Manchester City 1-1 Real Madrid: City out
The starting line-ups
Roberto Mancini started with a back three, then moved to a back four, but Manchester City couldn’t find a second goal.
Mancini decided to start with a similar XI to the second half shape against Tottenham, when they looked good with a back three. Nine of the 11 players were the same, with the exception of Matija Nastasic coming in for the injured Gael Clichy, and Samir Nasri (ill for the Spurs game) starting in the centre alongside Yaya Toure, an extremely attack-minded midfield.
Jose Mourinho named his expected side with one small exception – Luka Modric was at the head of the midfield triangle, rather than Mesut Ozil.
The shots statistics were interesting in this match. After 17 minutes, Real Madrid had attempted 7 shots, with 5 on target – whereas City hadn’t had a single attempt.
A couple of minutes later, City moved to a four at the back – and the final shots tally (admittedly, taking into account when Real were down to ten men), was 11-15 in favour of Real, and 7-10 on target. Therefore, after the tactical switch City “won” the shots count 11-8, and 7-5 on target. The formation change was a big factor in this match, and the goals arrived during both sides’ period of dominance in terms of shots.
Mancini back three
But should Mancini have been playing a back three in the first place? In keeping with the ’spare man’ principle, broadly speaking the answer was no – Real only played with one upfront, and with Modric in for Ozil and playing deep in midfield, it wasn’t a wise move. Maybe the analysis should end there – but there was some logic to Mancini’s decision.
After all, Real weren’t playing a static, boxy 4-5-1 system – they use a lopsided XI with Cristiano Ronaldo very high up on the left, and Angel Di Maria much deeper on the right. In that sense, the move made sense; Maicon and Pablo Zabaleta could battle with Ronaldo (and track Fabio Coentrao’s runs when he moved forward). Vincent Kompany and Nastasic could remain two-versus-one against Karim Benzema, while Aleksandar Kolarov occupied Di Maria. It was 3 v 3 in the middle, and the one missing piece of the jigsaw, Alvaro Arbeloa, wasn’t a threat on the ball and could be left free. On paper, this was a decent bet.
Poor City start
On the pitch, it failed to work. City’s passing was very slow, and they were opened up readily by Real Madrid’s counter-attacking strategy. Ronaldo was given far too much space down the left, constantly dribbling past Zabaleta with Maicon too high up to provide any assistance. The midfield was also a problem – Xabi Alonso stuck tightly to David Silva, while Sami Khedira moved higher up the pitch to press Samir Nasri.
Yaya Toure was given a disciplined role and was unable to affect the game from deep, and City didn’t have rotation or variation of positioning to prompt quick passing moves through the centre, with Silva wandering into increasingly deep positions, trying to get away from Alonso, without reverse movement from the other two midfielders.
There was also a problem in front of the defence – Toure and Nasri were often too square or high up the pitch, and were opened up with a simple forward pass for Modric to run onto, although at least one of City’s centre-backs could step forward.
Real approach
Real deserve credit for their very strong start, however. Ronaldo started the match on the right with Di Maria left, and although this arrangement only lasted a short period of time, City’s defensive players must have found it disconcerting considering how their three-man backline was (probably) intended to function.
The interesting part of the Real side was down their right – Di Maria played a very deep role while Ronaldo stayed higher up (a little like Chelsea last night at Juventus), and because the Argentine tracked Kolarov’s runs, Arbeloa was free. Without the ball, he played extremely close to Pepe and often followed Aguero into deeper positions, more of a third centre-back than a right-back. His job on Aguero resulted in a first half booking, which would prove crucial when he again fouled his fellow Argentine in the second half, being dismissed.
The use of Modric was an interesting move from Mourinho – he had a decent if unspectacular game. Real’s problem at the semi-final stage last season was that Ozil stayed too high up and wanted incisive balls into him on the counter, whereas Bayern Munich had Toni Kroos who played deeper and linked play. Away from home at quality sides, Modric is a good bet to sit in the ‘proper’ midfield zone and link play. Ozil would have been higher up, and allowed Toure to assert his dominance on the game.
Benzema’s goal came because of simple poor defending from City – Kolarov didn’t put pressure on the cross on the left, Maicon let Benzema slip past him on the right. Whether this is related to the formation is questionable, but City constantly do the basics much worse when playing with a back three – the failed offside trap a little later was another good example.
