Explaining Manuel Pellegrini's tactics and the future of Manchester City

The interiores should be new signings Jovetic and Navas. Don’t get me wrong for not fielding Silva, but the only reason I have named the two players are cause they’re new signings and we can talk about their roles. I clearly see Silva being able to play the role Cazorla played at Malaga without any trouble.

Jesus Navas has a big role to play

Jovetic and Navas are of the same breed as they can easily play on the wings and cut in the middle to have a pop at goal.

Upfront, I really like how Pellegrini has gone about with the capture of Negredo. He’s probably one of the few strikers who can drift towards the flanks with ease in the modern game. His partner is fast, nippy and can create space for himself while Negredo will feed on precise through balls.

Once again we see a lot of triangles, and this time we could have a look at it:

The transparent extra circles you see on the arrows that point towards the full-backs movement show that they are able to combine with defensive midfielders as well.

These triangles are like the lungs of the system. Without it, everything will come crashing down. Though it’s not the same as Barcelona’s, it also has it’s own advantages and negatives.

An advantage being that it always gives you options when you’re looking for a pass ,or when you’re moving up the field , you move together as a unit.

Disadvantages being if the full-backs don’t push up, the system doesn’t work. If the defensive midfielders try attacking, which could happen with Toure, then they can all be vulnerable on the counter-attack as they were under Mancini.

Now lets have a look at the 4-2-3-1, which Pellegrini employed with Real Madrid to earn a draw against Barcelona -

The 4-2-3-1 is quite famous in the Premier League, with the pace and physicality of the English game perfectly epitomized by it. From defense to defensive midfield, expect it to be the same as the 4-2-2-2. In my opinion , this formation has more chances of being used than the 4-2-2-2, only due to the fact that, Silva, Navas and Jovetic can be used together.

Silva in the middle can be an anti-interiores, moving from inside to the flanks, while Navas and Jovetic can continue what they did in the 4-2-2-2. Up front, they either have Sergio Aguero and either of Negredo or Dzeko.

The point being that like Pellegrini used Kaka as a second striker, Silva will need to play the exact same role. The best part about this is that the new signing, Jovetic can also be used in the middle to push forward and effectively change the formation back to a 4-2-2-2. One hand signal, and the whole formation changes. Flexibility or may I say Pellegrini at his best.

To conclude this piece, I cannot stress enough on how different Pellegrini is when compared to the other managers. The only one who’s tactical aptitude can come close to that of the new City manager is maybe the Jose Mourinho of Inter Milan or the Arsene Wenger of Monaco.

No one can accurately predict what the tactician has in mind, a footballing fan can however, only hope that it brings the best out of Manchester City.