Manchester City vs. Manchester United, EPL Matchday 15

Probably the most feverishly anticipated game of the PL season, it was an end  to end contest decided by selection and poor performances rather than any tactical oversights. It was also the perfect chance for City to draw level with United and show that they are here to stay.

Line-ups:

There was a lot of pre match banter between the managers and it somehow seems to have bizarrely influenced Mancini to pick Balotelli over Tevez, which was a risk, to say the least. When you consider that City have won 6 of the 7 games Tevez started with Aguero,  it was an unexpected move. Toure and Barry started in midfield, supported by Nasri and Silva in an almost 4-2-2-2 (open to interpretation).

United lined up in more of a 4-2-3-1 (looking like a  4-4-1-1 at times), with Cleverley alongside Carrick as the holders and a front four of Young, Valencia, RVP and Rooney. As expected, De Gea started in goal.

It was always going to be a battle between City's possession in United's final third and United's strength on the counter and it turned out to be that way.

First Half:

City started well with retention of possession, though rarely doing anything with it. The major issue here was how high the defensive lines on either side would be. Both sides preferred a fairly higher line, the difference was that while Aguero and Balotelli are fairly quick, they were too far up the pitch to lead any counters. Nasri and Silva threatened to put balls in behind Evans and Ferdinand but they never really managed a killer ball.

Yaya Toure, generally a driving force in midfield with his barnstorming runs was nowhere close to his best and struggled to have an impact, with Wayne Rooney doing a fairly decent job on him.

City's high line was a greater risk, simply because United had the wingers to take  advantage. Kompany's substitution for Kolo Toure was again a puzzler from Mancini as Lescott sat on the bench but maybe he didn't want two left footed ones with Nastasic on as well.

The goals:

United had an out ball of their defence, Van Persie chested it to Young who rode on past his full back and put in a good ball to Rooney who miscued a shot in the corner. This goal was a perfect execution of the counter philosophy that United would have had in mind. The defence was exposed as the holders failed to get back and allowed Rooney enough time and space.

The second one was always a possibility as Carrick sought out Valencia whenever he could. Valencia and Rafael had a one two with a final ball to Rooney who strolled into the box unmarked to finish with Barry having been thrown off track by Rafael's run and showing poor positional awareness.

Second half:

City have shown in recent times that they are pretty good at comebacks too. Plus, United's defensive frailties were but, painfully obvious and the fact that City hadn't scored yet was more due to Balotelli's play and Nasri's inability to contribute anything creative. After an ambitious backheel, Mancini had enough and brought on Tevez, a decision 52 minutes late.

Tevez is primarily a busy player and his darting runs form the perfect recipe for drawing players out of position. On one of his runs, he drew both center halves, the full back and a holder and yet managed a shot which was saved. However, due to United's skewed defence, all he had to do was find Toure at the top of the box who rifled home with consummate ease.

Zabaleta made it two with a shot from a set piece, another problem United have been having this season with no one being anywhere close to Zabaleta and Toure. Wonder what impact zonal marking would have had here.

City pressed and probed with United preferring to stick to their countering philosphy. Dzeko came on and a few chances were created but City failed to capitalise.Tevez's foul on Rafael, a completely unnecessary challenge was a classic example of how forward players can cause damage when trying to defend (think Drogba giving away a penalty in Munich). Van Persie stepped up and his free kick was helped considerably by the poor, poor wall constituted by Nasri and co.

Conclusion:

The game was a sad reminder of the fact that English teams have simply neglected the art of defending. Ferguson seems to have the taken the fact that his team lost the title on goal difference as the sole reason while if his team hadn't let Everton fight back to get a 4-4 last season, they'd still be champions. While they may get away with it in the PL, Europe will be less merciful.

Nasri has stagnated and at times, looked completely bereft of creativity and looked a shadow of the player he was at Arsenal. Toure didn't have one of his big games and was passed far too easily by Cleverley and co. Balotelli was again infuriating with his ceding of possession and propensity to play passes that weren't there.

United's defence looks a problem as well. Evans and Ferdinand had some coordination problems courtesy Aguero. Carrick and Cleverley who doesn't really look like a convincing player in that place in front of the back four weren't very good at covering the City midfield and their positional awareness left a lot to be desired. Mancini's decision to start Balotelli and substitute Silva instead of Nasri could be pinpointed as one of the major reasons City slumped to a defeat, despite more attempts and possession.

