Probably the most anticipated clash in the
CL group stages, this was supposed to be a cracker of a match and it did not
disappoint. Real had come into this on to back of a stuttering start to their
title defence with a defeat at Sevilla (reviewed in the previous article) and
City had come in with a draw at the Britannia. There were plenty of angles to
this match up with the 'old money' v/s 'nouveau riche' and Mourinho vs. Mancini
hogging the limelight. Real and Mourinho triumphed in scintillating fashion
amidst Mancini's tinkering.
The line-ups:
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| Starting lineups |
Quite surprisingly both teams did not name
their starting centre backs of late, with Lescott and Ramos dropping to the
bench for the two 19 year old in Nastasic and Varane. Also, the Madrid
midfield lined up quite unexpectedly with Essien preferred to Modric and Ozil
in almost a 4-3-3 with Alonso deepest.
Essien may have gotten the nod by dint of
being the most physical midfielder Madrid possess and Mourinho knew that he
simply could not allow Yaya Toure to bully the Madrid midfield which he did so
anyway.
City started in their standard 4-2-3-1 with Toure playing in the hole behind Tevez and Javi Garcia and Barry as the two holders. Nasri started on the left and Silva on the right with Mancini's interpretation of inverted wing play.
1st Half:
As expected, Real started well and had a
few fluent passing moves finishing in Ronaldo cutting in and having a go. Hart
was forced to make a few saves and had no choice but to lump it down field due
to the excellent pressing of Madrid's front line which caused them to cede
possession as Tevez was stranded alone and kept company by Pepe and Varane. Toure
managed a few good runs forward but was let down by wasteful finishing. Nasri
was anonymous and Silva only a little better as they both drifted inward to
pack the midfield but could hardly come up with any creative play.
In theory, City should have had a marked
midfield advantage because Khedira and Essien are simply not creative
midfielders when held up against Nasri and Silva. But,the number of bodies
severely limited the amount of productive forward play and it was clear that
inspiration was needed from the flanks.
Key Areas:
Maicon had been ordered to stay higher up
against Ronaldo so as to push him back by attacking play but this simply did
not work as City struggled to pass the ball out of defence. What this resulted
in however was, Maicon getting stranded higher up leaving Kompany to deal with
the threat of Ronaldo. Hart made a couple of good saves from him to keep City
in it.
With Di Maria and Ronaldo cutting in too,
the midfield had simply no space. The wide areas had plenty of space and
Marcelo and Arbeloa (to a lesser extent) had free reign on their flanks. To
combat this, Javi Garcia had to move and help Maicon out.
Nasri had to come off and Mancini sent on
Kolarov as a wide midfielder on the left, allowing Silva to drift out and Toure
to stay higher up as they were no longer outgunned in midfield. There was
hardly any threat from City due to very few players being involved in attacking
play as Toure was too high up and Tevez was already isolated.
Mancini's tinkering:
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| The final formations |
It was obvious that City weren't going to get a result like this and could only hold out for so long, so Mancini had to change something or at least bring in better suited players. The shape was highly unclear but could be a sort of a 3-5-1-1 with Maicon and Kolarov's role being more of a wingback and Clichy, Nastasic and Kompany forming a strange back three.
Maicon's tired legs were apparent when
forced against the threat of Ronaldo and Marcelo and he was taken off for
Zabaleta who has had experience of playing as a proper wingback in his time at
Espanyol.
Mourinho seeing the static and creativity
devoid status of his midfield brought on Ozil and Modric for Khedira and
Essien. This opened the game up considerably as now Madrid had players that
could pick the holes in City's considerably confused defence. Mancini made a
change of his own with Dzeko brought on to provide Tevez company making it a
3-5-2.
The goals:
Mancini brought on Dzeko in place of David
Silva who had simply no joy as the furthest forward midfielder. This coupled with
the absence of Essien allowed Toure to go on a trademark barnstorming run and
slip it through to Dzeko who put it away to give City the lead.
Madrid's response predictably came from the
left flank where Zabaleta showed poor discipline with his positioning. He may
have been sent in to provide an attacking thrust as even Madrid's left flank
had plenty of space with Marcelo and Ronaldo heavily invoved in the attacking
play. Zabaleta faced the same problem as Maicon in striking a balance between
attack and defence and this led to his flank being empty for the most part and
both Marcelo's and Ronaldo's goals came from this flank after skipping away
easily from challenges. Kolarov scored from a freekick and you would have
backed them to hold on for a few minutes more but Di Maria cut in and laid it
off to Benzema who put it away unlike Higuain who should have done better with
the numerous chances he got.
Fittingly, Ronaldo's winner came from the
City's right flank after he showed up Zabaleta again.
Conclusion:
Mancini's obsession with a three man
defence needs to be toned down until he has the players that can play such a
role. If he wanted it this bad, a pseudo libero like Javi Martinez or even
Agger should have been signed. Even Kompany, arguably the best PL defender over
the previous years or so was positionally indecisive and kept getting caught in
dangerous positions.
Maicon is some way off from his best and
this may be the beginning of the end for the Brazilian.
Mancini has tried to rectify last year's
deficiencies when City looked overrun by Napoli and Bayern by buying Rodwell
and Javi Garcia who can dictate the tempo with their deep lying play making. One
wonders if a Carlo Ancelotti like 4-3-2-1 with Dzeko upfront may have been more
suitable. Mourinho capitalised and his players responded with an effort that
seems an anomaly when compared to their other performances this season.
This group however promises to show up some
more surprises with the vibrant Borussia Dortmund and Ajax both capable of
upsets. For now,Mancini's European credentials have taken a huge hit and this
Sunday's clash against Arsenal is more important than ever.
Joe Hart could have and should have done
better. Chelsea have spent the over a billion pounds trying to win the CL and
in the end it was a goalkeeper that cost them half a million from a small
French side Rennes who won it for them.
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