Man City 2-0 Chelsea: Of tactics and moments of magic

The blue side of Manchester hosted Chelsea at the Etihad on Sunday in a closely contested match. It was the kind of match where those rare moments of brilliance turned out to be the match deciders. A Joe Hart penalty save, a Toure goal, and a Tevez blaster turned the match in City’s favour.

Guess, who’s the happier of the two?

TEAMS

MANCHESTER CITY (4-2-3-1):

Hart – Clichy, Nastasic, Kolo Toure, Zabaleta – Rodwell, Garcia – Silva, Yaya Toure, Milner – Aguero

CHELSEA (4-2-3-1):

Cech – Cole, Luiz, Cahill, Ivanovic – Lampard, Mikel – Hazard, Mata, Ramires – Ba

FIRST HALF – A GLIMPSE OF BOTH TEAMS THIS SEASON

The first half was not great by any means. Tactically, Benitez opted for a counter-attacking game plan, giving City impetus to keep the ball. It wasn’t a bad move really, as City does have the strongest defence in the league statistically, and breaking them down proved to be a tall order even for the likes of Mata and Hazard. City’s line-up, on the other hand, was a strange sight with Yaya Toure in an advanced position and Jack Rodwell partnered with Javi Garcia deep in midfield.

As the first half wore on, City saw more and more of the ball with some astonishingly profligate finishing despite Chelsea’s catastrophic defending. Honestly, both teams played well enough, just not at the top level that they are expected to, which not so surprisingly describes their respective seasons so far. City were better though in overall terms. Chelsea did enjoy a few bouts of possession outside the City box, but seemed only capable of winning possession on being fouled.

SECOND HALF – THE THREE MOMENTS OF MAGIC

The game started where it was left off, with the hosts picking up the mantle once again, putting the Chelsea defence under pressure. Then came the first moment of brilliance when 5 minutes into the half, Chelsea were awarded a penalty after Demba Ba was brought down by Joe Hart. Lampard, who was a goal away from completing a tally of 200, stepped up to take the spot kick. Much to City’s delight and Chelsea’s shock, Joe Hart guessed right and made a diving save to deny Lampard’s 200^th club career goal.

Mancini made the first move by replacing the influential Rodwell with Tevez, and Chelsea were left to think about the resulting change in City’s overall shape. City made the decisive breakthrough an hour into the game when they survived a Chelsea attack and then counter-attacked successfully. A cool curling shot by Toure marked the second moment of magic, and Chelsea were simply undone by the sheer quality of the City attack.

Any hopes that Chelsea had were quickly dashed by the stunning strike by Tevez that literally came out of nowhere. 2-0 and it was effectively game over.

A TACTICAL WALKTHROUGH

Ramires was a crucial tactical failure in Benitez’s counter-attacking system.

A counterattacking game plan is a good one only when the team on the counter does not lose possession cheaply. Even more criminal would be to not get back quick enough to support their defence after failing to counter properly. Chelsea were guilty on both accounts.

Ramires was simply put, poor. His positioning higher up was to ensure a quick counter using his pace and drive. Ironically, it was his position that led to his poor display. Used to the attackers drawing away the opposition from him, Ramires is generally able to make incisive drive-in runs, but playing higher up meant that he could never really make those runs, having to cope with a defender all the time. Lampard’s unusually lacklustre performance forced Mata to pick up the ball deep inside the Chelsea half, and that left Hazard and Ba completely isolated.

Rafa Benitez has been under fire continually, and his decisions today certainly did not help his cause. While Mancini’s substitution was full of purpose, Benitez never really enforced anything with his subs.

But take nothing away from Man City as they played with chemistry and good individual contributions. That they had to yet again rely on a few moments of individual brilliance for their goals would be a concern. Zabaleta in particular was very good in shackling down Hazard, who never really got into his element throughout the match and had to be brought off eventually.