english premiership - man city v arsenal

7/29/2019 English Premiership - Man City v Arsenal

1/9

English Premiership Manchester City v Arsenal

Manchester City and Arsenal go into this match both undefeated in the league, with Arsenal looking

like a different team after some major changes in the summer losing Robin Van Persie and Alex

Song, Pat Rice retiring and Steve Bould moving to become Assistant Manager, signing Santi Cazorla,

Lukas Podolski and Olivier Giroud. Different doesnt mean worse, but defensively solid and with a

new talisman in Santi Cazorla.

Man City brought in two central midfielders and a centre back in Javi Garcia, Jack Rodwell and

Mateja Nastastic, but they still have major players like Yaya Toure, Sergio Aguero, Vincent Kompany

and David Silva.

In this game, both teams lined up in a 4-2-3-1 formation, but City playing mainly on the counter

attack with Arsenal enjoying 59% possession.

Arsenals defensive organisation in the 4-2-3-1

Aguero receives as Arsenal drop back to recover into defensive positions, the back 4 and 2 holding

midfielders are in position and able to deal with the 3 Manchester City attackers. Jenkinson will go to

press the ball while Arteta and Diaby will get back and pick up the zone around the edge of the box.


2/9

Aguero cuts inside but Arsenal are organised to force an easy to save shot

As Aguero cuts inside, Mertesacker is in position to press, with Koscielny covering the central line

and the front of Silva with Gibbs marking Silva himself. Arteta can press Sinclair if he is passed to

with Diaby covering the centre line behind Arteta. City have 3 v 6 here and Arsenal clear the ball.

Arsenal find a way through Citys narrow 4-2-3-1 defence

Arteta turns away from Toure and sees Gibbs making the run ahead of Citys narrow defence. Arteta

must find a pass for Gibbs but as City have the centre covered; it must be lifted over the top.

Podolski spins and makes the run central for Gibbs, who will have an option to pass to.


3/9

Gibbs makes a decision and Podolski doesnt read the intentions

As Gibbs receives the pass, Podolski holds his run in the space between Lescott and the edge of the

box looking for Gibbs to control and lay-off into. Gibbs volleys 1st

time when controlling the ball

couldve given him more time to pick out a pass or score himself.

Arsenal penetrate quickly but Gervinhos bad touch loses the chance to score

Cazorla plays a pass 1st

time to Ramsey who drives into space ahead of the City midfield. As Ramsey

takes his 1st

touch, Gervinho makes a run behind Clichy to offer penetration, Ramsey plays the pass

but fortunately for City, he receives 22 yards out and with his first touch, passes the ball 10 yards

into the hands of Hart in the City goal. If Gervinho takes a good 1st

touch, it is likely Gervinho scores

at the end of a good fast penetration attack from Arsenal.


4/9

Man Citys goal Podolski loses concentration and Lescott punishes him with a goal

Arsenal have set up to defend along the 6 yards box with 4 players along the 6 yard box, 4 inside 6

yards with the GK, and 2 towards the edge of the box. All players seem ready to defend except

Podolski who is circled. City have 5 runners and a late runner from deep.

Podolskis lack of movement is punished

As we can see, all other Arsenal players have moved forward to attack the ball in expectation of the

corner coming in, and expect Podolski to have done the same, but he hasnt leaving a space inside

the far post that Lescott can attack. Lescott has moved away from the ball so he can make a run and

jump to attack the cross ahead of Podolski and scores for 1-0 City.


5/9

City creates a 3v2.

Aguero knocks a pass off to Silva as City win the 4v3 battle for possession. Silva dribbles ahead of the

Arsenal midfield line.

Silva drives forward at pace but unfortunately plays the pass a little behind from where Aguero

would ideally like the ball to be to receive and shoot with where Koscielny cant tackle.


6/9

City waste another 3v2 Toure fails to pass on time and allows Arsenal to recover

Toure touches the ball ahead of 2 opponents in midfield and drives pace into the space, with Tevez

making a clever diagonal run across the field to make a 3v2 with options on both sides for Toure.

Toure gets into perfect position to release either Tevez or Aguero who could go through on goal to

score, but he fails to play the pass and continues into the box with 3 Arsenal players recovering.


7/9

Aguero finally receives the pass but Koscielny is in position to make the shot difficult

Toure takes too long and Gibbs presses him, forcing him to play a rushed pass which reaches Aguero

slowly, giving Koscielny more time to press the ball and make the shot more difficult, which Aguero

misses from a tight angle.

Gervinho has Arsenals last chance to score and win 2 -1 in the last minute

Gibbs dribbles forward and splits Man Citys midfield, with Gervinho checking off to receive the pass

into feet. Walcott makes a diagonal run to the left which helps take away Kompany, with Giroud

pulling wide to take away Clichy, leaving Gervinho 1v1 against Lescott.


8/9

Gervinho turns and beats Lescott, but loses composure and misses the chance to win the game

As Gervinho receives, he flicks the ball away from Lescott and with the goal infront of him, he loses

all composure and instead of picking a corner and scoring, he smashes the ball well over and wide of

the goal, leaving the match to end 1-1.

Training session to develop timing of the final pass and scoring of chances


9/9

Set up 3 teams of 4 or 5, playing on a field 50 yards long and 60 yards wide. To score, the scorer

must be inside the final 12 yard zone when receiving to score in one of the 2 small goals.

To start the attack pass into the coach (white) who returns the ball into an attacker, the defence

move to defend from that starting position. After being the attacking team, you become the

defensive team starting on the opposite end line. Play with high intensity at game speed.

Coaching Points:

Ask players questions of which runs make space or allow a possibility to receive Ask players which passes in various areas would be most effective to create chances Ask players how to isolate one defender and how they can make 1v1s or 2v1s to find a way

to score from inside 12 yards

Progressions/Variations:

Play with an attacking or defensive overload depending on abilities of players Remove 2 of the small goals and ask one team to score into the full size goal from inside 20

yards

Make a time limit for each attack Play an individual points tournament game 5 points for a team win, 2 points for a draw, 1

point for a player who scores, 4 points for a clean sheet for the defending teams players. For

example a 0-0 draw scores both teams players 6 points, a 1-0 win scores 1 point for the

goal scorer, the team all 4 points for the clean sheet and 5 points for the win 10 for the

scorer and 9 for everyone else.

Give challenges to certain playersthe playmaker; makes x amount of assists gets an extra x amount of points for hitting target

The striker; try to score as many as possible gets an extra amount of points for hitting target

The winger; try to dribble 1v1 against full back and create a goal - as above

english premiership - man city v arsenal

Documents