Manchester City – Manchester United: City Exploit United’s Midfield Flaws (3-0)

The issues with Manchester United’s defensive scheme were exploited well by Manchester City’s positional play here as the home side ran out 3-0 winners. City’s second half defensive system showed some vulnerability, but United were unable to take advantage as Ruben Amorim’s side continue to show their flaws.

Tactical analysis and match report by Josh Manley.

We decided to make this article free to read. If you want to support our work, consider taking a subscription.

This season’s first Manchester derby arrived at a moment where both teams had shown vulnerability so far this season. Manchester City’s pressing deficiencies have been under scrutiny, especially after their defeat at Brighton last time out, while question marks remain over Ruben Amorim’s Manchester United in many areas of the game.

Pep Guardiola lined his side up in a 4-3-3 shape here, with Abdukodir Khusanov, Rúben Dias, Joško Gvardiol, and Nico O’Reilly in the backline. Rodri was the deepest midfielder, with Tijjani Reijnders and Phil Foden ahead of him. Bernardo Silva and Jérémy Doku were the wingers, while Erling Haaland led the line up front.

United started in their usual 3-4-3 shape, with a back three of Leny Yoro, Matthijs de Ligt, and Luke Shaw. Noussair Mazraoui and Patrick Dorgu were the wing-backs, while Manuel Ugarte played alongside Bruno Fernandes in central midfield. Bryan Mbuemo and Amad Diallo then flanked striker Benjamin Šeško.

United’s defensive flaws

Much has been discussed in recent weeks about the issues in United’s 3-4-3 system under Amorim. In particular, the way in which the midfield pressing is organized has come under scrutiny since public comments made by opponents after the Fulham game.

The issues in United’s defensive scheme were once again evident in this game, and City were well-placed to take advantage. Guardiola’s side primarily built with a back three, as Khusanov remained deep alongside the center-backs. O’Reilly meanwhile would tuck into midfield in the left halfspace or hold width on the left, depending on what Doku was doing.

Doku had the freedom to drift infield, either pinning a United center-back or getting between the lines. Foden and Reijnders were also consistently well-positioned between the lines. This was a source of many of United’s problems.

United with Fernandes and Yoro stepping up to try and get to grips with City in midfield.

United were defending with a 5-2-3 shape to start with. When they were in City’s half, Fernandes would sometimes try to jump up to mark Rodri, meaning that Yoro would also step into midfield to restrict space for Foden around United’s right halfspace.

When defending deeper, United fell into more of a 5-4-1 shape. The overloads that City were creating between the lines with Foden, Reijnders, plus one of O’Reilly and Doku, started to become a real problem.

Fernandes and Ugarte were unable to cover all of the necessary spaces and passing lanes between just the two of them, especially without becoming too passive. This has already been a theme for United’s midfield, with the physical demands placed on the two central midfielders against the ball being somewhat unrealistic. Meanwhile, the center-backs were sometimes hesitant to step out or sometimes got the execution wrong.

Haaland was obviously a constant threat in behind, and this kept United’s center-backs honest with regard to not stepping into midfield too freely. So, there were situations where Haaland or someone else would pin a United center-back, further weakening United’s control of the space between the lines due to the center-back’s inability to step out.

The buildup to City’s second goal, United get exposed between the lines.

This was exactly what happened in the situation leading to City’s first goal, in which Shaw got pinned back by Reijnders moving onto the last line, allowing Doku to drift across, receive and turn. In the resulting crossing situation, Fernandes failed to track Foden’s run or protect the ‘cutback space’ in front of his center-backs, which allowed Foden to open the scoring.

United fail to land a punch

Haaland made it 2-0 just after half-time, giving United a mountain to climb. The second half saw Amorim’s side have the majority of possession, but they were unable to create chances for most of the half despite getting into some good areas.

In the first half, City had pressed high, with their front three up against United’s defensive line, and Haaland running through to pressure Altay Bayındır on the ball to rush his decisions. United sometimes found space to attack into, but overall City’s press was enough to give them game control.

City’s high press in the first half. 

In the second half, City’s defensive approach was more passive. They fell into a 4-1-4-1 mid-block, challenging United to break through, and hitting United on the counter-attack, where City still looked somewhat dangerous.

The main way United tried to create chances was through switches of play to the wing-backs. The front three could pull the City defensive line narrow, freeing up space for Dorgu or Mazraoui, and later Amad when he became a wing-back.

However, the issue, particularly on the left side, was that this was reliant on strong attacking output from the receiving wing-back. This was not present from Dorgu on this occasion, so many attacks reached dead ends. The same was true of Mazraoui earlier in the game. United could reach him with switches of play, but he’s not the player one would want to try and create a breakthrough in an isolation situation against a fullback.

Amorim changed personnel with thirty minutes remaining. Kobbie Mainoo and Harry Maguire replaced De Ligt and Mazraoui, meaning Amad became right wing-back, and Bruno moved up to left-sided number ten to allow Mainoo into central midfield.

United gained possession and territory in the second half, but failed to make it pay. 

United conceded a third immediately afterwards with some shambolic ball-handling allowing City to transition and release Haaland in behind. This essentially sealed the game for City. Casemiro and Joshua Zirkzee were introduced for United, but they continued to struggle to create.

Their biggest chance in the end fell to Casemiro who nearly diverted Fernandes’ volley into the net. Overall though, they were not able to make good use of the possession and territory they had.

Takeaways

City take the three points and a convincing-looking scoreline, although Guardiola may still feel his side can improve. The pressing in the first half was effective enough, but there were still occasional pockets of space for United in both halves of the game. The way City executed the possession scheme to exploit United’s midfield issues in the first half will have been satisfying for Guardiola, however.

For Amorim, it’s another defeat and more scrutiny. The midfield setup is getting exposed defensively, putting excessive demands on the midfield two, and keeping one of their most talented players in Mainoo out of the lineup. The attacking gameplan currently feeds the ball most effectively to United’s least creative attackers, meaning that attacks lack cutting edge. After a promising performance against Arsenal to start the season, things seem to be degrading, and there is a sense that time is of the essence to improve things if Amorim wants to take this team forward.

Use the arrows to scroll through all available match plots. Click to enlarge.
Check the match plots page for plots of other matches.