UEFA Champions League 2019/20: Manchester City vs Atalanta – tactical analysis

The Champions League returned for the third matchday of the group stage. For several teams who have secured two wins out of two matches, this will be the chance to move closer to a spot in the Round of 16. Meanwhile, a positive result could be a platform for something bigger for the minor teams.

Manchester City were one of the few teams who were still unbeaten from the start of the campaign with two wins over Dinamo Zagreb and Lokomotiv Moscow. In a group where the English side have the highest possibility of making it into the knockout rounds, it’s no doubt that they have and will deliver. Meanwhile, Atalanta were expected to be one of the surprises in the Champions League this season. But they have been underperformed as Gian Piero Gasperini’s side were still looking for their first point of the campaign.

And before their trip to the Etihad Stadium, many have predicted this clash to be the toughest for Atalanta. Indeed, only a few minutes after Ruslan Malinovskiy’s opening goal, Man City started to push forward. A brace from Sergio Agüero inside the first half was followed up by Raheem Sterling’s hat-trick in just eleven minutes of the second period to complete a dominant win for the home side.

This tactical analysis will provide an analysis of Man City’s 5-1 win at home against Atalanta. Meanwhile, using statistics, we will point out the interesting tactical points in Pep Guardiola’s tactics and what positives can Gasperini and his players take home from his tactics.

Lineups

With most of his squad returned from different injuries, Pep Guardiola had a near full squad to select from. He opted for a 4-2-3-1 formation. Aymeric Laporte and Leroy Sané still remained sidelined as they are still recovering from knee injuries. On the other hand, he welcomed two key centre-backs in Nicolás Otamendi and John Stones back into the team and they both made an appearance on the bench.

The Spanish manager started two central midfielders in Rodri Hernández and Fernandinho as the two centre-backs in this match, which was a very interesting point to note. Kyle Walker also trained with the whole squad in recent weeks and he went straight into the right-back position.

Meanwhile, Gasperini went for his usual 3-4-1-2 formation along with the fact that he also had a near full squad to pick from. With Duván Zapata absent from this match, the Italian manager went for Atalanta’s captain Alejandro “Papu” Goméz and Josip Iličić to lead the line, while Luis Muriel made an appearance on the bench.

Playing behind them was new signing Ruslan Malinovskiy while the duo of Timothy Castagne and Robin Gosens occupied both wings. On the bench, they also had another wing-back duo in Hans Hateboer and another new addition this summer in Guilherme Arana.

Manchester Citys style of play

As mentioned, the fact that Guardiola played Rodri and Fernandinho at the heart of Man City’s defence was very interesting. Fernandinho is mainly deployed as the destroyer in front of the defensive line in most matches. Meanwhile, Rodri is more of a playmaker who tends to dictate the play and make penetrative passes to create chances for his teammates.

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