Manchester City vs. Chelsea Tactical Analysis
A precursor to the Champions League final? On Saturday, Chelsea met Premier League title-bound Manchester City, just 3 weeks before their winner-takes-all showdown on the 29th of May. However, this clash can’t simply have been seen as a training match for the respective clubs.
Marcos Alonso’s late winner will have great implications at the top of the Premier League table. For Chelsea, this 2-1 win has made them strong favorites in the race for Champions League football next season. They now sit in 3rd, 6 points off of 4th, having played a game more.
For City, this game delayed what perhaps is an inevitable 3rd title in 4 years. Even one point in this match could’ve crowned the Cityzens champions at their home ground. Although their title seems certain, Guardiola’s touchline reactions showed how much he wanted to win.
However, it wasn’t to be. Although in a fortunate manner, Tuchel was able to guide his side to the three points.
Formations
Straight from the off, the use of formation was fascinating. While Chelsea stuck with their typical formation under Tuchel, a 3-4-2-1, Guardiola opted for a shift in tactics. Interestingly, he chose to match Tuchel’s three at the back.
Curiously, Pep’s 5-1-2-2 involved just one central midfield player. As can be seen, Rodri was solo in trying to hold down the midfield. In front of him, he had four attackers operating. While Aguero and Jesus operated as typical number nines, Sterling and Torres acted as hybrid wingers/attacking midfielders. They largely remained centrally; however, their darting runs into the wide areas were used to put pressure on the Chelsea backline.
With Chelsea playing just two in the middle, Pep clearly felt that he could get away with leaving the midfield open.
City on the Attack
For large portions of the game, City were the more effective and dangerous attacking unit. Playing a numbers game, City’s front four made it difficult for the back three of Chelsea. By simply having more players in that area, City were able to force attacking scenarios out of very little.
City and Pep took full advantage of this by changing their tactical game plan. City’s typical omnipotence when it comes to possession was dropped in favor of a more direct style of play. This allowed City to operate in the areas in which they had the most numbers.
They started playing out of the back, through their back three, and sometimes with the help of the two wing-backs. Then, they went long. Without a midfield presence, City looked to bypass the middle of the park. With four attackers standing on the Chelsea backline, ready to pounce, it made sense for them to try and get the ball in behind.
It was a long ball of this manner that lead to City’s first and only goal. The goal came from a play that was used throughout the match, becoming less effective as the game went on.
The image above shows City defender Ruben Dias on the ball. He proved to be City’s main provider in this match. Time and time again, City looked to Dias to distribute from the right side of their back three. Here, towards the end of the first half, he does it again.
He carries the ball almost to the halfway line before releasing Gabriel Jesus in behind the Chelsea backline with a ball between Chelsea center-back and wing-back. In this case, Torres drops deep to open up space in behind Rudiger. Quite often these roles were reversed, with Torres or Sterling making the run in behind.
This was City’s main form of progression in the match. Below, you can see Ruben Dias’ long passing map.
Ruben Dias’ 10 long passes in this game accounted for 24% of City’s total. On a few occasions, this was successful; leading to City’s goal of course. Particularly in the first half, City made inroads down this right-hand side.
In the second period, this wasn’t the case. City were bleak and drab in the attack. They created few opportunities of any menace with only 3 of Ruben Dias’ 10 long passes coming in the second half. It seems as though a shift in direction might’ve been what cost City the game. City’s last half hour was riddled with shots but few of these chances were meaningful.
By the 75th minute, they had brought on two more midfield players to accompany Rodri. In hindsight, this might have been a City mistake. City were easily contained by Chelsea after switching to a 5-3-2. They put less pressure on the back three of Chelsea, and Foden and Gundogan were fairly ineffective against Gilmour and Kante after coming on.
With this change, Pep failed to make his side much more defensively solid while at the same time giving up his side’s biggest attacking weapon: their long ball.
City in the Press
From a defensive standpoint, City were actually far more impressive. Despite making the fascinating decision to operate with just one central midfielder, City looked confident when out of possession.
Their astute press made this possible. City defended from the front excellently. Sterling and Torres, operating as attacking midfielders, tucked into the middle of the pitch. This made it difficult for Chelsea to operate in their defensive third.
The image above shows City’s general pressing strategy. When defending, City’s front four became what was really two blocks of two. As you can see, Jesus (usually Torres) and Sterling are required to mark Chelsea’s two central midfielders. More often than not, this was done through shadow marking.
This is a technique in which the defender stands in front of the player that they are marking as opposed to being goalside. It’s a feature synonymous with Liverpool striker Roberto Firmino’s game and it was used to great effect here. Sterling can be seen doing it above, standing in front of Kante.