Despite all this criticism, it was a fairly enjoyable game and one that lived up to its billing. United got their victory and go six points clear. Sadly, the game was marred by one of those events that form the dark, dark underbelly of derby games exposing tribalism so primitive that it was well, disgusting

Chelsea vs Manchester United, EPL match day 9

A clash of two title contenders,this was the type of game that could happen only in the PL.Fast,brutal attacking with little regard to defensive shape and solidity.There were lots of interesting questions before the game with Sir Alex's 'revolutionary' diamond formation and whether Chelsea had the spine of champions or not.

The Lineups:

Chelsea were in Di Matteo's 4-2-3-1 with Luiz and Cahill in the centre of defense, Ramires and Mikel as the holders in Lampard's absence. The front four was as usual Mata,Oscar,Hazard and Torres.

United's shape needed some more figuring out but was probably closest to a 4-1-4-1. There were some surprises as Young was thrust into the lineup which was probably to take advantage of Eden Hazard's lack of tracking back. Carrick was the holder and Cleverley played a role that could almost be called a 'carrilero' which is just Italian for shuttler, an Antonio Nocerino, if you will.

Rooney was further up field and Van Persie was more of a withdrawn striker,almost a false nine rather than one looking to play off through balls.

First Half:

Chelsea were sluggish and caught out by United early on. The main threat was from the flanks and play was spread outward to allow Valencia and Young to be the more important players. For the first goal, Ashley Cole was on the overlap due to Valencia playing a bit more withdrawn role and Rooney had the whole flank to run into.

Even the second goal came when Hazard was high up the pitch and Rafael was allowed to take on Cole along with Valencia's help. Luiz had to come out to help cover,leaving a central defender shaped hole in the box and a goal. Thus, both goals came from the right flank and stemmed from Cole's lack of positional discipline.

Chelsea, to their credit were hardly flustered. They took their time and settled in a rhythm and had greater possession than United in the half.Rooney and Cleverley's dropping deep stifled the creativity of Chelsea's three major attackers and the quick transitions that have been a feature of their play this season were severely lacking. This could also be put down to the absence of a creative player further down, a deep lying play maker as they are called.

Later:

Rooney was forced to play deeper and despite his tenacity,he is simply not a midfielder. His shuttling caused problems for United with his foul leading to a delightful Mata free kick that allowed Chelsea a foothold. Chelsea equalized soon after and it seemed as if they had the measure of United. At this stage however, there was a noticeable attempt by RDM to play it a bit safer. This invited pressure from the wings and Van Persie laid on a through ball for Young after holding it up against Cahill. Ivanovic had no option but to make the tackle and was sent off.

The dynamics of the game was altered with the numerical advantage to United. They started to dominate and with Chicharito's introduction, Matteo switching to a 4 - 4 - 1 and Torres' sending off reduced them to a 4 - 4 - 0 with Bertrand coming on,United limped home to their first victory at the Bridge in a decade.

The refereeing came under a great deal of scrutiny with people claiming that it was the usual referees favour United affair. While Mark Clattenburg may not have had the best of games, he surely has been getting a lot of criticism which seems a trifle excessive. For the offside goal, it was the linesman that made the call, not he. Ivanovic's sending off was never in doubt despite Young's increasingly tiresome tendency to fall to the ground on the slightest contact. The Torres decision was maybe too harsh, yes but but when you look at what Torres did to Cleverley earlier on it could be said that he shouldn't have been there on the pitch when he was actually sent off. There was some contact and Torres felt it and went down. Was the contact too much ? Does mere contact constitute a foul ?There are mistakes and grave ones. Maybe if diving weren't so rife. While the second yellow may have been a bit harsh, it is not hard to understand why Clattenburg did give it. So, both of Torres' yellows weren't probably cardings, he still have been probably sent off. One of those things that you could argue about till the cows come home.

Conclusion:

An open, attacking game where the attention was again hogged by something else. Far more disturbing than refereeing decisions was the inherent defensive frailty apparent in both teams. Carrick was found lacking physically and it is probably not a good idea to field him as a solitary holder. Mikel was poor as well with Van Persie and Rooney finding far too much space between the lines. United showed why their flanks will always be the weapon of choice rather than 'revolutionary' diamond formations.

This game was also a perfect example of why English teams aren't maybe suited to European football with too many gaps at the back and all attacking flair. As Chelsea will tell you, it is defensive solidity that wins you European titles. Whether Alex Ferguson believes he can win a third CL title before his retirement by outscoring everyone he comes across is not for me to judge, but I'd be surprised if European success was achieved on the back of their current defense. Same goes for Chelsea, who have somehow contrived to lose the spirit of their greatest ever triumph.

