numerical advantage for City at the very far corner from the ball carrier. City CBs tried finding… twitter.com/i/web/status/1… ImageImage
Read 14 tweets
PositionalPlay Profile picture
Apr 2
Man City’s build-up against Liverpool was very successful. For sure, Liverpool’s ineffective high press played a role, but here are two important things Man City was significantly better at compared to previous games: 1) Double pivot positioning: Rodri and Stones always tried to… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…
Some more examples for double pivot positioning:
2) Tempo manipulation during progression: Once the team broke a pressure line they passed the middle third with high speed and quickly come to final third where the opponent was not fully organized yet and allowed many 1v1s.
Read 5 tweets

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