1. The middle of the pitch behind the press was fairly vacant, due to the central midfielders being pulled wide and/or high up the pitch, and the centrebacks being pinned by the forward line. Brillante could push up into this space to receive the ball behind the press, while Atkinson could carry the ball by dribbling into the large amount of space. Further forward, the attackers could drop into the hole to receive the ball in space

2. Space in the channels - wingbacks were high up the pitch, meaning that there was space in the channels that had to be covered by the outside centrebacks, and Mourdoukoutas came out to track Noone as he dropped deep. It became a 2v2 up front; Maclaren and Wales vs McGowan and Jurman. With the outside centrebacks kept busy by Noone and Wales, Maclaren would run into the channels behind them, looking to latch onto balls played into the channels. The space behind Maclaren would be empty, so the wide attackers would look to run into the space left behind, just outside the 18-yard box.

3. Confusion over coverage in the ‘hole’ - when the ball bypassed the midfield press, there was time and space just outside the 18-yard box. The central midfielders were often pulled out of position, and the wingbacks would sit just outside the centrebacks to form a line of 5. City had a bit of time on the ball in this space, as Atkinson and Jamieson both underlapped and occupied these spaces, without direct opponents in this area. With Berenguer and Susaeta joining in, City could work overlaps to create crossing positions, shoot, or play a cutback to the edge of the box. Wanderers had to send back one or two of their three attackers to help provide the numbers to defend these spaces.

Wanderers direct

With City dominating possession, Wanderers’ play on the counter was key, and they aimed to hit the ball long to the strikers. The idea was that the three attackers would be in close proximity to each other to win the long ball/second ball and then drive towards goal. While Cox managed to win 6 out of his 7 aerial duels, the layoffs to and support from his teammates was lacking. This wasn’t helped by the attackers having to come fairly deep to help with defence.

In possession, play was focused on the flanks, through the wingbacks pushing up (video). They looked to receive the ball wide, then look inside to combine with the three attackers, but the interplay was quite poor, which was aided by City’s numbers in midfield. As such, in the first half, it looked like a very rigid team, with 7 focused on defence and 3 focused on attack, without much linking play.

The goal they scored seemed like exactly the kind of goal they were set up for - a long ball up into the striker, switch of play to the onrushing wingback, quick passing exchange to get into space through a defence stretched by the 3 attackers.

In the second half, the wingbacks pushed up higher faster, to help out on the break. They found themselves on the end of long balls more often, but again, the interplay found itself lacking, and they struggled to maintain possession.