![]() ![]() ![]() It also gives City protection against the counterattack although, as the Champions League games against Liverpool suggested, perhaps not enough.Ĭity’s domination of the channels at one end of the pitch has been their triumph their failure to do the same at the other end has been their undoing. That is useful as a way out from the back – and Ederson’s calmness in possession has been a major feature, notably at home against Tottenham when he bypassed the press with a string of accurate long passes. But there have also been times when the full-backs, Fabian Delph in particular (and most notably away against Chelsea), have tucked inside, with the corresponding centre-back moving wider, occupying precisely those channels De Bruyne and David Silva try to attack at the other end of the pitch. The system brought two wins and a draw but perhaps because the attacking six frequently found themselves strung out in a line as the forwards tried to drop off to create space for Silva and De Bruyne to burst into, it never resurfaced after a switch to 4-3-3 brought a 6-0 win over Watford and a 5-0 win over Crystal Palace in quick succession.The role of Fernandinho in protecting the back four is crucial, particularly on those occasions when both full-backs have been given licence to attack. ![]() Pep Guardiola Practice Topics: 60 Attacking Positional Patterns of Play in the 4-3-3 and 3-5-2 Formations (50 Man City, 3 Bayern & 7 FCB). Last season one of the great strengths of Chelsea was the way their structure controlled those channels, their 3-4-2-1 system providing both two holding midfielders (N’Golo Kanté and Nemanja Matic) and two players who were in effect inside-forwards (Eden Hazard and Pedro or Willian), who operated in awkward pockets in which they fell outside the natural zone of the opposing centre-back, full-back and holding midfielder. Soccer Coaching Specialists since 2001 - Free football coaching drills and training sessions, Football Coaching Software, Training DVDs, Books, eBooks. But what is also significant is that dividing the pitch in such a way emphasises the importance of those channels between full-back and centre-back. If a player moves into a zone that means four in the same horizontal line are occupied, one of the other three should move, ensuring the man on the ball always has two or three passing options. In principle no more than three zones in the same horizontal line and no more than two zones in the same vertical line should ever be occupied. The effect was to create more space in midfield for Lionel Messi dropping off as a false nine and for Xavi and Andrés Iniesta advancing from midfield (not to mention the complication of Dani Alves’s surges from a notional right-back position).Ĭity have exploited the same basic idea slightly differently but the importance of those channels between the centre-back and full-back is seen in the way Guardiola, as he did at Bayern, has the City training pitches marked out in 20 zones. Because they were so terrified of leaving Henry or Eto’o free, defences did not push up and full-backs did not move into midfield. ![]()
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