Manchester City welcome Jose’s Chelsea to the Etihad, in what seems to be a game that could tilt the title towards the club that grabs all the three points. The noisy residents of Manchester banged 5 past Hugo Lloris and Tottenham, while Chelsea struggled to convert their chances into goals against medieval football. For all the hype surrounding City’s blistering form in front of goal, what should Chelsea expect?
City while transitioning into attack, hold nothing back. Taking the term all guns blazing to another level. Freedom is given to a lot of players, and responsibilities, not always equally shared.
The center-backs push up and Kompany orchestrates and organizes the structure. On paper it is a 4-4-2, but it looks far from it when City are in full flow. Fernandinho and Toure are the so called central midfielders. Fernandinho prefers to defend, while Toure prefers to attack. Silva and [enter name of your choice except Navas] are the wide midfielders, who function as interiores . However when City need a bit of width due to their full-back unable to do because of the opposition’s strategy, Navas gives them an edge. He hugs the touchline and drags players out wide for small pockets of space to open up.
City when using an interiores function a bit different as said before. Both the full-backs are to get themselves forward, with the full-back who is not directly taking part in the attack, holding himself back and being level with the last man in midfield. To explain that easier, if the ball is being played on the left, the right-back will hold himself a little back and be level with the defensive midfielder to make sure counter-attacks lose their efficiency.
A screen grab from the Arsenal game. Zabaleta has positioned himself well to either receive the ball or retreat quickly in case the ball is lost.
Another area to look at is the vital three man engine. The engine that keeps the team fluid and running at all times. Silva drops in the middle, and works with Toure and Fernandinho. They try to make each other available through their movement, which is exceptionally clever. One man always defends, and we all know who that is. By doing so, they also negate the problem of having no man behind the two strikers as seen on paper. To an extent it’s largely seen as a 4-1-3-2 .
If Chelsea are to win it’ll be vital to shut that area down, that is the bottom line. Block passing lanes, be physical and make sure that at least one of the three is never in the game for 90 minutes. That increases our chances of getting a favourable outcome to 40% .
Now if those three form the engine, one of the two strikers is the fuel. Aguero and Negredo was a blossoming partnership, with Aguero acting as the front-man and Negredo often dropping deep to collect the ball and link up play. This also helps negate another problem. City on paper would be heavily outnumbered in the attacking third when the midfield joins in. With a striker dropping deep, it could essentially change a 2v3 scenario to a 3v3 .
Dzeko and Jovetic have also been used, and in that partnership, the best part is that both of them can drop deep naturally to facilitate the play. All their strikers are exceptionally good at drifting to wide areas. Versatility is key in their play.
Now I don’t have much to say about their defensive transition but, there seems to be this kind of idea that City are going to be really easy on the counter, and that isn’t the truth. It was quite easy at the start, with Pellegrini having quite a few problems in defining a philosophy that could make ball retention easier.
City also have their fair share of players tracking back, notably on the side Silva starts in, as it tends to be more open. From one of the strikers, to atleast two of the midfielders, they don’t hesitate to pull themselves back and recover possession.
On a tactical perspective, Monday to a football fan is going to be what cocaine is to a drug addict.
The only player who can do the job of holding or keeping them quiet is Mikel.this is becos its very dangerous to keep attacking without defending!
Matic would be more prefered actually.
I think Matic should start with Ramirez while Mikel starts from the bench. But if the game is going to be very fast, then Mikel starts to restrict their attacking prowess. Blues all the way.
remires
all in all the hartrick may make it matic,luiz& ramires
THE FORMATION FOR CFC SHOULD BE 3-4-2-1:
*(3) = IVANOVIC, TERRY, CAHILL
*(4) = SALAH, LUIZ (ATTACKING MIDFIELDER), MATIC (DEF. MIDF), COLE
*(2) = OSCAR, HAZARD
*(1) = ETO’O (OR “BA”)
1. “SALAH” WOULD BE ON THE RIGHT OF MIDFIELD TO ATTACK FROM THERE, DEFEND THE RIGHT FLANK TO DISCOURAGE OR SEAL OFF ALL ATTACKS!
2. “COLE” WOULD DO THE SAME ON THE LEFT FLANK!
3. OSCAR & HAZARD WOULD BE AT THE BASE OF THE ATTACKING TRIANGLE WITH “ETO-O” OR “BA” AT THE APEX!
4. THE EXPERIENCE OF “RAMIREZ”, “LAMPARD” “MIKEL”, “SCHURRLE” AND “WILLIAN” COULD THEN BE UTILISED IN THE SECOND-HALF TO PRESS HOME THE ADVANTAGE OR ADAPT TO THE CHANGES OF THE OPPOSITION!
MONDAY’S GAME WOULD DECIDE THE PREMIERSHIP TITLE!
MAY THE TEAM WITH THE “BEST STRATEGY” AND “BETTER MANAGER” WIN!
GOOD LUCK TO BOTH “CFC” & “MCFC”
chel 3-manc 2
Cfc All The Best.The Special One Kazi Kwako.
luiz\rami pivot.i reserve my comment until after d match.i predict 2-1 infavor of chelsea.
We need to play a very physical game if we are to beat shitty. Although i know we are gonna emerge victorious. But we need to be more aggressive in both attacking and defending. #KTBFFH.
Without Aguero, City are a much less intimidating outfit. Dzeko and Negredo (the likely starters) suit the game of Cahill and Terry down to the ground. If we want to succeed, we should line up, thus:
Cech
Iva, Terry, Cahill, Cole (Dave is inexperienced atm)
Mikel
Ramires, Matic
Hazard, Ba, Willian
Reason for this being to flood the midfield to stop the City creativity. Fernandinho and Toure are often caught out of position in attacking areas. If the three draw them in and will the ball, a counter-attack can be started. Hazard and Willian are both very good at tracking back defensively, so can provide protection for both Iva and Cole. When we counter-attack, it should become a 4-2-3-1, rather than a 4-3-3 as Ramires’ pace can cause problems, with Matic and Mikel sitting deep. Ba gets the nod for me because he is a physical presence and can hold the ball up and allow players like Ramires, Willian and Hazard to join the attacks. He would fare better than Eto’o against Kompany and is also capable of exploiting Demichellis. Should it be 0-0 late into the second half, I would bring on Salah (his pace will cause problems), Lampard (experience) and Oscar (creativity whilst retaining defensive abilities) for Ramires, Matic and Willian, switching to a 4-2-3-1.