Manchester City – Manchester United: Bold Guardiola Gameplan, Nervous Performance (0-1)

Pep Guardiola experimented with an unorthodox interpretation of a 3-4-2-1 system as City hosted United in the EFL Cup. Although City dominated the early proceedings, United opened the scoring through Nemanja Matić, after which City showed some nervousness in their play and made some clumsy errors. Nevertheless, City were still the overall better team in the game as they eventually went on to re-establish control despite lacking the clinical edge to kill the tie with a goal. 
Tactical analysis and match report by Josh Manley. 

Manchester United went to the Etihad Stadium chasing a 3-1 deficit after they were outclassed by City earlier this month at Old Trafford. In that game, Pep Guardiola’s side dismantled United in the first half with midfield overloads, When one team has more players in a certain area or zone than the other team. before United changed system and slightly improved in the second half. 

Since then, United have beaten Norwich 4-0 in the league before losing at Anfield and being embarrassingly defeated at home to Burnley. City meanwhile had their own commanding scoreline as they beat Aston Villa 6-1. This was followed by a disappointing draw at home to Crystal Palace and a win at Sheffield United. Both teams also made it . . .