In some situations, this allows the defending player to step forward onto the player with the ball while also marking a man behind them. It’s an aggressive pressing tactic that can force turnovers effectively. While it didn’t necessarily work to win City the ball back in advanced areas, it certainly prevented Chelsea from progressing the ball smoothly.
Dominant midfielder N’golo Kante, who controlled both matches against Real Madrid in Chelsea’s Champions League semi-final clash, and who averages 65 passes per 90 in the Premier League, was limited to 41 passes on this occasion. It’s safe to say he didn’t exhibit his typical midfield authority.
Even when up against just one central midfield player, Kante didn’t look at his best. City were able to largely marshall Kante and Gilmour. Their clever use of their attacking midfielders made it difficult for Chelsea to progress the ball through the center.
In the wide areas, things were similarly closed off. The formations lined up against each other in a way that created a one against one situation on each flank. The wing-backs canceled each other out. City’s press was relatively effective. Pep altered his typical formation in order to track Chelsea’s four across the middle. Chelsea’s central midfielders and wing-backs enjoyed much less of the ball than they are used to.
How Chelsea Broke Through
Chelsea’s lack of progressive means meant they were poor in terms of chance creation. However, in a couple of crucial moments, they managed to show some attacking competence in order to snatch themselves the match.
Interestingly, it was actually through these wide areas in which Chelsea found the most glory. Despite City’s lack of midfield presence, Chelsea were more easily able to progress the ball down the flanks.
Some of this came from a lack of individual quality. Mendy on the left of City’s formation completed just one of his three attempted tackles on the night. His defensive influence on the game was minimal to say the least, and Chelsea were better for it. There were multiple occasions on the night in which James, Ziyech, or Pulisic were able to bypass the French full-back.
Both of Chelsea’s goals came down that right-hand side - admittedly Mendy wasn’t on the field for the second goal - with Mendy and Ake struggling to hold down their flank. Chelsea also managed to use their front three effectively to exploit some of these weaknesses.
Throughout the match, Ziyech and Pulisic dropped either centrally or into the wide areas. During one long Chelsea string of possession - towards the end of the first half - they demonstrated both of these techniques.
Here, Ziyech is dropping deeper into the center of the park. Both Kante and Gilmour are marked, which is something we talked about earlier, so Ziyech tries to provide an option in between the lines. On this occasion, he isn’t found, but it’s interesting to see that he drags Ruben Dias with him.
He is completely unmarked in the center as a result of City’s odd one-man midfield, and Dias is forced to come into the center of the park. This sort of constant change in a backline can put pressure on the players who are a part of it and cause confusion. This is something that contributed to both of Chelsea’s goals.
As the play progressed, Chelsea found themselves in this scenario, on the previously mentioned right flank. In this situation, it’s Pulisic who drops deep. He opts for a wider stance. Again, this drags the city defender, in this case Ake, away from the backline and towards the ball, leaving a space in behind.
And again, Pulisic isn’t the one who receives the ball in this situation, but instead the ball is worked into Ziyech in a more advanced position who was able to force a save from Ederson. Although Chelsea weren’t able to create many mind-blowing opportunities, they were in some part able to manipulate the City backline.
Chelsea’s press, like City’s, was also rather high and intense. They were particularly aggressive in the counter-press. What we saw was nothing out of the ordinary. Chelsea’s front three played narrow, but what was interesting was how high the Chelsea midfield line was set.
It seems as if they were taking advantage of the space in front of them, being up against just one central midfield player. Chelsea certainly took advantage of this en route to scoring their first goal.
In this particular situation, Rodri had progressed with the ball, forcing the Chelsea midfield line back. However, Chelsea’s high defensive line meant that Rodri couldn’t find an open man. Ziyech converged and the Blues were able to go on and score with the City defence still stunned.
To a large extent, Chelsea’s press looked clean and well-oiled - they were able to trap City in corners in their own half multiple times. However, their press just simply wasn’t as effective. Their press didn’t have as big an impact on the way that City played.
City were prepared to go long. Chelsea weren’t. When Chelsea pushed high on City, they were able to escape through long balls into the channels. City didn’t push Chelsea as aggressively, but instead used their press to block passing options into the midfield and out wide, limiting their sources of progression.
Summary
Although the scoreline portrays a Chelsea victory, in some ways City come out as the real winners. They created more chances on the night and looked largely impressive despite employing an unorthodox formation.
With the league practically wrapped up for the Cityzens, Pep may reflect on this game positively. They lost with no great consequence other than perhaps building the Chelsea confidence ahead of their all-important Champions League final. Apart from this, Guardiola was able to experiment with a potential system for this final. He was also able to learn more of Chelsea’s style of play, whilst surrendering very little of his own information.
What City really showed here is that they should be winning their first-ever Champions League title this year. They were unlucky to lose this match and would be unlucky to lose the final given their extraordinary season thus far.
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