Back to four
The switch to a back four, after around 20 minutes, resulted in a bizarrely immediate change in the game. Zabaleta trotted across to left-back, Maicon became the right-back, and Kolarov went to the left of midfield. Silva was now broadly the right-sided midfielder, although he remained in central positions.
There was still a lack of incision, but City now held onto the ball higher up the pitch and put more pressure on the Real backline. A couple of half-chances came and went, but Real were very good at retaining a solid shape, while also quickly pressuring City players on the ball.
The line-ups at the start of the second half, with Garcia on and City back to their usual shape
Garcia on
The start of the second half saw a further change from Mancini – Javi Garcia replaced Aleksandar Kolarov, and Nasri went to the left of midfield. This produced City’s most convincing shape of the match, and arguably their best spell of football (against eleven men, at least), although it was essentially Mancini’s tried and tested formation – two drifters on the flanks, and Toure able to move forward with the protection of a holding midfielder behind.
Garcia’s role was understated but crucial – he played right-of-centre and stopped Real’s counter-attacks. In moving closer to Ronaldo when City had possession, this allowed Maicon to get forward on the overlap. Silva also found a large amount of space in the zone behind Ronaldo, and Alonso looked much more rattled than in the first half, becoming the second Real player to be shown a yellow card for a foul on his countryman. Overloads in Real’s left-back zone, especially when Aguero moved over to that side, looked promising.
Later changes
Mancini’s decision to introduce Carlos Tevez in place of Nasri, was less successful. His initial positioning was confusing – he seemed to start to the right, maybe to further overload that Real left-back zone, but Silva became more constrained. Later Tevez went central with Aguero moving left and nearly got on the end of a glorious Silva chipped pass, but the substitution seemed unnecessary when City had started the second half so brightly.
Mourinho’s first change was odd – Modric off, Jose Callejon on. Callejon played on the left, with Benzema seemingly dropping off Ronaldo, who became the primary forward trying to use his pace in behind. Arbeloa’s red card meant Raphael Varane replaced Benzema and went to right-back, so it was now a simple 4-4-1 with Ronaldo upfront alone, offering a threat on the break now he was away from Garcia.
City rallied, but Real held on – this match was a good case study for Dzeko being more effective as a substitute.
Conclusion
Mancini went for a back three, it didn’t work, and he corrected his system accordingly. The introduction of Garcia was an astute move that stopped Real’s counters and allowed Toure more freedom, but that system deserved more time.
Mourinho used Modric as a passer and a ball-carrier from deep positions and it worked nicely, while Arbeloa’s narrowness – two rash tackles notwithstanding – was important in creating a spare man and preventing City from creating clear-cut chances.
Not really to do with this game, but I’m not a huge admirer of Dzeko. Of course he is obviously a good poacher and has quality, but I don’t really think there’s much interesting about him technically or tactically.
Mancini reminds me of myself on Fifa sometimes,changing formation 5 times a game until I get the right one.By the time you find the right game plan you are getting beat.Difference is he is meant to be a top manager,he at least claims to be and I still live in my mothers basement spending my time between trolling ZM and masturbating.
???
What the hell was that?
This is not a counselling therapy or Oprah.
Tooo much information and without quality factors whatsoever
you really are a troll
I know your mother´s basement aswell..
A little old, but pretty confortable
Well, please dont flood here with these comments. Please instead of cheating here give some good comments about tacticts and game.
Please read full article here: http://www.veqsport.com/
I think Dzeko is good technically, considering is size, height and position. Not a beast, but still pretty good. But i think is more a striker to fit in bundesliga then intto premier league. If you take Drogba off the equation, most great strikers in premier league are faster, much more dynamic, with a good understanding of spaces in the field, so he probably fit better in a Bundesliga team. I´m curious to see Huntelaar in Arsenal to prove my theory about distinct striker profiles between Bundesliga and Premierleague.
You can’t take top teams in premiere league and say that all premiere league teams are like that. After all, Peter Crouch still plays there. Dzeko would have thrived in a team with proper wingers.
I agree with you in some point. Dzeko would be better in that conditions. Still i dont consider Crouch a great striker if i compare to Rooney, Van Persie or Henry.
