Three hot spots in the Man City

Man Utd's disjointed system and Man City's explosive attack will be the deciding factors in today's Manchester derby.

Man Utd's disjointed system

One of the biggest problems for Man Utd since the start of the season has been the lack of cohesion between positions in the team. The defense tries to stay deep, perhaps due to lack of speed and not daring to move up, while the attack tries to press and close down the opponent's defenders. From there, Man Utd's midfield opens up many gaps for the opponent to exploit.

This is an issue that was exacerbated earlier in the season when United's midfield three was often a combination of Christian Eriksen, Casemiro and Bruno Fernandes, without a distributor. Kobbie Mainoo's return from injury has helped improve United's midfield, but the lack of support around him means the 18-year-old is still left trying to solve the problem on his own.

The defense sits deep while the defensive midfield pair pushes up to support the attack, creating large spaces. Screenshot — The defense sits deep while the defensive midfield pair pushes up to support the attack, creating large spaces. *Screenshot*

The failure to completely overcome this problem is a clear failure for Ten Hag and his associates. Things will be even more serious against Man City, a club with many attacking stars with the ability to move between the lines and exploit space.

Ten Hag will most likely continue to use the central midfield duo of Casemiro and Mainoo. Ideally, Casemiro will play low and sweep while Mainoo will play more freely with the ability to move flexibly and link up play. Meanwhile, Fernandes will still play highest to wait for counter-attacks. But this trio needs to play in sync and minimize gaps, otherwise they will be punished by Man City.

The explosive potential of Man City's midfield

Man Utd's weakness is Man City's strength, when coach Pep Guardiola has attacking players who exploit space very well. Phil Foden, Bernardo Silva or Kevin De Bruyne are all very dangerous when receiving the ball in the final third of the field to make a difference.

With Rodri firmly in the defensive midfield role, the other two central midfielders can play free, higher up the pitch to build up play. And with their superior ball control, Man City have plenty of opportunities to progress the ball into the opposition half and find the likes of Foden and De Bruyne in space.

A build-up against Brentford showed that Man City have a lot of options to deploy thanks to the players moving flexibly to create space. Screenshot — A build-up against Brentford showed that Man City have a lot of options to deploy thanks to the players moving flexibly to create space. *Screenshot*

This forces the opposing defenders to leave their positions to cover, which then gives Man City space elsewhere to exploit.

The problem Man City pose to Man Utd’s defence will be whether to leave these attacking stars free to carry the ball in open spaces or to push defenders out of position to try to win the ball. Either option comes with significant risk.

Haaland

Erling Haaland has the physicality of a target man and the pace of a striker who wants to exploit space in behind. This will force United's centre-backs to play closer to Andre Onana's goal, with Raphael Varane and Harry Maguire's lack of pace meaning they will want to restrict the Norwegian's space as much as possible.

Haaland’s presence is another factor Ten Hag must consider when planning to deal with the positional threat posed by City’s midfielders. If the defenders come out to tackle City’s midfield, Haaland will have more space to attack. If they stay deep, De Bruyne and his teammates will have space to turn and attack the penalty area.

Haaland accelerated after Kristoffer Ajer slipped to score to help Man City beat Brentford 1-0 in the 18th round of the Premier League at Etihad Stadium on February 20. Photo: Reuters — Haaland accelerated after Kristoffer Ajer slipped to score to help Man City beat Brentford 1-0 in the 18th round of the Premier League at Etihad Stadium on February 20. Photo: *Reuters*

Haaland's movement and pace when getting past defences can be extremely dangerous and this style of play will be even more dangerous against Man Utd's defenders who lack effective pace.

The 23-year-old striker is also on fire and preparing well for the Manchester derby when he scored five goals in the 6-2 win over Luton Town in the fifth round of the FA Cup on the evening of February 27. This is the second time Haaland has scored five goals in a match for Man City. The previous time was in the 7-0 win over RB Leipzig in the second leg of the 1/8 round of the 2022-2023 Champions League.

Hong Duy

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