Manchester City 1-3 Bayern Munich: Bayern dominate midfield through numbers & pressing | Zonal Marking base
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Manuel Pellegrini somewhat surprisingly decided to use Micah Richards rather than Pablo Zabaleta base at right-back, while Gael Clichy base returned at left-back. David Silva was only considered fit enough for the bench – so it was Pellegrini’s usual midfield and attack.
It’s rare that the simple formation battle plays such a key part in a top-level European base contest, but the blindingly obvious main feature of this game was Bayern’s advantage over City in the centre of the pitch.
The 4-4-2 has enjoyed something of a return to prominence so far this season, base with both the Manchester derby and Madrid derby in the last ten days being 4-4-2 against 4-4-2, but in a match Pellegrini had acknowledged would see both sides trying to dominate possession, it was a huge surprise to see him use two forwards with no specific instructions for either to contribute defensively.
The relationship between City’s strikers has always been slightly confusing, even in the Roberto Mancini days. Edin Dzeko and Sergio Aguero is a slightly uneasy partnership, because it’s never entirely certain what Aguero’s role in the side is . Clearly a hugely talented individual, sometimes you wonder base whether he’s happier playing just behind a main striker, or playing higher up and sprinting in behind. When he manages to combine the two roles in the same performance he can be unstoppable, but when things are going against his side, he can cause tactical problems.
This was a good example. If City were attempting to play two strikers against Bayern, there were two ways it could have proven a success. First, it could have worked if they managed to turn this into a high-tempo, fast and furious ‘English’ contest based around getting the ball forward quickly and taking advantage of Bayern’s lack of a spare man at the back. If this was going to be a possession base battle, however, they needed to get an extra man into the centre base of the pitch, which meant Aguero dropping onto Lahm and helping out in midfield.
But that didn’t remotely happen in the first half, with Aguero staying high up, and Lahm completely free between the lines. Again, the problem with Aguero was that his pace behind Bayern’s extremely high defensive line was City’s only real hope of creating a chance in the first half, so if anything moving Dzeko wide (and Nasri inside) would have been the logical base solution – but playing a tall centre-forward out on the left is hardly ideal.
With a three-against-two in the centre of the pitch, base Bayern inevitably dominated the ball. Lahm was constantly the free player sitting in front of the defence in an extremely deep holding midfield position, and a measure of Bayern’s intelligence was how he seemed like a centre-back rather than a central midfielder on the rare occasions Bayern came under pressure, helping form a 3 v 2 in the centre of defence. It’s the obvious comparison, but he really was playing the Sergio Busquets role.
Whether by design or necessity, Samir Nasri was dragged inside from the left flank to help Yaya Toure and Fernandinho base in the centre of the pitch. This almost caused more problems, however – he wasn’t able to significantly help in the middle, and his narrowness meant Rafinha base had space to get forward. Bayern’s out-ball in the first 25 minutes was always a switch across to the Brazilian right-back, who overlapped when Arjen Robben was in a narrow position, and moved more centrally when the Dutchman was wide.
On the other flank, Bayern’s possession dominance meant David Alaba caused more problems for Jesus Navas than vice-versa, putting in a dangerous cross for Robben after three minutes. Navas was often unable to halt Alaba’s forward runs, and the Austrian’s constant presence high up the pitch allowed Franck Ribery to collect the ball in inside-left positions, including for the opening goal. The two wingers did their usual thing – cut inside and shoot.
