Manchester City Vs Manchester United 1(7)-1(6): Finally The Community Shield Enters The Cupboard of Guardiola With The Citizens
Tactical Analysis And Report of The Community Shield Game
Since the arrival of Pep Guardiola to take over Manchester City, there was no trophy that the Citizens didn’t lift except for the community shield. The cup always went to the opposite side. However, nothing lasts forever. So, Pep Guardiola’s boys finally broke the knot and won the missing cup within the Spanish manager era with the club when they defeated the red side of Manchester in a penalty shootout after a 1-1 draw during the original time of the game.
Both coaches entered the match with absentees. Erik Ten Hag put Onana as the protector and the initiator of the Red Devils’ attacks. Harry Maguire and Jonny Evans started in the middle of the backline, whereas Diogo Dalot and Lisandro Martinez operated as right and left backs respectively. Kobbie Mainoo and Casemiro formed the double pivot of Manchester United's midfield. Ahead, Marcus Rashford hugged the touchlines on the left, Bruno Fernandes wore the captain's armband as the playmaker of the team and Amad Diallo showed once again why he should be the right winger. The striker spot was filled by Mason Mount due to Rasmus Hojlund injury during the preseason.
On the blue side, Ederson was the goalkeeper of Manchester City. Rico Lewis, Manuel Akanji, Ruben Diaz, and Josko Gvardiol constructed the defense. In front of them, Mateo Kovačić was responsible for the progression duties alongside Nico O'Reilly and James McAtee. Jeremy Doku and Oscar Bobb stretched the width of the pitch and Erling Haaland was the attacking threat leading the front line.
United 4-2-4 mid-block and City 3-1-5-1 In possession:
The start of the game was a prolongation of the FA Cup Final that saw Manchester United winning the trophy by adopting an effective out-of-possession system. The same happened at the start of the Community Shield game as Erik Ten Hag instructed his players to form a 4-2-4 mid-block closing central access against the 3-1-5-1 of Manchester City in possession. The red double pivots were given the responsibility of taking charge of Nico O'Reilly and James McAtee. However, the latter often was shifting across the touchlines to pull Casemiro out of his position but the Brazilian stuck to his place controlling intruders to his space. As a reaction, Rico Lewis started to invert to the midfield which was a signal for Marcus Rashford to follow him. Lewis's inversion resulted in a situation where Oscar Bobb found himself in a 1v1 situation against Lisandro Martinez and McAtee taking place near Casemiro allowed Jeremy Doku to be isolated against Diogo Dalot on the wing.
The same pattern repeated itself on the other side. Marcus Rashford was caught between Manuel Akanji and the inverted Rico Lewis whilst Bruno Fernandes was late at jumping toward Ruben Diaz who exploited the time and space he had to feed Lewis between the lines. The latter freely penetrated the box as Lisandro Martinez’s attention was on Oscar Bobb's possibility to combine with the right back. Manchester City number 82 played the ball toward Haaland but nobody was in the middle to finish the chance.
Erik Ten Hag’s Team Build-Up Issues:
Manchester United still have problems in the construction phase. The lack of a concrete strategy was obvious and made the backline resort to useless long balls which the blue defense managed to win easily. Lisandro Martinez took multiple positions during the buildup phase. He tucked inside to form situational double pivots with Kobbie Mainoo allowing Casemiro to advance, and then he dropped to take Jonny Evans’ position who pushed on to the left-back spot. But, the Red Devils struggled to bypass Manchester City's 4-4-2 block and progress forward. Guardiola’s boys’ press intensity led to a miscommunication between Martinez and Evans. And a miscued pass from the butcher went straight to Oscar Bobb then to McAtee whose cruved ball hit the far post.
It’s certainly that Erik Ten Hag must work on improving his team in the construction phase. Nevertheless, his boys are neat and explosive in transitions. It was actually the source of their first big scoring chance in the first half. Diogo Dalot and Bruno Fernandes doubled up against Doku on the left side of Man City and succeeded in regaining the ball, passing it to Casemiro and transition.