Arbeloa is Spanish, not Argentine
Indeed he is. Probably just a mistake,ZM was probably thinking of Aguero when he typed it.
Speaking of Aguero,he can’t even dive properly but luckily for him the referee must have wore a Mercenery Shitty shirt on underneath his uniform last night.Every decision seemed to go Citys way.
O well City are deservedly out now and hopefully a proper club Ajax will get the Europa League spot,Aguero was probably just pissed that he is wasting his talent at a small club,bet you he dreamt of playing for Real Madrid or Barca when he was a little boy.Hopefully he doesn’t sign another contract and leaves there in 2014.Same for Silva,was brilliant last night but he is wasted in that team.
Also forgot to say Coentrao was shit,his positioning when playing a deep backline is a huge liability.He seems to play much better when his team pressure high up.Also Marcelo is much much better on the ball than him,when he comes back he has to be the undisputed number 1.I would say Marcelo has improved defensively over the last year and Coentrao no longer even has that on him.Sergio Ramos is getting better and better as a CB,one of the few players who is a World Class FB and CB.Absolute beast for Spain and Madrid.Arbeloa is underrated,top lacks incisiveness when going forward but still sound in possession and is a top defender.Pepe is a bit inconsistent but is one of the best CBs around on his day.I thought Madrid defended excellently as a team yesterday even when they were down to ten men which we haven’t really seen so far with this Madrid team.They normally defend by performing a high pressure game high up the pitch but yesterday they sat deep for most of the match and looked solid yet dangerous on the break.
My bet to win the CL this season? Madrid.Just have a feeling.Jose has won the CL twice,both times he finished 2nd in his group.Madrids players haven’t peaked yet this season unlike last season were they were knackered by the time they played Bayern and they now have the perfect balance of youth and experience.Barca are a better team but I think their defense will let them down at a crucial time.
Coentrao played a solid game. Sure, you prefer Marcelo, so do I. But the reality of it is that Coentrao has played great since coming back.
“Every decision seemed to go Citys way.”
Then why did he fall for every vintage Real Madrid trick (the fake injuries, time wasting) and give City 5 yellow cards?
ZM was talking about Di Maria, not Arbeloa
“Di Maria played a very deep role while Ronaldo stayed higher up (a little like Chelsea last night at Juventus), and because the Argentine tracked Kolarov’s runs, Arbeloa was free.”
Arbeloa is spanish
and i´´m from Mars.
Arbeloa is from tunisia but he has lived in Spain since he was little and represent young national team. If you are near he smell like kebabs and all of that s..t
No green for Madrid’s strips?
Otherwise, good article. I was slightly disappointed not to see Ozil starting, as I thought he’d help Madrid offer even more of a threat on the counter-attack. With them not really looking to keep the ball, I wasn’t entirely convinced by the decision to pick Modric instead.
Though with Silva, Nasri and Toure, and Aguero all capable of moving into the “no 10 position” I can understand why Mourinho was concerned about being over-run in he centre.
The only other point I’d make is that Man City got away with a lot of tactical fouls on Ronaldo. He was getting quite visibly frustrated as the game went on and the Man City defenders continued to cynically prevent him from counter-attacking.
I actually thought Modric was pretty poor. He was the worst on the pitch in my opinion. He stopped several counter attacks from Madrid with sloppy play.
Agreed, he hasn’t lived up to expectations yet.Only 52% passing accuracy last night,piss poor for a midfielder even when his team are playing counter attacking football.
Modric was tired. He´s been teaching Sara Carbonero the croatian style
Great article though
Man City, what can I say. I saw them like if they didn’t care about winning. It was obvious that RM tried to stay back and counterattack but citizens didn’t have any mobility. Too static. I think Nasri played horrible. Silva was below normality but he’s that player that need the others to move and call for the ball so basically he couldn’t do much. I’m still wondering why when you’re 1-1 on 85′ you take out Aguero for Milner… I mean, you want Milner in, take a defender out. You’re 1-1, OUT of the champions league… What’s your problem Mancini??? Not to say that Aguero was the one who scored at 93′ when city won the title, remember?????????????? That’s how I feel about Mancini, he’s been so lucky. Not anymore. City, with this kind of players need another coach.
good question there about milner…i think it might be explained if we see the formations then deployed by the teams from the pov i mentioned. city was 4-2-3-1 at the point and milner was introduced to provide width in the LAM.
