Manchester Derby Tactical Preview 2024/25: Pep Guardiola’s Man City Vs Rúben Amorim’s Man United

Manchester City will host Manchester United on Sunday at the Etihad Stadium.

This match will mean a lot to both teams, giving both a chance to build some much-needed momentum.

In this tactical analysis preview of the Manchester Derby, we will explore both teams’ tactics and identify what to avoid and build on based on their latest games and lineups.

The analysis will also focus on both teams’ issues and propose solutions to get out of this delicate period as quickly as possible to avoid losing many more points, with a special focus on how to play during the derby.

Manchester Derby Background

What unites both teams lately is their respective runs of poor form.

Manchester Citys situation became worrying for Pep Guardiola and his team after the draws against Inter Milan and Arsenal in the Premier League.

Things worsened with a draw against Newcastle, a loss in the EFL Cup against Tottenham, a 2-1 loss against Bournemouth, and a painful 4-1 loss in the UEFA Champions League against Sporting CP.

Following these bad results that Manchester City had not witnessed since many years ago, the team continued their bad run of results by losing 2-1 against Brighton and surprising everyone with a 0-4 loss against Tottenham at the Etihad Stadium.

In the following game, Manchester City failed to secure a 3-0 win against Feyenoord and conceded the three equalising goals late, confirming Man City’s crisis even further.

In the clash against Liverpool, Manchester City were also incapable of winning, losing 0-2 and drawing against Crystal Palace soon after.

In their latest match, Juventus were capable of beating Manchester City 2-0.

They made things a bit complicated for the team’s UEFA Champions League qualification, as they are now obliged to win the rest of their games to secure their playoff ticket and challenge for a top-eight spot.

Of course, Manchester City was capable of winning many games, but we wanted to focus only on their negative results to stress that this large number of bad results did not occur for a long time for Manchester City.

Therefore, we can confirm that the team is experiencing a crisis that must end as soon as possible to keep their chances alive in the Premier League and the UEFA Champions League knockout round. 

On the other hand, Manchester United have been suffering in terms of results as well and witnessed several crises in the last couple of years in addition to a remarkable number of head coach changes in the last five or ten years.

As a result, consistency in ideas, lineups, and philosophies has muddled the team.

The managerial board hopes to attain some positive results and build something sustainable under the management of the new head coach, Ruben Amorim, who took charge of the team on November 1 following the sacking of Erik ten Hag.

Losing 0-3 to Liverpool at Old Trafford, 0-3 against Tottenham at Old Trafford, 2-0 against Arsenal, 2-1 against West Ham United, and 2-3 against Nottingham Forest at home confirms that Manchester United need to recover as soon as possible.

In this regard, a valuable win in the Manchester Derby could mean a lot to the team.

It can change their whole season, primarily from a psychological perspective, as it would make them believe more in their ability to win against the top teams in the EPL this season.

Moreover, holding the 13th spot in the EPL is very worrying for a team like Manchester United, and that represents a strong motive for everyone at the club to put in extra effort to start winning more points and, therefore, climb the standings to ultimately challenge for spots that can help them qualify for European competitions.

Ruben Amorim’s 3-4-3 Formation

Following Ten Hags regular use of the 4-2-3-1 formation, Amorim preferred to switch to his preferred 3-4-3 formation.

Amorim is essentially trying to build two defensive lines, each consisting of three centre-backs and four midfielders, to make the defensive phase more compact.

At the same time, he wants to use both wing-backs to help with playmaking and to retreat whenever needed, especially when facing dangerous wingers.

With many solid defenders in his squad, Amorim would likely use Matthijs de Ligt, Noussair Mazraoui, and Lisandro Martínez as centre-backs and Harry Maguire as a backup defender.

Amorim has been using Diogo Dalot and Tyrell Malacia as wing-backs in these roles.

Both players guarantee defensive balance and attacking input whenever needed. 

That said, goalkeeper André Onana will need to avoid committing passing mistakes like the one he made against Viktoria Plzeň inside the team’s own half.

These mistakes can be crucial, especially in a match against their direct rivals. 

Onana’s Mistake Against Viktoria Plzeň

Moreover, the team must work extensively on collective set-piece defending.

They have been conceding many points from set-pieces lately.

The goalkeeper and the defen