The game involved two teams which have similar aspirations in the upcoming season with City coming as the defending Champions after the World Cup break and Chelsea looking to do wonders under Maurizio Sarri. The two managers use similar aspects in the way of playing the game tactically and their ideas under the Positional Play philosophy.
Tactical Takeaways from the Game:
The game was in control of City from the first minute while Chelsea looked to create chances. The basic aspects were that the lack of cohesion Chelsea had in the midfield as City matched Chelsea’s numbers and won them with qualitative superiority. City used their basic ideas following from the previous season and did well to create chances.
The pressing was a major factor in the City play. The two #8s were important in this event considering how they pressed out of their position from the midfield to the box. In this video below, we can see that the first line have blocked the Chelsea defense when they looked to play out from the back.
Here Foden is seen pressing out of his position from the midfield with as Aguero, Mahrez and Sane have blocked the nearest passing options in the build up.
The major aspect from City’s attacking perspective is that they cloud their players on one side to open up the opposite flank and attack through it. Here Sane was tucking inside to the midfield allowing the space on the outside for Mendy to bomb up forward.
Here we can see that space provided by Chelsea on the outside as the right back had to mark Sane when Mendy had the ball.
The first goal of the game is a short answer to how the match was played. The transition from the second to the third phase for City was easy on the eyes as they were able to move their opponents and then utilize the space in midfield to carry the ball.
Here as City moved the ball out from the back, the Chelsea midfield lacked the cohesiveness to defend the space as Foden was able to carry the ball into the midfield and then played it onto Aguero to finish it well.
The movements from the City players were the key here as they dragged out the midfielders inorder to allow Foden on the ball.
Conclusion
The game gave us slight insight on how City returned after the World Cup break and showed signs that they are just in the initial stages of the peak under Guardiola and is here to stay for a long time. Chelsea on the other hand were looking like the typical Chelsea side but with few methodologies of Sarri who definitely needs time to make his idea a success here in the London club.