City’s formation with Nasri and Silva playing behind the strikers looks like a 4-2-2-2.
gangnam style
It was a strange game with the 3 at the back from Manchester City. Even if Ronaldo stay high up in the pitch, you need a better and faster defender then Zabaleta.
On the otherside i like Khedira in this type of midfield. He shines, with is dynamic play, pressing high up and arriving in great tempo to the adversary area.
Real’s biggest success was forcing City, who are normally a very narrow side, to attack from the flanks. Madrid cluttered the box with defenders (especially Arbeloa/Pepe’s half) and often gave space on the wings. This encouraged the fullbacks (especially Maicon) to join in further up the pitch and left City vulnerable to the speedy wing play of Ronaldo in particular. (Dzeko was also expertly marked throughout, another big striker may have made a difference….Balotelli perhaps?)
Kompany’s tackling, whether deemed too physical or not, was essential in limiting the counter as many attacks targeted the lone Ronaldo. Maicon was ineffective defensively all night but the City captain filled the void quite assuredly.
Madrid are Mourinho’s Madrid, we have come to expect a certain shape and ideology behind the club. But, City is interesting- a dynamic side yet to truly define themselves in Europe.
What I don’t understand is why City employ a back three against strong counterattacking sides. Without support, the back line is stretched and exposed by fast, direct play. In tonight’s match Yaya/Nasri did not provide the pressing cover that Yaya/Garcia would have and did provide later in the match. Also, wingbacks are useless on counters as they are often left out of position during the immediate attack. When dominating possession, the City 3-5-2 makes sense and has been used effectively, but was Mancini really so confident of his team’s notoriously slow starting attack that he would essentially start 6 attack minded players? Without a team on the back heels City tend to get exposed, because unlike Juventus, the 3 man back line is used offensively and not as a defensive wall which sets up counters. City were once, in very recent memory that type of club, a counter team, but now the wingbacks are used to create width(a false width in which the midfield and forwards stay just as narrow). The great irony is that width is what doomed their UCL campaign.
So who Mancini is going to be saked for?
i kind of think chelsea urged for benitez to not see him go for city and be left with di matteo too late
He won’t get sacked. City’s owners don’t seem to be as ruthless as Roman is.
Getting eliminated at group stage’s second year running with that squad….
I would sack the hell out of him.
You should run Chelsea then, you’d fit right in. City crave stability and will only sack Mancini if he fails to challenge for the league title. He’ll get at least one more shot at Europe.
at inter where i think he was 4 years in charge and won the championship 4 time . they were always knocked out of the ucl in 1st round under mancini and that is why he got the boot at inter. we have to wait till next year when same thing happen and then he will be another de matteo .
Poor city can’t even play Europa league to get their coefficients up. They have been in group of death 2 years in a row.
Really? Poor Man City, AKA Premier League CHAMPIONS, cannot escape a group comprising CL heavyweights Borussia Dortmund and Ajax…
Aguero and Nasri combined probably make more yearly than the entire Ajax team.
Although recorded only less than 20 passes with only 49% completed , Modric played nowhere near to decent yesterday but at least he executed his role and did what he was told. At the first 45mins he almost went challenge or stayed closer to Yaya Toure when every time the latter received the ball and it was effective. When Javi Garcia was introduced in the second half that emancipated Yaya Toure from the holding midfield, Maicon was benefited from this and he should have made a an assist should Aguero’s shot was not saved brilliantly by Casilias . Man City got a extra man in the midfield , while most of their attack started or played on the right side , which is legitimate and understandable (Maicon), and at the same time Cristiano Ronaldo didn’t track back to help the defense , this has overloaded Modric’s workload. However until he was replaced by Callejon , he get his job done.
I am not sure where people are getting 49% completed? Whoscored puts him at 88% which is highest percentage of accurate passes of all Real Madrid players. Strangely enough CR7 is second at 87% and Benzema third at 84%. Other midfield players in Khedira and Xabi Alonso have 75% and 73% respectively. True enough both Khedira and Xabi attempted more long balls then Modric.
