PEP GUARDIOLA

Tactical Study

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 ABOUT THIS PDF
The latest Tactical Analysis looks at Pep
Guardiola's 3-box-3 System, which has
enabled Manchester City to dominate
opposition sides this season.

We will focus on the build-up play against

Man Utd in the FA Cup Final. The tactical
approach will be discussed in terms of its
strengths and weaknesses.

In addition, we will provide you with detailed

session plans that will enable you to adapt
Pep's methods with your own team.

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 PEP GUARDIOLA AND POSITIONAL PLAY

As a part of Pep's coaching philosophy, he emphasizes positional play within his teams' structure. City's Academy system
incorporates this approach to prepare players for the first team and to play their way.

In possession, they use a 3-4-3 system with a box in midfield. Players like Akanji, Dias, Ake & Walker excel in 1v1 defensive
duels. With John Stones alongside Rodri as two pivot players, İlkay Gündoğan & De Bruyne push higher up the pitch to
complete the box in midfield and ensure city have an overload in the centre. Bernardo Silva and Jack Grealish, both capable
of playing as inverted wingers, also add width to the side, while Erling Haaland acts as the focal point of the front line.

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 IN POSSESSION

Two main strategies were used by City in their build-up

1) Due to the distance between Manchester Cities three CBs, Manchester United had to work across the pitch as City tried to stretch them

2) The Double Pivot and instruction to play in-between United's front 4 meant United had to remain compact while working across the field
to prevent City from breaking the line.

This created space in wide areas, which we'll explore later. For now, let's focus on the early build up and the shape they created.
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 GOALKEEPER INVOLVED IN DEEP BUILDUP

During deeper build-up play, City rotated from a 4-2 to a 1-3-2. In the 4-2 build Akanji
& Walker played as full backs with Rodri & Stones as double pivots while the
goalkeeper moved to the side in line with Dias.

In the build-up, this switch allowed the city goalkeeper to become more progressive.
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 DRAGGING PLAYERS OUT OF CENTRAL AREAS

In wide areas, City pushed their wingers high to pin United's full backs.

Because of Man United's man-to-man marking system, City were able to manipulate
Casemiro's and Fred's positioning in wide areas to create space centrally.

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VIDEOS ATTACHED
Visual examples can be found in our
videos.

Video 1: Manchester City's goalkeeper

plays as a false centre back in this video,
creating a balanced back four when
building up from deeper. This allows City
to have an extra outfield player to help
with overloads against Utd.

Video 2: Manchester United's pressing 4

players narrow up as City build play, and then
City play out through the wide area.
 WIDE CENTRE BACKS

When Manchester City moved the ball higher in the build up, they rotated into a back three, with the two wide central
defenders playing like full backs. To break the press, Stones & Rodri consistently positioned themselves in-between
United's front four.

United faced two problems here, either they prevented the central pass and surrendered space in wide areas, or they
had more distance between the units to press the wide centre backs quicker and stop them from advancing.

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 WIDE CENTRE BACKS

The wide centre backs of City play in full back positions to stretch United's front four.

As a result, City's double pivot could create passing lines where they could position
themselves to receive passes.

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 MIDFIELD

Manchester City countered United's man-to-man defensive strategy in true Gaurdiola style.

As explained already, by playing with a back 3 and double pivot, City were able to control United's front four and create space in the wide
areas, where they again used two strategies to cause United problems and disrupt United's defensive organisation.

1) Gundogan & De Bruyne dropped into false FB positions, pushing Casemiro or Fred wide.

2) Silva or Grealish dropped deep asking United's full backs if they should break out of the defensive structure and go higher
up the pitch or stay compact and allow City's wingers to receive and move forward.
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VIDEO 3
The third video will detail how they play
with 2 wide centre back, a central centre
back & 2 pivots with 2 attacking midfields
that pin and stretch United's 2 centre
midfielders.

Due to United's front four being compact

and their midfielders being pinned, City
were able to gain space in wide areas.

In a false full back position, Ekay Gündoan

dragged Casemiro wide.
 DOMINATE THE BALL

Gaurdiola will always desire to dominate the ball, and this 3-box-3 system allows City to do so.

Possession dominance is the main strength

As a result of the positioning of the City players, the opposition's defensive organization is disrupted

Due to massive ball dominance in the build-up phase of their attacks, City is able to construct and build their attacks into the final third.

