Manchester City hosted Villa in a 4231 position with Akanji, RubenDias, Gvardiol, RicoLewis at the back, Rodri, B.Silva at the back, Grealish attacking midfielder Foden, Doku on the wings, and Álvarez up front
Villa played 4231, with defenders Carlos, Langlet, Konsa, Digne, backs Iroegbunam, Douglas Luiz, attacking midfielder Rogers, wings Zaniolo, Moussa Diaby, and striker Durán.
Both sides were on the attack from the start. City used the tactics of Grealish and Doku in their last game and this game continued. In attack, they quickly played on Villa's weakness of defensive inconsistency. grealish broke through and got into the box a number of times in the first 10 minutes, and Doku could continue to make an impact on the right flank as well!
Soon after, City suddenly pushed in the attack on 11 mins and the ball from Rodri on the waist became Akanji's. Rodri had moved forward by now and Villa's backs weren't catching up early. Foden then gets the ball, dips into the box and splits.Doku accelerates to the byline and passes to a 45 degree cross. By this time Rodri had caught up with the ball 8 yards inside the box and the Villa defense could not stop City's penetration.
After that, City's pressure used to leave Villa in disarray at the back, and RicoLewis was very effective in controlling the passes through the midfield. It got into the Villa box on 19 minutes, but Álvarez was cut off and Villa launched a counter-attack. At this point, RicoLewis had no time to come back upfield. When Villa saw an opportunity on the flank, they attacked the area. They played a very nice fast transmission attack, Rogers at the top of the arc of the box and Durrá while Zaniolo, although offside, deliberately stayed out of the attack, disrupting the judgment of the City defenders, Durán sprinted 9 yards outside of the box and without stopping the ball, shot directly to the ground to break through the goal
Villa's attack was beautiful. While City's RicoLewis is strong in attack and midfield organization, he's not strong enough to defend and chase. This was more of a true midfield dummy wingback.Walker wasn't at right back, which still had a big impact on the right side of City's defense
Although the two teams were level late in the first half, City kept Villa at bay and Álvarez playing up front was very effective and completely different to haland. He could continue to make quick short passes. This game stood out even more with Villa's lack of ball breaking ability at center back. He could have been passing vertically against the likes of Foden behind him and then pulling shots out of space and forcing the Villa midfield back. As soon as the Villa midfield backed off, the City midfield came up.
Just before the end of the first half City had a free kick in front of goal and Foden broke straight through. Villa's wall made a serious mistake. zaniolo missed a space as he took off, allowing Foden to shoot through the wall in front of him. City lead 2-1.
The second half started with Villa trying to gain the initiative quickly. It was effective at first, but soon City continued to control the game. It was clear that City were not always splitting the sides and pulling in this game, but more often going back and forth down the middle in vertical pairs of passes. The attacking players involved included Álvarez, B. Silva, Foden, and even Riquelme, and these four had formed a group that squeezed into the top of the Villa box. Because of the smooth passing back and forth, Villa's defenders didn't dare to break the ball. In fact, they kept standing in the same position. As a result, City could keep controlling the ball. Although Villa had chances to launch counterattacks, the number of attacks was too low and moussadiaby had few chances to get the ball. They mostly relied on Zaniolo on the left to attack, rarely shifting and pulling. City gradually got used to the situation and there were fewer and fewer gaps.
Before Rodri's pressure reached 61 he played a lateral ground ball under DouglasLuiz just before he tried to break and Foden followed up with a direct shot from behind the 17-yard box which hit the post very hard to give City a safe 3-1 lead.
This ball was a great pass by Rodri. In this case, opening up the back of the defense creates space for Foden.Foden's shot is very accurate and he's in great shape.
