Real Madrid 3-2 Manchester City: second half switches leave City exposed down their right
The starting line-ups
An excellent match, defined by a chaotic final 15 minutes.
Jose Mourinho surprisingly named Michael Essien, rather than Mesut Ozil or Luka Modric, in the centre of his midfield. Sergio Ramos was dropped, with Raphael Varane starting at centre-back instead.
Roberto Mancini also made a surprise selection decision, with Matija Nastasic starting over Joleon Lescott at the back. Yaya Toure played at the head of City’s midfield triangle.
Real dominated the majority of the game but twice fell behind, while City scored two goals against the run of play, before losing the game after some shambolic defending late on.
Real dominate early stages
Real pressed excellently in the opening stages, forcing Joe Hart into a couple of hasty long clearances downfield towards Carlos Tevez, who was never going to triumph against two centre-backs considerably larger than him. City found it difficult to pass the ball forward from defence, and took about half an hour to have a decent spell of possession.
That was surprising, considering they packed the central midfield zone; both Samir Nasri and David Silva played centrally, while Carlos Tevez wanted the ball played into feet, although he generally stayed high up the pitch rather than acting as a false nine.
There was little creativity from the centre of midfield – simply too many players in that zone, and none playing clever forward passes. Sami Khedira was probably the standout central midfielder because he led Real’s pressing – which was valuable to the way they were playing, but sums up how unimaginative the football was in the middle.
Wide
The action happened in wide positions. City’s narrowness (and the tendency of the Real wingers to cut inside on the ball) meant Real’s full-backs were the obvious out-ball, with Marcelo getting forward well in the early stages. The key battle, however, was Cristiano Ronaldo against Maicon. The Brazilian pushed forward into an advanced position but was caught out of position when City lost the ball, with Ronaldo taking on Vincent Kompany and forcing Joe Hart into a couple of good saves.
Maybe Mancini was inspired by how effectively Sevilla right-back Cicinho attacked past Ronaldo on Saturday evening, but City could have done with Maicon holding his position more frequently. Javi Garcia eventually started to cover that side of the pitch, which made the situation less perilous.
Kolarov on
The shape of the game changed when Nasri departed through injury – Aleksandar Kolarov took his place, with Silva moving to the left. This was something new – a wide midfielder who actually wanted to stay wide – he stretched the play and occupied Alvaro Arbeloa.
City’s only threat came from Yaya Toure on the break. He saw little of the ball due to his advanced positioning and City’s poor passing, but when he did get opportunities to dribble at Real, he was typically direct.
City changed formation for the start of the second half
Second half
For the second half, Mancini seemed to opt for something of a hybrid system – a cross between the first half shape, and more of a 3-5-1-1. Maicon and Kolarov were the men providing width on either flank, Gael Clichy more of a left-sided centre-back than a left-back, and Silva pushed into the centre to become a playmaker.
There were a couple of knock-on effects here – first Toure was deeper, and therefore more involved in the play, which was clearly a good thing from City’s point of view.
Marcelo & Ronaldo
The major impact was that Marcelo now had the freedom of his flank, and constantly got the ball in space, providing dangerous crosses and having a couple of shots at goal.
This wasn’t such a problem on the opposite flank, partly because Arbeloa isn’t such a good attacking full-back, but also because City had both Kolarov and Clichy down that side, and although Clichy was tucked in a little, he was still happy to move to the flank when needed – the two players worked as a unit. On the right, Maicon wasn’t getting any help from further forward, and covering from Kompany was sporadic.
Mourinho introduced Ozil for Essien, which was both a positive move and a logical one, because it wasn’t clear what Essien’s role was.
Dzeko
Mancini’s change was also positive, removing Silva and introducing Edin Dzeko upfront, with Tevez becoming a second striker. This gave Real a new problem – previously they’d had a spare man at the back, and defended in a proactive manner when the ball was played into Tevez, knowing they always had a man sweeping behind.
Against two strikers, Pepe and Varane needed to be more cautious, but their mindset didn’t change. Dzeko’s goal happened because Pepe was dragged wildly out of position by Tevez’s movement towards the ball, and when Toure stormed past, Varane was left covering too much space.
Mourinho then made the obvious changes – Modric on for Khedira, Karim Benzema on for Higuain. Modric offered more guile on the ball, Benzema is probably better against a deep defence, and scored a fine goal.
Zabaleta
But the key change came from Mancini. Maicon picked up an injury and had to be replaced, and Zabaleta was the natural replacement. When he entered the pitch, Zabaleta clearly signalled ‘3′ to his teammates – which hints that the previous formation had been slightly more flexible. (Mancini had definitely changed system at the break, but if he’d changed to a permanent three-man defence why would Zabaleta need to tell his teammates they were playing three at the back? He would have just replaced Maicon with no further tactical instructions required).
Zabaleta could have been the man to secure the win – Maicon was tired, and Zabaleta could have sat deep alongside the centre-backs and kept that side of the pitch quiet. However, he interpreted the wing-back role in a strange way – charging forward up the pitch unnecessarily (when City were ahead) and also getting drawn into very central positions, leaving the right flank completely bare.
City were now a shambles at the back, particularly down that flank. Kompany seemed completely unsure of his role, sometimes drifting too far towards the touchline (which left an unlikely centre-back pairing of Clichy and Nastasic in the centre), and sometimes remaining so central that Zabaleta was exposed two-versus-one by Ronaldo and Marcelo. Those two players had 15 shots between them over the course of the game – you expect that from Ronaldo, but the space afforded to Marcelo was extraordinary.
Real’s first and third goals came from their left – on both occasions, there simply weren’t enough City players on that side of the pitch. For that, both Mancini’s tinkering and Zabaleta’s poor positional play must take the blame.
