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ts1 - Overcoming The Pressing of The Opposing Forwards

Manchester City overcame opposing forwards' pressing in 3 ways: 1) Using a link player like Gündogan to receive the ball from the centre back and pass to Fernandinho or another free player. 2) When the full back was pressed, Gündogan again dropped deep as the link to pass to Fernandinho. 3) Against a 4-2-3-1, the link passed to the centre back on the weak side, usually Stones, who was then free to pass wide.

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169 views4 pages

ts1 - Overcoming The Pressing of The Opposing Forwards

Manchester City overcame opposing forwards' pressing in 3 ways: 1) Using a link player like Gündogan to receive the ball from the centre back and pass to Fernandinho or another free player. 2) When the full back was pressed, Gündogan again dropped deep as the link to pass to Fernandinho. 3) Against a 4-2-3-1, the link passed to the centre back on the weak side, usually Stones, who was then free to pass wide.

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nenadmnc
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TACTICAL SITUATION 1: Overcoming the Pressing of the

Opposing Forwards

In the following three situations, based on an analysis of Manchester City during the 2017/2018 and 2018/2019
Premier League winning seasons, we will take a look on how to overcome the pressing of the opposing forward.

Overcoming the Pressing of the Opposing Forward on the Centre Back


Using a Link Player (Against the 4-4-2)
The red forward (No.10) moves quickly towards the City centre back Kompany (4) to force him to play
wide (to full back) and create a strong side for his team to apply effective pressing. Pep Guardiola’s
City players find a way to move the ball to the other side by using link players.

In this example, the attacking midfielder Gündoğan (8) drops deep, offers a passing option and
becomes the link player to move the ball to the defensive midfielder Fernandinho (25), who is free
and has many passing options to players in space (35, 17, 19 & 10).

Overcoming the Pressing of the Opposing Forward on the Full Back


Using a Link Player (Against the 4-4-2)
In a similar situation to the previous example, the red forward (10) moves to press the right back
Walker (2). Red No.10’s aim is to force Walker (2) to play wide to the right winger Sterling (7) and then
apply pressing with 3 red players (3, 8 & 11).
With red No.10 restricting the immediate available space, City again use the attacking midfielder
Gündoğan (8) as a link player.

As soon as the red forward (10) moves to press the right back Walker (2), the attacking midfielder
Gündoğan (8) drops into an effective position to offer a passing option and become a link player.

Gündoğan (8) passes back to the defensive midfielder Fernandinho (25). Fernandinho (25) receives
free in space in the centre and has many passing options to players in space (35, 17, 19 & 10).

Overcoming the Pressing of the Opposing Forward on the Centre


Back Using a Link Player (Against the 4-2-3-1)
Against the 4-2-3-1 formation, the defensive midfielder Fernandinho (25) was most often restricted by
the opposing No.10.

This meant that the potential pass of a link player would not be directed to Fernandinho (25). Instead,
the link player would play back to the centre back on the weak side, which is Stones (5) in the diagram
example.

The red forward (No.9) moves quickly towards the Manchester City centre back Kompany (4) to force
him to play wide (to full back) and create a strong side for his team to apply effective pressing.

As he did against the 4-4-2 formation, the attacking midfielder Gündoğan (8) drops deep, offers a
passing option and becomes the link player. This time, he passes back to Stones (5), who is the centre
back on the weak side. Stones (5) is free and passes to the full back on the other side Zinchenko (35),
who can pass to the attacking midfielder De Bruyne (17) or the winger Sané (19) on the weak side.

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