How Manchester City’s fluid front three helped beat Manchester United in the derby.
No matter where Manchester United’s defenders looked during the derby at Old Trafford on Sunday they never saw what they expected to see. United defenders never saw the Manchester City attacker they were supposed to be marking because he had already switched positions while the defender adjusted his vision.
Even United’s midfielders, who were basically United’s extra defenders in the ultra (ultra) conservative approach adopted by manager Jose Mourinho, couldn’t get their bearings.
United’s radar was off because City’s front three pulled it apart en route to a 2-1 victory that’s all-but salted away the title before Christmas.
The big news prior to kickoff for the most important match to date in this Premier League season involved the decision by City boss Pep Guardiola to leave star striker Sergio Aguero on the bench.
Gabriel Jesus took the place of the club’s all-time leading scorer as eyebrows were raised at Guardiola’s thinking. Yet his grand plan became obvious from the off, when Jesus and wide forwards Raheem Sterling and Leroy Sane rotated at will to constantly drag United players out of position and reduce Mourinho’s densely constructed defensive block to dust.
The natural starting positions for City’s front three should have been Sane on the left wing, Jesus through the middle and Sterling on the right flank. On the team sheet was the last time all three would line up this way in the red half of Manchester.
From the off, Sane took his wand off a left foot onto the right wing. As he did, Sterling buzzed off the flank and into central areas. He found room because Jesus was content to work the inside left channel.
The movement of City’s attacking trio unravelled United because of the way it exploited the gaps in between the midfield and forward lines. An early chance involved a one-two between Jesus and Sterling, with the latter’s shot tame and straight at de Gea.
It wasn’t a goal, but the opening showed how difficult City’s fluidity in forward areas was to contain. Sane had helped De Bruyne pinch the ball on the right, with the latter popping it off to the irrepressible David Silva.
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As soon as Silva received the ball, holding midfielder Ander Herrera darted toward him, leaving space in the middle for Sterling. The forward received the ball and ran right at the United back four, before exchanging passes with Jesus, who had come in off the left.
United were content to have Herrera track Silva and let Nemanja Matic follow De Bruyne. But the rotations of City’s forwards exploited the vacated spaces whenever Matic and Herrera went on the hunt.
Jesus was the next to get a chance, but this time off the inside right. The striker received a superb pass from his fellow Brazilian Fernandinho, but shot straight at de Gea.
Once again, the room for the ball, which had travelled about 25 yards on the deck through a chasm of space in the middle, was there because of movement. Silva had drawn the attention of Herrera, while Matic had focused on De Bruyne.
Jesus was able to get on the inside of Ashley Young because the converted full-back was still occupied with Sane, who had pulled wide on the right. Centre-backs Marcos Rojo and Chris Smalling were out of position because they were mindful of Sterling’s pace through the middle.
Sterling didn’t have a particularly good game on the ball, but he was clever with his movement. Whenever he went into the middle, he didn’t simply settle for trying to run in behind United’s centre-backs. Instead, he often dropped off, almost into a No. 10 position.
He was behind Herrera and Matic, who had to leave the area to track Silva and De Bruyne. But Sterling was also in a grey area for the Reds’ defenders, who were reluctant to come out and press him for fear of his pace.
The theme continued in the second half and led to City’s winning goal. Fabian Delph picked out Jesus, who was again working the inside left. The striker had drifted into the pocket of space behind Herrera and in front of the back four.
It was Herrera, still occupied with Silva, who eventually turned and fouled Jesus. Silva took the resulting free-kick and Nicolas Otamendi volleyed in after an unfortunate clearance by United frontman Romelu Lukaku.
Having Jesus patrol the left created a dilemma for United, a code the Reds never cracked. As a striker, he drew the attention of not only right-back Antonio Valencia, but also Victor Lindelof, who had replaced Rojo at the heart of defence.
One centre-back being pulled out wide meant United were open through the middle. Matic could drop back to fill in, but it meant leaving De Bruyne, whose influence grew during the second half as City’s free-moving forwards began to command more attention.
If Matic didn’t respond to the hole in the middle, either Sane or Sterling would race through it.
United’s defenders going into the unusual positions City’s forwards were taking up also created problems. It happened when Smalling followed Sane out of the middle, leaving a huge avenue of space in behind for De Bruyne to run into and fire off a shot de Gea was at full stretch to turn away.
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City’s rotations up front stretched United’s shape beyond breaking point. The fluidity of Guardiola’s forwards dragged Red Devils players into places they didn’t want to be.
Holding midfielders were pushed too deep into defensive areas or natural defenders were drawn upfield.
City made smart use of Sterling’s direct pace through the middle and Jesus’ skill to go past players on the left. Sane was allowed to cut in at will coming off the right.
But the true key to this front three was how it swapped positions all game. Their freedom made a mockery of United’s rigidity.
It was an apt statement on why the title is probably going to City.
Guardiola’s tactics are based on making his team more effective in attack, helping to score goals and win matches. The Mourinho blueprint is only designed to prevent United losing games.