In the second round of the Premier League, Manchester City lost to Tottenham 0-2, and the Telegraph evaluated Manchester City's performance after the game. Telecom commented: Manchester City's average lineup in this game is only 24 years and...
In the second round of the Premier League, Manchester City lost to Tottenham 0-2, and the Telegraph evaluated Manchester City's performance after the game.
Telecom commented:
Manchester City's average lineup in this game is only 24 years and 326 days, making it the youngest starting lineup sent by the club since October 2010. The young army appeared with a clear tactical plan, but because of this, it also exposed obvious loopholes and was eventually defeated by Tottenham.
Manchester City's tactical innovation
Sir Ferguson will continue to update the tactical system during his tenure as Manchester United. After one of his bleakest seasons in coaching City, Guardiola also sought change through a major behind-the-scenes appointment: hiring assistant coach Linders, who has played for Klopp for six years.
Linders is known for promoting high-level pressing and high-intensity football. He advocates that the back line extreme forward pressure forms an aggressive high-level defense line, creating offside traps in his half. Its training focuses on tempering the ability to quickly regain the ball rights and compress the opponent's passing space.
Since Linders joined Manchester City, the club has fully implemented its philosophy. In the 4-0 Wolves last week, the highly oppressive high-level defense and frequent offside have become landmark tactics.
Tottenham's response strategy
Manchester City's tactical changes provide Frank with an opportunity. Tottenham sent Richarlison, Kudus and Johnson to form a trident in the front line. All three have top speeds and can get straight behind Manchester City's defense. In order to play this advantage and avoid repeating the Wolves' repeated offside mistakes, Tottenham used a large number of over-top long passes, with the proportion of long passes in this game reaching 18%, far exceeding the 8% of last week's versus Burnley.
Nury left the court due to injury in the 23rd minute, causing Manchester City's left gate to lose key vitality. Ak, who often plays left-back but is better at center-back, frequently appears due to the continuous harassment of Kudus.
Frank said after the game: "We have studied their high-level defense. This tactic is never easy to practice. Scoring the goal seems to be very successful, but we have failed to execute it many times. We have been offside six times before scoring, which is not easy. But this is indeed the tactic we focus on."
Decisive moment
Within two minutes of Ak's appearance, Kudus found space to fight him on the right wing, which also indicates subsequent development.
Tottenham continues to attack the right side. In the 35th minute, Saar passed the ball to Richarlison who was pulling the side and supporting him. Richarlison passed by and Johnson pushed the ball to score. VAR confirmed that Richarlison was not offside, Stones tried to press forward but made a mistake, and then slipped and completely failed the defense line.
At this time, Manchester City lost the usual calmness of home court; the team that had repeatedly collapsed seemed to have returned last fall. Tottenham was not satisfied, but continued to expand its advantages. Another long pass from the right found Kudus, Trafford attacked, but the referee did not award a foul.
Trafford made a mistake in the kick-off goal in injury time, and Palinia helped Tottenham lead 2-0. In the second half, Tottenham gave their opponents almost no chance to turn the table.
Manchester City's hidden dangers
Although highly praised by many football tactical masters, Linders' own experience as head coach was not successful. Both times he took the lead alone ended within a few months; last year, he coached Salzburg Red Bulls for only 29 games.
These setbacks reveal the complexity of its tactical system and the strict requirements on players. During Liverpool's period, Linders' system also benefited from Van Dijk's unique advantages of combining top physical fitness and football wisdom. The crux of this complex system is that it will take time to instill tactics as smoothly as Linders was at Liverpool. The new season has just begun, but Manchester City may not be able to withstand the risk of repeating the mistakes of last season.
