Manchester City – Chelsea: City’s Direct Solution Succeeds (3-1)
Pep Guardiola’s side were behind within minutes here due to an individual error, but grew into the game with some good left-sided attacking involving their new signing Omar Marmoush. In the second half, a direct approach was taken against Chelsea’s attempts at high pressing, which eventually secured City’s win.
Tactical analysis and match report by Josh Manley.
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Manchester City hosted Chelsea at the Etihad Stadium as they sought to continue recovering from their recent crisis. Although City have been able to beat some nominally weaker opponents in recent weeks, they were once again beaten in midweek, as they threw away a two-goal lead to lose 4-2 in Paris.
Pep Guardiola’s side started in a 4-3-3 formation in this game, as Matheus Nunes was deployed at fullback, alongside new recruit Abdukodir Khusanov, Manuel Akanji, and Joško Gvardiol. Mateo Kovačić was the deepest midfielder, with Bernardo Silva and İlkay Gündoğan ahead of him. Phil Foden and Erling Haaland were in the forward line alongside another new signing in the form of Omar Marmoush.
Chelsea’s form has dropped off over the past month, with defeats against Fulham and Ipswich, as well as being held to draws by Crystal Palace and Bournemouth. Enzo Maresca’s team lined up in a 4-2-3-1 shape here, with Reece James, Trevoh Chalobah, Levi Colwill, and Marc Cucurella in the backline. Moisés Caicedo and Enzo Fernández partnered in central midfield, with Noni Madueke and Jadon Sancho wide. Cole Palmer then played as the number ten behind Nicolas Jackson.
Khusanov’s unpleasant welcome
The game got off to a disastrous start for City and their new center-back Khusanov, as his underpowered header towards his own goalkeeper presented the ball on a plate to Jackson, who calmly and unselfishly squared the ball to Madueke for a tap-in to put Chelsea ahead.
City would go on to dominate possession in the first half as they searched for an equalizer. When they had the ball, their width was primarily provided by their fullbacks – a feature that Guardiola has not used so often in previous seasons.
Nunes and Gvardiol were the most advanced presence on either wing, while Foden and Marmoush tucked inside. They would occupy the right and left halfspaces respectively, although it was also somewhat common to Foden to move further across into the center, while Marmoush would push up onto Chelsea’s defensive line, making runs into the channel between James and Chalobah.
City using their fullbacks for width against Chelsea’s pressing. Later, Chelsea moved away from this shape and adopted a 5-4-1 formation against the ball.
The left side was City’s most threatening in the first half, as Marmoush’s runs in behind became a theme in the game, and James had an uncomfortable time dealing with them. There was also the issue of Gvardiol on the outside, making forward runs into the space vacated by James when the Chelsea defender tucked in to track Marmoush’s runs.
Bernardo Silva, Kovačić, and Gündoğan all operated from deep midfield positions most of the time. They floated around City’s number six area as well as the deep halfspace areas and kept City’s ball circulation ticking with their technical proficiency.
Despite this, City struggled to really create much in the first half an hour. Chelsea were pressing in a 4-2-2-2 shape in a mid-block and were doing so with good effect. The compact front four restricted City’s space in the second line of buildup and made it difficult to launch attacks, while the central midfielders tried to prevent the supply into Foden’s feet between the lines.
As the half went on though, Chelsea were unable to sustain this, and ended up dropping deeper. in order to deal with the problems posed by Gvardiol and Marmoush on City’s left, Madueke began dropping back to mark Madueke. Chelsea then effectively defended in a 5-4-1 shape, with Madueke joining a back five, and Palmer joining the midfield line to leave Jackson as the lone forward.
This seemed a reasonable adjustment, but it did invite more pressure. Ironically, although Chelsea had been playing deeper, the eventual equalizer just before half time resulted from a phase of play where Chelsea had tried to push up slightly and play an offside line. Nunes’ run from deep broke the offside trap, and the ensuing rebound from his shot was scored by Gvardiol to send the teams in level at half-time.
City send it long
Chelsea came out in the second half pressing higher again, looking to get on the front foot and restore their lead. The adaptation of moving to a back five without the ball remained though, as Madueke continued at right wing-back. Whereas City’s buildup play had sometimes looked a bit hesitant early in the first half, the approach early in the second half was different.
When Chelsea pressed high, Ederson would immediately look for the opportunity to exploit the space left behind with long balls up towards Haaland, who would relish the physical duels against Chalobah and Colwill.
This was exactly how City took the lead, as Ederson’s ball into the channel was latched onto by Haaland, who lofted the ball over Robert Sánchez who had badly misjudged the need to come off of his line.
The scene leading to City’s second goal, with Ederson about to send the ball over Cucurella’s head into the channel for Haaland and Chalobah to compete for.
Both teams had made a substitute each at this point, with City bringing on John Stones in place of Khusanov, and Chelsea bringing Christopher Nkunku on for Jackson. Further changes would follow for Chelsea though, as Pedro Neto and Malo Gusto replaced Sancho and James.
Chelsea needed to push for an equalizer in the last twenty minutes, but were never really able to generate any attacking momentum. They played in a 2-3-4-1 shape with the ball, as the fullbacks inverted and Fernández pushed up between the lines alongside Palmer. City defended in a 4-5-1 shape, with De Bruyne replacing Marmoush to become the left midfielder.
Ultimately, the next goal in the game was City’s, and it came from the same source at the previous one, as Ederson’s long-ball was flicked on by De Bruyne towards Haaland, who wrestled with Chalobah and was eventually able to release Foden in behind the defense to make it 3-1.
Takeaways
Things started badly for City in this game but they recovered fairly well after the first thirty minutes. Marmoush looks like a promising signing, posing a threat to the Chelsea defense throughout the game and creating a good dynamic on the left with Gvardiol. In the second half, they found a simple but effective solution to beating Chelsea’s high press – play long towards Haaland and let him duel his center-back.
Chelsea looked like they were on top in the early stages. Their 4-2-2-2 shape pressing in City’s half was restricting the home side well. However, they were unable to maintain this, and started suffering against City’s left-sided attackers. In the second half they took the risk of pressing high and paid the price against Haaland.
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