🎥 Tactical analysis of Manchester City's offensive phase vs. Liverpool this past weekend in the English Premier League:
🧑🏫 Manchester City had an initial build-up structure of 3+2 which allowed them to exploit the numerical advantage situation against Liverpool's four man press (Salah, Gakpo, Jota, Elliot), to progress upfield.
Both of Liverpool's central midfielders (Fabinho & Henderson) and fullbacks (Arnold & Robertson) were occupied with marking City's attacking midfielders and wingers. Leaving the center-backs (van Dijk & Konaté) to mark City's only striker.
City's striker was followed by one of Liverpool's center-backs when dropping deep into midfield. This created the threat of a long ball being played into the diagonal attacking run made into the space that was vacated.
🧩 The City players restarted the play and kept possession of the ball if forward progress wasn't available. The key was patience and to play the ball backwards if no clear option was on.
🔍 They were always going to have numerical advantage to initiate another attack due to the numerical advantage they created in the build-up. Finding the free player is what they are best at.
Guillermo Hamdan Zaragoza