Conclusion
The final 15 minutes of the game was unrecognisable from the first 15, and with such a frantic climax to the match, it could have gone either way. Better goalkeeping from Joe Hart, for example, and City would have come away with a result.
But there was a glaring problem with City’s right for the final 20 minutes of the match, with the very basic problem being that City were undermanned on that flank. Somewhere amongst (a) Mancini’s decision to change formation (b) his instructions to his players (c) and Zabaleta’s positioning, City had a clear weakness that was fully exploited by Real.
Wow, Clichy and Kolarov together on the left side (where Arbeloa is not a serious attacking threat), while your right side is left completely wide-open for Ronaldo and Marcelo’s constant overlapping. Poor coaching from Mancini tonight.
Yeah, this is all mancini’s fault. He should bring in Aguero or Dzeko when nasri got injured.
Then use silva or aguero to track Marcelo down from attacking.
Madrid deserve 3 points today.
Silva or Aguero aren’t particularly defensive players… Of the City squad, Milner, Zabaleta or Richards would be the better defending right sided players.
The lack of defence on the right was so obvious from the beginning that even the ITV commentator picked up on it. “Where’s Milner?” he asked, or words to that effect, “Why are they not doubling up on CR7?” It’s not just that Maicon was on his own, but that the narcissist was far too good for him.
ZM’s point about Toure is spot on; there’s no point playing him in an advanced position if nobody can get the ball to him.
I was struck by a bit of stupidity from Roy Keane: he argued that if a goalie can get his fingertips to a shot, then he ought to have got his whole hand to it and saved it. It’s always salutary to be reminded of how dim much football lore is.
I thought the Marcelo goal was more the fault of City’s DMs, who instead of closing Marcelo down on the edge of the area, retreated way too deep (City had 7 players in there against Madrid’s 3).
ZM are you going to admit you were wrong about Benzema yet? Remember you have said on at least 2 occasions over the last year and a half or so that he is technically limited.You couldn’t be more wrong,his all round game is exceptional for a center forward.First touch,close control while dribbling,movement,passing etc
One of the top 3 strikers in the world with Falcao and Ibra.
Also this game totally along with Citys games in their last CL campaign have disproved the opinion of some idiots(mainly EPL fanboys and biased Sky/ITV pundits) who say Joe Hart is world class or even the best GK in the world(Jamie’Literally’Redknapp),sorry he’s a good shot stopper but he makes too many mistakes and his ability on the ball is shite and it makes it hard for City to play a possession game against high pressuring opponents.
Kompany has the potential to be world class but he hasn’t proved it yet,Ronaldo absolutely raped him all game.
1. your comment has nothing to do with the comment you replied to.
2. re Benzema, let’s have the citations then.
Who will win this group if Real was lucky to win at home? Ajax seems the weakest team in the group, but I don’t know if Real is the strongest.
Lucky to win at home? According to the stat sheet, and the performance on the pitch, they deserved the win. City are just not experienced enough for the Champions League yet it seems.
How Mancini can leave Ronaldo free to cut inside when he pleases, AND let Alonso dictate the tempo is beyond me.
If you read the article or watched the match, Alonso wasn’t particularly the most influential passer in the game. It was Khedira. Putting Yaya up against Alonso was a bold but logical choice. It was the exposure on their right side that cost them the match.
Yeah but yaya didn’t pressure alonso very well, the whole team was playing deep and he didn’t want to play too high up the pitch. With Essen and khedira pressing high up, alonso was allowed to drop deeper than normal and dictate the first half, changed when ozil came on etc.
From the match I saw, Real was lucky to win; even if they dominated most of the match, the finishing wasn’t good and they struggled to score. The final goal from Ronaldo was the only time Real took the lead and with luck any of them could of one this match. Mourinho was saved by Marcelo, Benzema and Ronaldo.
SS is clearly a Wum,or doesn’t understand football.Either way he is not worth debating with.
Seconded
Whatever… try convincing a Madrid fan the ball is round and he’ll say you’re trolling him. Yes, Real played ‘perfect’ last night
the hell is a “Wum”?
Urban Dictionary: wum
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=wum
It is an acronym meaning Wind-Up Merchant. It refers to someone who posts on message boards and newsgroups with the intention to cause as much disr…
See TROLL
Like Andre said, according to the stat sheet, and the performance on the pitch, they should of deserved the win, but they didn’t, THAT didn’t earn them the win, they ended up stealing a win.
Great article. Do you think that Real played better than they did on the weekend against Sevilla?
Zonal Marking are you going to admit you were wrong about Benzema yet? Remember you have said on at least 2 occasions over the last year and a half or so that he is technically limited.You couldn’t be more wrong,his all round game is exceptional for a center forward.First touch,close control while dribbling,movement,passing etc
One of the top 3 strikers in the world with Falcao and Ibra.
Also this game totally along with Citys games in their last CL campaign have disproved the opinion of some idiots(mainly EPL fanboys and biased Sky/ITV pundits) who say Joe Hart is world class or even the best GK in the world(Jamie’Literally’Redknapp),sorry he’s a good shot stopper but he makes too many mistakes and his ability on the ball is awful and it makes it hard for City to play a possession game against high pressuring opponents.
Kompany has the potential to be world class but he hasn’t proved it yet,Ronaldo absolutely destroyed him all game.
zonal marking have you let your grudge against Benzema go yet? Have you know accepted that he isn’t technically limited like you used to say? It seems you have otherwise your quote here on how he is best against deep defenses would seem contradictory.
Why do you post this every time?! I put forward one comment on a player and it’s a “grudge”?! Grow up
Ok sorry man,I only meant to post it once but my comments weren’t showing up at first…
you toolshed, you wrote the same thing three times and it made no sense on each occasion.
