If Guardiola coaches an average team, will he have the ability to make the team leap forward?

In order to be at the forefront of modern football technical and tactical thinking, we have jointly opened a tactical column ---- "Tactics Exhibition" with UEFA A-level coaching qualification coach Yang Yang***. This issue is We bring you an analysis of the tactical system of Manchester City's first team. Manchester City's performance and results have fluctuated greatly this season. Guardiola's spending money and targeted tactics in Manchester City have successfully transformed Manchester City from a local tycoon to a giant, but can he help Manchester City realize their dreams? Can Manchester City help him realize his dream?

European football tactical styles and concepts are being updated and eliminated at a rapid rate. Coaches are becoming more and more capable of adapting tactics to each other. A systematic tactical play can only have 1-2 at most. The glorious period of the season was quickly broken by tactics and fell from the altar. This forces coaches to integrate and develop different tactical concepts and thinking within limited formation options, and to continuously upgrade and adjust existing tactics.

Josep Guardiola i Sala, the coach with the most championship titles in the 21st century, from Barcelona to Munich to now Manchester, his understanding of football seems to always be ahead of this era, it can be said that Guardiola's position is a banner coach who has influenced the development of today's football. He is almost paranoid about technical and tactical excellence in order to develop the maximum potential of the players in the team. Guardiola's football philosophy is like It is a complex and sophisticated instrument that seems to prepare targeted tactical arrangements for all players under its control. When it is running well, it is extremely smooth, but the early assembly, deployment and running-in require a huge price.

Next, we will try to analyze Manchester City’s football philosophy under Guardiola through a simple field position map. The team’s initial formation position: 1-4-3-3

A good coach will choose the formation based on the number of players in each position of the team, personal ability characteristics, and evaluation of developable positions and abilities. frame. As can be seen from the picture above, Manchester City's basic formation is the mainstream 1-4-3-3 formation in Europe. The defense line consists of the right back (LAT D), center back (CT), center back (CT), and left back (LAT I). ), the midfield consists of a deep-lying midfielder (MC DEF), a left central midfielder (INT I), and a right central midfielder (INT D) in an inverted triangle position. The three attacking frontcourt players are classic left wingers ( EXT I), right winger (EXT D), center (DC).

Different from the Barcelona and Bayern era, the improvement in the depth of the bench allows Guardiola to have more space in player selection and matching. What follows is the technical and tactical control of the same position. The selection of players with different characteristics also forces Guardiola to make more targeted adjustments or even changes to the overall tactical thinking that has been matured during Barcelona and Bayern.

Formation changes during the ball phase 1

As we mentioned before, today's football has a tendency to lean towards a more radical three-back formation, and more of the team's offensive attributes are The ultimate reason for this trend is that with the emergence of high-intensity and highly systematic teams with outstanding defensive capabilities, such as Atletico Madrid, traditional positional offense has fewer people participating in the attack due to its inherent nature. The inherent disadvantage of the number of people involved in defense makes it even more difficult to break through against a team with a complete defensive system.

At the same time, the defensive pressure borne by a single defensive midfielder is too high, and the requirements for player ability are too high, which is no longer universally applicable in today's European football. Therefore, while stabilizing the midfield defense and at the same time investing more offensive players in the ball phase through formation adjustments, it has become a problem that coaches must consider solving.

As can be seen in the picture above, when the right winger (EXT D) uses a forward-footed (right-footed) player, the left winger (EXT I) uses an inverse-footed (right-footed) player, and the left back (LAT I) When using a left-footed (left-footed) player with stronger offensive attributes.

Guardiola limits the proportion of full-backs on one side who can join the attack. The right back moves in to the midfield position and forms a diamond-shaped position in the middle of the midfield with the two center backs and midfielders. The overall offensive focus of the formation is towards the left wing. Tilt

The right winger pulls wide to maintain the overall offensive formation's use of the width of the field. The left winger moves in to the opponent's rib space while maintaining the numerical advantage and echo with the inserted left back on the wing. The central midfielder presses forward as a whole, forming a triangular relationship with the defensive midfielder and center to maintain a sufficient ball route in the middle. It seems that the five players participating in the attack in the midfield and frontcourt are lined up horizontally, but there is no Make good use of the deep space of the site. We will further explain this issue below.

