Manchester City vs Atalanta –

tactical analysis
The Champions League returned for the third matchday of the group stage.
For several teams who have secured two wins out of two matches, this will be
the chance to move closer to a spot in the Round of 16. Meanwhile, a positive
result could be a platform for something bigger for the minor teams.

Manchester City were one of the few teams who were still unbeaten from the
start of the campaign with two wins over Dinamo Zagreb and Lokomotiv
Moscow. In a group where the English side have the highest possibility of
making it into the knockout rounds, it’s no doubt that they have and will
deliver. Meanwhile, Atalanta were expected to be one of the surprises in the
Champions League this season. But they have been underperformed as Gian
Piero Gasperini’s side were still looking for their first point of the campaign.

And before their trip to the Etihad Stadium, many have predicted this clash to
be the toughest for Atalanta. Indeed, only a few minutes after Ruslan
Malinovskiy’s opening goal, Man City started to push forward. A brace from
Sergio Agüero inside the first half was followed up by Raheem Sterling’s hat-
trick in just eleven minutes of the second period to complete a dominant win
for the home side.

This tactical analysis will provide an analysis of Man City’s 5-1 win at home
against Atalanta. Meanwhile, using statistics, we will point out the interesting
tactical points in Pep Guardiola’s tactics and what positives can Gasperini and
his players take home from his tactics.

Lineups
With most of his squad returned from different injuries, Pep Guardiola had a
near full squad to select from. He opted for a 4-2-3-1 formation. Aymeric
Laporte and Leroy Sané still remained sidelined as they are still recovering
from knee injuries. On the other hand, he welcomed two key centre-backs in
Nicolás Otamendi and John Stones back into the team and they both made an
appearance on the bench.

The Spanish manager started two central midfielders in Rodri Hernández and
Fernandinho as the two centre-backs in this match, which was a very
interesting point to note. Kyle Walker also trained with the whole squad in
recent weeks and he went straight into the right-back position.

Meanwhile, Gasperini went for his usual 3-4-1-2 formation along with the fact
that he also had a near full squad to pick from. With Duván Zapata absent
from this match, the Italian manager went for Atalanta’s captain Alejandro
“Papu” Goméz and Josip Iličić to lead the line, while Luis Muriel made an
appearance on the bench.

Playing behind them was new signing Ruslan Malinovskiy while the duo of
Timothy Castagne and Robin Gosens occupied both wings. On the bench,
they also had another wing-back duo in Hans Hateboer and another new
addition this summer in Guilherme Arana.
Manchester City’s style of play
As mentioned, the fact that Guardiola played Rodri and Fernandinho at the
heart of Man City’s defence was very interesting. Fernandinho is mainly
deployed as the destroyer in front of the defensive line in most matches.
Meanwhile, Rodri is more of a playmaker who tends to dictate the play and
make penetrative passes to create chances for his teammates.

To see those two paired up as centre-backs instead of Stones and Otamendi,

Guardiola clearly had something in mind. And indeed, it showed clearly when
Man City played out from the back. Their ability to carry the ball forward and
passing ability was two of the attributes that he wanted them to
demonstrate. Against an Atalanta side who pressed high up the pitch,
composure and concentration became important to circulate the ball among
the defence and then progressed it forward.

At times, Rodri also moved slightly up the pitch and created a double pivot in
the middle of the pitch alongside Ilkay Gündogän. This allowed Kevin de
Bruyne to join the attacking midfielders while also switching the team’s
formation into a 3-2-4-1. The pivots moved flexibly in between the defenders
and the attacking midfielders, acting as the link between them. They would
offer to pick up the ball, dictate the play and make decisive passes that could
create dangerous chances.

Furthermore, Guardiola’s inverted wing-backs still played a very important

role in his tactics. As shown below, Benjamin Mendy wasn’t hesitated to tuck
inside and became the third centre-back involved in the build-up. At the
same time, Kyle Walker moved wider to occupy the right-hand side. The
same thing happened when the build-up took place on the opposite side,
when Mendy stayed wide and Walker moved slightly into the half-space.
One of Man City’s build-up situations that involved the inverted wing-back and the double
pivots

But the role of an inverted wing-back doesn’t stop in the build-up. They also
played a key part in how Man City attacked, using movements inside the half-
spaces. Earlier in the situation that led to Agüero’s equalising goal, Walker
made a progressive run into the right half-space after being involved in the
build-up. Right from the start of his run, the former Tottenham defender had
already dragged along centre-back Andrea Masiello.

