Execution of Well-Formed Plans Will Be Key to Manchester Derby Victory

As Manchester United and Manchester City prepare to face off on Saturday in the most eagerly anticipated Manchester derby since Sir Alex Ferguson retired in 2013, Bleacher Report takes a look at the tactical clash between their two illustrious managers.

It is a battle that has been fought on many fronts. From Jose Mourinho's Inter Milan side shutting down Barcelona to ensure their 3-1 semi-final first-leg lead was enough to send them to the 2010 Champions League final to Pep Guardiola's breathtaking Catalans blowing Mourinho's Real Madrid out of the water, there is a sense of deja vu as these two face off against each other.

But the new setting brings with it new challenges and opportunities. There will be tweaks here given the players that are available and the fact that it comes so early into both of their tenures in Manchester.

History tells us Mourinho will set his team up to thwart the possession hungry 4-3-3 Guardiola will likely deploy. The latter's way is not to bend to the will of the opposition but to play his game under any and all circumstances.

Mourinho is much more pragmatic and less idealistic about his manner of play. If he thinks a change in system will offer him the best chance to earn him a result, he will not hesitate to make it.

It is easy to forget, but there was a period when Louis van Gaal had United playing some pretty good football. Toward the end of the 2014/15 season, they beat Tottenham Hotspur, Liverpool, Aston Villa and Manchester City in quick succession, and against Spurs, Liverpool and City in particular, they were very impressive.

Their buildup was still focused around their short passing game, but there was more purpose to it than later became the case. Their use of triangles on either flank was pretty Guardiola-esque.

It was all working fine until they ran into Jose Mourinho's Chelsea. The Blues were in full wrap-up-the-title mode and offered no truck to all that nice tippy-tappy nonsense United had been churning out.

They played Kurt Zouma in defensive midfield and, in essence, put 10 men behind the ball. Van Gaal's side had 70.4 per cent of the possession, per WhoScored.com, but an Eden Hazard breakaway goal did the damage, and Chelsea won 1-0. That ended United's outside chance of a run at the title and provided a successful template to stop Van Gaal's side.

So, will the Red Devils do to City what Chelsea did to them in this one? After all, Guardiola already has his side playing some fine, on-brand football.

Bleacher Report's Manchester City Correspondent, Rob Pollard, had this to say on Guardiola and City's start to the season: "He's played what is essentially a 4-1-4-1, or at least that's how they line up at the start.

"When they have the ball, the two full-backs move into midfield, and Fernandinho drops in and splits the centre-backs to make a back three. Perhaps the most interesting element has been giving David Silva and Kevin De Bruyne free roles, which allow them to roam.

"Possession is key for Guardiola—but not sterile possession. He expects his side to do something with the ball when they have it. City are playing with more intensity when they don't have the ball and are moving it quickly when they do have it."

Against West Ham United, this intensity was on display from the start. The moment the Hammers kicked off, City raced out of the traps, hunting in packs, calling to mind the style of Barcelona in the late 2000s and early 2010s. It was effective, and they quickly won the ball.

As soon as they did, they transitioned with apparent ease into their passing game.

That voracious hunger to win possession was on show again four minutes into the game. West Ham had possession on the edge of their area. Silva harried Mark Noble, who was forced to lunge to try and retain the ball. He poked it out to Arthur Masuaku, at which point De Bruyne took over the pressing, with Silva backing him up.

Masuaku was forced to knock it back to his full-back, who was virtually on the byline. A fine pass got the ball almost to the halfway line in West Ham possession, but Fernandinho aggressively stepped up to snuff out the next pass. He fired a ball into Silva, who mustered a decent shot.

It was a passage of play that should scare those who were hoping it would take a while for Guardiola to impose his style upon his team. Without key signings from his first transfer window such as Ilkay Gundogan, Leroy Sane and Gabriel Jesus, he has already made his side look like it is, well, his side.

In possession, Pollard noted that "the two wide players play very wide and stretch defences, which then allows City's central players to overload and find space."

That will be an interesting challenge for United, and if Mourinho is to play a reactive style, then his back four will have to be at its absolute best.

Centre-halves Daley Blind and Eric Bailly have drawn plenty of plaudits, as has Antonio Valencia at right-back, but this will be a new level of test for them. Not allowing themselves to be pulled out of shape as City look for overload opportunities will be the difference between success and failure.

There have been a couple of tactical shifts from the Van Gaal era in terms of United's defenders that should help them manage this.

First, in general, only one full-back has gone up field at a time. Under Ferguson, both full-backs would regularly bomb on together, with the centre-backs required to cover one-against-one counter-attacks if United lost possession. Under Van Gaal, the whole back four became an integral part of the possession-recycling unit—for better and, mostly, for worse.

The second change comes when the centre-halves step over the halfway line. Time and again under Mourinho, they have looked for a simple ball to the midfielders or Wayne Rooney and then headed back to defensive duties.

This should guard United against being caught by the kind of quick transition Guardiola's City will look for and mean that if the midfielders get caught out by the press, the defenders will be in position.

And if United can get past the press, then catching City's full-backs in transition could offer United a big opportunity. After all, Guardiola will not change his approach in spite of the quality of opposition. As Pollard said: "I don't think he really cares who he comes up against—he wants his side to play the same style at all times."

Therefore, City's wide defenders will step out into central midfield when their team is in possession. If Paul Pogba and, presumably, Marouane Fellaini can press effectively and win the ball back quickly, there could be space for Anthony Martial to exploit. Marcus Rashford and Henrikh Mkhitaryan could also use that space if either or both play any part.

Another key area where United could find success is in the air. All of a sudden, United are a fearsome prospect from crosses. Pogba, Fellaini and especially Zlatan Ibrahimovic could have a lot of joy in the box against Claudio Bravo, John Stones and Nicolas Otamendi.

West Ham's goal against City came from a deep cross that Gael Clichy failed to defend properly. Michail Antonio had a lot of space in which to operate, and giving Ibrahimovic that kind of room would be fatal.

Given the matchups all over the field in this one, the logical assumption—drawn from history—that United will enter full reactive mode against City seems slightly less logical.

While Mourinho will always be Mourinho, there is a strong argument that imposing his side's will a little more than he has generally done in big games throughout his managerial career could yield good results.

However, the most likely eventuality is City will look to dominate the game and United will look to exploit the spaces they leave behind on the counter-attack. The tactical battle will be won and lost in its execution. The encounter looks delicately poised.

Roll on Saturday.

All quotations obtained firsthand.