UEFA Champions League 2018/19: Manchester City vs Hoffenheim

Manchester City finished their group phase participation in the UEFA Champions League with a deserved victory against German rival Hoffenheim. In this tactical analysis, we go over Pep Guardiolas teams performance in a relatively weak first half and an improved presentation during the second half. Even though Manchester City had already qualified for the next round and Hoffenheim were out of the tournament, the team coached by the promising, young German Julian Nagelsmann had moments of offensive and attractive football. That was also the perfect recipe for Manchester City fast offensive transitions to inflict damage to the defensive line of the German side. The lack of finishing and inadequate decision making resulted in a tighter result in favour of the home team.

If you can’t play how you want, let the set plays be your friend

Again, Manchester City started with a 4-3-3 tactical setup, with the main surprise coming in the middle of the field. The line of three midfielders was formed by Gündogan in the centre, Bernardo Silva on the right and young-star Phil Foden on the left. This setup presumed a very offensive game by Manchester City, as Gündogan has a more attacking bias compared to what you usually see there, including Fernandinho, who is currently injured. Against Guardiola’s expectations, Manchester City struggled to create many chances in the Hoffenheim half collectively during the first period, lacking fluency and creativity to get the ball closer to their rival’s goal area.

Meanwhile, Hoffenheim started defending with a 4-1-3-2 that sometimes turned into a 4-1-4-1, starting their pressure closer to the middle of the field.

This setup in the midfield is similar to what Jürgen Klopp sometimes does when Liverpool plays against Manchester City, having had good results so far. They had tight marking in both Foden and Silva, that reduced the connection between Gündogan and the offensive players.

The German, while defensively didn’t have a great game, as could be expected because of his more offensive nature, when he was able to receive the ball with spaces, he was quite judicious in his decisions. He played some very good vertical passes to the three forwards, being able to break the defensive setup of Hoffenheim and changing the speed of the attack, allowing the forward line to find the visitors defence at a slower pace and in bad positions. With Silva and Foden tightly marked, the offensive tactics had to change, relying on these passes from Gündogan and also with some interesting movements mainly on the right wing. Sterling having difficulties to receive the ball, swapped positions several time with Bernardo Silva, allowing him to receive the ball some meters farther from the rival’s goal than usual, but allowing him to exploit his 1v1 speed and strength.