FC Schalke 04 2-3 Manchester City: 5 Talking Points

#3 Schalke's defensive approach fails... twice!

Schalke players trudge off, rightly disappointed after squandering a 2-1 lead against ten men!

It was clear in the early exchanges that Schalke had set up specifically to defend in numbers against a City side who have scored goals with devastating ease this season. Domenico Tedesco's tactical decision to play three central defenders in a 3-4-1-1 formation - which forms a 5-4-1 out of possession, might have made sense on paper.

On the pitch though, this strategy only invited pressure on the hosts as Pep's 4-3-3 and Fernandinho (originally deployed at centre-back) moving further forward, meant they were regularly overwhelmed in the centre. This forced plenty of the defensive workload and hard running off-the-ball on the aforementioned Bentaleb and McKennie in particular, who had to regularly regain possession and retain it, which is easier said than done.

Aguero's goal and the manner in which they conceded was quite frankly embarrassing, as a string of tame loose passes invited City forward to score and they netted one of the easiest goals they'll score this season.

But after Bentaleb's double from the spot, you'd have thought they would be more resolute at the back right? In fairness, they were at times but crucially not when it mattered most as time wore on in an eventful second-half.

Matija Nastasic and Caligiuri made some important defensive interventions when called upon, but the same could not be said for the rest of their backline. Jeffrey Bruma and Salif Sane were shaky throughout and didn't exude confidence upon goalkeeper Ralf Fahrmann - while they did their best to contain with 34% possession. The fact they didn't record a shot on target besides the two goals speaks volumes for their level of success.