Match date: 22 September 2013

The first Manchester derby in quite sometime without Alex Ferguson on the touchline for the red side of Manchester. Certainly (though I don’t have the exact numbers on this) it is a good amount of time since there were two new managers taking part in the Manchester derby. Either way, it is a match against arguably the two best teams in England, with both having won one of the last two league titles.

Both sides came out in fluid 4-4-2 formations, with Manchester United, who were without Robin Van Persie, looking like a 4-4-1-1 at times and Manchester City looking like a 4-1-3-2 from time to time.

Without Van Persie

As mentioned, Manchester United were without Robin Van Persie and so it was Rooney and Welbeck up top, with Rooney dropping off into the hole. He did so in the opening stages of the match without a Manchester City player being around him, but as the match settled a bit more, either Vincent Kompany or Fernandinho would make sure they were on Rooney when he went into the hole, which greatly limited his ability to get on the ball. The picture below is a good example of Rooney picking up the ball with no one around him and this particular screenshot wasn’t the result of a necessarily quick transition, which means that Fernandinho or Yaya Toure should have been coming back a bit quicker to stop this from happening.

…And it did. Kompany would usually find himself tight to Rooney and it made the forward unable to turn when receiving the ball.

This isn’t particularly a problem. The best forwards in the world should be able to play with their back to the goal and the other players around him should be able exploit the space that the centre back is leaving in order to get tight to the forward. However, Manchester United did not do this. With Kompany high up the field, the likes of Young and Valencia should have been looking to make diagonal runs into the space that Kompany left behind him. Instead, both Young and Valencia stayed wide, with Valencia receiving a considerable amount passes more than Young.

Yaya Toure, Fernandinho

Yaya Toure is easily one of the best central midfielders in the world and has the ability to play either in a holding role or an attacking role. Last year, his role was very much as a holding player alongside the immobile Gareth Barry, with David Silva in front of them. Late on in matches, if Manchester City were looking for a goal, then Toure would be pushed more forward by Mancini and City would look much more dangerous going forward through the powerful runs of Toure.

This year, perhaps mostly due to Silva’s injury, Toure has been deployed in a more advanced role and, especially in this match, it was very effective. With Manchester City playing a variation of a 4-4-2, however, it meant that Fernandinho had to be able to cover for Yaya Toure when he went forward and the Brazilian did it very well. Playing a 4-4-2 with Toure pushed on wouldn’t have worked for City with the likes of Barry as the central midfielder, but because of Fernandinho’s mobility and work rate, it is very effective, even if he did poorly when trying to mark Rooney.

Nasri and Kolarov

Last year, it was easy to criticise Manchester City for the lack of width they got from their wingers and so Jesus Navas was brought in as a player that naturally enjoys playing very wide. However, on the day it was Nasri’s narrow play that allowed Manchester City an advantage in the match. Coming inside allowed City to play in numbers up situations in the middle of the field with both sides playing something of a 4-4-2, and perhaps most importantly, Nasri’s narrow play dragged Chris Smalling well out of position, allowing that space to open up for Kolarov.

Nasri’s ‘false winger’ play meant that he went all around the pitch and was really an extra man for Toure and Fernandinho to link up with in centre midfield and for Aguero and Negredo to link up with closer to Manchester United’s goal. Nasri and Yaya Toure were the two City players that combined the most throughout the match and it is interesting to see that the majority of Nasri’s passes to Toure came about because of Nasri’s free playing role.

Nasri’s play resulted in City’s opening goal as well as their first good chance of the game, both of which came through overlapping runs from Kolarov. As Nasri drifted in, with Chris Smalling following, it opened up a lot of space for Kolarov to move into and Valencia did a poor job of tracking the full backs run. The picture below paints a good, but somewhat exaggeration picture of how Nasri’s positioning and the space that it opened up for Kolarov. You can see Nasri in Manchester United’s penalty area with Kolarov, just above the graphic in the top left of the picture, running into that large space.

Conclusion

A 4-1 win for the blue side of Manchester leaves David Moyes and Manchester United with just a point from three matches against Chelsea, Liverpool, and Manchester City, but the larger problem seemed to be that Moyes didn’t look to have any ideas on how to change his team until all four of City’s goals had been scored (though he didn’t have much time from the start of the second half to when the fourth went in). Bringing on Cleverly made sense in that it allowed Fellaini to move into the position Moyes had him playing last year for Everton and allowed United to keep the ball better, but would Kagawa not have been a better option for United at the time?

Manchester City will feel good about their play, despite losing their clean sheet in the closing moments of the match. However, as good as Fernandinho was at allowing Yaya Toure to get forward, they both left Manchester City exposed between the lines, and Rooney was able to use it to his advantage for a bit, until Kompany stepped on him. This isn’t a solution for City though, as team’s will be able to exploit the space behind Kompany in the future if he is the one that has to mark the opposing team’s number 10 type player. Perhaps if Silva returns from injury, it will push Toure a little deeper and that will push Fernandinho into a more defensive role that will allow the Brazilian to pick up players in the hole.