Both teams could do with an addition to the holding midfield department in January. Chelsea's massive spending towards attacking players and United bolstering their forward line are in a way, sadly indicative of where their priorities lie. What this does with the teams is create a lack of balance. When you have brilliant attackers and an average defense you may win the PL. But against better opposition, these defensive inadequacies may be brutally exposed.

Manchester City 1 : Borussia Dortmund 1, CL Matchday 2

The Group of death, featuring the English, Spanish, German and Dutch champions was witness to another thrilling game between Dortmund and City.

While City would probably have been considered favourites seeing how they haven't lost at the Etihad in recent memory, Dortmund gave a fantastic account of themselves and will feel aggrieved to not have all three points

Lineups:

Fairly predictable from Dortmund with probably their best 11 on the pitch in an almost 4-5-1 but a very attack minded combination of Gotze, Gundogan, Reus and Lewandowski ably supported by Kuba and Bender, Piszcek and Schmelzer as usual provided the width.

City lined up in an almost 4-2-2-2 with Toure and Garcia as the holders, Nastasic was preferred alongside Kompany, Aguero and Dzeko upfront supported by the width of Nasri and Silva .

Opening Stages:

The Dortmund five man midfield worked like a charm as it stopped the diagonal balls to Nasri and Silva, cutting off the creative sources. Their pressing caused City a fair amount of trouble as there was simply too much pressure on Garcia and Toure to play balls forward. Toure in particular found it hard to make his trademark barnstorming runs through the middle because of the compactness of the shape held by Dortmund and their relentless pressing.

Dortmund had three players ready to help out on each flank with Kuba, Goetze and Pisczek on the right pushing back Nasri and Clichy. Pisczek and Schmelzer played fairly high up causing an overload of attacking players with the runners from midfield coming in too. Countering with pace, Dortmund were only denied by Joe Hart.

City were unable to attack and simply found no space between the lines leaving them to hoof it to Dzeko who isn't really the sort of player to play on the shoulder of the last defender and was caught offside far too easily, too many times.

Mancini's tinkering:

Mancini's midfield and attack were cut off from each other and so to link them up, he switched to a 3-4-1-2 bringing on Kolarov for the ineffective Nasri. While certainly a logical decision in this case,it was foiled by the marauding runs of Pisczek and even Schmelzer who ensured that the City wing backs were busy defending instead of coming up with attacking wing play. City continued to have possession but verticality was severely lacking and Dortmund's incessant pressing added to the pressure.

The pressing caused Jack Rodwell to commit an error which was ably capitalised by Reus who was put through on goal and slotted it past Hart. City switched back to the 4-2-2-2 soon after but it hardly made any difference as the City players seemed far too ponderous on the ball and inclined towards playing square passes. Dortmund's high line and speedy midfield runners added to City's troubles as Toure and Rodwell were simply unable to cope with the trickery of Gotze and Co.

A penalty decision that really didn't look like one was the only way City could equalise and Balotelli equalised to ensure City got a very undeserved point.

Conclusion:

Both teams can take very contrasting thoughts from the match.

City had a poor game, partly due to Klopp's careful handling of their threats and also because the players seemed woefully out of place when confronted by the dynamism and vibrancy of Dortmund's play.Kompany no longer seems to project the aura of invincibility that he did last season. Toure was outnumbered and couldn't contribute much.

One wonders why Carlos Tevez didn't start upfront. His directness, mobility and ability to run at defenders would surely have proven helpful against Subotic who isn't the quickest. Also, his drifting outward could have occupied the opposing fullback leaving City less attacks to deal with on that flank.

 Mancini's three man defence is, put plainly, not working. Nastasic may fit the mould, but Kompany has looked a shadow of himself whereas Lescott may not possess the required quality to do so against good European opposition. Mancini’s European nous has been questioned again and while his in game management may not be outstanding, his players deserve almost equal blame in allowing themselves to be overcome by a young and energetic team. They were spared a thrashing majorly due to the fantastic work by Joe Hart.

Dortmund were brilliant and on another night may have won by a four goal margin. The front four were brilliantly cohesive and so in sync with each other that it was a real joy to watch their counterattacking play.

The current Dortmund team are very reminiscent of the Czech Republic team of Euro 2004 that had six or seven very attacking players like Poborsky, Rosicky, Smicer and Nedved who could counter with brutal precision. Gotze, Reus, Gundogan and Lewandowski may not be in that class yet but are getting there very quickly. It will be very interesting to see their game with Real Madrid who have been having midfield creativity problems of their own. Expect Modric's mobility and ease on the ball under pressure to play a very important role,if he does start...

Chelsea v/s Juventus, CL Match day 1

Chelsea led by two goals and yet contrived to draw to Juventus at home in an uncharacteristically shaky performance, considering how they won last year's CL.

