Champions League Results - Manchester City, Manchester United

A look at the performances and results of Manchester City and Manchester United on Matchday 4 of theAi??UEFA Champions League

Manchester City: Forget Liverpool, Sergio Aguero and Alvaro Negredo are the EPL’s Premier Strike Partnership

Strike partnerships are often classified by terms like big man-little man, or poacher-provider, and often the classifications of the players in the strike partnerships is static. This is not the case when one looks at the Sergio Aguero-Alvaro Negredo strike partnership. The duoai??i??s all-around abilities (ignoring that Aguero may not be the greatest target man), as center forwards, not only allows them to complement one another, but it also allows them to change their roles throughout the match. They can do the big man-little man style where Negredo wins the ball in the air or receives the ball into his feet, holds it up and plays Aguero in on goal. They can both operate in either role of the poacher-provider style with one staying central and getting close to goal, while the other roams into positions to receive the ball and create. From a deeper position, both can keep the ball, see and make a pass, dribble at defenders, and be a threat from distance with either the shot (see Negredoai??i??s flick and volley attempt in the second half). From a wide area, both can beat their defender off the dribble and deliver a good ball into the box.

It was Aguero pulling out to the right and feeding Negredo that lead to the Spaniardai??i??s first goal of the match, and before his second goal, it was Negredo who had pulled out to the left, beaten the defender off the dribble, and put a tempting ball into the box. Aguero and Negredo can both serve as a potent goal scoring threat operating on the shoulder of defenders and in the penalty box, with Aguero being the better option to get in behind and Negredo being the better option to score from a ball in the air, as he did for Cityai??i??s fifth goal. Since they have skills that go beyond limited poachers like Roberto Soldado or Jermaine Defoe, against an opponent with two men in central midfield and a back 4, they can stay high and cause all sorts of problems for the two opposing center backs, as they can score and set one another up to score. It was in this configuration that Aguero scored his first goal in the match from open play.

Despite Luis Suarez and Daniel Sturridge being the more talked about strike partnership (probably because Liverpool has a long history of strike partnerships to compare them to or get nostalgic about), the best strike partnership in the Premier League is Sergio Aguero and Alvaro Negredo. Whether they can carry City beyond their problems in central midfield and their lack of depth at center back, to glory in England and in Europe is unknown, but if any current partnership can do it, it is this one.

Manchester United: David Moyes Continues to Misuse Two Important Resources

It was the tales of two players played out of position that stood out in Manchester Unitedai??i??s 0-0 draw to Real Sociedad. While Unitedai??i??s became the only side in the group to not beat floundering Real Sociedad, the bigger issue was David Moyes failure to use either Shinji Kagawa or Marouane Fellaini in their best roles. With Moyes resting Robin Van Persie for their Premier League match against first place Arsenal, playing Rooney up top allowed Moyes to put either Kagawa or Fellaini as high most advanced central midfielder. Instead, Moyes opted to playing Javier Hernandez, relegating Kawaga to a wide left position and Fellaini into central midfield pair with Ryan Giggs.

At Borussia Dortmund, Kagawa excelled in a free central attacking midfield role similar to Mesut Ozilai??i??s at Arsenal. He did brilliantly to find pockets of space to receive the ball, to push the play forward, to play the killer pass, and to arrive late into the box. His master class performance in Dortmund 5-2 thrashing of Bayern Munich, in the 2012 Final of the DFB-Pokal, highlights all of these attributes. In a wide position, for a manager like Moyes, Kagawa has much less freedom to drift all around the pitch, lacks the pace and strength to play like a winger, is not a particularly great crosser of the ball, and can no longer make those runs into the box from deeper central positions. It is no wonder that Klopp sheds tears when watching Kagawa at United and why the #freeshinji movement has arisen on Twitter . For United fans, hopefully Moyes paid attention to that 15 minute period after Ashley Young came on and Kagawa got to play in his favored central role, where United looked their best as an attacking side.

Maybe more distressing is Moyesai??i?? use of Marouane Fellaini in a central midfield role, a player with whom Moyes is more than familiar. While Fellaini is excellent in the air, strong, and has good technical skills, he is woefully lacking in pace and lacks composure on the ball when pressed. At Everton, in a side that defended deep and compactly, Fellaini did not have to larger areas of space like he has to for Manchester United. His lack of pace combined with a lack of an ability to read the game at a high level causes him to make ineffectual and/or late challenges. In this match his inability to cope with pressure and his penchant for poor challenges led to two yellow cards and a sending off. Fellainiai??i??s best position is the No. 10 role, behind an attacking front. In that position, his lack of pace and his poor reading of the game when on defense are not nearly as exposed. His strength, aerial ability, and technical ability are allowed to shine. There, he can use aerial skills and strength much like Olivier Giroud does for Arsenal. Given Unitedai??i??s problems in central midfield, to have a player who can win the ball in air, high up the pitch, allows them to overcome those issues when in possession. From there he can hold up the ball and then link up with the wide men and strikers, or flick the ball onto them. This ability to link the defensive block and the attacking front could prove vital and give the 27.5 million pound man a role that allows him to provide value for the transfer.

It is odd that David Moyes seems reluctant to play one of these two players in their best role, especially when not playing Wayne Rooney and Robin Van Persie together. It may be that Moyes does not know the strengths of Kagawa. It may be that he believes that Fellaini can overcome his flaws and provide the quality in central midfield that United desperately need. It may be that Moyes is doing everything he can to let Wayne Rooney play in the position he desires whenever he is on the pitch. For the sake of Manchester Unitedai??i??s future success, their fans, and David Moyes, it would be much less of a concern if it was the former two reasons, rather than the latter.

Forget Liverpool, Aguero And Negredo Are Here To Reckon, David Moyes Fails With Kagawa And Felliani | UCL Match Day 4

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