Firstly, his movement allowed Riyad Mahrez to move wide and stretched
Atalanta’s defensive shape. Secondly, when he entered the final third,
Masiello stuck with him and that created a big gap behind his back. Mahrez
made the most out of it by cutting inside rather than making a pass into
Walker’s run. He knew that Robin Gosens would be on his weaker side to
chase after him and wouldn’t be able to tackle the ball. A string of passes
came later which saw Mendy send a cross into the box for Agüero and his
close-range shot didn’t face any pressure.
Walker’s movement created an interior space for Mahrez to move in

Another attacking method that Man City also used was capitalising spaces.
During their build-up and transitioning process, Atalanta tended to push their
formation higher up the pitch. The aim was to suffocate the home side inside
their own half and allowed the players to recover possession more effectively.

But playing against a team who is good at bypassing pressure, Atalanta saw
their strategy being countered heavily. The likes of Phil Foden, Fernandinho
or De Bruyne didn’t face much trouble in progressing the ball out of their
defensive third. It was easy for them to reach the middle third and look for
potential receivers. Also, by committing too many players into the opposite
half, the visitors found themselves lacking players to defend against the
attack.

This, of course, created gaps in between the defenders and behind them.
Using intelligent movement and positioning, Man City’s attackers easily
turned up at the end of through passes. With the intention of coming back
into the match, Atalanta pushed up on more occasions in the second half. So
it’s no surprise to see the home side made the most of this method to
approach the 16-yard box.
Man City capitalised Atalanta’s press to create space and their chances towards Gollini’s goal

Being a wing-oriented team during the majority of the match meant that Man
City also tended to distribute the ball wide. We have analysed the importance
of inverted wing-backs in the team’s tactics during both build-up and
attacking situations. Their flexible movements combined with the ability of
both Sterling and Mahrez had created a dangerous threat from the wings.

On several occasions, the home side even attempted to use crosses into the
box. This allowed the players inside that area to continue their run while
beating their markers for a close-range shot. It happened in a similar way
when Sterling completed his hat-trick and rounded up the game for Man City,
with Mahrez found the England international with an exquisite cross.
Mahrez aimed his cross towards Sterling’s run and allowed the English winger to complete his hat-
trick

Defensively, Man City formed a 4-5-1 defensive shape to counter against

Atalanta’s attacking threat. Still, it is possible to notice on several occasions
of the match that Foden usually moved away from his position. He moved
slightly forward and switched the team’s defensive formation into a 4-4-2 by
positioning himself alongside Agüero.

By doing so, he prevented the scenario of the Argentinian striker would have
to press the centre-backs alone and lose the numerical superiority. With two
players and the support from two wingers, it was viable to create an overload
inside a certain area to win the ball back for a counter-attack. Although Man
City didn’t go for such an aggressive mentality when they attempted to
recover possession, Atalanta still struggled due to the fact that the players
were placed upon an intense pressure from their opponent. Therefore, the
possibility of a misplaced pass or a heavy touch became higher and the
opposition’s attackers could capitalise on that to initiate a quick attack.

Atalanta’s style of play

It is never easy to play against a team that is managed by Guardiola, as the
Spanish manager always shows a bit of flexibility in his tactics. Depending on
the opponent that his team is facing, he will adjust the formation and style of
play to fit and able to counter against the opponent’s tactics. Atalanta were
never an exception, and as he mentioned in his pre-match conference,
research was done and they had full confidence in breaking their tactics
down.

In contrast, though, Atalanta did enjoy a fairly successful first-half,

capitalising spaces to create chances. Using a five-man midfield and two
intelligent strikers, the visitors usually found gaps in between Man City’s
defenders. It allowed them to attack the box more easily by through passes
into their runs.

The image below was the perfect example for several of these situations
inside the first period. Although Man City remained discipline in their defence,
Remo Freuler still managed to send the ball towards Iličić. Unfortunately, his
first-touch was pretty heavy and allowed Fernandinho to recover possession.

Iličić moved into space in between Man City’s defenders to receive Freuler’s pass

The mentioned situation was not the first time the away side made the most
out of this method. Similar to Man City, they were a wing-oriented team and
tended to attack down both flanks. In Castagne and Gosens, Atalanta have
two dynamic wing-backs who can fulfil this attacking and defending
responsibility.

In this match, though, they preferred to distribute the ball into Gosens’ left-
hand side. As the image below demonstrated, the former Groningen defender
attempted to attack the space behind Man City’s defensive line. The home
side’s defensive line is usually pushed up preferring to defend zone 14.
However, this left the space in behind unoccupied.

It is worth noticing that Atalanta were able to do this due to the fact that the
strikers and the attacking midfielder positioned themselves in between Man
City’s defensive lines. They created a confusing situation of who should mark
who, which also pinned the line down. Another point that could also be seen
is Rodri tended to push higher than the other defenders. Not only during the
build-up situations, but he also did a similar thing on several of Man City’s
defending scenarios.

Again, the image below was not an exception, either. Notice how Iličić’s
positioning dragged the former Atlético Madrid midfielder out of his position.
If Gómez quickly moved into that space behind Rodri, he could be a viable
passing option for Malinovskiy and create a dangerous chance.