OMG you are pathetic ZM finally replies back to you and you completely fall apart…hahaha “sorry man” yeah you are sorry…like ZM said grow up
seconded @zm, the quality of posts on this website really seems to have gone downhill in the last year…
@Rose: players CAN improve or go through a bad patch of form, its irrelevant, this is a tactics website, and thus each game should be considered on its own merits.
I believe when City went up 2-1 they should have brought on Milner on the right to shut up shop.
Also it was nice to see Joe “I can’t play the ball out with my feet” Hart get exposed again tonight,I can’t stand the arrogant conte,in his interview after the match he was acting as if City were the better team and were robbed.Kompany got exposed by Ronaldo again,not the first time he has been shit in the CL.
I don’t see how it’s wrong to say that Man City shouldn’t have lost the game after leading with ten minutes remaining. He is completely right to say that regardless of what Mancini thinks. Moreover, the goal was almost entirely Kompany’s fault – exactly why he chose to duck such a fierce shot from Ronaldo of all people, from such close range, is beyond me.
When they went up 2-1 they had already made their 3 subs Silva for Dzeko, Kolarov for Nasri and Zabaleta for Maicon.
Taxi for Maicon.
Coach for Zabaleta
Three-man-defense is too vulnerable against 4-2-3-1 in flanks.Mancini’s decision to adopt such an outdated system will definitely cost City this season.
What is “outdated” today will be “in” tomorrow. Mancini certainly saw what a 3-back system could do to a 4-2-3-1/4-3-3 last season when Man City lost to Napoli. Problem there is, Napoli are adapt at adjusting to this because it’s their first-choice system. Man City need more time to become comfortable to this system. Playing it once a month isn’t going to do it.
There’s a difference between what happens “on paper” and what happens when you put human beings/football players in an unfamiliar system.
I’m actually not sure that Mancini WAS playing a typical “outdated” 3 man defence, but instead a lopsided 3-4-2-1 intending specifically to exploit Real’s lopsidedness (Real attack most often down the Left through Ronaldo and Maicon), with Arbeloa more reserved.
Essentially, City were man for man in the midfield zone, with Silva vaguely drifting towards Arbeloa and Toure on Alonso, and Clichy and Nastasic as CBs. This makes perfect logical sense:
1) Kompany is City’s best defender, so it put him 1 vs 1 on Ronaldo with Zabaleta picking up Marcelo
2) By having Silva drift into Arbeloa’s zone it encourages Arbeloa not to push forward too much, for fear of leaving space in behind and an out ball for City.
3) It put City’s most physical MF (Toure) on Alonso to hamper build up play from deep.
So why did it fail?
1) Ozil and Modric were clever with their positioning, drifting right and essentially isolating Kompany and Zabaleta by dragging Garcia and Barry with them.
2) Kompany was not comfortable in his 1 on 1 role with Ronaldo and typically gave him too much time on the ball before closing down. (In this I disagree with ZM that Zabaleta was the main culprit, his job in the system was to close down Marcelo, which he did reasonably well). There could be many reasons for Kompany’s failure: Unfamiliarity with the system, lack of cohesion/trust with an unfamiliar CB partner, fear of getting too far away from Penalty Area etc. but it ended up costing City (especially the ridiculous duck at the end for the 3rd goal)
On 3 man defences: Napoli and Juventus have been successful recently with more typical 3 man defences, as have Barcelona. To just call the formation outdated, and automatically poor vs a 4-2-3-1 just ignores the realities of football and the tactical subtleties going on.
I do of course mean Tevez and not Silva, Silva had already been substituted at this point.
I could understand Mancini switching to a back 3 to exploit Real’s lopsided formation. However, if you’re going to do that, surely you’d make the left hand side of your team more attacking, and double up the defensive options on your right ie. Richards at RCB to mark Ronaldo & Maicon pushing onto Marcelo from wingback, with Nastasic/Lescott at LCB and Clichy/Kolarov getting at Arbeloa? This would also allow you to keep Kompany central, as asking him to drift out wide seems counterintuitive.
Pep transitioned to a 3 man defense in the first La Liga Classico last season, pushing Alvez far up he pitch, with Abidal-Pique-Puyol in the back and Sergio in holding to support if needed.
Of course Mancini doesn’t have Xavi, Iniesta and Messi.
In turn, Jose adjusted in the second Classico (after losing the Super Copa and Copa del Rey wrapping around the first league Classico). However, one could argue that the bigger problem in being able to sustain the three man in that Classico because Adriano was missing, and perhaps to a lesser degree that Masch was in there rather than Pique. In addition, the MF quartet had Thiago in there rather than Cesc, who while he didn’t play a good game in the first Classico, the adjustment in the game by Pep moving Cesc deeper into MF helped in turn free Iniesta to having a magnificent match. In addition, Alexis played the whole game in the first Classico and had perhaps his strongest game of the season, while being a sub in the second. So it might be less that Jose adjusted as it was Pep not being able to field a team that could play the three man as well as it did in the exceptional performance in December.
Either way, same point: Mancini probably doesn’t have the players to pull off a three man back against Madrid. The talent probably will be able to pull it off against any number of teams, including many who play a 4-2-3-1 with far less talent than Jose can role out.
The problem with this is that playing a 4-2-3-1/4-3-2-1 hybrid STILL doesn’t help against madrid’s formation in this match. The problem is that your left back zone is being overloaded. If Zabaleta goes to LB, who is picking up Ronaldo? Zabaleta? Then you are leaving a large amount of space for Marcelo on the overlap. Kompany? Then you are in the same position, but worse, as Zabaleta is further back and will pose no counter-attacking threat on Marcelo.
You either have to play a 4-4-1-1 and sacrifice tevez on the left wing to help pick up Marcelo OR play a 4-5-1-0 and sacrifice dzeko who you have just brought on with Toure as the furthest forward player. Neither of these options seems particularly effective to me.