Line-ups:

Chelsea's 4-2-3-1 vs Juve's 3-5-2

No big surprises here, except maybe Oscar as the chief play maker over Mata. It was a simple yet very interesting clash of systems with the Juve 3-5-2 coming up against Matteo's 4-2-3-1.

First half:

Juve started well and looked to pass the ball around. They passed it out of defence well simply because Chelsea only had Torres in that zone and he couldn't press Barzagli,Bonucci and Chiellini all by himself leaving someone always free.

The Juventus midfield is built upon the industry of Marchisio and Vidal and the creativity of Pirlo. Quite predictably, Pirlo was marked well by the young Brazilian Oscar allowing Pirlo hardly any time and space on the ball.So, he was forced to play shorter and square passes meaning there may be possession but not much creative forward play.

Another point here was the massive space available to the Juve centre backs which was best evidenced when Barzagli found Vucinic with a lofted pass but the striker failed to score,hitting it straight at Cech.

What was surprising however, was the threat or rather lack of it from the Chelsea flanks. With a 3 man defence up against a system with both wingers and fullbacks it was supposed to have been a stern test for the wingbacks Asamoah and Lichtsteiner who had good games, partly due to the lack of attacking intent from Chelsea. Hazard and Cole combined well but Ivanovic and Ramires couldn't influence the game much

The goals:

While Oscar's goals were wonder strikes (the second one, especially), it could be argued that Pirlo was too busy pressing Lampard and Mikel, leaving space for Oscar to run in behind him. He probably thought that the three defenders behind him would be able to deal with it.

Juve's attacking was based on Marchisio's runs in from the left side of midfield, Vidals's runs forward and the combination of Giovinco and Vucinic with one drawing a centre half out and the other making a run in behind. It was this movement executed by Matri and Quagliarella that led to their second goal, though John Terry could and should have done better.

Their first goal came from Marchisio who drifted on to the left and played it in for Arturo Vidal who found himself with some space just outside the box because Lampard was unaware of his presence. Vidal converted and even then it was apparent that  Mikel and Lampard were no match for the industry of Marchisio and Vidal on the night.

Second Half:

Di Matteo tried to shift to a more defensive formation, an almost 4-5-1 with Bertrand coming on for Ramires and swapping flanks with Hazard. They tried to protect their 2-1 lead but Juventus' relentless pressing kept forcing them into misplacing passes. With Oriol Romeu on the bench, it was surprising to see this continue. Maybe, Di Matteo thought he could get a goal on the break but this team was barely a shadow of the one that won it last season, despite the majority of players being the same. Both teams kept giving the ball away and Mikel's pass was preceded by Pirlo giving it away to Chelsea. Marchisio picked out Quagliarella who didn't waste his chance. Vidal and Marchisio also played in an advanced role because of Chelsea's lack of attacking threat.

Conclusion:

Lampard and Mikel may have done it in Barcelona but they simply do not look like dependable holding midfielders. One wonders why Meireles, Essien and Oriol Romeu were all allowed to leave or aren't being used.

Chelsea's centre back duo of Terry and Luiz were also drawn out quite easily by the Juve forwards. Conte seems to have thought this through as he knew Luiz is an excitable defender who can be drawn out and has shown poor positional discipline of late and Terry's issues with speed are well documented.

While Terry and Mikel were culpable for the equalising goal, it was surprising to see how no one reacted with any speed to what was happening. It seemed a far cry from the team who had pressed and held their shape so well at the Camp Nou. It wouldn't be surprising if Cahill and Luiz emerged as the first choice pairing sooner or later.

Juventus playing in the CL after so long and away to the European Champions were simply brilliant. The defending was of the quality we have come to expect from Italy with Chiellini in particular being fantastic in his reading of the game. Bazagli, Bonucci, Vidal  and Marchisio all put in superb performances and it would probably have been just reward if Juve had scored a winner.

It wouldn't be surprising to see Juventus go quite far ahead in this year's competition simply on the back of their fantastic defence. It would be very interesting to see how their three man defence would fare against teams with devastating wing play such as Bayern Munich or Real Madrid.

UEFA Super Cup Chelsea 1: Atletico 4

Lineups:

Both started in their usual 4-2-3-1. The teams were as expected with the only surprise coming in Terry being on the bench. Atleti gave a start to Koke, the 20 year old rather that Raul who is the more experienced player in that role behind the striker.

