The Technical Area – Assessing City’s 3-4-1-2

This evening we bring back our series of “Technical Area” articles which offer tactical insight on a match or team each Gameweek. While the Guardian chalkboards are no more, this season we have built our own maps and charts to feed these articles and to provide a preview of the kind of tools and content available to our members…

Having obtained Opta data from Sunday’s Community Shield match between City and Chelsea, we were all set to analyse each side’s respective systems in terms of Fantasy potential but the dismissal of Branislav Ivanovic weights the head-to-head team comparison too much in Man City’s favour. As a result, we’ve decided to take a look at the league champions’ new 3-4-1-2 formation, as utilised by Roberto Mancini is several pre-season games prior to yesterday’s match – in particular, we focus on the midfield area.

Milner and Kolarov
Looking at City’s average position (below left, top), the system played out more like a 3-2-3-2 yesterday. With Vincent Kompany (4) stationed deep and central, the wide-positioned centre-halves afforded City plenty width at the back, which allowed James Milner (7) and Aleksandar Kolarov (13) to push far forward on the flanks – when in possession, the duo were almost as far up the field as Samir Nasri (19). Indeed, the pair received more passes in the final third of the pitch than any other City players; Milner’s 22 and Kolarov’s 20 were superior to frontmen Carlos Tevez and Sergio Aguero, with 17 and 14 respectively.

Mancini’s system demands the pair supply plenty of balls from out wide and both delivered time and again; Milner registered 11 crosses and Kolarov 10 but the former’s distribution in the final third was relatively poor. The former Villa man has a lowly 71.4% pass success rate in this area – compare that to Kolarov’s 86.7% or Nasri’s 89.5% and it’s clear that, despite creating four goalscoring opportunities for his team mates (more than any player in yesterday’s match) there was plenty room for improvement in Milner’s contribution.

From a Fantasy perspective, these positions will clearly be crucial to City in the season ahead if Mancini decides to operate with such a system. What also looks essential in order for this formation to flourish is a high work-rate in these key areas. Both players made three tackles each – a tally bettered only by Pablo Zabaleta – while the pair also demonstrated strong aerial ability; Kolarov won four duels in the air, more than any other player yesterday, while Milner was next best with two, alongside Vincent Kompany and Nigel De Jong.

It seems unlikely that Nasri or David Silva will be suited to the wide roles in such a system, then, meaning the pair would likely battle it out for the role in “the hole” behind the front two whenever Mancini rolls out this tactic. With the City boss also playing the likes of Zabaleta and Gael Clichy in the back-three, the versatility of the City full-backs could well prosper from a Fantasy perspective within such a line-up.

Despite Mancini’s post-match uncertainty over the tactics, there’s no doubt the new formation has been a definite hit so far for the Etihad club, with Wigan’s successful implementation of a three-man defence in the second half of last season highlighting its capabilities within the Premier League, if utilised intelligently.

A quick glimpse at City’s shape in their previous encounter against Chelsea (left) highlights the difference. Silva (21) and Nasri (19) were the wide men that day but both have a tendency to cut inside when on the ball and, for all their intricate possession, Mancini’s men lacked any real width further up the field – a criticism that was levelled at the champions on a number of occasions last term. It’s perhaps debatable as to whether this will be their default tactic but it clearly offers City a very strong Plan B, going on yesterday’s performance and result.

Toure and Nasri
As David Silva continued to build up his fitness with a brief cameo yesterday, Yaya Toure and Nasri took the opportunity to grab our Fantasy attention with a goal apiece in the 3-2 win. As the average position map (top,left) highlights, Toure (42) was relatively deep, playing just ahead of Nigel De Jong (34) but he was the beating heart of the City side, making an incredible 100 passes – a statistic that will no doubt catch the eye of Fantasy managers playing the Sky Sports game, bearing in mind the new bonus point system. For all his possession, though, Toure rarely ventured into the final third with any real intent – he made just 10 successful passes in the final third and scored with his only effort, firing home from outside the box after a poor John Terry clearance.

Nasri, however, demonstrated the danger he could carry when playing in “the hole” in this new system. The Frenchman made 17 passes inside Chelsea’s defensive third – the most executed by any City player, with only two of his passes going astray in this vital area. The former Arsenal man also managed two shots on target inside the box; once again, this stat was higher than any of his team mates and, with a goal and assist for his endeavours, he scored 15.3 in our ICT Index, the top mark for Mancini’s side in yesterday’s 3-2 triumph.

Having looked at the midfield, our next step is to analyse the respective displays of Carlos Tevez and Sergio Aguero within the system in a separate “Versus” article exclusively for Members. With a price difference of 9.0 to 11.5 in FPL, the question of who to plump for is a hot topic on the site right now ahead of Saturday’s rapidly approaching deadline, with Tevez’s goal already boosting his ownership considerably over the past 24 hours.