Gosens attacked the space behind Man City’s defensive line

During their build-up process, they also made the most out of their 3-5-2
formation. The three centre-backs tended to position themselves on the edge
of the middle third. Meanwhile, Malinovskiy wasn’t hesitated to move back
and join the other two central midfielders. They created a passing block
inside the middle third to counteract Man City’s pressing.

This brought them a huge advantage in winning numerical superiority and

also forced Man City to push their formation higher. While they were able to
circulate the ball among the block, Atalanta’s centre-backs should have gone
with the option of making long passes. Gómez and Iličić usually positioned
themselves on the shoulders of defenders, which made them great passing
options if they intended to attack the space behind Man City’s defensive line.

They also had two decent playmakers in their squad in Marten de Roon, who
had a decent knowledge about the Manchester-based club thanks to his
playing time at Middlesbrough and Freuler. The former registered 49 passes
in the match, the fourth-highest player in this aspect, while the latter only
had three passes fewer. With the factors that they had in the match, Atalanta
should have been able to create more chances towards Ederson’s goal.

An example of Atalanta’s build-up situation which involved their passing blockDuring their
transitioning process, there were a noticeable tactical point that helped them
circulate the ball much quicker. Whenever a player received the ball, there
would be at least two players came near him to offer passing options. This
third-man concept allowed Atalanta to create passing triangles wherever they
progressed the ball to while decreasing the chance of Man City players
tackled the ball away.

Atalanta’s third-man concept

But Atalanta weren’t the only team who used the third-man concept during
their transitioning process. Man City also put an emphasise on this strategy
and it was the main reason that helped the English side to gain more time of
controlling possession (55.3% compared to Atalanta’s 44.7%).

Generally speaking, this strategy allowed the ball carrier to create at least
one passing triangle with two players surrounded him. There would be one
player who positioned himself in free space and ready to receive the ball. In
the image below, the players who took on that responsibility were Rodri and
Walker. They stood in a position with no pressure when they picked up the
pass. In case the two players inside the overloaded area wanted to circulate
the ball out, they would be the destination of their upcoming pass.
Man City’s third-man concept when being pressed by Atalanta

As expected, Atalanta approached a defensive situation with their familiar

high-intensity pressing style of play. They also favoured man-oriented
marking, as demonstrated below. Each of Atalanta player would follow an
opposition’s defender, with the aim of suffocating Ederson’s passing options.
This would prevent them to build from the back, which was Man City’s
favourite style.

The pressing game was adapted by Atalanta on both ends of the field. Rafael
Tolói and Masiello had a responsibility of marking Man City’s wingers. That
left Djimsiti as a spare man, but Gasperini had other ideas for him. He would
mark Agüero, who played as a dynamic striker and followed him as he
dropped deep from his position. The Italian coach wanted his players to win
the ball as soon as possible and prevented them from reaching Gollini’s goal.
Man City used long balls to counter against this style of play on a fair few
occasions. To deal with that strategy, the away side deployed a high
defensive line while the strikers pressed the centre-backs.
Atalanta’s man-oriented press

When Man City progressed the ball into their half, Atalanta would form a 5-3-
2 defensive shape and focused on stretching the shape wider. Their aim was
to occupy both the central and wide areas and closed down any possible gaps
that Man City could capitalise on. As the home side were a team who tended
to distribute the ball quite flexibly, it required them to be disciplined while
limiting the space that the opposition’s players could make the most out of.

But as we analysed Man City’s style of play above, the players’ movements
were crucial when they played against this defensive juggernaut. On several
occasions, the likes of Agüero, Sterling, Mahrez or de Bruyne would roam
from their positions and drag along several of Atalanta’s defenders. As a
result, the visitors had had a tough day in limiting the home side’s attacking
threat, which also made the fact that they conceded five goals was
unsurprising. Furthermore, with ten out of fifteen shots on target, Guardiola’s
side had a very efficient day in front of goal and broke Atalanta’s stubborn
defensive structure down.
Atalanta’s 5-3-2 defensive shape

Conclusion
Before the match, many expected that this would be a very close match due
to the fact that both Manchester City and Atalanta demonstrated two
different attractive styles of play. Theoretically, the English side were no
doubt the side that was rated higher than their opponent. Although
Gasperini’s side managed to match Man City during the first few minutes and
even created dangerous chances, things started to shift towards the home
side, which showed in five goals that they scored.

With three wins out of three, Manchester City moves closer to becoming one
of the first teams that qualify for the next round. The Premier League
defending champion will hope to carry their form into their next three
domestic matches, in which they face Southampton twice. For Atalanta,
though, this match will be a valuable experience for them before they
welcome Man City in two weeks time. But first, the Italian club will have three
important clashes in Serie A with Udinese, Napoli and Cagliari respectively
with the hope of maintaining their unbeaten form in the last five matches and
their third place.