Atleti 4-2-3-1

Chelsea 4-2-3-1

Liverpool 0 : Arsenal 2

Match-day 3

In this widely anticipated clash of two teams who were still searchig for their first win (goal for Arsenal) in this year's PL, it was Arsenal who came out on top in what can only be termed as an impressive display. Liverpool's encouraging showing against City had raised expectations that they could adapt to Rodgers's brand of possession football quickly. However, up against Arsenal, the team that preach possession football, this was a stern test. And while Liverpool dominated for certain periods, one can hardly find fault with the result.

Liverpool Vs Manchester City: 2 - 2

EPL Matchday 2:

This game was expected to be a cracker of a match and it simply did not disappoint. Also, tactically this answered a few burning questions on how Liverpool and City have changed from the previous season and how this bodes for the remaining 37 games.

The starting lineups were some what surprising even if not unpredictable. The fact that Raheem Sterling hadn't been even approached for a loan and the decreasing impact of Stewart Downing even in Pre-Season told us that this was going to be his breakout season. We just didn't expect him to start so soon. Seb Coates came in over Daniel Agger, Carragher wasn't preferred due to his declining form and his incompatibility with Rodger's brand of possession football. Lucas Leiva started and was promptly injured and replaced by Jonjo Shelvey. Joe Allen started as well,but had to drop to a deeper role to cover for Lucas. Borini and Suarez started upfront.

Manchester City sprung quite a few surprises. Lescott and Silva could find place only on the bench with De Jong and Kolo Toure starting. Balotelli and Aguero started upfront assisted by Nasri who was almost in the hole, Milner providing precious little support from the right.

The formations were almost 4-1-2-3/4-3-3 for Liverpool and City in a weird 3-4-1-2. City's three man back line shuffle against Chelsea came across as the result of an injury. However, Mancini seems to have adopted it as his Plan B. Being an Italian, he surely must have noticed Napoli and The Italian team at the Euros being very successful with a three man defence. However, even if the idea may have had some merit, the personnel were simply not as required with Kolo Toure ill suited to such a role with Lescott on the bench.


Midfield Stalemate:

City had the element of surprise and lack of familiarity with a three man defence (a rarity in the PL apart from Wigan) and started well with the extra men leading to a higher defensive line. The game started well but even then it was obvious that this would be fought from the blanks with Nasri, Toure and De Jong cancelling out Shelvey, Gerrard and Allen who had to drop in to the holding role due to Lucas's injury. Samir Nasri provided some creativity with a through ball to Tevez who could only hit the post. But, barring this the midfield simply could not create.

Flanks:

Suarez, Borini, Sterling pressing Kompany, Toure, Milner, Zabaleta and Kolarov

This s where the action was. The classic dilemma of a team playing against a three man defence is for the wingers to cover the opposing wingers or the opposing wingbacks. Sterling (left) and Borini (right) got some slack due to the high defensive line that City kept and thus were able to track back against the wing backs and close them down while attacking when needed. Sterling was highly impressive in this regard with his boundless energy helping to close Milner down and attacking the very uncomfortable Kolo Toure when in possession.

With a 4-3-3 against  3-4-1-2, there was a 3 v 3 at the back, with Borini, Suarez and Sterling harrying and pressing Zabaleta, Kompany and Toure.

Liverpool's new found ball retention policy along with the ability to counter or break with surprising speed made a refreshing change from their time under Dalglish. Indeed as they grew into the game , they dominated for long periods in which City could just watch. Martin Skrtel's bullet header from a corner was just reward for their domination. City replied courtesy a defensive gaffe by Coates, who knocked the ball onto Toure's feet giving a bereft of ideas City team a foothold.

Substitutions:

After Substitutions, City revert to a 4 man defence

The customary Mancini 'push Toure up' by getting in a defensive midfielder was implemented with Jack Rodwell who sat deep with De Jong and was decent. Andre Marriner's decision to award a freekick was certainly ill deserved and Suarez took full advantage with a fantastic effort catapulting them into the lead. Mancini took off Milner for Silva but Liverpool continued to press forward. City looked clueless and were offered a lifeline by Martin Skrtrel's brain fade when he passed it to a calm Tevez instead of Reina going from hero to zero. Liverpool kept pressing but couldn't find a way through.

The 2-2 scoreline flattered City who were outplayed comfortably. However, this was a fight of two differing and new systems with City's three man back line and Pool's taste of possession football.

The conclusion ??

Mancini needs a libero type centre back ala Javi Martinez (off to Bayern,i'm afraid) if he'd like to continue this experiment. Liverpool need more time, however the signs are very encouraging. Also Joe Allen alongside Nuri Sahin/Lucas would make a fantastically technical midfield. If only Borini found his feet a bit quicker ...