Should Roberto Mancini let his talented Manchester City squad express themselves?
Mancini was being criticised for being far too negative in their last two home matches against Birmingham and Manchester United, both of which ended in goal-less draws. However, he let his attacking players go out and play their natural game; the result
was a resounding 4-1 win away at Craven Cottage, which isn’t an easy place to be.
The score line is pretty much flattering when considering the kind of form City were in and also the fact that they were playing against a resolute Fulham side.
So, how did the defensive Manchester City side of last week suddenly put 4 past a decent opposition away from home? The answer to the question lies with the City boss Roberto Mancini, who made a tactical alteration to his team and decided to put two up front
in a must win game.
Last week, he was criticised for making negative substitutions, and rightly so. Not many managers would take of their captain and top scorer when their side needs a goal. However, he answered his critics in the best possible way by going on to smash Fulham
4-1.
For the game against Fulham, Mancini made a surprise change to his starting line up. He included Brazilian striker Jo at the expense of hard working James Milner. This raised a few eyebrows as he left the likes of Adam Johnson and Emanuel Adebayor on the
bench and preferred Jo over them.
This change meant that Tevez would have the much needed support up front. He has been on his own and at times has looked isolated in attack. But with Jo playing alongside him, it allowed Tevez more freedom and gave him the much needed support up front. This
in turn resulted in Tevez giving another man of the match performance. He scored 2 and also set up City’s third.
This system allowed the ever improving David Silva to play in a free role behind the two strikers. This is when the Spaniard looks most dangerous. He has the game intelligence and is technically gifted to open up defences when he is allowed to roam around
the pitch. He popped up on the left and the right and made runs through the middle to cause Fulham all sorts of problems.
Both Yaya Toure and Gareth Barry had the opportunity to join up attacks to aid Silva or come back to help the defence. This made it difficult for Fulham to mark as they would every now and then appear in open spaces left by the forward runs of Silva and
Tevez.
Only Nigel De Jong maintained his role of breaking the play up and sitting in front of his back line. The formation they played in the first half when the score line was 3-0 was a unique 4-1-2-1-2.
This formation also allowed their fullbacks to come and join up attacks, as we saw Zabaleta score one and then play a part in another goal. Mancini was clever enough to realise that his players had done the job for him in the first half before he decided
to revert back to his usual 4-3-3 formation with Jo on the left and Silva on the right side of the midfield.
Mancini has got the personnel at his disposal to play them in more than just 2 systems. However, he need not experiment a lot and should stick to a system, which suits his best players.
A much needed confidence boosting win is now under the belt and with just 6 games left in the league this year, Mancini should be confident that his squad has the required strength in depth and more importantly, the quality to get the desired results.
The festive period is almost upon us and Manchester City have a clear advantage over their rivals in terms of squad strength. Injury crises has led Chelsea to call up untested youngster for Premier League games, while Manchester City had the likes of James
Milner, Adam Johnson, Patrick Viera and Emanuel Adebayor on the bench at the weekend.
City fans have every right to be optimistic not only about their top 4 chances but also about their title challenge.
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