Overall I’d rate Modric’s game as nothing spectacular, maybe even slightly disappointing but it wasn’t shockingly bad 49% pass rate would suggest.
I think Real is struggling because Cristiano Ronaldo got too focused on winning the golden ball and is getting pissed off when he doesn’t score. His selfishness is becoming detrimental to the team and as he is out of luck right now, team suffers. Real Madrid should focus more on playing like a team, rather then just kicking the ball upfield hoping for individual brilliance of Di Maria, Benzema, Ozil or CR7 to give them the goals they need.
It was shown when he was off , the stat was provided by UEFA official . Thought they may got it wrong.
if you were in ronaldo’s shoes, you too would get pissed with what seemed blatant fouling on kompany’s part. even if he had scored ealier, he still would be pissed. that’s him
ronaldo pissed because irina shayl like chocolate stick
he was passing with short and long and pretty and ugly and small pants, and draghi
I can understand why Mancini might have felt the need to start with such an attacking midfield 3, but using Yaya as the primary defensive midfielder is such a waste. If anything he’s proved to be most effective when given a 2 man midfield platform, allowing him to stride majestically up the pitch, but he’s also great when used as the secondary holder with scope to break forward. Either way he needs at least one holder with him to allow him to play his natural game, so it was a bad move by Mancini.
but yaya was not yeye
he was yiyi and trying to be yoyo
Agree with this, it’s even more puzzling when you consider that Nasri just isn’t good in the middle, he needs to start from the wing to be effective. Playing Toure and Nasri like that in the middle is a waste for both of them and one has to think that Mancini should be able to make better use of his players.
Another rather curious point in the math not mentioned in this otherwise great review, was the withdrawel of Di Maria to a wingback position. It seemed that after 25 minutes or so Di Maria suddenly moved down to a right/wingback position. at times he was operating next to Arbeloa as a defender. This switch seems very odd to me and at the time I felt it was this move that invited City into the game again as Di Mari´s pressure from the front is essential in not being pegged back for Real.
Do any of you have an explanation for this tactical move from Mourinho. Was it because of the Man City formation switch, Real Madrid delibrately staying more defensive, Di Maria already tiring or injury?
The move may be surprising for many of us but it is nothing new in Mou’s bag of tricks. He used to do the same with Eto’o in Inter, that is to pick the forward with best pressing/defensive abilities, send him deep back the right band to hopefuly stretch the opposition and open spaces for even better counterattack. Of course, in Inter he had Maicon who used to be an irresistible force doubling the winger and getting all the way into the enemy’s penalty area. Now he has Arbeloa there and in that sense it is a more defensive move than what he used to do wih I Nerazzurri.
Great article ZM, this is one game that really confused me with all the changes and this article really helped in understanding the nuaces.
Carrying on from what i understood after watching the match and reading the article, I think Real was playing a formation somewhere between 4-3-3 and 4-4-2, and it was much closer to the latter with Di maria so much deeper than a regular RF.
After City moved to back four(4-4-2) and subsequently replaced Kolarov with Garcia, it allowed nasri and silva to their ‘drifter’ positions as you mentioned. So when attacking, city would’ve become 4-2(toure-garcia)-2(silva-nasri)-2(Dzeko-Aguero). In this system, City has two attacking midfielders(the drifters). I think Mancini wanted three attackind midfielders and to do that toure had to move up to make it 4-1-3-2 from 4-2-2-2.
If we take this view, then may be the confusing move of replacing nasri with tevez becomes ‘explainable’. Mancini probably wanted a more permanent and attacking CAM, positioned higher up the pitch than Toure. Now if he wanted to have 3 AMs, he had two choice:
1. 4-1-3-2
2. 4-2-3-1
In the first case(4-1-3-2) Mancini would have to replace Toure with Tevez and play Tevez behind the Aguero and Dzeko. Apparently he felt that TOure’s defensive work is too valuable to let go and didn’t opt for this.
In the latter case, Mancini had a few options available as to how to make the team 4-2-3-1. He could’ve simply told Aguero to drop back with Nasri and Silva. He Could’ve replaced Aguero or Dzeko with someone who is better suited to be CAM(in this case Tevez). What he did was combination of these two…he told Aguero to drop back; and then, instead of taking Aguero of, he decided to take off either of his LAM or RAM to field a proper CAM and move Aguero to the vacant RAM/LAM position. Following this thought process, its obvious the one to be replaced was to be Nasri the LAM, cause Aguero would be more comfortable at the left side of the pitch and Silva simply is a better player.
