Pep Guardiola’s insistence upon fielding players out of position within a bewildering array of tactical systems that they scarcely understand led to a facile evisceration by Claudio Ranieri’s under-fire champions. Continue reading
Out-pressed and overrun by Manchester City’s midfield throughout, Chelsea weathered a storm of spurned chances to secure a ruthlessly efficient eighth consecutive league victory. Continue reading
Manchester City’s new-look 3-2-2-3 formation survived the effects of an ingenious half-time tactical switch from Everton’s Ronald Koeman to emerge with a point. Continue reading
Manchester City survived José Mourinho’s second-half tactical copycatting and a catastrophic debut from goalkeeper Claudio Bravo to translate their first-half pre-eminence into Pep Guardiola’s maiden Manchester derby victory. Continue reading
Writing this piece just minutes after a turgid encounter between last season’s top-two finishers, it’s difficult to escape the suspicion that this season’s edition of the English Premier League is going to be a tough watch. Continue reading
Laurent Blanc’s baffling decision to opt for a 3-3-2-2 formation rendered his PSG side impotent going forward, helping Manchester City to secure their debut Champions League semi-final appearance. Continue reading
Typing the words “a lesson in football” into your search engine of choice yields a YouTube video as the top result. “Manchester United 0-4 Nottingham Forest: A Lesson In Football” features just over two minutes of highlights from the December 1977 game that turned the many doubters of Brian Clough’s newly-promoted side’s title credentials into true believers. With a devastating display of rapier-quick counter-attacking, Forest ripped apart their more monied opponents with consummate ease. Despite barely scraping promotion from the old Second Division the previous season, Forest went on to wrap up the league in April. United finished tenth. Continue reading
Here was Liverpool’s first truly Klopp-esque performance. Saturday evening’s 4-1 Etihad rout of Manchester City could easily have been even more emphatic, as the German’s charges swamped their hosts with a breathtaking display of relentless pressing and rapier-like counter-attacking. Continue reading
Manchester City returned to the Premier League summit this afternoon, after a dour scoreless draw against rivals Manchester United – in which both sides’ only effort on target arrived in the final ten minutes. Continue reading
High pressing
This game was a Premier League rarity – one in which both sides came to play with a high block; holding a high defensive line and attempting to close down the opposition in their own half. Manchester City attempted 16 tackles in Spurs’ half, completing 9 of them. Spurs attempted 10, completing 6.
Both sides’ opening goals came from this avenue. Aguero’s opener stemmed from Erik Lamela losing possession to Bacary Sagna in the final third. Similarly, Eriksen’s equaliser arrived as a result of Fernando losing possession at the hands of Ryan Mason in front of his defence. Continue reading
Tactics Truck v2.0 