Barry's role

One of the main features of the Mancini era to date has been the return of a degree of tactical discipline. We were famously cavalier under Hughes, and our poor defensive record could be just as attributable to our throwing bodies forward as to individual defensive errors. The change of emphasis from Roberto Mancini is seen here in the changing role of Gareth Barry. At White Hart Lane - the last game before the board decided to sack Hughes - Gareth Barry made most of his passes in Spurs' half, but in drifting forward he made us too easy to break down. At Molineux, though, with the exception of one or two forays down the left, Barry has stuck closer to Nigel de Jong and made us harder to break down.


by Guardian Chalkboards

First half good...

Perhaps the main disappointment of yesterday - up there will the profligate finishing - was the failure to dominate possession in the second half. The best teams can close out narrow but comfortable wins in home games but yesterday we failed to control the game after the break. Wolves moved to 4-4-2, pressed us hard, and we ended up under real pressure, and only really threatening Wolves on the break.

You can see this on a Guardian chalkboard of yesterday's game. In blue are our successful passes made in open play: look at the volume of them in the first half, as Gareth Barry and Ireland knocked the ball around quite freely. But see how few passes there are, relatively, in the second half.

 by Guardian Chalkboards

Ireland deeper

Henry Winter was at the game yesterday and has an article (not a match report as such) in today's Sunday Telegraph about our performance and formation. He makes two interesting points. First, that Bellamy, rather than Adebayor, was at the point of our fluid 4-2-3-1 formation - with the Togolese drifting behind in the hole. Just as interesting, though, is his description of Ireland's more withdrawn role alongside Barry in central midfield:

To the delight of 7,000 City fans, Hughes could certainly not be accused of lacking adventure away from home. He started without an orthodox holding midfielder, leaving Nigel de Jong on the bench and pairing Stephen Ireland and Gareth Barry.

Ireland is a hard worker but more suited to pushing on, linking with attackers, a trait thrillingly shown in striking City's second goal.

If Ireland, in particular, is to be used in this deeper role, clearly more time will be required on the training ground. Little tinkering is needed with the front four, a kaleidoscope of movement at times.

The evidence certainly backs this up. Check out this Guardian chalkboard of Ireland's passing yesterday. Very successful, yes, but with nothing into the penalty area or even into the channels within twenty or so yards of the byline. Contrast this with his performance in a similar game from last season: the 2-1 win at Goodison Park, where Ireland, playing in the hole, was much more incisive in his passing. Whether Ireland's role develops in this way remains to be seen.

 by Guardian Chalkboards

Ireland blunted, City neutered

This Guardian chalkboard shows how much Stephen Ireland's attacking threat was blunted today. He didn't make a single successful pass within eighteen yards of United's goal-line. At Goodison Park two weeks ago, he made five into the area and attacking wide positions. And with the strings left unpulled, City had no attacking threat today. A testament to the persistence of the underrated Darren Fletcher.

 by Guardian Chalkboards

No Stephen Ireland, no final ball.

Check out this Chalkboard from yesterday's game.

In the whole match, we made one succesful pass into the penalty area. There's nothing around the 'd', nothing down the left hand side - barely anything at all within thirty yards of goal. Compare this to the home fixture against Arsenal, when, inspired by Steven Ireland playing through the middle, we were much better at getting the ball into the box and down both flanks.

 by Guardian Chalkboards

Chalkboards on Robinho

A post on theGuardian.co.uk Chalkboard section about Robinho today, illustrating his varying home and away performances. This is only one snippet - it's worth reading the whole thing though:

Robinho's goal threat is significantly greater at home. He has scored nine of his 11 goals at Eastlands; also, he has averaged a shot on target every 41 minutes at home compared to 119 away. He is also massively more accurate in his shooting: 68% are on target at the City of Manchester Stadium; only 21% are on target elsewhere.

But on the other hand:

While Robinho is palpably less of a goalscoring menace away from home, the suggestion that he goes missing doesn't necessarily stand up. He actually gets on the ball more on the road, averaging 2.06 minutes per pass compared to 2.34 minutes at Eastlands, and his pass-completion rate is basically the same: 84% at home, 83% away.

Zabaleta as a left back

Here's something I picked up on the Guardian Chalkboards. Pablo Zabaleta stepped in for the injured Wayne Bridge at left back on Sunday, for the first time this season. And while I'm a huge fan of Zabaleta, the chalkboards suggest that he offered nowhere near the attacking threat that Bridge does from the role.

This graphic is a comparison of Zabaleta's and Bridge's attempted passes in the Sunderland and Aston Villa home games respectively. The main difference between the two seems to be in their attacking play: due to both a difference of caution and in success of crossing. Bridge regularly advanced into the final third of the pitch (within 30/35 yards) down the left hand side, attempting sixteen (by my count) passes from within the final third. Zabaleta however, attempted only one pass from within the final third. There was also a difference in success of balls into the box: Bridge made four successful passes (from ten attempts), while Zabaleta didn't make a single successful pass into the box (from three attempts). I guess this is to do with Zabaleta being less proficient with his left foot, and therefore less confident in getting down to the byline and crossing with it. In Zabaleta's defence, he made more successful passes than Bridge - most of them in the middle third of the pitch. But as an attacking left back, Bridge is demonstrably superior. The question for Hughes, then, is where to play Zabaleta now that Vincent Kompany and Nigel de Jong are fit?

 by Guardian Chalkboards

Chelsea's passing dominates City's

The best explanation I can find of our defeat from the Guardian chalkboards. Look at the sheer volume of Chelsea passing in the centre circle and in our half. And then look at we achieved - a few moves down the flanks but very little through the middle of the pitch. Or how many successful passes Chelsea made into our box versus the two or three we made into theirs. Or just check out the numbers: 375 successful passes plays 292, 326 plays 265 in open play. (These graphics improve if you click 'Hide numbers'.)

This is what happens when it's Lampard, Ballack and Essien versus Elano, Ireland and Zabaleta in central midfield. Ballack had a 100% pass completion rate today.

by Guardian Chalkboards

de Jong's performance today

I thought our best player today was Nigel de Jong, and Mark Hughes gave him a special mention in his BBC post-match interview:

"Towards the end of the game when we had to be rock solid Nigel was leading the fight from that point of view, because I thought he was really good in his understanding of the game, awareness of where he needed to be to just nip things in the bud and that was arguably his best game for us since he's arrived so I think people are starting to see what a good player he is."

This is also borne out by the Guardian Chalkboard stats. Below is a picture of his interceptions and tackles today - six successful interceptions and five successful tackles - all within a very tight area; between twenty yards from City's goal and just beyond the half way line, and within the width of the penalty box. This discipline - combined with his physical and technical abilities - is what will make him such a success for City.

by Guardian Chalkboards