Another key part of the away side’s performance was their intense pressing. Right from the Manchester City kick-off, Thomas Muller closed down the centre-backs, with Toni Kroos and Bastian Schweinsteiger backing up in the midfield zone. Kroos won possession alm
Home Euro 2012 Match Analysis Domestic England Italy Spain Germany France Portugal Holland Russia Scotland Greece Turkey United States Australia Continental Champions League Europa League South America World Club Cup Internationals Asian Cup 2011 ACON 2012 Confederations Cup 2013 Copa America 2011 Gold Cup 2011 Women's World Cup 2011 World Cup 2010 Match Reviews Chalkboards Players Graphs base General Articles Past features 20 sides of the 2000s Explained 1-10 11-20 Tactics in the 2000s 2009/10 Review Lists New managers 2013/14 ZM Elsewhere base
Manuel Pellegrini somewhat surprisingly decided to use Micah Richards rather than Pablo Zabaleta base at right-back, while Gael Clichy base returned at left-back. David Silva was only considered fit enough for the bench – so it was Pellegrini’s usual midfield and attack.
It’s rare that the simple formation battle plays such a key part in a top-level European base contest, but the blindingly obvious main feature of this game was Bayern’s advantage over City in the centre of the pitch.
The 4-4-2 has enjoyed something of a return to prominence so far this season, base with both the Manchester derby and Madrid derby in the last ten days being 4-4-2 against 4-4-2, but in a match Pellegrini had acknowledged would see both sides trying to dominate possession, it was a huge surprise to see him use two forwards with no specific instructions for either to contribute defensively.
The relationship between City’s strikers has always been slightly confusing, even in the Roberto Mancini days. Edin Dzeko and Sergio Aguero is a slightly uneasy partnership, because it’s never entirely certain what Aguero’s role in the side is . Clearly a hugely talented individual, sometimes you wonder base whether he’s happier playing just behind a main striker, or playing higher up and sprinting in behind. When he manages to combine the two roles in the same performance he can be unstoppable, but when things are going against his side, he can cause tactical problems.
This was a good example. If City were attempting to play two strikers against Bayern, there were two ways it could have proven a success. First, it could have worked if they managed to turn this into a high-tempo, fast and furious ‘English’ contest based around getting the ball forward quickly and taking advantage of Bayern’s lack of a spare man at the back. If this was going to be a possession base battle, however, they needed to get an extra man into the centre base of the pitch, which meant Aguero dropping onto Lahm and helping out in midfield.
But that didn’t remotely happen in the first half, with Aguero staying high up, and Lahm completely free between the lines. Again, the problem with Aguero was that his pace behind Bayern’s extremely high defensive line was City’s only real hope of creating a chance in the first half, so if anything moving Dzeko wide (and Nasri inside) would have been the logical base solution – but playing a tall centre-forward out on the left is hardly ideal.
With a three-against-two in the centre of the pitch, base Bayern inevitably dominated the ball. Lahm was constantly the free player sitting in front of the defence in an extremely deep holding midfield position, and a measure of Bayern’s intelligence was how he seemed like a centre-back rather than a central midfielder on the rare occasions Bayern came under pressure, helping form a 3 v 2 in the centre of defence. It’s the obvious comparison, but he really was playing the Sergio Busquets role.
Whether by design or necessity, Samir Nasri was dragged inside from the left flank to help Yaya Toure and Fernandinho base in the centre of the pitch. This almost caused more problems, however – he wasn’t able to significantly help in the middle, and his narrowness meant Rafinha base had space to get forward. Bayern’s out-ball in the first 25 minutes was always a switch across to the Brazilian right-back, who overlapped when Arjen Robben was in a narrow position, and moved more centrally when the Dutchman was wide.
On the other flank, Bayern’s possession dominance meant David Alaba caused more problems for Jesus Navas than vice-versa, putting in a dangerous cross for Robben after three minutes. Navas was often unable to halt Alaba’s forward runs, and the Austrian’s constant presence high up the pitch allowed Franck Ribery to collect the ball in inside-left positions, including for the opening goal. The two wingers did their usual thing – cut inside and shoot.
Another key part of the away side’s performance was their intense pressing. Right from the Manchester City kick-off, Thomas Muller closed down the centre-backs, with Toni Kroos and Bastian Schweinsteiger backing up in the midfield zone. Kroos won possession alm
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