Swansea City tactics
Swansea managed to grind out a win at Arsenal by defending deep for long periods of that game before playing on the counter. This time Garry Monk wanted to provide the home supporters with better entertainment so he adopted a possession-based approach.
That meant a return to the Swansea way with holding midfielder Jack Cork dropping in between the splitting central defensive partnership of Ashley Williams and Federico Fernandez to initiate attacks from the back.
Jonjo Shelvey was the second central midfielder in a 4-2-3-1 formation. He helped Cork in building patient attacks through the middle. Gylfi Sigurdsson operated in the number 10 role where he also pushed forward to support Bafetimbi Gomis.
When the Swans had the ball in the final-third they had to use the flanks. Jefferson Montero linked up with Neil Taylor down the left flank, while Jazz Richards supplied width down the right side. Nathan Dyer made diagonal runs inside from right midfield to join Bafetimbi Gomis in the box.
When out of possession, the hosts had to start pressing very high up the pitch with Gomis occupying the visitors’ central defenders while Sigurdsson minded Fernandinho. Dyer and Montero tracked back with the Citizens’ full-backs down the flanks while Shelvey and Cork protected the back-four as the defensive midfielders.
Man City tactics
Manuel Pellegrini kept virtually the same starting XI from the 6-0 thumping of QPR last weekend. The plan, as usual, was to keep play in the offensive half by dominating possession and pressing very high to win the ball back early.
The only change saw Yaya Toure come into the side as the central midfielder with the licence to push on and work the ball. Fernandinho sat in front of a high defensive line as the holding midfielder dictating play from the base of midfield.
James Milner started as the right attacking midfielder, keeping width down the right flank looking to link up with an overlapping Pablo Zabaleta in order to provide service into the box.
Aleksandar Kolarov had to be the sole provider of width on the left because Silva needed to drift in-field to affect the game between the lines.
Frank Lampard was the central attacking midfielder supporting Sergio Aguero while also linking up play alongside Toure and Silva.
Aguero completed the 4-2-3-1 formation as the centre forward looking to make runs in behind whenever Swansea held a high line. The Argentine also dropped into pockets of space in front of the visitors’ back-four looking to receive the ball before driving goal-wards.
When out of possession, Aguero led the high pressing while Toure joined Lampard in backing that up by pressing on Swansea’s central midfielders.
Silva pulled out wide to complement Milner in engaging on the hosts’ full-backs. That left Fernandinho as the defensive midfielder minding the space in front of the back-four.
Key tactical changes
Both sides showed genuine offensive ambitions by committing enough numbers in the attacking half to sustain attacks. Ironically, that gave both sides a better chance of scoring from quick changeovers as they were gaps in behind to exploit.
The Citizens were better at transitioning quickly into offensive positions and they consequently led 1-2 by half-time.
In the second-half, the Swans edged the midfield battle and they levelled the score so Pellegrini took off Lampard to add more energy in his midfield. Jesus Navas came on as a right attacking midfielder while Milner slotted in the number 10 position to help Toure and Fernandinho in the middle of the park.
The game continued to have chances at both ends but Manchester City’s switch helped them take the lead, again forcing Monk to sacrifice some control in midfield for more presence in the box.
The Swans boss introduced Marvin Emnes as a supporting striker to Gomis in the last 10 minutes. That switch made the hosts more dangerous with direct attacks but they lost the midfield battle, with only Leon Britton and Cork as the central midfielders competing with City’s central midfield trio.
That left the Swans struggling to enjoy enough possession in order to sustain pressure on Pellegrini’s men.
