Manchester United, after their mighty display against Arsenal, have finally reasserted their claim to the throne. Their humiliation of Arsenal hogged all the major headlines the previous weekend. But, there was another club, from the other side of Manchester, who were superb as well. Manchester City tore apart Tottenham Hotspur, without giving them any chance of a comeback and with the kind of offensive prowess City displayed, the Blue half of Manchester have emerged to be the perhaps the strongest competitor to knock Sir Alex Ferguson’s men from the coveted title of ‘Champions’.
Mancini’s Frontal Four
Roberto Mancini was infamous for employing defensive tactics against top teams despite having a decent squad last year. However, this year, Mancini looks to be plotting a new path for City. His signings underline a sense of offense with effectiveness. Against Spurs, Mancini lined up a 4-2-3-1 with Barry and Yaya Toure as the holding midfielders and Agüero, Nasri, Silva and Džeko upfront. But, as the game progressed it seemed that the front four had not been assigned fixed positions but were given the freedom to roam around the pitch and create space for themselves.
The four forwards in Mancini’s team are a dream ensemble – players of the highest quality and equally attractive style of football. But, the most impressive thing about the four of them is that their ability to score and create goals consistently.
Edin Džeko – Classic centre forward. Tall, imposing physical presence in the box, good with the ball at his feet, decent off the ball, excellent header and a deadly finisher.
Sergio Agüero – Short but technically exquisite, intelligent, exceptionally skillful, tremendous work ethic, can hold onto the ball, ridiculously good finishing ability and most importantly unpredictable.
Samir Nasri – Technically gifted, versatile, creative, has the ability to move into good spaces and a decent left foot.
David Silva – Easily one of the finest midfielders of this generation. Technically flawless, complete yet grossly underrated, can hold onto the ball in any circumstance, killer final ball and most importantly, selfless.
Effectiveness
Exciting times ahead
When Edin Džeko isn’t busy scoring goals, he surely draws the attention of his marker. With Agüero playing more centrally but not exactly in a playmaker’s role, it becomes even more difficult to mark him. With Nasri on the wings, cutting inside and playing delicate 1-2’s with Agüero, it becomes nightmarish for the defense to cope with it. It becomes imperative for another midfielder to drop deep to defend against them.
When Nasri is cutting inside, he surely has the luxury of Gael Clichy overlapping him and hence finding self in space; in-turn drawing a defender towards him, which leaves at least one player free for a brief amount of time and that is more than sufficient for the City offense to split the defense. The same happened against Spurs for the first goal.
Silva offers so much more to City than any other player. He offers versatility and his ability to read the game is fantastic. The diminutive Spaniard also has the ability to cut inside and hence leave his markers wrong footed; the former Valencia winger can uncannily create spaces and opportunities when there aren’t any.
The biggest weapon Mancini has at his disposal is the intelligence of these four players. They are remarkably quick to dispose the ball and find a teammate and can find themselves in space with relative ease and also can pick up the right guy with their passes. It is this intelligence, which makes City even more dangerous. Add to it, the selfless nature of Silva and work-ethic of Agüero, City makes a frightening statement whenever they step out.
City will tend to play narrower with these players but they have to rely on their fullbacks to provide the extra width. However, they have to be wary playing like this, as they become more prone to a counter attacks from the flanks and hence it will be imperative for Mancini to push his players for more ball retention in the opponents’ half.
The other trump card for Mancini is Yaya Touré in the holding midfield position. The Ivorian is an incredible player, who can play box-to-box and can also be relied upon to provide defensive cover and a solid base for the attack to build on. He can even make some daunting runs into the box, as seen for Džeko’s third goal, which makes him even the more dangerous. And, with De Jong beside him, he can afford to lay less emphasis on the dirty work.
In case, the front four do not find the necessary elements going, there is always the zippy Adam Johnson on the bench, who can cut in brilliantly, making him an instant threat as a sub. Then, Mancini has the luxury of Carlos Tévez, Balotelli and James Milner on the bench – all different players, who add something extra (except when Balotelli decides to stroll around aimlessly).
Flaws
The major flaw in this emsemble cast is the willingness and ability of these players to back track. Nasri and Agüero are not very famous in helping their defense and Džeko can’t be expected to drop too deep. Silva can do it but he alone isn’t sufficient to do the job against bigger teams.
All these four players play very forward leaving acres of space behind them, which can make the formation look like a 4-2-4. This will leave too much of space between them and the two holding midfielders, who can be exploited easily by deep lying play-makers or ball playing midfielders, as they have enough time and space.
To counter this, Yaya can move forward but this will leave De Jong with no option to tackle or stop a player if he escapes Yaya as the wings will be left exposed. With no proper winger, the fullbacks will face a dilemma of covering the space or moving back fully to avoid the huge space for the opposition wingers to exploit.
Now if the fullbacks are trying to mark a winger, who has stood his ground, Kompany and his partner will have a tougher job of defending against a forward, who can move into the large gaps at the side and hence opening up the central defense, leaving Joe Hart to face a charging midfielder, who is let loose with a through ball.
No team is perfect and has its share of flaws. However, City will be in danger whenever they face quick counter attacking teams like Real Madrid or Manchester United, who can circulate the ball at frightening pace, leaving the forward four stranded and hence gaining the numerical advantage. Mancini needs to instill the importance of tracking back continuously and quickly when they lose the ball to help his defense do a better job.
Future
The future looks bright for City. Against Swansea, Agüero dazzled the world in just 30 minutes, while Džeko did the job against Spurs. Silva and Nasri are also expected to follow suit. It is this non-reliance on any single individual, which makes them dangerous. And when all of them decide to join hands and scintillate, the result might always be in City’s favor.