Premier League 2018/19: Manchester City vs Liverpool

This was a big game for both teams, but even more so for Manchester City. Pep Guardiola had to face one of his football nightmares, Jürgen Klopp, one of the few coaches that has a positive record against him. The result was one of the best tactical shows you can have in today’s football era. More importantly, Liverpool were seven points ahead in the table, unbeaten this season, and losing against them would mean a possible early goodbye to the Premier League title for Manchester City.

The game didn’t disappoint. Both teams showed an outstanding quality of football, despite City having two of the last three Premier League matches against Leicester City and Crystal Palace. In this tactical analysis, we show how Manchester City managed to beat the league leaders, Liverpool, and step back into the Premier League title race.

Hectic start followed by an intense tactical battle

In previous games, Pep Guardiola had been quite inconsistent in his tactical approach against Klopp teams. Perhaps this is because of the difficulties he has had to beat them. Looking for ways to diminish their intense pressure and their attacking strength, the initial set-up and player selection had varied a lot.

This time, he opted to play closer to what is considered normal in terms of tactical approach and the type of players chosen. In that sense, Manchester City started with a classic 4-3-3, with some surprises in the defence. Danilo and Laporte began as wing-backs, and regular names in the remaining positions. Fernandinho resumed as the defensive midfielder, with David and Bernardo Silva the inside midfielders and Sane, Aguero and Sterling in attack.

The first seven minutes were hectic. Insane pressure resulted in constant changes in possession, blocking both team’s creative ability. This resulted in both sides making several mistakes on the ball, or just losing the ball under pressure. It also meant that most of the game developed close to the middle of the pitch without clear goalscoring chances.

After this initial stage of high pressure, both teams started trying to inflict damage the way they usually do. Manchester City kept possession, rotating the ball looking to create spaces. Liverpool meanwhile produced very fast transitions and tempo, looking to win the 1v1 duels that they were able to create.

The intense pressure imposed over the creativity of both teams, however. The resulting game had only 15 shots on target, nine for Manchester City and six for Liverpool. This is an uncommon and below average figure for two very attacking teams. Even though Pep Guardiola’s team had more shots, xG for Liverpool was higher at 1.22 compared to Manchester City’s 1.05. Liverpool had few but clearer chances, as Manchester City had issues getting closer to Allison’s goal, forcing them to try long shots as a way of attack.

Key to avoiding the attacking strength of Liverpool was Fernandinho. With the Brazilian back as the sole defensive midfielder, he had a key role in today’s game. He stepped high up the pitch to put pressure on the initial build-up phase of Liverpool, recovered key balls in front of Manchester Citys defensive line, and helped the defensive line when outnumbered by Liverpool.

According to Wyscout, he recovered 14 balls, the highest of both teams and well above his 2018 average of 10.17. This is a warning flag for Guardiola, who has not been able to find a replacement matching Fernandinho’s quality. Stones and Gündogan have been tried without success during the last month. The Brazilian is now 33 years old, and it should become a priority to find a replacement for him during the next transfer window.

Even though City were controlling the game, they werent able to get the ball closer to Allison’s goal. Previous games had shown that the most effective defensive setup for Klopp  against Guardiola, was a five-man midfield. This system leaves the central midfielder as a free man to help to cover spaces won by Manchester City.