I actually like Mancini’s tactics in this game, although I feel they would have worked better with Lescott/Richard at centre back instead of Nastacic due to better understanding with Kompany.
Ignore Ozil’s runs to the left and focus on CR7 and Marcelo. Ozil is nothing but a decoy. Sure he can score on a good day, but based on his recent past he was not going to score against J. Hart.
Three-man-defense can work, but only if your full backs-turned wingers are very good both in defending and attacking. A past it Maicon, error prone Clichy + Kolorav and a Zabaleta who’s a liability just isn’t good enough. Getting Maicon could very well be the biggest transfer mistake this season, anyone who has seen him play in Inter would have known he’s not good enough for Citeh.
Come on man, Napoli have a front three that can occupy opponent’s full backs, and they have wing backs too, meaning that they have 2 players on each flank.
City have only one defender on each flank as well,s0 their flanks outnumbered and becomes fragile, especially when they are up against Ronaldo and Marcelo
Milner wasn’t on the bench…
Agree with everything as always, but am a bit confused at the “better goalkeeping from Hart” comment at the end – Surely it was his superb goalkeeping that kept them in it to begin with? Yes, the last goal could be considered a mistake on his part, but to imply that it was his fault they lost… Without, they arguably shouldn’t have even been in the game by that point, IMO.
Also, to the one commenter who said Madrid were lucky to win at home.. That’s a bit much, dontcha think? Like I said, that last goal might have been a bit lucky, but you can’t say it was HUGE bad luck to be down twice considering how they were playing, not to mention how any great stops Hart had…
You’re taking the comment “better goalkeeping comment from Hart” out of context. The writer mentions in the paragraph that the last 15min of the match could have gone either way and “if” Hart had stopped Ronaldo’s shot, Man City would have come away with a result.
Who was supposed to be man-marking Alonso? Toure? Hard to know, because Alonso always seemed to have acres of space.
I haven’t seen much of Man City play, but surely their best chance at home is to press very high and very hard and blot Alonso out of the game and pressure mistakes. Are they capable of playing that sort of game?
Maybe but, not on the evidence of last night’s game.
In fact earlier in the game when Allonso was dropping very deep to collect the ball from the defenders he played 2 or 3 aimless long balls forward which sailed harmlessly out of play or found 3 defenders with bot a single Madrid player nearby!!
He did not play a single long ball forward after that…
I know normally that would be a potent weapon in Real’s arsenal.
yes, Toure. He was actually pretty effective…
so what your saying is City swtiched to 3-5-2 and stuffed it because one of the 3 is naturally a left back whilst the ohter two were centre backs. Space opended up on the right behing the wingback which was exploited by Marcelo and Ronaldo doubling up!
Mancini being a poor tactician. Why am I not surprised? I only tuned in during the second half (from what I’ve read I didn’t miss much in the first) and it took me only 5 minutes to notice how much space Marcelo was afforded down the left side. Maicon, who got famously destroyed by Bale’s pace 2 years ago (Maicon hasn’t gotten better since then), up against Ronaldo and Marcelo, 2 of the paciest players in the world? WOW.
Taking out Silva was another mess-up. Yes, he’s not in his best form, but he’s still the most dangerous creator in the side and Mourinho was clearly worried about him. There was no other reason to leave Özil on the bench and play Essien but for Silva. The knock-on effect after Silva’s substitution was obvious: Mourinho immediately took Essien out and brought Özil in. He could even afford to bring Modric in for Khedira. Which made Real all the more dangerous attacking-wise. City could barely get out of their own half towards the end.
Can anybody explain the logic behind Mancini’s experimentations? This is the group of death. City once again will find it very hard to advance. Every point is a gift. So why is City playing a 3 man backline with rookies like Nastasic and new (and past it) players like Maicon in a tinkered formation that no one is familiar with? In the Bernabeu?!
All, excellent points
I agree with KEVIN-ONE-SEVEN, spot on. It seemed Mourinho was wary of City’s midfield ball-winning enough to start the game with three holders, but as soon as Silva came off I think he felt he was given a gift: ‘Who cares about the ‘holding’ battle now when their ten is on the pine?’ I think Mancini thought he was trying to wind the game down with that substitution being the away team and all, but Real’s fitness combined with their fans’ backing can make 25-30 minutes mean as many chances.
While I think Mancini often makes ingenious in-game substitutions he really got outclassed tonight. He didn’t seem to fully comprehend how many cards Mourinho was still holding and the rapid damage they were sure to inflict on a three man defense.
What a game though it has to be mentioned: tactically interesting and f’n full on right to the death.
because they almost won?
Mistaken on a number of points. Removing Silva for Dzeko transformed the game, and all of City’s best attacking moments came from it. “City could barely get out of their own half towards the end”? They scored twice in the last 20 minutes and could easily have had two more. This was not a new formation; Mancini has played both formations from this game on previous occasions this season.
And, of course, you only saw half of the game; perhaps you have an anti-Mancini agenda.
No, it didn’t transform the game for City. Granted, Dzeko scored on the break (80 % of that goal belongs to Yaya). The second was a freekick and had nothing to do with tactics. Overall City had 3 shots on target. Marcelo and Ronaldo alone had twice as much. That left side was left completely open throughout the game.
Silva was struggling to get into the game though, he is not suited to playing in a defensive side and playing on the break. He is man city’s most talented player but in context of the style being played, city looked more dangerous with him off the pitch. Dzeko was much better at bullying real Madrids new cb, tevez became more dangerous in deeper zones and kolarov brought pace and directness. The only mistake was leaving marcelo free to double up on Maicon, Milner could have helped in that regard with Barry coming off and yaya playing deeper.
I agree with the first half of your post, but I disagree that Yaya playing deeper is a good idea, as Yaya generally picked up Alonso, and provided an outlet on the counter.
