Man City - Sunday Times article

[211203 0]

Thought people might be interested in the analysis in the paper yesterday from the 2 Napoli games.  As Napoli got a win and a draw they must be doing something right.

 

1.   Napoli were happy to concede possession to the Man C centrebacks and De Jong who they viewed as their weakest passing players.  All 11 Napoli players were expected to cover back and close down all the rest.  The idea being to force their weaker passers to play penetrating balls rather than have an easy outlet to one of the creative players.

 

2.   Man C play very aggressively down the flanks with their fullbacks getting well forward.  When they lose possession, the space left open on the flanks needs to be exploited at speed with high balls into it.

 

3.   Also they tend to let space open up between their midfield and centrebacks.

 

4.   The Napoli manager emphasised, as you''d expect, that all his players needed to be right on top of their game and not to let their concentration slip.

 

The article also pointed out that Man C are obviously taking the "we''ll score more than you" approach.  Against Fulham they were 2-0 up but failed to close out the game and ended up drawing.  Against Bolton they were 2-0 and then 3-1 up, both times they let Bolton get back to within a goal and apparently Bolton came close to an equalizer near the end before losing 3-2.

 

It''s hardly rocket science, and as I''ve said on another thread, we''ll never be favourites even to get a point on Saturday.  But I really hope we don''t give them too much respect, keep tight and close them down, and make sure we keep playing our own game going forward - like we did at Old Trafford - and we could get something out of the game (still disappointed we didn''t come away with at least a point from that one).

 

 

[lake district canary 0]

This is a good analysis, totally related to what happens on the pitch and not too reliant on stats - and it makes a lot of sense.

Napoli were intelligent, disciplined and competetive and on top of their game. We can do that - and with a bit of luck we can ruffle afew feathers up there.

[Shack Attack 0]

An interesting post (which is obviously why it only has one response) and although Man City are a very good side they are beatable. I wouldn''t necessarily say that we are going to beat them but you have to have a plan. There is further analysis of the second game in Naples here from [url=http://www.zonalmarking.net/2011/11/23/napoli-2-1-manchester-city-tactics/]Zonal Marking[/url] which reinforces some of the ponts made by the Sunday Times article.

 

Napoli play with a 3-4-3 system which they have used for at least the last couple of years and maybe longer. Their natural game is to soak up opposition pressure and then strike at pace on the counter attack. If you watched the Champions League game last week you would have noticed that Lavezzi often leads these counter attacks by taking up deeper positions on the left than Cavani and Hamsik. He is very direct with the ball at his feet (he is almost Huckerbyesque in both the positions he takes up and his running style [:D]) and against City he looked to exploit the space left behind and inside Zabaleta and take advantage of a lack of pace in the City midfield. Man. City do push their full backs right up (especially if Richards plays on the right) so there is space to exploit but obviously you have to weigh up the desire to exploit that space with the need to cover their attacking runs.

 

I don''t think we quite have the pace (both in terms of speed of leg and speed of ball movement) to play the way Napoli did. You need that player like Lavezzi who can drop deep and turn and run at their defence. You could argue that Bennett could play that role but I''m not convinced that he makes the right decision with his final ball enough times (it''s a winger thing [;)]) and for the tactic to work you have to make the most of your opportunities on the break.

[Rob Sims 0]

Napoli were very good, i was impressed with them.

I think if norwich invite pressure onto themselves they will be opened up.

Kambert will have a plan, i will put money on draw as no doubt it will be 3 or 4 to 1! you never know!

[Rob Sims 0]

L & K too close together, *Lambert.

[Aggy 944]

[quote user="Shack Attack"]

Napoli play with a 3-4-3 system which they have used for at least the last couple of years and maybe longer. Their natural game is to soak up opposition pressure and then strike at pace on the counter attack.....I don''t think we quite have the pace (both in terms of speed of leg and speed of ball movement) to play the way Napoli did. [/quote]

As Rob says above, I also don''t think we can "soak up opposition pressure", never mind worrying about whether we''ve got the players to hurt them on the counter.

I''m sure Lambert will have a plan. I won''t try and second guess the niceties of it (who marks who and tracks back where, whether we double up on certain players or attack specific areas etc.), but I WOULD be surprised if the general mantra isn''t the one that we''ve had for the past two years plus - ie; we''re still going to essentially play our game, attack you with decent football. I simply don''t think we can set up with 11 behind the ball and try to bully the opposition out of a win. We haven''t got that type of squad.

[211203 0]

Some useful comments here - it sounds like Napoli were able to play to their natural strengths in taking advantages of Man C''s weaknesses.  I''m not suggesting Lambert should just show the players a vid of the Napoli games and say "off you go lads - just play like that.  Job done."

 

But we are going to be under sustained pressure for large parts of the game on Saturday.  Against Man U we conceded a lot of possession to their back line and did an excellent job closing them down in our half and protecting our back 4 against through balls.   We were a lot tighter at Old Trafford than we were against Arsenal and I really hope we can recapture the approach we had against Man U.

 

And at Man U we didn''t just sit back and soak up the pressure, we tried - with a lot of success - to play our own game throughout and created plenty of chances, enough to have drawn or won with slightly better finishing and decision making in the box. I''m hoping we do the same on Saturday.

 

Another concern I have is weakness on our flanks - against Villa and Arsenal we left our fullbacks too exposed and we need to be set up to give them more support.

 

Yes it''s just speculation, but I figure that highlighting some of Man City''s weaknesses before Saturday can''t do any harm !

[lake district canary 0]

We have to try and get in their heads abit. They will expect to win easily and may be prone to being too casual on occasions. This could work to our advantage because a PL team is 100% concentrating throughout the whole 90 minutes. If we are quick on the counter attack and good in defence - as we were against MU, we could surprise them.

It''s a great game in prospect. Wish I had a ticket!!