Manchester City – Tottenham Hotspur: Defensive Woes Surface Again For City (0
Pep Guardiola’s side had most of the ball and were probably unfortunate not to score in this game, but the glaring problem was once again their defensive play as Tottenham Hotspur shredded through their pressing and counterpressing to earn a four-goal victory in Manchester.
Tactical analysis and match report by Josh Manley.
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After the positive news of Pep Guardiola’s contact extension last week, Manchester City hosted Tottenham Hotspur at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday, looking to end their four-game losing streak. Spurs themselves were enduring mixed fortunes prior to this game, having lost their last two games against Ipswich and Galatasaray.
City lined up in a 4-3-3 shape, with a back four of Kyle Walker, John Stones, Manuel Akanji, and Joško Gvardiol. Rico Lewis joined İlkay Gündoğan and Bernardo Silva in central midfield, while the front three comprised of Phil Foden, Erling Haaland, and Savinho.
Spurs also used a 4-3-3 shape, with Pedro Porro, Radu Drăgușin, Ben Davies, and Destiny Udogie in the backline. Yves Bissouma, Pape Matar Sarr, and James Maddison started in midfield, while Dejan Kulusevski and Son Heung-min flanked Dominic Solanke up front.
Pep’s attacking fullbacks
Guardiola has been known as the coach who brought inverted fullbacks into fashion as a tool to improve his team’s control of the midfield and reinforce the rest-defense. However, in this game, Walker and Gvardiol played as attacking fullbacks, as Guardiola tried to find a fresh approach for City.
With the fullbacks advancing forward, Lewis and Bernardo Silva would drop deeper in the halfspaces when City had the ball in order to provide options for ball circulation and try to protect against counter-attacks. Gündoğan then effectively played as the number six when City had the ball.
City’s 2-3-5 shape with the fullbacks providing attacking width.
City were actually relatively lively in the opening minutes, with the attacking fullbacks helping stretch Spurs’ defense, and Foden and Savinho being released to move inside in the halfspaces in order to receive the ball in pockets behind Spurs’ midfield in their 4-1-4-1 defensive shape.
Lewis, Gündoğan, and Bernardo Silva did indeed provide some decent ball circulation and progression for City, and Haaland had a couple of early sights of goal. It seemed as if City were on top.
However, the drawback of having primarily playmakers in the rest-defense, and letting your physically stronger rest-defence players such as Walker and Gvardiol advance forward is that the defensive transition is inevitably weakened. As the first half went on, this issue started to reveal itself, whereby Spurs were able to play through City’s midfield counterpress and start to pose problems in transition. Walker and Gvardiol being so high up the pitch could also leave them exposed in wide areas.
City’s defensive woes
In the last game against Brighton, City’s defending in the second half was highly concerning, as their high defensive line paired with inadequate pressure on the ball left them exposed to Brighton’s vertical attacking play.
In this game, defensive problems were once again present for City. They defended in a 4-4-2 shape, with Foden joining Haaland in the first line, while Lewis shifted into a right midfield position, leaving Gündoğan and Bernardo Silva to occupy the central midfield.
City tried to press aggressively as usual. However, there was once again the issue of the midfield being too open when Spurs were able to force passes through the center. Once City’s first line of pressing was broken, the ball seemed to pass through their midfield far too easily. Pointing out that City miss the athleticism and defensive nous of Rodri is cliché at this point, but the course of this match makes it unavoidable to mention.
Spurs were able to break through City’s press often, with good dynamics on the left side between Udogie, Maddison, and Son.
Spurs were not timid in their approach when they had the ball. Ange Postecoglou’s side played out from the back and were unafraid to take risks to get the ball through tight spaces in their own half.
Bissouma was the deepest midfielder in their 4-3-3 formation, with Sarr and Maddison ahead of him. Maddison often dropped deeper to provide his technical skills in the left halfspace during Spurs’ buildup though. This movement would be paired with forward runs from Udogie which caused problems for City in the left halfspace on a couple of occasions. Son would usually be high and wide, occupying Walker and usually getting the better of him.
Spurs liked to use vertical passes into Son in order to progress the ball. Son would hold the ball up against Walker, before trying to find a pass back inside to an onrushing Udogie, or Solanke as a target man.
Spurs add insult to injury
Tottenham went in 2-0 up at half-time thanks to two Maddison goals in quick succession in the first half. The first saw him ghost in at the back post behind Walker, while the second resulted from a poor turnover from City in their own half.
Guardiola reshuffled his side slightly going into the second half. First, Nathan Aké replaced Stones to partner Akanji in defense. Further forward, Foden and Savinho switched sides, as did Lewis and Bernardo Silva.
City’s structure on the ball was pretty much the same, but with different player roles. Walker now remained deeper in the right halfspace as part of the rest defense, while Savinho held the width on the right. Bernardo Silva played in the right halfspace, Foden in the left halfspace, and Gvardiol continued to provide width on the left.
It seemed like a slightly more sensible arrangement of players. However, before it could prove its worth, City went three down, essentially putting the game to bed. This time it was Porro shooting powerfully past Ederson to make it 3-0.
City would dominate the ball in the second half, as Spurs defended a bit deeper. They were able to get some decent service to Haaland and were probably unlucky not to score at least once. Although they did not create any huge chances, they had enough shots from good areas that they probably find the net on a different day.
A 3-0 defeat at home was already bad enough for City, but things got worse in stoppage time as fresh-legged substitute Timo Werner motored past Walker and crossed the ball low to fellow substitute Brennan Johnson, who tapped in at the back post to make it 4-0 to Spurs.
Takeaways
The issues that City are suffering at the moment were made apparent once again here, as their defense was torn through far too easily on several occasions in this game. The rest-defense looks lightweight, and once the first line of pressing is broken, the ball passes through City’s midfield and exposes their high defensive line far too easily.
Spurs are clearly a side with potential under Postecoglou, and they play football with an admirable bravery and a commitment to their coach’s philosophy. The next step is to find consistency in their results.