The problem was that Modric and Ozil drifted Right in the match taking Garcia and Barry with them. Leaving the City Right Wing isolated 2 vs 2. The person to sacrifice would have been Tevez, moving to the right to pick up Marcelo, or being substituted for a better defensive player.
But Toure was still driving forward – by playing deeper he got the ball more. In theory, I agree, him playing high up is closer. But he was barely visible in the first 30 mins when playing high up
I agree that Toure was annonymous in the first 30 minutes, however, I think that by being annoymous he was actually doing his job very well. In this period Real dominated possession and created many chances, however, Alonso played almost no part in this buildup. With Essien and Khedira (two less creative midfielders) the two furthest forward of Real’s MF 3, I think it made logical sense to play Toure against him, especially as it put Toure in a position to break past on the counter.
The question in the second half was whether his physicality was needed more against Essien/Khedira and to start counter-attacks, or to play higher up to link MF and attack (as he did for the first city goal, and in the 71st minute when he could have scored for 2-0). I actually like Mancini’s choice here. Although Tevez could certainly have played on Alonso instead with Toure deeper, there are certain risks associated with playing a Striker in such a disciplined “defensive” role (Rooney vs Busquets CL final 2 years ago for instance).
I thought yaya did well breaking past alonso on the break, but in the first half he actually stayed rather deep (in accordance with the whole team) and allowed Alonso space to pass. I think Mourinho wanted this as he asked khedira and essien to press high up the pitch and create space for alonso, Yaya would have had to had left a big gap in midfield if he tracked Alonso into very deep positions. Real Madrid lost this when they brought Ozil on and opened up the midfield.
Good shout on Modric and Ozils movement to the right, it was very good. I either choice of moving yaya deeper or removing/shifting Tevez would have worked better. Milner should have been on the bench as a option.
this is fair. I think the irony is that even though city have spent so much money in recent year, Real could still bring on Ozil and Modric near the end, where City had noone on the bench to bring on to counter the new attacking threat these two offered. The Milner option was definitely a loss here.
Great article, great site!
You speak of the change in system to a 3-man-defence. I must admit, i didn’t notice the change until Zabaleta came on – however, your statemant that Zabaleta signalled “3″ to his teammates when coming on made me think that maybe i did in fact see the change when it happened.
Don’t you think that the fact that they looked a 3-5-1-1 after half-time (and before Zabaleta’s substitution) was simply due to the fact that they had no right-sided midfielder; which in turn lead to Maicon being forced to push higer up; thus shuffling the entire defence over, and forcing Kolarov to track back – thus effectively turning what was meant as a 4-man-backline into a 3/5-man backline?
I personally thought the substitions were hugely important in changing a locked, tense game into a completely open affair in the final 20 minutes or so. Before Ozil came on, Real dominated possesion with little penetration, but had the ability to shut down most City transitions through the sheer power and defensive strength of their three central midfielders – mostly effective through pressing. Whilst they did become more penetrative with the substitions of Ozil and later Modric, they also lost the security against City’s transitions that the triple pivot had provided them. As for City, it was my take on the Zabalete second-half substition, that it was meant as a defensive change (with the intent of Mancini to defend 5v3 at the back) – ofcourse it backfired immensely as Marcelo was left completely free – and they could drag City all over the place with some quite simple movements.
I don’t think Mancini should take the blame for the openness on City’s right; it was Zabaleta’s gung-ho attitude and lack of positional discipline that caused the problem. From the instant he entered the pitch, he played infield and advanced. He should have been the ideal defensive replacement, but he basically wandered off and neglected his duties.
And I wouldn’t blame Hart either; Kompany inexplicably ducked under Ronaldo’s shot giving his keeper little chance. Why a defender would duck out of the way of a shot is just as inexplicable as why a wing-back would take it upon himself to play as an auxiliary striker.
I thought Mancini’s tactics were spot on; the introduction of Dzeko really transformed their performance. It was the indiscipline of his players that cost City the game.
I thought Zabaleta was actually shown signalling and saying ‘5′ to his teammates
Yeah, thats how I remember it as well
+1 I saw a “5″ too.
sweet analysis Michael, but, do you really think Hart could have done more ? those shots were crazy!!!
City’s defending for the third madrid goal was horrific…
I have no idea what on earth was going through Zabaleta’s head when Ronaldo got one on one with him… out of all the things he could have done, for some reason he chose letting Ronaldo cut inside onto his preferred foot and shoot at goal… I just can’t believe a player of Zabaleta’s quality doesn’t have the intelligence to show Ronaldo down the line and force him to cross the ball instead…
As for Joe Hart’s goalkeeping… alright it’s an awkward ball to deal with, but regardless at this level he has to do a better job of positioning himself. Unfortunate considering he had been so solid for the rest of the match – he couldn’t have done anything about the first two goals conceded and thought it was a shame that one blunder in the closing minutes ultimately cost City the match.
Very much looking forward to the return fixture
I am amazed that everyone complains against Hart. There is no way to stop that goal – Company was in the path – Hart cd not have even viewed the ball until it went over Company. And Ronaldo’s shot had the lift, pace & the dip in that little 8 yards he had for the goal.. I would say it was Ronaldo’s brilliance & Company’s inadequancy that led to the goal – nothing else – Zabletta did what he could do – It is dangerous to let Ronaldo cross with Higuain & Ozil waiting with 6 yards in front of them..
Also I am not seeing anyone complain the goalkeeping from Casillas – He should have done better in my opinion.