After three minutes, Marcus Rashford missed the second big chance for Manchester United after brilliant work in three phases. Jeremy Doku closed the passing angle on Harry Maguire in case he chose to go to Diogo Dalot. James McAtee man-marked Casemiro, Erling Haaland and Oscar Bobb were intentionally distant from Evans to deceive Maguire and make him pass the ball to him. Once it was played, the Norwegian professional ran fastly toward the target (Jonny Evans). However, Kobbie Mainoo came deep as an outlet, handed the ball to Lisandro Martinez, and combined with him to progress to the midfield. Mason Mount was the cog to switch the play to the right side where all the Manchester United threat came from. A combination of Bruno Fernandes, Kobbie Mainoo, and Casemiro left the latter in a position where he put Rashford face-to-face with Ederson. However, The English winger's shot lacked accuracy and curled the ball outside near the far post.
The Red Devils Long Balls:
The rhythm of the game calmed down a bit. Manchester City as usual possessed the ball and Manchester United with the 4-2-4 mid-block tried to cut the ball off and hit the Citizens on the break. The state of the game remained as described until Lisandro Martinez with a progressive through ball behind Manuel Akanji put the captain in a situation where he bent the ball toward the far corner of Ederson. Unfortunately, the goal was disallowed because Bruno Fernandes was offside.
Erik Ten Hag decided to make substitutions on his playing team. Toby Collyer, Scott McTominay, Facundo Pellistri, and Alejandro Garnacho replaced Kobbie Mainoo, Mason Mount, Harry Maguire, and Amad Diallo. That saw Lisandro Martinez getting back to his main position, Facundo Pellistri operating as right-back and Diego Dalot playing as an inverted fullback from the left. On the other side, Pep Guardiola made some replacements. Matheus Nunes took Nico O'Reilly's place in the midfield Jeremy Doku made way for the new signing Savinho who showed some flashes of his ability in terms of dribbling and crossing the ball toward Haaland's head.
Manchester United slightly improved in the buildup with Lisandro Martinez back to play as a left center-back. But, they insisted on pulling City’s block out and launching long balls behind the backline.
The Red Devils kept attempting to play long ball over. From a throw-in delivered by Josko Gvardiol toward Savinho, Pellistri was able to head the ball down to Casemiro. The latter exchanged passes with Toby Collyer and then found Bruno Fernandes free. Ruben Diaz jumped over his national teammate which evacuated the space behind for Garnacho to exploit. Bruno Fernandes spotted him running behind and fed him with a ball over. The Argentinian professional got Rashford lurking in the center and did what his captain should have done before: he created a goal-scoring opportunity for the number 10 but his ball hit the bottom of the post.
In fact, the red side of Manchester was overall good off the ball. Toby Collyer and Casemiro took charge of Matheus Nunes and the cameo Bernardo Silva respectively. In the buildup, Gvardiol noticed Nunes shifting across. The Portuguese midfielder carried the ball until he found himself doubled up by Pellistri and Collyer on the left side. The duo was able to recover the ball and counterattack. Facundo Pellistri shipped the ball to Bruno Fernandes between the lines who gave it to Garnacho. With courage and bravery, he took the initiative, cut inside, and finished the ball on the left bottom corner giving his team the lead.
After the goal, Jadon Sancho came in for Marcus Rashford, and Manchester United set in a medium block to protect the score. However, the plan didn’t go as Erik Ten Hag wanted. Savinho combined within a tiny space with Oscar Bobb on the right. With a simple but effective and flashy movement with the ball, the Danish winger got away from Lisandro Martinez and put the ball on Bernardo Silva's head who tied the score for his team.
Takeaways:
The game went to penalties and Manchester City finally lifted the community shield with Pep Guardiola. Of course, it is the start of the season and nothing can be said or conclusions can be drawn on how both teams will perform. But, what is certain is that the Spanish coach will hardly try to convince his boys to battle against the mammoths of England for the fifth consecutive Premier League.
For Erik Ten Hag, the off-ball system looked overly good but problems in possession are still there and need a lot of work. In addition, it is obvious that Manchester United have to add new players as soon as possible who will contribute to the improvement of the play.
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