this match
Manchester City football club
Lining up 361, backs Akanji, RubenDias, Ake, backs Rodri & Stones, frontcourt lining up DeBruyne, Gündo?an, Mahrez, Grealish, striker Alvarez.
Liverpool (England)
Instead, they continue to line up in a 433 with Salah, Jota, Gakpo up front, Fabinho, Henderson, Elliott in the midfield, and VanDijk, Konate, Arnold, Robertson in the back.
(Both teams start)
The early part of the game was spent on the offensive.
Manchester City
The use of pushing Stones forward to strengthen the midfield wall did work better to neutralize the
Liverpool (England)
of the forward press, while DeBruyne and others get more support up front allowing
Manchester City football club
Can create more opportunities
Liverpool (England)
use
Manchester City football club
The counterattack on the press was not expected to happen quickly, and at 15:00 Fabinho took the ball in the backcourt and passed it to Arnold, who saw
Manchester City football club
Jota had already pressed to the halfway line, so he played a long counterattack, Jota came out of the center of the field and was not offside, Akanji chased back to block Jota in the box, but Salah followed up with a powerful shot from the 16-yard box.
Liverpool (England)
The confidence of Scherzer grew after he scored a point, and they kept on playing.
Manchester City football club
Counterattacks on the right flank.
Manchester City football club
With the formation being close to a three-guard, the sides did have gaps, with Robertson and Salah both getting space on the left, however
Manchester City football club
Can still barely make it to the lowest moment to clear the ball away
Manchester City football club
They also continued their offensive attack, using the wings to move across the field and wait for the center to move up to pile up the attacking numbers in the box before passing into the box. At the 26:00 mark Mahrez took the ball on the right and moved across the field, followed by Gündo?an, who took the ball and passed it to Grealish on the left.
Manchester City football club
Having already invaded the box, Grealish crossed back into the middle of the field, where Alvarez met him eight yards out and easily flicked the ball home for the equalizer.
Manchester City football club
The tactic of concentrating forces in the center did work, with Gündo?an and DeBruyne concentrating on receiving the ball in the center and then splitting it in two ways.
Liverpool (England)
The center could not be completely blocked by Fabinho alone, and Henderson was forced to stay back and repeat the operation over and over again.
Liverpool (England)
The two wingbacks will have to back off, too.
Manchester City football club
Able to overwhelm in possession
Liverpool (England)
The first half ended in a stalemate, but the second half started with a change of scenery.
Liverpool (England)
Moving up to try and force a takedown, but
Manchester City football club
Getting Alvarez back near the center line, he took the ball and made a big distribution deep down the right flank where Mahrez accelerated to catch up with the ball.
Liverpool (England)
The defense didn't expect the pass to go that deep and couldn't recover in the middle of the field, Mahrez played a cross to the right side of the box and DeBruyne was able to easily get past Van Dijk and follow up from 7 yards out before the keeper could get a hand on the ball.
Manchester City football club
The tactic of charging up the middle clearly suppressed the
Liverpool (England)
, they continue to press forward.
Liverpool (England)
meet with (sth. unfortunate)
Manchester City football club
The center of the field was crowded with two or three players, and soon couldn't take it anymore. At the 52:52 mark, Mahrez took the ball again and cut into the penalty area, Alvarez quickly followed up to the center of the field and received his pass, and then made a number of false moves to shake off Fabinho and then shot the ball, which was blocked by Arnold, and then Gündo?an who had already squeezed in front of the goal, easily kicked the ball into the left corner of the net to score.
Liverpool (England)
It's tempting to fight back, but
Manchester City football club
Already dominant in the midfield.
Liverpool (England)
The midfielders were unable to move up, so that they were unable to support, and the backs on the wings were unable to move up.
Liverpool (England)
Attacking on the wings in the second half was poor, unable to play the counterattacking on the wings that they are so good at allowing
Manchester City football club
Getting more consistent, Fabinho and Henderson can't hold off in midfield
Manchester City football club
Wave after wave of attacks coming straight in from the center causing the entire midfield formation to be unable to move forward was also key