I agree, zabaletta isn’t really to blame alone on that goal. it’s beyond me that he had to defend alone against ronaldo at this stage of the game. normaly you defend him with two players and one of them blocking the path into the center which wouldn’t be his job. and to be honest i think if ronaldo went past him to the left a cross would have been more dangerous normaly cause a shot from that angel should be blocked bei a defender(in this case kompany) or saved by hart easily except he hits an absolute wonderstriker into topcorner. that shot shouldnt have never hit the target anyway. i blame kompany on that one. hart couldnt do anything about this one. either kompany gives hart a view on the ball or he blocks it , ducking is just the wrong option.
Nobody in their right senses should be blaming Hart. I just have no idea what Kompany was thinking ducking like that! It was criminal what Kompany did and reminded me of Kosciellny doing something similar to Szczesny in that final against Birmingham.
But I must say I would have blamed him had the Higuain shot from Di Maria’s chip gone in.
A ball is chipped into an empty space right in front of Hart and he stays rooted to the goal-line, Higuain realises maybe he could profit alerting Kompany who tries to shield the ball from him and still Mr Hart doesn’t come out till Higuain makes contact in the small box and Hart is STILL on his goal-line.
Had it gone in, I know people would be blaming Kompany and saying why didn’t he head the ball out for a corner?
I think you are being a bit harsh on Zabaleta.
Sometimes a guy will beat you even when you know what he’s going to do. And in fact considering they were on the edge of the box, one would have expected that Ronaldo cutting inside would be the less toxic poison as one would expect cover on that side. Had that not been a goal we might be sitting here and wondering why Ronaldo did not take Zaba on the outside where he could have beaten him with sheer pace rather than inside where it was congested.
Watch Ronaldo’s games against Barca and you’ll find that whenever he cuts inside he almost always ends up being crowded out; he profits more when he tries to beat his man on the outside.
I assumed that of the weakest links on the pitch, Nastasic and Arbeloa, the Madrid right back would get more action down his side of the pitch. While City had a few spells over on his flank, I felt as if they didn exploit him enough to come away with 3 PTS. The sub for Silva was great but I would’ve asked for a little more out of Kolorav pushing up that side to have a right go at Arbeloa.
is a 3-man defense against a single striker ‘ever’ a good idea? and how exactly does the 3/4-back hybrid work?
http://www.therationalpie.com/real-madrid-3-2-mancity-happy-ronaldo-and-co-sink-city-in-a-5-goal-thriller/
As soon as Essien was taken off Toure got the freedom to push forward. That substitution combined with Dzeko coming on meant that City could play a more direct game.
Like finite football dot blogspot pointed out, Mancini for once was outclassed tactically. The only glaring tactical error he made during the night was instructing the defenders to show Ronaldo inside.
Excellent analysis Michael.
Game shows again the Premier league might be a bit overrated. City’s defence got exposed time and time again. And with them, Mancini. What happened to catenaccio?
I think Alonso defended so badly against Toure that it bears some tactical interest. The goal was a carbon copy of the scoring chance Toure created in the 1st-half, enabled by Alonso’s extremely sloppy defending. He should know how much of a threat Yaya is when given space to run into with the ball, yet Alonso challenged the Ivorian half-heartedly throughout the match. I wouldn’t expect him to actually win the ball too many times, but some tactical fouling would’ve done the job- an art the Spaniards master.
Alonso’s defensive frailties leave Mou with a dilemma in the midfield. Alonso can’t be trusted as the sole holder (as in giving Khedira/Modric the license to roam forward), yet Real so easily become a broken team without that kind of movement from the midfield. It was particularly evident here, Khedira / Modric joining the attacks with Alonso dropping off, who simply can’t stop attacks like a ”true” defensive mid could and left Real exposed to counter attacks. Sure, the game was rather frantic and Real’s shape was hilarious at times, but it still had a lot to do with Madrid’s midfield dynamics.
Ps. This is why I think Mou started Essien over a more attacking player. He knew that they need someone to advance from the midfield, but was also aware of how exposed it’d leave them with only Alonso holding.
As soon as I saw the starting lineups, I immediately thought the comparisons between Alonso and Andrea Pirlo and his role with Italy and especially Juve. Regardless if they played with three or five at the back, Pirlo always was the deepest midfielder with two shuttlers (Vidal/Marchisio/ nowadays Giaccherini at Juve; De Rossi/Marchisio with Italy) taking care of the brunt of the defensive duties. I think that’s part of the reason Mou brought in Essien this year in the first place, as even though he is definitely past his prime, Essien still possesses an adequate level of stamina and wherewithal to support Alonso on defense and conjunctly provide energy to the offensive stage.
Dzeko’s goal can’t really be pinpointed to Alonso as Pepe’s offensive positioning/defensive mistake and Real’s defensive mechanics (if Pepe goes, who stays) made them remarkably vulnerable to the counter.
Essien looked incredibly out of shape! He’s lost all that explosiveness and mobility he used to have. Hopefully it’s just the horrible injuries he’s had to endure and not a permanent thing. But agreed, playing Essien makes a lot of sense in theory, ala pairing Pirlo with runner(s) (= Gattuso was basically worth two men back in the day).
But on Dzeko’s goal I disagree. The attack could’ve been stopped where it should’ve stopped, at the edge of City’s box had Alonso done his job. Tevez did a great job in luring Pepe out from the back, but in the end, the attack should’ve never progressed that far. City’s two best chances originated from Alonso’s lack of aggression.
Agreed. For me, Gattuso the most important players on the field during Milan’s run.
On another note, a defender with the experience and guile of Pepe shouldn’t be dragged 10-15 yards into the opposition’s half, even under the pretenses of following the false 9. If he were next to Ramos in his own half where he should have been, Ramos could have shifted into the space Dzeko ran into.
This is similar to what happened to Germany in the Euros.. Needlessly the coach abandoned the successful tactics which fetched them good rewards and went for a reactive one to counter opposition threat.. you lose your strengths.. Madrid is more threatening when they have Ozil in the hole instead of 3 in the midfield.. they could have easily scored more in the first half with him on the pitch and then bring on Essien or someone to close out the game in the second.. starting with 3 non creative midfielders is useless especially when you wingers also cut in to shoot..