Formation change 2 during the ball phase

When considering the opponent's overall formation and players' technical and tactical characteristics, sending out full-back players with more outstanding defensive capabilities, and one winger chooses an inverse football player , when choosing a player with the ability to plug in for the central midfielder position. Guardiola's tactical arrangement for the team during the ball possession phase is: the full-back position on the same side of the inverted winger moves forward and presses forward, forming a "double midfielder" in the center with the defensive midfielder, using the full-back's own defensive attributes Enhance the midfielder's ability to intercept lost balls and alleviate the defensive pressure and lateral movement distance shortcomings of a single defensive midfielder. At the same time, since the full-back does not have the tactical task of covering the side, the distance to return to defense during the transition from offense to defense is greatly shortened. In addition, the full-back's own attributes in terms of turning speed and return speed ensure the maximum protection of the wing. placement rate.

At the same time, the weak-side full-back also moves in to the central position, forming a "three-back" relative position relationship with the two central defenders, and at the same time forming a "three-back" relationship with the full-back and defensive midfielder in front of him. Pentagon" position. On the offensive level, it ensures the occupation of the midfield space, forming a large number of ball routes, and at the same time forming a deep triangle position relationship and ball route with the two central midfielders who are retracted; on the defensive level, the two full-backs did not use The traditional side tactic, in fact, the position of the four players on the back line and the midfielder ensures that the overall defensive proportion of the formation has not been weakened.

In terms of midfield and frontcourt: the left and right wingers maximize the width of the formation and destroy the relative position of the opponent's defensive players. The two central midfielders press forward to the ribs between the opponent's center back and the full back on the same side. In the inner area, it attracts the opponent's midfield defensive players to retreat to compress the opponent's overall defensive formation, weakening the threat to the opponent's back line caused by the opponent's quick counterattack after losing the ball. At the same time, the defensive midfielder is used to perform large-scale lateral transfers to find the side gaps formed by the opponent's defense line when the overall lateral movement occurs.

Formation changes 3 during the possession phase

Compared to the already "radical" three-back formation, the sufficient reserve of high-level players has allowed Guardiola to establish an even crazier and even more Due to the unreasonable "two defenders" formation. In terms of the choice of left and right full-backs, Guardiola completely abandoned the use of offensive full-backs. The left back moved in to the middle of the midfield to increase the rigidity of frontal defense in the middle with the single midfielder, and the right back moved in to the middle of the midfield to act as In the actual sense of the "right midfielder", the right center midfielder with excellent offensive ability will move forward significantly and form two contact points in the penalty area with the center. Overall, Guardiola's team's formation is "1-2-4-4" during the ball-playing phase in the midfield and frontcourt.

In this formation change, the defensive capabilities of the two full-backs are utilized to the maximum extent. By increasing the intensity of local counterattacks in the midfield area, it naturally forms a target for high-position pressing during the transition from offense to defense. Sexual tactics. At the same time, because the two full-backs are in the midfield position when the ball is in possession, their return running distance is greatly shortened when the team switches from mid-high pressing to mid-back defense, keeping the team's position to the maximum extent. The integrity and defensive efficiency of each defensive phase.

At the same time, central midfielders (De Bruyne or Seat B) with excellent ball-playing and shooting abilities ensure the number of attack points in the team's penalty area by inserting behind them, or through long-distance shooting outside the penalty area. Shoot to complete the second attack. The positional relationship of 1-3-4-3 in the frontcourt during the ball phase

Different from Klopp's retreat of the midfielder to form a "three backs", Guardiola uses the right back's adduction to connect with the two. Two central defenders form a three-man central defense line, which not only ensures the inherent playing position and functions of the defensive midfielder, but also avoids the restriction of the two central midfielders in the middle to participate in the attack due to the backward movement of the defensive midfielder position.

The design of the inverted winger cutting in to the rib area of ??the opponent's defense and the full-back covering the bottom will have the following effect when facing a team with a four-back formation: after the full-back covers the side, he will The opponent's full-back and the center back on the same side who move laterally to assist and protect are positioned against the opponent's winger or midfielder who is adducted to the rib area. On the one hand, the winger can attack the opponent's center. It disrupts the opponent's defense, and at the same time adducts to the opponent's rib area to receive the ball and directly face the opponent's center back on the same side.

