Tag Archives for " Man City "

Man City v Liverpool-08-30-2014

HOW THE MATCH WAS WON by Keith Scarlett English Premier League 25 August, 2014 Man City 3 v 1 Liverpool Manchester City made their first big statement of the new season with a punishing display against a Liverpool side who were gutsy but failed to take their chances, ultimately suffering from individual errors; a common theme

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Importance of the Final Pass In Scoring More Goals

By Stevie Grieve, Author of Coaching the 4-2-3-1, Modern Soccer Tactics and Winning Soccer Tactics.

Manchester City and Arsenal go into this match both undefeated in the league, with Arsenal looking like a different team after some major changes in the summer – losing Robin Van Persie and Alex Song, Pat Rice retiring and Steve Bould moving to become Assistant Manager, signing Santi Cazorla, Lukas Podolski and Olivier Giroud. Different doesn’t mean worse, but defensively solid and with a new talisman in Santi Cazorla.

Man City brought in two central midfielders and a centre back in Javi Garcia, Jack Rodwell and Mateja Nastastic, but they still have major players like Yaya Toure, Sergio Aguero, Vincent Kompany and David Silva.

In this game, both teams lined up in a 4-2-3-1 formation, but City playing mainly on the counter attack with Arsenal enjoying 59% possession.

Arsenal’s defensive organisation in the 4-2-3-1

Aguero receives as Arsenal drop back to recover into defensive positions, the back 4 and 2 holding midfielders are in

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Create Unpredictable Attacks Like Man City

By Stevie Grieve

This article is an excerpt from the books, Modern Soccer Tactics Volume 1&2.

Many of the most expensive players have been attackers. Most of the attackers have either been goal scoring machines, or players who play with flair and surprise the opponent with unpredictable dribbles, passes and shots from nowhere, that often result in goals, or goal scoring chances.

Carlos Tevez is one of these players. He is renown for his work ethic, and his ability to harass defenders when he doesn’t have the ball, but what separates him from hard working attackers is his ability on the ball. We have seen him score from long range, score tap in’s, dribble between multiple defenders in tight spaces, and take shots so early that the goal keeper cannot react to it. This week, against Norwich, he scored 3 goals, including one from long range that was taken so early that Ruddy the Norwich goalkeeper couldn’t get close to at his near post from 30 yards. What we also saw was his ability to play with flair and unpredictability with team mates of the same mindset, namely Sergio Aguero.

Tevez and Aguero play a 1-2

Man City have an attack with David Silva who passes left to Tevez. Tevez spots

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How Man City and Barcelona Break Down a Bunkered Defense

By Waleed Zaghloul

Manchester City has just won the Premier League after beating QPR in dramatic fashion. What City has faced during this game was very similar to what they and Barcelona have faced almost all season. Many games have seen teams defending against these two fancy teams with 10 and 11 players for the whole game. It was interesting seeing Drogba playing as a left back against Barcelona in the Champions League.

Chelsea and Real Madrid have played way too negatively against Barcelona in recent weeks and so did QPR against Manchester City in the recent historic game. The worrying sign to us coaches is the fact that Chelsea and Real Madrid achieved their goals from such negative tactics and QPR almost did the same. Such negative mentality has been advocated in recent years by Mourinho when he was at Inter Milan (against Barcelona in the Champions League) and by van Marwjiik with the Netherlands at the World Cup final against Spain.

Many teams have become proficient at bunkering down or “parking the bus” in front of their goal. This necessitates coaches becoming better at teaching their team how to break down such bunkered defenses (or at least trying).

Variety is Key
A respected FIFA coaches instructor once said that how well a team is coached is usually apparent in the way they create chances. The better coached a team is, the more effective ways they have to break down the opposing defense.

Ball possession is important in football, but as most coaches can attest possession does not guarantee winning games (ask Guardiola!) So what could be done to increase your team’s success chances when it comes to breaking down bunkered defenses? I concur variety is a key factor!

Variety means utilizing different ways of attacking the opponent. This includes playing wide and attacking through the wings. It includes penetrating attacks though the middle, shooting from distance and attacking through set pieces specially free kicks and corner kicks.

Let us have a look at how Manchester City was faring against QPR in the variety sense.

First Goal – Principles of Attack
City switched play to the right wing, but after Zabaleta was closed down, they switched to plan B which was penetration though the middle (against nine defenders in the box with the tenth player just outside the box).

This goal involved several attacking principles carried out very well. The City players were

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How Manchester City Won the EPL Title

This article is by Stevie Grieve and is a sample excerpt from a new book "Modern Soccer Tactics", which is due for release this summer. This book takes a look at the top professional teams like Barcelona, Real Madrid, Man Utd, Man City, etc. and breaks them down tactically. The book also includes practical drills and exercises on how you can teach these tactics to your own teams.

We don't have a definite date yet, but look for it some time this summer.

This excerpt is from the analysis of how the five goals were scored in the final game of the season between Man City and QPR. The book is packed full of these kind of articles and observations.

Diagonal Runs around the box create goals by Stevie Grieve

In the final game of the English Premiership season, there were lots of teams with something to play for – no less than Manchester City v QPR. Manchester City need to win to guarantee winning the league, QPR need to win to guarantee avoiding relegation. If City don’t win, they need to hope Manchester United don’t win at Sunderland (they win 1-0). If QPR lose, they need to hope Bolton don’t win away to Stoke City to avoid relegation.

Manchester City 1st goal – Zabaleta makes run diagonal run inside to receive the last pass

Silva spreads play wide looking for a 2v1, as Zabaleta has pushed forward and he normally arrives

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