Manchester City vs. Arsenal: Tactical Review of Premier League Game
Arsenal shocked the world by leaving the Etihad Stadium with a 2-0 victory over Manchester City on Sunday. It was a rare strong defensive performance from Arsene Wenger's men away from home.
Formations and XIs
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Manchester City began in a 4-2-3-1, with Sergio Aguero fit to start, David Silva in behind and James Milner replacing the injured Samir Nasri on the left. Martin Demichelis edged Eliaquim Mangala for a spot in defence.
Arsenal played their flat 4-3-3 again, with Aaron Ramsey returning from injury to partner Santi Cazorla. Francis Coquelin, who was playing at Charlton Athletic on loan two months ago, starred in holding midfield.
1. Compact Arsenal
The XI looked a good move from the off by Wenger, with Arsenal immediately taking to the flat 4-3-3 shape that's clearly built, on paper, for big games such as this.
The first five minutes were horrendous—two untracked runs in behind the central midfield line by Silva and Fernandinho sparked huge initial concerns—but Cazorla learned his lesson very quickly and was superb from that point on.
The key here was Coquelin's dominance from a zonal and man-marking perspective. When Arsenal were high up the pitch, the Frenchman latched onto Silva darting forward and closed out the angle for a quick pass, while in a low-block he held his nerve and refused to bite on the attacking runs made to try to lure him out.
He absolutely owned the midfield.
Cazorla and Ramsey provided stellar protection; they pressed when necessary, but more often than not, they fell back in to form a solid line. Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Alexis Sanchez dropped right in to form a line of four, protecting their full-backs, making themselves available for a quick out-ball early and banishing those horrendous memories of Jefferson Montero torturing poor Calum Chambers at the Liberty Stadium unopposed.
The overall compact look, from top to bottom, is what Wenger should have been employing at the Etihad since 2010. It's taken a long, long time for the Frenchman to realise this, but boy did it pay dividends here.
2. Vincent Kompany a Shadow of His Former Self
Both of Arsenal's goals came from set pieces rather than strong attacking execution, with Kompany at extreme fault for the first. He dropped Nacho Monreal in the penalty area after falling for a wall-pass; Mike Dean awarded the obvious penalty.
Once again, Kompany was caught defending his box too high and he didn't react to what was happening around him. He's developed a shocking habit of charging out and setting his stance too high, and he's largely unaware of what happens behind him all too frequently nowadays.
It reminded of his bizarre performance against Swansea City earlier in the season, where he charged out and stayed out, failed to track Wilfied Bony's late run and paid the price with a goal.
Some will point the finger at Joe Hart, some will point the finger at the midfielders; ultimately, you get split-seconds to react to this, and the midfielders are going to try to mop up themselves rather than shout for Kompany to adjust. He has to know to do it himself.
Another issue arises in his setting of the line too high. Every defensive line has a "leader" who commands how high up you set, and with Kompany setting too high, his team-mates are following suit. City are a mess defending the edge of their own box, and while it's not all his fault, he takes the majority of the blame.
3. City's Adjustment
Manuel Pellegrini sent on Stevan Jovetic at half-time, switching away from a 4-2-3-1 and playing a 4-4-1-1/4-4-2. The differences weren't huge, but it gave City another attacking option in an advanced area, and it moved Silva wide.
With Coquelin dominating and the Ramsey-Cazorla combination snuffing out the rest, City needed to go wide to find answers. Jesus Navas, the out-ball, will take a lot of flak for his performance, but he took up some excellent positions and delivered more balls into the box than any other. If only his crossing had actually been accurate.
Later in the game, Pellegrini sent on Edin Dzeko—a low-cross magnet in the box. Send it in and, more often than not, it ends up at the Bosnian's feet. Unfortunately, Pellegrini took Navas off to bring Dzeko on. With the Spaniard gone, Dzeko received no service because he came on at the expense of the guy who was set to deliver it.
The mind boggles.
Arsenal remained in their compact 4-3-3—although they did relapse and open the game up in absurd fashion for the first 15 minutes of the second half—and continued to hold, tackle, then release Alexis and/or Chamberlain plus one on a fierce counter-attack.
4. Laurent Koscielny vs. Sergio Aguero
Koscielny is over-hyped by Arsenal fans—he is definitely not "flawless"—but he's under-rated by fans of other clubs. It's a Harry Kane sort of situation, except it's been rumbling on for three years.
Whatever your opinion on the Frenchman is, though, it must be noted that, despite picking up a yellow card in the third minute due to Cazorla's error in tracking, Koscielny stymied Aguero superbly today.
One of the striker's greatest strengths is filtering out wide or dropping in to create space, but it's arguable Koscielny's best attribute is defending the wide areas and pulling out to confront. Aguero is so often unplayable, and he was just returning from a serious knee injury, but the defender's willingness to match up one vs. one and track was a key part in easing the load for the rest of the defence.
Per Mertesacker looked fantastic with his old partner by his side.
