Manchester City vs. Bayern Munich: Tactical Preview of Champions League Game
It's do-or-die for Manchester City. They need three points against the mighty Bayern Munich to stay in with a chance of qualifying for the UEFA Champions League latter stages.
Let's take a tactical look at how this one could play out. How will Manuel Pellegrini approach this one?
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According to Sky Sports, the list of Man City's banned and injured players is absolutely heaving. Yaya Toure, Fernandinho, David Silva, Edin Dzeko and Aleksandar Kolarov are all missing for this game, so a serious reshuffle is required.
The 4-4-2 Pellegrini loves could differ slightly in its appearance with Stevan Jovetic likely coming into a deep-lying forward role. Sergio Aguero will continue up front, and Fernando will surely partner either Frank Lampard or James Milner.
Jesus Navas has given Bayern issues in the past from the right, and Samir Nasri should fill in for Silva on the left. The back line picks itself bar the Martin Demichelis vs. Eliaquim Mangala debate, where the manager should pick the former due to his experience.
With so many key players out and a change in system very likely due to recent failures, it's tough to forecast the Citizens here.
Bayern Munich News
Bayern have problems of their own, and Pep Guardiola's unfortunate luck with the injury bug worsened this week after Philipp Lahm broke his ankle in training. Sky Sports also confirm David Alaba will miss the match, Javi Martinez and Thiago Alcantara are long-term absentees, but Jerome Boateng is fit.
The fact that die Bayern are guaranteed to finish first in the group even if they lose the final two games means Guardiola will change the XI up, but to what extent we do not know.
Robert Lewandowski, Xabi Alonso and Arjen Robben are prime candidates for a rest, but Bastian Schweinsteiger is returning to fitness and could use another game.
We could see Sebastian Rode and Xherdan Shaqiri.
Tactical Point 1: Bayern Wide Areas
Bayern look indestructible, so to find holes in their game is far from easy. They're expected to play a four-man defence not a three, so the spaces outside and around the outside centre-backs are not an area to hit.
What can work, though, is traditional wide play. City have enjoyed playing on the flanks against Bayern in the past, with Milner and Navas combining well in the 3-2 win at the Allianz Arena last season.
Low crosses, stretching of play and back-post deliveries seem to confuse Bayern's defenders at times, and the full-back tracking from high up is far from perfect, especially with Lahm out and unable to play right-back.
There will be some space to exploit on early switches behind Rafinha and Juan Bernat; City just need to avoid the first press and dig it out.
Tactical Point 2: City's Ailing Defence
The goal Swansea City scored this weekend against Manchester City should raise real concerns heading into the match against Bayern Munich, and we can dissect it here.
Many will question exactly why Nathan Dyer is fully allowed three seconds on the ball just outside the box unchallenged, and it's a valid question. This weekend, we saw Oscar, unruffled, take his time to pick out Diego Costa in the box for Chelsea's opener against West Bromwich Albion.
The big issue here, though, is the defensive line's reaction—and in particular Vincent Kompany's reaction—to Dyer with time on the ball. The defenders are given two seconds to identify that Dyer has time to pick a pass, and Kompany tries to atone for Demichelis' slowness by moving out of position.
That gives Gylfi Sigurdsson the chance to run into space, and Fernandinho astutely tracks him. There is still no pressure on Dyer, though, who is able to wait for a second run from Bony.
Given the amount of space between the line and the goalkeeper—around 15 yards—it is unfathomable that the defenders did not look to match up man vs. man with Bony as they could clearly see him making a run into the space behind. Rather than go man-to-man, they pushed up to try and hold a higher line, resulting in an easy control and shot for the Ivorian.
It's another example of a serious Kompany error, and his colleagues aren't doing any better. When you're up against Bayern, who enjoy prolonged spells of possession in front of goal and have better players to pick more passes of this ilk, it's a big worry.
