FAWSL 2021/22: How City and United cancelled each other out in the Manchester derby – tactical analysis

Manchester United Women hosted one of FAWSL’s most historic and entertaining games, the Manchester Derby, at Leigh Sports Village and the game ended with a 2-2 draw that doesn’t serve any of the two teams and especially Manchester City Women who are going through a difficult start of the season in terms of results and performances.  The draw doesn’t help the Citizens at all as they are actually holding the ninth spot while Manchester United are five points away from the team which is at the top of the standings, Arsenal.

This tactical analysis article will explore extensively what happened in this match while shedding some extra light on Manchester City’s defensive issues and their good but not sufficient attacking reaction while considering Manchester United’s overall performance and what lacked their tactics to exploit their numerical superiority effectively following Stanway’s exclusion.

Line-ups

Manchester United started the match with the 4-2-3-1 formation relying on Mary Earps in goal, Ona Batlle, Aoife Mannion, Maria Thorisdottir and Hannah Blundell in defence, Katie Zelem and Jackie Groenen as central midfielders, Kirsty Hanson and Leah Galton as wingers with  Ella Toone playing as an advanced playmaker just behind Alessia Russo, the team’s forward.

For Manchester City, Gareth Taylor opted for the usual 4-3-3 formation while having injury issues especially for the defensive players. The team started the match with Karima Benameur Taieb as a goalkeeper, Georgia Stanway as a right-back due to the absence of Lucy Bronze, Jill Scott and Alex Greenwood as centre-backs, and Demi Stokes as a left-back. The midfield was composed of Keira Walsh, Caroline Weir and Filippa Angeldal as central midfielders with Lauren Hemp and Janine Beckie as wingers and Khadija Shaw as a striker.

Manchester City’s performance

The game did not start in the way Manchester City wanted as they were not able to hold the ball too much or dictate the game. Manchester United were brave enough to ensure that their opponents don’t get a lot of possession periods since they were aware of the danger that it might create for their defence. Manchester City therefore tried to exploit their possession phases but their build-up and playmaking was a bit too slow in a way that made Manchester United players have no problems nor delays in marking their direct opponents inside the final third.

In fact, Manchester United had more possession than their opponents with 51,95% against 48,05% for Manchester City. And of course, Stanway’s red card played a big role in having these percentages.