SPURS PUNISH WASTEFUL CITY IN AN EPL CLASH: TACTICAL PREVIEW.

It was a fantastic match to watch as long-term manager rivals, Jose Mourinho and Pep Guardiola faced each other in an EPL debut. Mourinho was lucky to win his 6th  match versus Guardiola after a game which involved VAR drama.

 Sterling raising a penalty claim. Image: M.E.N

Tottenham lined up in a 4-2-3-1 formation on paper but this was a diamond 4-4-2 formation with Son and Moura leading the attacks and Dele Alli sitting just behind them on the tip of the diamond structure.

On the other hand, Man City lined up in their normal 4-3-3 formation and shifted to various formations during possession. While in possession, they used a 3-3-4 formation with either Walker or Zhinchenko sitting back to defend while one helps in the attack.

Man City's Build-up:

During the build up phase, Rodrigo dropped in between the Centre-backs to receive the ball while Zhinchenko and Walker added up numbers in the wide zones. Gundogan and Kevin De Bruyne  and this led to a 2-3-2-3 formation.

Mourinho saw this and this is where a big test to manager rises, the in-game management. Mourinho made Alli to mark Rodrigo wherever he drops to receive a pass. On average, Rodrigo completes 34 passes towards the opposition per game but here he completed only 25 passes.

Spurs Build-up:

Tottenham's Harry Winks and Lo Celso dropped to receive the ball  while Aurier and Tanganga pushed up to the middle line joined by Steven Bergwijn and Alli.

Why Man City Lost:

Low Conversion Rate.

 Ikay Gundogan failed to convert a penalty during the first interval. Source: Football.London

In total, Man City made 18 shots: 5 On target, 6 off-target and 7 blocked shots. On the other hand, Spurs had only 3 shots: 2 on target and 1 off-target. Spurs scored all their on target shots (2) with a conversion rate of was 1.0. Man City had 0.28 conversion rate which is too low. In short, they were not clinical enough in the final third.

Spurs' diamond 4-4-2 structure.

 Hand drawn analysis to show how Spurs lined up. (I appologize for this inconvenience because am lacking modern tools to do this work)

Man City always attack through the middle especially in the half-spaces. Mourinho had done his assignment properly and he blicjed all the passing lanes in those spaces. This formation forced Man City to go wide where they are less effective.

Neutralization of Kevin De Bruyne.

De Bruyne completes a total of 44-60 accurate passes per game but during this game, he completed only 34 passes. He was tightly marked marked by Lo Celso too. In tjis game, De Bruyne lost possession 26 times more than any game this year. By doing this, Mourinho had weakened City's attacking force.

CONCLUSION:

Guardiola has lost 6 League matches this season more than the two clubs for a single season (Barcelona and Bayern Munich) he has coached in his lifetime. Mourinho also enjoys 6 wins against Guardiola in all clubs he has managed. 

From this game, it is clear that Manchester City have lost their last season's spark. I will talk about the reasons that led to Man City to flop this season. Thank you guys, don't forget to subscribe and comment on this post.