On the one hand, it improves the success rate of breakthroughs, and on the other hand, it can create a 1x1 situation for the center to confront only one of the opponent's center defenders, instead of the traditional 2x2 on the wing (own full-back + own winger) x (the opponent's full back + the opponent's full midfielder), a 1x2 (own center) x (the opponent's two center backs) situation in the penalty area, and can even form an instant 2x1 (our center + forward central midfielder) x in the penalty area (an opponent's central defender) situation to increase the success rate of grabbing points in the middle.

Is the offensive position in the midfield and frontcourt "flattened"? No, "zippering" stage 1

About our previous situation of "the five players participating in the attack seemingly in the midfield and frontcourt were lined up horizontally and did not make good use of the depth of the field." For questions, we analyze the players' position on the field combined with their running routes.

We can see from the picture above that when the midfielder holds the ball to determine the direction of the attack, Guardiola requires the full-back on the attacking side to move inward to the winger in the rib area and move forward from the center. The two central midfielders and the center at the front of the formation perform crisscross runs back and forth, tearing apart the opponent's overall defense or the position of the opponent's defensive players in a specific area. This kind of running is like a "zipper" that opens up the space vertically.

In my personal opinion, this is an effective attempt when facing a team that defends the backcourt with high intensity and organization. If the opponent's defensive strategy is regional defense, through cross-tearing, an instant advantage in the number of attackers in a certain area can be formed to form a breakthrough point. If the opponent's defensive strategy is man-to-man defense or zone combined man-to-man defense, the defensive players in a certain area can be taken away by tearing outwards, creating a space behind the defensive players, or the height of the defense line can be further compressed by tearing inward, forming a A long shot was completed in the space near the penalty area line.

As can be seen in the picture above, the left back pulls forward to contain the right back who is being marked by the opponent, and the left winger pulls back and takes away the opposing full midfielder who is marking him, forming a gap between the full back and the center back behind the full forward. In the space, the center tears back and takes away the marking center back or midfielder to form a space between the two center backs behind him. The two center midfielders respectively complete the attack and then insert the attack.

After experiencing the confrontation with Real Madrid during the Mourinho period and the entanglement of various small and medium-sized clubs in the Premier League with the "big bus" formation, Guardiola seems to have gradually adapted and found a way to crack it.

Midfield and frontcourt defense in the off-ball phase

Regarding the tactical arrangement in the off-ball phase, Guardiola followed his basic concepts of midfield and frontcourt pressing in Barcelona and Bayern Munich and made Detailed corrections were made. Guardiola rejected the concept of "pressing immediately" and set the main battlefield of pressing in the midfield area of ??the opponent's half. The opponent is allowed to take the ball out of the penalty area and into the midfield area. The formation is retracted as a whole. The two wingers and the center retreat to the midfield, forming a "3-3" six-man group in the middle with the two central midfielders and the defensive midfielder. At the same time, the two center backs press forward and the three midfielders form a "2-3" secondary defense line. They compress the space and cut off the passing lines in the middle area of ??the opponent's midfield, especially the passes to both sides. ball route to reduce defensive pressure on the wing.

Defense in the frontcourt during the off-ball phase

When the opponent's wide players hold the ball, Guardiola's team uses basic man-to-man defense to complete the defense against possible passes. The ball line is cut off, and the overall formation is tilted to the side with the ball, which reduces the opponent's effective utilization of the court space and forces the opponent to make a large-scale long pass transfer to complete the scramble and interception of high-altitude balls.

That’s it for the tactical analysis of Guardiola’s Manchester City first team. So far this season, Manchester City has not performed satisfactorily under the pressure of the Premier League powers, the epidemic and injuries, but this Guardiola's transformation and improvement of this team cannot be denied.

On the other hand, after leaving Barcelona, ??Guardiola has yet to prove himself again in the Champions League. At the same time, while Manchester City has won all the honors in England, it is also increasingly eager to take the Champions League trophy into its arms. So, with a luxurious lineup, can Guardiola and Manchester City finally complete each other?