As much as I like Alonso this Madrid team is way too dependant on him. Mou should try to mix things a bit with, for example, playing Modric (or Ozil) in front of two DMFs.
IMO, Mourinho complicated things and overrated City by playing Essien in the midfield.. He was merely another man in the midfield not sure of what his role was.. Madrid would have been far more dangerous with Ozil on the pitch in that advanced role and could have scored more in the first half.. They could have killed the game in the second half by playing another CM.. What happened was reverse.. Ozil’s introduction made them more penetrative and no wonder he assisted Marcelo’s goal..
Last year Bayern played City out of the game in Munich by playing 2 CMs but more attacking upfront.. With Madrid having Marcelo too, they could have played a normal 4-2-3-1 and killed the game in the first half..
This again proves that City are still overrated because of their EPL exploits.. When they are up against quality non-EPL teams, they struggle.. I think this group will be very interesting.. The Dortmund V City game will be crucial for who goes through.. Ajax didnt look bad either..
Think it was a good decision, Real had almost complete control over the game before the 1st goal, thanks in part to the use of trivote. True, there weren’t that penetrating but still they had a couple of good occasions and City was nowhere to be seen. The goal was, as ZM wrote, against the run of play, citizens’ 1st shot on target.
Dont really get it. I think that the 3 man midfield was good to start with – With Silva & Nasri starting it was almost 5 men in the midfield for MCity – The 3 man midfield helped RM to control the game and keep possession of the ball in the first half – Yaya could not be effective in attack until Essein was there.
So the idea was to keep things not getting erratic which could only be delayed as we saw in the last 30 mins. In European games it is better to control the midfield and measure the oponents b4 you use your attacking cards to win the game, if at all you really have to win – I am with Mou and see the trend will continue.
Great write up zm!
I thought Real Madrid started the better team with their high pressure and dangerous wingers. Ronaldo easily had the beating of Maicon down the left, while Di Maria was motm for me with his creativity passing and dribbling, his movement inside threw cliche who has always been better when up against a more direct wingers . But they didn’t score during this period as higuain was having a poor game up front missing chance after chance (benzema surely should have started). Man City were overwhelmed by the high pressure and struggled to get the ball forward apart from when yaya drove forward with his maurading runs. City didn’t use this option enough in my opinion as yaya clearly had the beating of alonso and both nasri and silva were not used to playing so defensively and on the counter.
In the second half Madrid lost control somewhat by bringing on ozil as it meant alonso had to move higher up the pitch with Essen and khedira no longer pushing up and creating space for him (ala Pirlo with juventus). This opened Madrid up to yaya’s runs even more and city’s first goal showed this clearly. Man City changes on the whole were good, kolarov brought better pace and directness for transitions, tevez moved deeper and found more space to run at people and create chances while dzeko lead the line excellently and bullied the new Real Madrid CB better than tevez was able to. But as ZM stated, they left far too much room for marcelo down the left to overload Maicon with Ronaldo, which lead to Madrid getting back into the game.
the last part of the game was hectic and could have gone either way, though I don’t think hart did too badly for e two goals and can leave with his head held high after a great performance in goal.
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I think City started the second half with the same formation-4 at back.After introducing Zabaleta they moved to 3-5-1-1(Zabaleta showed 3 and then 5).Here is the mistake of Mancini.You can’t change formation like that when your team is winning and there are only 15 minutes left.This change in shape caused the chaos at back.Zabaleta’s position on the field was very poor.If I was a coach I would make sure he understood that he had been very poor.He played very high and then in defense he played more like a center back.
Mancini got everything right for about 70 minutes,but then he made a mistake.Mistake that cost him one point.
“Better goalkeeping from Joe Hart, for example, and City would have come away with a result”
Better finishing from Higuain, Ronaldo, Khedira a City would have lost 5:0…
And if my aunty had bollocks etc….
“Benzema is probably better against a deep defence.”
He’s just better full stop. Higuain is not a world class forward in my opinion.
>Higuain is not a world class forward in my opinion.
Gonzalo Higuain scored 22 goals last season in La Liga..
Although he was hurt the previous season, he had scored 27 and 22 in the seasons before.
On top of that he has been capped 28 times with Argentina since 2009 and scored 15 goals on a team that probably has the most impressive forwards in the world.
15g=28games is world class (Benzema has the same amount of goals in twice as many games) at the international level.
His La Liga numbers are also world class.
Federico Higuaín who plays for the Columbus Crew of MLS is not a world class player.
Maybe he’s the argentine you are thinking of.
Im not sure you understand the meaning of those two words: world class.
Benzema> Higuin
So what do we make of Essien’s performance? We haven’t really seen a lot of him at Chelsea since his return from injury but the fact that they let him go, leaving them with okay-at-best options like Mikel and Romeu was a bit surprising. By the looks of it, Mourinho trusts him to do his job and considering his ‘he’s never a 10/10 but never worse than a 7/10′-comments about Arbeloa (I might be mixing things up a bit, but you get the point), reliability is something he values. Exciting to watch however, he hasn’t been in a long time.
I felt that he did his job very well. His positional play was perfect and the 3 man midfield meant RM was controlling the game in possession. Also until Essein was there in the pitch Yaya Toure was not effective in attack!! He only got substituted for his lack of fitness & also bcos Silva was substituted for Dzeko making the midfield a bit less concentrated..
He’ll probably be a utility and backup player at Real, that’s pretty much the best he can hope for after being out for like 2 years straight anyway.
