Some things never change with Man City; whether skint, comfortable or ridiculously well-off, somehow it seems inherent in the club’s nature to do things the hard way. After fourteen games and one mere loss, they are the hardest team to defeat so far, but a run of seven consecutive draws leading up to this game has crushed any Premiership expectations harboured around the City of Manchester way this season.
Saturday evening, however, showed just how unpredictable the league is right now. Chelsea’s ease in brushing off Arsenal last week must’ve sent alarm bells ringing in dressing rooms up and down the country, but City, perhaps buoyed themselves by the midweek Carling Cup mauling of the Gunners, brought Ancelotti’s boys down to earth with a bang. Here’s some reasons as to how they achieved a great result:
Drogba In Isolation
Didier Drogba’s role is integral to Chelsea’s efficiency, but by stopping him from linking up with his team mates, City lessened his effect drastically. Hughes’ side put the shackles on the Chelsea midfield, thus preventing the big centre-forward from connecting with his team-mates, as this chalkboard shows. Only two successful passes all game! His hold-up play becomes redundant if he has no-one to lay the ball off to.
Left Hand Side Curtailed
Ashley Cole has been superb this season, marauding from left back to boost the width of Ancelotti’s diamond, but Hughes, perhaps taking a leaf from Fergie’s book in light of the Antonio Valencia performance versus Chelsea, knew how to nullify his effect. As this chalkboard shows, two-thirds of all the tackles City won came down Chelsea’s left hand side, as the light blues clearly targeted this area with intent.
De Jong is Sparky’s Makelele
Despite being an expensive acquisition, Nigel de Jong is anything but high-profile in comparison to some of his team-mates. His performance on Saturday was reminiscent of a certain Claude Makelele, as he broke up the Chelsea play time and again, moving the ball on to team-mates with the minimum of fuss.
A very solid and understated performance from the Dutchman is shown in this chalkboard; an incredible nine interceptions against the league leaders illustrates the importance not just of his weekend contribution, but his place within the structure of the City team.
Adebayor Could be Bothered
City’s last two home league games, versus Burnley and Hull, brought a return of zero goals for the big striker. Not only no goals, but no shots at all. This, added to the fact his next opponent was to be a typically-mean Chelsea defence, was one of the main reasons as to why Adebayor was so heavily transferred out last week in FPL.
For Sparky’s team to tick, they need their main centre forward to play well, and Adebayor has been off-form for quite some time now. He could, arguably, be as important to City as Drogba is to Chelsea, and his loss of appetite certainly correlates to City’s loss of points in the last couple of months. The Chelsea game saw a return to form, though, and as this chalkboard shows, he seemed to have a (temporary) thirst for the game again.
Compared to his passing in the Burnley game, Adebayor got into far more attacking areas, causing his opponents more problems, and gave the ball away far less at the weekend, as he set about proving his worth against the league leaders. Not only that, he had three attempts on goal, scoring one, and even put the ball in the other net for good measure.
Seldom will a victory for their neighbours bring about celebrations at Old Trafford, but this was the perfect week for Manchester United, really, as the champions sit just two points behind the Londoners now. Come to think of it, a great result for the Premiership all round.