So the whole conundrum was about how to change City’s 4-2-2-2 to 4-2-3-1. But of course this begs the question that whether this change was necessary at all. As you said, City was simply better playing 4-2-2-2(toure moving up/aguero coming down to change it to 4-1-3-2/4-2-3-1 from time to time). If Mancini wanted to get the duo of Aguero-Tevez in, he could’ve simply replaced Dzeko(who had a poor game) with Tevez. He couldn’t get over the Italian mentality of having a Big Man forward, or may be he wanted to have 3 ‘designated’ strikers at the field. Obviously he had to sacrifice someone from toure, nasri or dzeko to play tevez, and he didn’t choose dzeko likely because ‘he was a striker’ and toure because ‘he was too valuable in holding midfield’, so that left him with nasri. It was a very simple, cliched thinking from the coach, he should’ve known better than to think the playing 3 strikers by default means more attack which City needed at the point. The obvious candidate for replacement was Dzeko, and failing to that later forced Mancini to replace Aguero, when he felt that he needed more width from the LAM position.
From Real Madrid point of view, introducing Callejon was probably Mourinho’s attempt to contain Silva. When city moved to 4-4-2(4-2-2-2), silva was getting space on the left(following Maicon’s drop back)as you mentioned. Silva and Maicon could’ve double teamed on Contrao duo to Ronaldo’s high positioning, Callejon was introduced to keep Maicon busy and prevent that from happening. So Real became more of a balanced 4-4-2 against City’s 4-4-2, from the lopsided 4-4-2 that they were playing against City’s 3-5-2. On the second thought, this may be the reason why Mancini was so enthusiastic about having a permanent CAM, to have 3v2 in the centre( classic 4-2-3-1 vs 4-4-2/4-4-1). Even then the choice of replacement was bad, and Dzeko should’ve been the one replaced by Tevez.
City should sack Mancini and signed Benfica coach Jorge Jesus.
“City constantly do the basics much worse when playing with a back three”: does that imply that they haven’t practised it enough, or is there something deeper?
Thus, our shelves lead to filled with points that we have fun with, but that people don’t have got time designed for.
Great article. ! the problem of city is much deeper than lack of training..Money can’t build teams.. City are a joke ! In contrast look at Malaga ..
But City won the Premier League with I believe the second highest points total ever, how did they do that if not a team?
Um…they won on goal difference, on the last day, with the deepest squad, in arguably the weakest PL season in recent history.
Money helps to win titles. I see a CL run in the future (with a real manager).
I really think that City is growing up, as team, as a club, as a project. Of course money is a great part of that, but they still had a lot of work to conquer premier league. In European competitions they are growing up. Really think that in the next season ,the goal should be reaching the second place in the group and if they can, reaching to quarter finals. It´s early to assume a winning candidate position.
City growing as a team and club is no more of a “project” than me winning the Euro Millions.
Man utd fan?
Are you still sad, bro?
Dear Coward, 1o years ago you were fighting with Arsenal, for the title.
No you have citizens winning the Premier League.
Good evolution by far….
Surely you can do better if you continue to be in your mother´s basement
No I am a Liverpool fan….as I have already stated on this website.
Whoever I support it doesn’t change the fact that no matter how many trophies you buy you will never be a big or an important club.
You’re club is a Non-Entity.
Coentrao doesn´t look the same player in Real Madrid as he was in Benfica. He is really struggling with pressure and responsabily of wearing that shirt.
I would like to see him in a another club.
Real Madrid should buy Cavani and a great right back (maybe kyle walker,lahm,pisczek,maxi pereira,ivanovic)
I think this is a real great article.Thanks Again. Cool.
A big thank you for your post.Thanks Again. Want more.
wow, awesome article.Really thank you! Cool.
Can someone toss my salad?
Please, do not offend our intelligence putting in the same line the names of Mancini and Guardiola.
But it’s true. Both are/had been using it when it’s clearly doesn’t bring the intended results
the problem is gangnam style
indeed!