MASTER OF CHESS, PEP GUARDIOLA DISMANTLING MANCHESTER UNITED WITHOUT A STRIKER-TACTICAL ANALYSIS.

After losing 2-1 to Manchester United in the Premier League, Pep Guardiola came up with a different tactic with his Manchester City squard back to the Old Trafford. Man United lined up in their normal 4-2-3-1 on paper but later shifted to 4-4-2 without possession.

 Source: Bitter and Blue.

On the other hand, their neighbours (Manchester City) lined up in their usual 4-3-3 formation and their shape changed every time in the game. Pep played without number 9 in this game. His main idea was to get one extra midfield player.

Man United Expectations.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer knew Man City would play with a high defensive line which is always their style of play. So, Man United looked forward to hit City on Counter-attacks like during their EPL clash. This is what Ole Gunnar did:

 Build-up the play from the back.

It was one of the things United did in order to hit City on counter attacks. During this phase, Man United were using a 3-4-3 formation with fast-paced forwards in front.

After seeing Man City are compact in their high press, Ole Gunnar's men were forced to go long to release their forwards just behind Manchester City's defence. This did not work as Claudio Bravo played as a sweeper and denied Man United several chances.

 Marcus Rashford feeling dejected as City players celebrate their goal. Source: Evening Standard.

Direct Approach.

Ole chose to attack City using the direct approach which involves long balls from the defence to the strikers. This tactic backfired badly as Man City won arial duels more than United.

Guardiola's tactics.

Pep wanted to create overloads against Manchester United. Mostly on the right wing, Williams was playing against Walker and Mahrez. Bernardo Silva shifted with Raheem Sterling in the Centre-Forward's role freequently to create space.

Fred and Andreas did a good job of monitoring Gundöngan and Kevin De Bruyne's runs but City kept on re-shuffling the players. This made United to lose numeric advantage in the midfield and led to Man City's first goal by Bernardo Silva who was given time and space to shoot.

Source: AS English.

Manchester United had concede 3 goals at the break and Ole made a change and introduced Nemanja Matic in the midfield. This revived the midfield but City were already celebrating their 3 goals lead. Rashford pulled back one goal but it wasn't enough City had the advantage.

Individual pressing by Man Utd players. Source:M.E.N.

Andreas played in the creative midfielder's position and was involved in Rashford's consolation to the Red Devils. Using his sharp vision and quick passing range, he spotted a gap in City's high defensive line and that's how the goal was scored.

Conclusion:

Pep did his homework pretty well and answered all the questions Ole had asked during their previous clash in the EPL. This made Guardiola to leave his striking duo on the bench to gain superiority in the midfield and create chances from there.

 On the other hand, Ole Gunnar has been blamed by football analysts to be lacking in-game management which is very important to any football manager. Thank you guys for reading my post, don't forget to subscribe, comment and follow my blog!