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 FLAWS

Even though City dominated this season and finished the season spectacularly, their system does have weaknesses, and if a team can match them
physically as Liverpool did for many seasons, they will have the advantage because there are mismatches that can be exploited.

Manchester City's biggest weakness is counterattacks down the sides. We saw Inter play extensively down the left channel during the Champions League
Final.

In certain areas of the pitch, you may have to face 1v1 battles against players who are unfamiliar with those areas. When Silva droped in to play at right
back, United for example could have matched them up by playing Rashford on the left side.

Akanji playing left back and building up on his left foot takes away from a natural left back stepping out past the United press.
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BONUS SESSIONS
For you to take or adapt ideas from, we have designed
two bonus sessions focused on build up play.

1) Building Up Through Central Areas is the first

session.

2) Building up through wide areas is the second

session.

Structure of the session:

The warm-up is up to you

The passing pattern
Functional Practice
Phase of Play
Reality Based 11v11 Game
 SESSION 1
Building Through Central Areas

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A 5V4 RONDO PLUS FOUR SMALL GOALS. THE BLUE TEAM IS
LOOKING TO KEEP POSSESSION OF THE BALL, WHILE THE RED
TEAM IS LOOKING TO WIN THE BALL BACK AND SCORE ONE
OF THE FOUR GOALS. REDS PLAY A SCREENING PRESS TO
PREVENT FORWARD PASSES.

COACH PASSES TO A BLUE PLAYER AND THEY HAVE TO MAKE

A CERTAIN NUMBER OF PASSES TO SCORE.

10 PASSES = 1 POINT
20 PASSES = 2 POINTS
LINE BREAKING PASS = 1 POINT

RED TEAM WINS THE BALL BACK AND SCORES IN ONE OF THE
FOUR SMALL GOALS = 1 POINT

PLAY FOR 3 MINS REST 90 SECONDS

POINTS FOR COACHING

COMMUNICATION
TIMING OF MOVEMENT
ANGLE & DISTANCE OF SUPPORT
BODY SHAPE WHEN RECEIVING
QUALITY OF PASSES
PHASE OF PLAY

FOR 20 MINUTES, PLAY HALF THE PITCH

THREE SMALL GOALS SHOULD BE PLACED ACROSS THE
HALFWAY LINE (OR A SECOND MAIN GOAL WITH A KEEPER).
WITH 10 FOOTBALLS, THE COACH TAKES UP A GOOD
STARTING POSITION.

A 1-3-4 FORMATION WILL BE USED BY CITY

UNITED WILL PLAY 2-4

THE COACH RESTARTS THE PLAY BY PASSING TO A CITY

DEFENDER OR KEEPER AS SOON AS THE BALL GOES OUT.

BY PLAYING INTO ONE OF THE SMALL GOALS, CITY LOOKS TO

PLAY FORWARD.

AS UNITED DEFENDS, IT WILL TRANSITION TO ATTACKING THE

MAIN GOAL.

COACHING POINTS

THE DISTANCE BETWEEN THE DEFENDERS AND THE

GOALKEEPER. DOUBLE PIVOT PLAYERS POSITIONED BEHIND
UNITED'S FRONT FOUR IT'S IMPORTANT FOR TWO ATTACKING
MIDFIELDERS TO PIN UNITED'S TWO CENTRE MIDFIELDERS
SPEED OF PASSING WHEN PLAYING ACROSS TO STRETCH
UNITED'S PRESS.
REALITY-BASED TRAINING GAME 11 V 11

FOR 20 MINUTES, PLAY THE MATCH ON THE

FULL PITCH.

1-3-4-3 IS THE CITY FORMATION

UNITED PLAY A 1-4-2-3-1 FORMATION

AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE, PLAY A NORMAL

GAME AND COACH IN THE FLOW. STOPS
CAN LOOK LIKE THIS

FIRST, ORGANIZE UNITED THE WAY YOU

WANT THEM TO PLAY
THE SECOND STEP IS TO ORGANIZE CITY IN
THE WAY YOU WANT THEM TO PLAY
3RD - COACHING POINT ON BUILDING UP
THE 4TH COACHING POINT IS ABOUT
TRANSITIONING FROM OFFENSE TO DEFENCE
 SESSION 2
Building Through Wide Areas

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5V4 RONDO INTO 1V1S AND 4 SMALL GOALS. THERE ARE
THREE ZONES - A POSSESSION ZONE IN THE MIDDLE, A 1V1
ZONE ON EACH SIDE.

