This coming weekend sees a fascinating match-up in the English Premier League as Pep Guardiola takes his Manchester City side to Anfield to face Jurgen Klopp and Liverpool. Prior to the start of the season these two sides were seen as favourites to win the title and understandably so. Over the recent history of the Premier League we have seen historic iterations of these two sides. In the 2017/18 season Manchester City were the dominant force as they ended the season with 100 points. Next year, in the 2018/19 season we saw Liverpool close the gap at the top of the table although City were still the more dominant side as they won the title with 98 points to 97 for Liverpool. Next came the 2019/20 season and, despite the disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, Liverpool were dominant as they ended the season as Champions on 99 points.
This season is, of course, a different proposition. As football, along with society as a whole, learns to adapt and learns how to operate in the midst of a pandemic the specific demands on football teams and those connected with those teams seems to be ever changing. While neiter of these sides should be in a position to plead poverty and financial hardship given their ownership methods they are still affected by the increased load in terms of fixture congestion and the fitness issues that this poses. This season has seen form almost go out the window as clubs find ways to adapt and to prepare for each upcoming fixture with ever diminishing preparation time.
Liverpool come into this match in fourth place on 40 points and following a 1-0 defeat in mid-week to an excellent and organised Brighton side. Manchester City on the other hand have weathered a difficult spell and are currently sitting top of the table on 47 points, although they have a game in hand on the rest of the top four.
Does this mean then that Manchester City come into the game as favourites, despite the game being at Anfield? Well, the answer to this is probably, yes. But only just.
Liverpool are experiencing a difficult spell at the moment. They are, of course, without a number of important first-team players and against Brighton they were missing; Allison, Virgil van Dijk, Joel Matip, Joe Gomez, Fabinho, Sadio Mane and Diogo Jota. This in itself is a stunning drain of top-level talent. Beyond the injury list, however, Liverpool seem to have hit on more structural problems as they appear passive both in and out of possession.
This brings us on to the focus of the piece. A tactical preview, or opposition report to give it a more club orientated spin is intended to specifically breakdown strenghts and weaknesses in the upcoming opponent before suggestion potential solutions to take advantage of these weaknesses and negate the strengths. This is, in essence, the root of tactics in football. The specific use of game principles to solve a problem that you will encounter on the field of play. We are told from an early age through television that tactics = formations and this could not be further from the truth. Formations and systems have their place in terms of basic occupation of space on the pitch but these spaces can shift decisively whether a team has possession or not. This leads us then to the crux of this article.
How will Manchester City look to progress the ball?
As a coach Pep Guardiola is a known advocate for the use of positional play as a means to build and create the framework in which his sides will play. The principles of this game idea surround the creation of superiority throughout the pitch in order to safely and securely progress the ball through the thirds and towards the opposition goal. These superiorities can be numerical, having more players than the opponent in a key area, positional, having a player in a position that allows the line of pressure from the opposition to be quickly outplayed (i.e a player between the lines of opposition midfield and defence who can cleanly receive the ball) and qualitative, when one group of players or player is bettern than their opponents. Imagine for example that you were lined up one on one with Raheem Sterling as the England international runs at you at pace. Without meaning to be disrespectful it is likely that Sterling would have the advantage over you as he attacks and breaks past you.
How City under Guardiola look to achieve the best structure for ball progression has changed. In their 100 point season City played with Fernandinho is as the 6 and with David Silva and Kevin De Bruyne as free 8s progression of the ball came from the central defenders who tended to find passing lanes to access eithe the 6 or the 8s. Now, with the Spanish international Rodri as the 6 we have seen Guardiola alter his approach and to go back to a structure that we so successful when he was coach of Bayern Munich in the German Bundesliga.
In their last match, against Burnley, we saw City line up with Aymeric Laporte at left-back. This in itself affected the way that the team would build-up as Laporte, although more than comfortable in possession of the ball, is not a rampaging and attacking fullback. This then created a line of three for City in the first line as they looked to build their attacks and progress the ball forward. Burnley, as most of you will already know, play with two fixed strikers and by having an extra player on the first line City automatically ensure that they have numerical superiority.
The key, however, comes on the next line where City essentially developed a double-pivot with the Portuguese international Joao Cancelo moving inside from his right-back slot to join Rodri at the base of the midfield.
As you can see from the image above this creates opportu
