IF any team is going to beat Manchester City this season — and that is a big ‘if’ — I fancy it to be one from outside the top six.
You might think ‘well, what about United or Spurs?’ But for the ‘lesser’ teams it is a free hit — especially as City will have more possession. City go to Leicester today whose average possession this season is 44 per cent.
Arsenal’s stat against City this season, when they lost 3-1, was 42 per cent. Compare that to their season-average which is 63 per cent (without that Etihad game).
For Liverpool (who lost 5-0), it was 34 per cent. Their average is 62. Chelsea lost 1-0 with 38 per cent. Their average is 52.
The big teams are suddenly playing a whole new ball game. Arsenal and Chelsea will work all week on possession and breaking down defences — but all that goes out of the window when they face City.
Chelsea have stuck to 3-4-3 but when they played City changed to 3-5-1-1.
Much of training is repetition and Conte has been drilling his players where to be over and over again. Then, for one week only, it’s all change.
Against City, Arsenal played midfielder Francis Coquelin at centre-half for the first time this season. A sudden change! When I was at Stoke, we were unlikely to dominate the ball. So our boss, Tony Pulis, would work on our defensive shape in training. Come match day, that repetition was put into practice.
Sir Alex Ferguson’s United came to play us in 2008-09 when they won the league.
Carlos Tevez scored a late winner and Sir Alex said it was the biggest win of their season. He knew how hard it was to beat a side who are well-drilled without the ball. Average player position maps support my point.
Look at Chelsea when they beat Stoke 4-0. Then look at the match against City and how isolated Eden Hazard and Alvaro Morata became. The Blues had eight players behind the halfway line. Six of the seven goals City have let in this season have been against bottom-half teams. The only one scored by a top- half side was Arsenal.
So look out City! Today could be the day your invincible hopes go up in smoke. But I’m not sure I’d bet on it!
From The Sun
No comments:
Post a Comment