BLUE TEAM LOOK TO KEEP POSSESSION AND PLAY INTO ONE

OF THE WIDE PLAYERS IN THE 1V1 ZONE, WHILE RED TEAM
LOOKS TO WIN THE BALL BACK AND SCORE IN ONE OF THE
FOUR SMALL GOALS.

IN ORDER TO PLAY INTO A 1V1 ZONE, THE COACH PASSES TO

THE BLUE PLAYER AND THEY HAVE TO MAKE A CERTAIN
AMOUNT OF PASSES PRIOR TO A PENETRATION PASS.

THE BLUE PLAYER IN A 1V1 ZONE WILL START HIGH, AND THE
RED PLAYER WILL WAIT FOR THE BLUE PLAYER TO TAKE THEIR
FIRST TOUCH BEFORE PRESSING THE BALL.

3 MINUTES OF PLAY, 90 SECONDS OF REST

COACHING POINTS

COMMUNICATION
TIMING OF MOVEMENT
ANGLE & DISTANCE OF SUPPORT
BODY SHAPE WHEN RECEIVING
QUALITY OF PASSES
PHASE OF PLAY

PLAY HALF-PITCH FOR 20 MINUTES

PLACE THREE SMALL GOALS ACROSS THE HALFWAY LINE (OR A SECOND MAIN GOAL
WITH A KEEPER). WITH 10 FOOTBALLS, THE COACH TAKES UP A GOOD STARTING
POSITION.

CITY WILL PLAY 1-3-4

UTD WILL PLAY 2-4

EVERY PLAY IS STARTED BY THE COACH PASSING TO ONE OF THE CITY DEFENDERS OR
KEEPER, AND WHEN THE BALL GOES OUT, THE COACH RESTARTS IT.

THE GOAL IS TO PLAY FORWARD AND INTO ONE OF THE SMALL GOALS THROUGH WIDE
AREAS.

WE ARE LOOKING FOR THE TWO MIDFIELDERS TO DROP INTO FALSE FULL BACK
POSITIONS.

AS UNITED DEFENDS, IT WILL TRANSITION TO ATTACKING THE MAIN GAOL.

COACHING POINTS

THE DISTANCE BETWEEN THE DEFENDERS IS SLIGHTLY NARROWER, AND WIDE CENTRE
BACKS ARE LOCATED OUTSIDE THE BOX TO CREATE SPACE.

DOUBLE PIVOT PLAYERS IS POSITIONED BEHIND UNITED'S FRONT FOUR.

TWO ATTACKING MIDFIELDERS MUST PIN UNITED'S TWO CENTRE MIDFIELDERS.

THE SPEED OF THE PASS WHEN PLAYING ACROSS TO STRETCH UNITED'S PRESS.

WITH THEIR MOVEMENTS, DOUBLE PIVOT PLAYERS CAN MANIPULATE UNITED'S

PLAYERS.

A HIGH MIDFIELDER'S ABILITY TO DROP INTO WIDE AREAS TO RECEIVE IS DETERMINED

BY THEIR TIMING OF MOVEMENT.

BUILD QUICK STABILITY BEHIND PRESS WITH COMPACT SHAPE WHEN TRANSITIONING
TO DEFENCE,
REALITY-BASED TRAINING GAME 11 V 11

FOR 20 MINUTES, REPLICATE THE MATCH ON

THE FULL PITCH.

A 1-3-4-3 FORMATION IS USED FOR CITY

PLAY

UNITED PLAY 1-4-2-3-1

AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE, PLAY A NORMAL

GAME AND COACH IN THE FLOW. STOPS
CAN LOOK LIKE THIS

ORGANIZE UNITED IN THE WAY YOU WANT

THEM TO PLAY. ORGANIZE CITY THE WAY
YOU WANT THEM TO PLAY. POSITIONING TO
CREATE SPACE IN LARGE AREAS. DECISION
MAKING IN WIDE AREAS AND MOVEMENT.
TRANSITION TO DEFEND - COACHING POINT
THANK YOU
Thanks for reading and watching the videos. For those
who downloaded The Keepitonthedeck Coaching Pack 1
from www.keepitonthedeck.com, there's more to come.