Manchester City 3 Manchester United 0: tactical analysis

Manchester City responded to back-to-back Premier League defeats with this comfortable win against struggling local rivals Manchester United. Despite it being only the fourth gameweek of the season, both teams were under pressure, going into the derby, to add to solitary league wins apiece. And so it proved to be a morale-boosting afternoon for the blue half of Manchester, on a day when the whole city mourned the loss of Mancunian sporting icon, boxer Ricky Hatton.

It was another Mancunian, Phil Foden, who put City ahead after 18 minutes, heading home a Jérémy Doku cross to net his seventh goal against United. Doku then played the pass that fed Erling Haaland for City’s second – and the Norwegian striker’s seventh goal in nine derby appearances. Haaland raced clear for City’s third, finishing with ruthless efficiency for his 50th goal at home in 50 games.

City’s win moved them up to eighth place on six points, leaving United stuck in 14th, two points further back. Below, our UEFA-licensed coaches have picked out the tactical highlights from the game.

How the managers saw it

“The spirit, the body language, to fight altogether… today it means a lot,” said Pep Guardiola. “The players were so aggressive. Everyone was like a machine.”

“If you look at the goals, those moments, we could avoid,” said Ruben Amorim. “And that is the key of the games, to take advantage of these moments and they took it, in transitions. In those moments, they were better than us.”

City’s numbers between the lines

Coming up against Manchester United’s 5-2-3 defensive shape, the home side placed extra bodies between the lines, overloading around United’s two central midfielders in particular. Left-back Nico O’Reilly worked alongside number 10 Foden, supporting the high positioning from Tijjani Reijnders in the right inside channel. When one of United’s centre-backs moved into midfield to mark or cover one of the central City players, spaces were available for runs to penetrate United’s back line (below).

Doku began to move into the central spaces in place of O’Reilly, who held the width on the left. City continued to overload against Bruno Fernandes and Manuel Ugarte, who struggled to contain City’s central passing combinations. Indeed, Doku’s involvement in City’s opening goal stemmed from a central overload.

Rodri as the deeper pivot was able to find forward passes to progress City’s play through the middle third of the pitch. United’s wide centre-backs continued to advance and leave gaps in their back line, with Haaland making clever bending runs beyond to stretch and penetrate on Leny Yoro’s side (below).

On some occasions, before City got their extra body central, back-pressing from United’s number 10s – Bryan Mbeumo and Amad Diallo – supported Ugarte and Fernandes. The 10s then gave United the numbers to protect centrally without the need for their centre-backs to advance. United therefore had moments when they regained the ball with an opportunity to create a dangerous counter-attack from the middle third. Despite some immediate forward runs around single centre-forward Benjamin Šeško, however, United lacked the penetration and progression against City’s three remaining defenders (below) whenever City lost possession in the early parts of their attacking play.

United’s promising positions

In the second half, United worked the ball around City’s 4-1-4-1 defensive shape quite well. They often built inside of the hosts’ wingers, to then bounce out to their wing-backs. From there United advanced and worked the ball back across the middle of the pitch well, often using their opposite 10 in the left inside channel. Noussair Mazraoui advanced from right wing-back, with Mbeumo moving inside quite early to support close to Šeško. Fernandes joined attacks from his deeper pivot role, supporting United’s switches from right to left, as they entered the final third with decent numbers (below).

United had promising moments in possession in the second half. At times they found themselves attacking City’s relatively isolated back four with good numbers. Amorim moved Fernandes higher into the left number 10 role, from where he continued to support switches from right to left. Diallo moved to right wing-back, where he worked crosses and helped connect across the pitch.

Mbeumo’s role remained around Šeško, with Kobbie Mainoo joining from deep. Patrick Dorgu’s advances from left wing-back continued to be United’s out-ball (below), but despite significantly upping their possession in the second half, their final-third play was almost universally poor. City, however, were indebted to debutant goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma for a fine save from Mbeumo that could have made it 2-1 with half an hour remaining.

By contrast, City through Haaland were clinical, with transition moments a huge problem for United’s three centre-backs. Attacking width from Doku and Bernardo Silva gave options to attack around, especially when United’s wing-backs were caught high in the previous attacking phase. And when City’s much deeper second-half block regained the ball, they were also able to find a slightly withdrawn Haaland. He positioned himself to secure and link transitional play, providing City with the perfect counter-attacking base. With his powerful running at or beyond United’s centre-backs, he cut through twice to give City a commanding lead. Another of his efforts hit the post, while Reijnders missed a good chance to make it 4-0 after another fast City break.

Neither team can afford to dwell on this game, though. Next up for City is a Thursday night Champions League fixture against Italian champions Napoli, followed by Arsenal away in the Premier League. For United, who have no European football, all eyes will be on their next league fixture, against Enzo Maresca’s Chelsea at Old Trafford.

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