⚪️⚫️ Team Analysis
Eddie Howe's defensive strategy against Manchester City
▫️ Defensive plan detailed
▫️ Protect width and avoid numerical superiority between the lines
▫️ Adjustments to do in the execution
THREAD ⤵️🧵
Eddie Howe's defensive strategy against Manchester City
▫️ Defensive plan detailed
▫️ Protect width and avoid numerical superiority between the lines
▫️ Adjustments to do in the execution
THREAD ⤵️🧵
Defend against Man City is very hard, because the team has to find a balance between covering flanks as quick as possible, and avoid stretching lines too much so City players can't attack spaces created. That was the biggest challenge for Eddie Howe players.
Whether it be Foden or City quaterbacks (Rodri, Kovacic), if they have enough space to find players between the lines, City makes the difference. That's why Newcastle's 4-5-1 out of possession was precious to not let time to Rodri/Akanji for making vertical passes.
It worked for many minutes. We all know City wants to use width at the end. But, making a wide pass from the defense is easier to counter, than after a vertical pass which eliminated 3-4 players before. Eddie Howe understood it well.
Newcastle tends to use this system when the opposition is dominant in possession and use width as their biggest weapon. This animations is a good balance, but only when defensive and midfield distance have close distances between the two lines (we will see why later).
Pressing City's quaterbacks was the key part of Howe's defending process. Given the way Walker and Grealish position wide and quickly, Tonali and Guimaraes frequently pressed them high so the wide pass can't be possible.
But you can't avoid this kind of situations too long when you face such an elite team in possession. When City made the difference with vertical passes between the lines, the order was to block vertical options, even if it would imply to sacrifice wide positions (flanks).
Eddie Howe's defending process started from the press, inevitably. As he said in press conference 'be brave enough' to press City at the Etihad so they don't put pressure in you penalty box all the time. With all the risks it could contain (spaces behind).
Pep talked about being patient enough against Newcastle, making the extra pass before creating the difference. And yes, it's tempting to press Kovacic and leave a space. This is when individual small errors that made Newcastle in trouble.
Newcastle, didn' fall in the defending process, as I could have read in some press. However, they didn't manage to exploit good defending actions, with easy passes failed.
First pass after recovering the ball is as important as the defending process in my opinion. Because if you fail the first pass, the team has to defend two seconds after believing they countered opponent's plan, it could put more mental pressure.
Some runs in behind could have jeopardized even more Newcastle defense. Against Liverpool, this situations will be far more used than City, that's why I think Eddie Howe has insisted on this topic in training sessions this week.
Maintaining a press on Akanji-Rodri-Kovacic, even if Newcastle has a very disciplined team in the efforts committed, is a hard mission to do it. However, it was surprising those quaterbacks were more pressed when they were in midifield rather than close to penalty box.
That's why, in this Newcastle defensive plan, I needed to dissociate intentions from the execution.
The strategy was logic and coherent, with many interesting aspects to counter City.
And Howe will make efforts to erase those small errors in the execution. No doubt.
The strategy was logic and coherent, with many interesting aspects to counter City.
And Howe will make efforts to erase those small errors in the execution. No doubt.
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