Manchester Derby Analysis: Costly City Mistakes Gifts United All The Three Points.

Manchester United players celebrating Scott McTominay's goal versus Man City. Photo:Courtesy. 

Manchester United invited their town rivals, Manchester City in a nerve-wracking derby match at Old Trafford.

Formation Preview:

Manchester United lined up in a 3-4-1-2 formation but later shifted to back 4 in the course of the game. Bruno Fernandez linked the midfield with the attacking duo where Daniel James and Anthony Martial were located.

On the other hand, Man City uses their normal 4-3-3 formation but shifted to at least formations during the match. They used 2-3-5 when in attacking mode, 4-2-3-1 and 4-2-2-2 without possession. 

Tactics Used:

Guardiola's inverted midfielder and temporary Left-back. 

During the initial stages, Ikay Gundögan played as a temporary left back while Oleksandr Zhinchenko occupied the midfield position thus he was an inverted midfielder. 

This tactic worked as Greenwood was attracted to mark Zhinchenko leaving Gundaögan totally free. This didn't last long, Manchester United knew the trick and Greenwood no longer followed Zhinchenko. 

Manchester United's Half-spaces Closure.

Ole Gunnar Solksjaer did his assigment very well as he used Fred and Matic to block the spaces between the Full backs and Centre backs. He did it because Man City like to attack using the half spaces with the combination of Gundögan and Bernardo Silva. 

Manchester United's Midfield Overloads. 

Ole knew that Manchester City's strongest part in their midfield as it is involved in the lost possession, they lined up in a 4-5-1 formation to get the numbers advantage.

Marking Rodrigo and Gundogan in the Build up.

Man City always like to build their play from the back and Manchester United were ready for that. Bruno Fernandez marked Rodrigo while Fred kept on tracking Gundögan.

 Fred kept on tracking Gundögan's movements during the entire match. Photo: Daily Express. 

But Pep Guardiola is a thinking machine. He was able to build up from the back by telling Bernardo Silva to drop just behind Fred and Fernandez and City were comfortably launching attacks from the midfield.

Why Man City Lost.

Lack of Creativity in the final third.

Playing without Kevin de Bruyne and David Silva, reduced the chances created per game.

 Man City always creates an average of 3.54 clear chances per match but in this game, they created only 1.31. This shows how blunt City's creativity department was.

Poor Decision Making. 

It was evidently when Gundögan, Rodri, Sterling and Foden had possession, they make make wrong decisions. This denied the Citizens chances to win the match. 

Disorganized Defensive Structure. 

Manchester City have been poor in defending corners and set-pieces this season. Congratulations to Bruno Fernandez cheeky pass which led to United's opener.


Martial slots home the opener after getting a cheeky pass from Bruno Fernandez. Photo: BBC. 

Ikay Gundögan kept on instructing Cancelo and Aguero to mark Anthony Martial and they ignored. Suprisingly, he scored from that space given by João Cancelo and Aguero! 

Ederson's lack of composure during the game. 

Manchester City's goalie, Ederson Moraes wasn't on his best yesterday as he kept making mistakes in the entire match. He almost gifted Anthony Martial a second goal after failing to control a back pass.


Ederson tries throwing the ball to Mendy but McTominay gets it to score the 2nd Man United goal. Photo: Sportskeeda. 

During the final stages, he gifted McTominay a goal by throwing the ball to Benjamin Mendi which went straight to the super sub (McTominay) who scored the second goal.

Scott McTominay celebrating with teammates after scoring the second goal. Photo: Evening Standard. 


Conclusion:

Man City's title race hopes are now over after Man United's defeat. Liverpool would be crowned champions in their next 2 or 3 Premier League fixtures.

They try to focus on grabbing a UCL spot next season ( only if their ban will be lifted) but currently, they can work hard for a trebble [UCL, Carabao and F.A].





Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

World Class Footballers Who Supported Their Rival Clubs When They Were Kids

Image
Once Eric Cantona said, "You can change your wife, house and everything. But you cannot change your favorite football club!" Indeed it is true that football fans will be ready to suffer  heartbreaks but still support their clubs. Here are 8 World class footballers who support their rival teams: Vinicius Jr The Young Brazilian has been a Barca fan since he was a child. Vinicius even cried when Barcelona made a come back against PSG in the famous 'Remontada'. Since Neymar was playing for Barcelona by then, Vinicius just fell in love with the club. Real Madrid wanted to sign Neymar but it is Barcelona who won the Brazilian signature. Real Madrid's president Florentina Perez, swore to sign any Brazilian wonder kid and got Vinicius. Luka Modric The Croatian soccer magician was a Barcelona fan since he was a child. Even at his time at Tottenham Hotspurs, the Croatian playmaker was on the verge of joining FC Barcelona. Eventually, Real Madrid won his signature. Ivan Raki...
Read more

RAGS TO RICHES: TOP FOOTBALLERS WHO CAME FROM POOR FAMILIES.

Image
Success is not easily attained most of the times. Half of the successful people have gone through challenges that at one time, they almost gave up in life. This article will unfold the top footballers who grew up in poor families and made it in life through football.  It doesn't matter where you come from but what is in you, what you want to achieve and the lifestyle you want to live. There are many footballers who come from poor backgrounds but others were poorest. Here are the top footballers who rose from rags to riches: DIEGO MARADONA. Diego Maradona is considered to be one of the greatest players in the foootball sport. PHOTO:Britanica.  Diego Armando Maradona  was born on 30th October 1961 in Villa Fioriotio, Argentina. Becoming a footballer was his dream from a tender age despite growing up in  the slums of Villa Fioriotio, in the outskirts of Buenos Aires. Growing up in Villa Fioriotio wasn't easy at all. Maradona used to share a single room with 7 siblings ...
Read more

THE RISE OF CATENACCIO 'PARK THE BUS TACTIC' IN FOOTBALL.

Image
Catenaccio involves a defensive play, tight marking of opponents and aggressive fouling. Mostly, this tactic was used to defend goal margins. It is an Italian word meaning 'a door bolt ' or Lock down . The Catenaccio tactic was first invented in the 1930s-40s by an Austrian coach, Karl Rappan who was managing the Swiss side-Servette. Rappan used a defensive sweeper known as  Verroulieur  positioned just in front of the goalkeeper. The aim of this tactic was to have the numbers advantage during the defensive phase.  Catenaccio had 5 components and these are:   1. Libero/sweeper or Verroulieur. As I told you from the beginning, this is a defender who is positioned just in front of the goalkeeper. His main role is to win the loose balls and double-mark the opposition striker where possible. 2. Strict Marking of the opposition players. Being a defensive approach, strict man-marking was induced to the opposition from the midfielders to the st...
Read more