As for his performance last night, I suspect he did exactly what his manager brought him in to do. Mourinho’s strategy revolved around c*ckblocking Silva and Yaya Toure, something the pair of Essien and Khedira is uniquely suited to because of their ability to defend all over the pitch.
Lee Dixon proved to be a good tactical pundit. blamed Maicon for not showing C Ron down the line. bad error by Hart for the 3rd too. interestingly MOTD2 on sunday showed he had the worst saves ratio of any keeper in the prem. this highlighted the truth of that stat..by proving he’s in a bad run of form. San Iker not too clever either. Dzeko’s shot almost hit the middle of the goal …. love the site but you can have as much tactics as you want, a dodgy keeper will decide a game far quicker than tactics.
*correction Zab , not Maicon , of course.
The only thing I don’t get is why didn’t Mancini stick Kolarov on the right to take advantage of Marcelo pushing forward and the space behind, at the very least it would have pinned Marcelo back and left Maicon against Ronaldo alone (still wouldn’t have stopped him, but better nonetheless), rather than Maicon being 2v1.
He was basically playing a lopsided 4-4-1-1, but its common knowledge that Madrid plays through the wingers (Di Maria and Ronaldo usually), and they tend to cut inside around the penalty box. Even when a great central playmaker such as Alonso, Ozil, or Modric passes the ball, often he tends to send diagonal balls to the wingers, not straight through the center of the pitch to the striker.
Mancini definitely had his team set up to stifle central midfield creation, but Madrid generally doesn’t play that way. They tend to rely on fast breaks and pure speed and trickery of their wingers, and in this game, Marcelo became a 3rd winger due to his lack of a marker.
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Mancini has the second most-expensive squad in the world but he’s still a coward; He used the same tactics as a small team from Cyprus, Manchester City needs a more ambitious coach.
The few times City attacked Madrid they caused you serious problems cause Madrid’s deffense is not very strong; With a more offensive/attacking tactic City could had won the match.
It would be awesome to see Madrid shape at the end, cause Modric, Benzema and Ozil can pretty much play wherever they want and City looked clueless.
Not sure if anyone has mentioned this but why did Mancini not simply put Kolarov on the right with the sole intention of marking Ronaldo?
That way, when Ronaldo cut infield, Kolarov would be tackling with his stronger foot. This would have had the effect of freeing Maicon to attack without the need to track back so quickly leading to him tiring badly and keeps Silva on the left.
Also, Toure plays in an advanced role with absolutely no defensive duties. Why not press Alonso who was moved deeper after the problems of the Sevilla game? Instead, Alonso gets a free rein to dictate proceedings.
Some bizarre moves from Mancini which a narrow defeat should not mask.
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I agree, would have been the smarter choice, maybe Mancini didn’t feel Kolarov could play on the wrong side?
Kolarov though would only be on the right in a defensive capacity.
Ronaldo seldom goes down the outside and cross therefore Kolarov is always coming onto his stronger foot following Ronaldo inside.
Or why not put Zabaleta on the right?
He and Maicon could alternate between who defends and who attacks.
i understand why essien was selected just because he has a vast experience of playing in europe plus he is very disciplined and read the game well plus he did his job well when on field . but i wanted somebody to play behind ronaldo, higuan and di maria so that they could had been a proper link between them and he could had formed that little triangles where on they would had been more threatening and could had better where on they were just satisfied from shooting from distance . khadeira is a battering ram and most importantly he can get to end of balls from di maria and ronaldo .he should had started with ozil or modric while he did that switch later when the need arised while he should had done that earlier and put city on the back foot .
although people are criticizing city for giving too much of space for ronaldo and marcelo but they didnt had any penetration and whatever threat they had it had been shooting from distance . city just sat back and absorbed pressure and hit them on counter but had city been a little proactive then the game could had been more interesting . mancini is more of a defensive manager . city have personal where on they can go on and close down teams and be more positive then just sit back and hit back on counter .
hart cannot be blamed for the third goal since kompany cowardishly ducked under the shot .
if anybody could rightfully remember as to why mancini was sacked as the inter manager because in his 4 yrs tenure as in charge inter could not get out of the first round of the ucl anytime so that is why he was fired while he had all the best players at helm .
dortmund and ajax wont be easy test for city expecially dortmund who play very nice football .
Surely after this game Benzema has to go back to being a starter as he was last season? Not only did he score a great goal (after forcing Hart into a save with a great shot from an impossible angle), but his link-up play is clearly much better than Higuain’s. I think Pipita is a great poacher but when Benzema isn’t playing the team misses something in the attacking third.
I was very impressed with Varane. It mustn’t have been easy to start such a game when he’s barely played and is still 19. Still, I thought he showed great calmness and composure (despite a rash challenge towards the end of the game). His height is also a great asset. I have to admit I feel more confident watching Varane defend than Ramos, who is never too far away from a booking or a rash, idiotic challenge.
It was very noticeable that Real had acres of space down the right since City’s defenders were mainly occupied by Ronaldo and Marcelo on the left. With Di Maria coming inside and Arbeloa not a great attacking full-back, all this space is going to waste. ZM do you think it would be a good idea to replace Arbeloa with a more attack-minded right-back in the future? It may provide more difficulties for Real’s rather shaky defense, though Arbeloa isn’t exactly the Rock of Gibraltar either..
Even Michel had done a better job than Mancini, the city’s manager is out of his depth
I had hard time figuring what was City’s formation in the first half. They seemed to defend low with close lines – sometimes it was hard to recognize any lines, another time it seemed like 6 defenders with Barry and Garcia defending in line with CBs and 3 mids
Benzema stirs some controversies here, I like him much better than Higuain, but still seems to weak to be a striker in the team with ambition of winning Champions League and Primera Division every year.
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Ronaldo should have stolen a drink from Hart’s water bottle a la Ibrahimovic to REALLY make him mad! Good article, by the way.
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