EPL – Tactical Analysis – West Ham United 2 Manchester City 2

EPL – Tactical Analysis – West Ham United 2 Manchester City 2

By
Evan Morgan Grahame
-
0
SHARE

West Ham and Manchester City spiritedly drew, 2-2 at Upton park.

Continuing on a trend of high-scoring draws, these two teams contested a hugely entertaining, high-calibre match, with either team good enough to snatch all three points. As it turned out, Kun Aguero and Enner Valencia’s respective braces meant the match ended in heart-thumping parity. Valencia scored inside the opening minute, only for Aguero to win and dispatch a penalty eight minutes later. A superb piece of Michail Antonio invention via a pinpoint, quickly taken long throw gave Valencia the simple task of prodding the home side back into the lead, but Aguero answered once again, taking 25 minutes this time, capitalising on a botched Aaron Cresswell clearance. Both teams hit the woodwork, and had late chances, but 2-2 it remained.

Formations

West-Ham-United-compressor

West Ham began Alex Song alongside Mark Noble, and brought in Winston Reid for Gabriel Ogbonna. Carl Jenkinson started at right back, although he was to be replaced early on after suffering a knee injury. Michail Antonio retained his starting spot, and continued his fine form, and Enner Valencia remained in the lone strikers spot.

Manchester City once again left Raheem Sterling on the bench, with Jesus Navas starting the match on the right wing. Kevin de Bruyne and David Silva swirled behind Sergio Aguero, with full backs Clichy and Sagna making overlapping runs. A strange – and never before seen – league midfield partnership between Yaya Toure and Fabian Delph was installed behind the attack, sitting in front of the increasingly unsure pairing of Martin Demichelis and Nicholas Otamendi.

The Delph/Toure partnership a weak one

Manuel Pellegrini, one assumes, must have reviewed West Ham’s 2-1 loss to Newcastle a week ago, to prepare for his own team’s encounter with the Hammers this week. In doing this, he will have seen how effectively Newcastle stifled Dimitri Payet, far and away West Ham’s most important player, with suffocating man-marking and aggressive swarming. Newcastle deployed the tigerish Jack Colback as Payet’s chief thorn-in-side, snapping at the Frenchman as soon as he got even the merest whiff of the ball. Payet was muted in that match, a shadow of his usual superlative self, and West Ham struggled as a result.

So, when the Manchester City XI was announced for this match, it was curious indeed that Fernando, the clear choice as a purely defensive midfielder, was on the bench, with Fabian Delph and Yaya Toure securing the two midfield places. Delph and Toure are two excellent players, but neither are specifically dedicated to the marking and tracking of opposing attackers; Toure is often caught out positionally, though he can win a tackle against just about any player in the league, and Delph is more of a short-passing forward runner – he made a number of excellent surging runs here – rather than holding defender. Pellegrini evidently felt they could do enough to deal with Payet, and the rest of the West Ham attack but, in the very first minute, his plan was partially undressed.

Having profited from a pinballing sequence, Kouyate surged past Toure, who oddly succumbed in a manner quite unlike him. Enner Valencia, to whom Delph was the closest City defender, peeled off toward the penalty spot, ready for the cut back. Delph however, was drawn toward the ball, despite the fact that two other City defenders had also slid towards Kouyate. Kouyate’s cross was deflected by Delph, incidentally, but there was little threat had the ball been speared across the goal face, with two defenders in front of Anotnio, the only West Ham man in that area. The ball fell to the wide open Valencia and when he spanked the ball past Joe Hart, he was one of only three West Ham players in the box (including the crosser Kouyate); they had six City defenders around them, and yet Valencia had a veritable Eden of space around him when he shot. It was because of Delph’s indiscipline that this goal was so sheepishly conceded. Payet, uninvolved in the opening goal, ended the night as a genuine Man of the Match contender, which makes it difficult to argue that Delph and Toure did their jobs, defensively at least.

Byram provides attacking balance from right-back

Carl Jenkinson, who has been disappointing during his second loan spell at West Ham, went down early in the second half. He had, while conceding a penalty, injured his knee, and so Sam Byram, the new signing from Leeds, was given his debut, in rather unexpected fashion. Byram was outstanding, showing no sign of discomfort at this level, save for a bout of cramp late in the game. He is a tall man, with an assured touch, and appears as capable a defender as he is an attacker, which fills a void in this position; that of a true, two-way full back. For most of this season, Bilic has had to choose between the attacking skills of Jenkinson, or the stout defensive solidity of James Tomkins, and the selection of one over the other means that the team is either lacking in attacking potency or defensive safety down that right hand side.

Byram spent much of his time in Manchester City’s half, seemingly at ease with both aspects of his brief. He made no defensive errors, and passed with precision and invention, at one point drawing whoops from the crowd, completing a 30-metre one-two with Payet. He looks a superb addition, thoughtfully acquired, at a reasonable price.

Song’s presence a sign of Bilic’s ambition

The last time these teams met, West Ham won with an early spell of lightning-quick counter-attacking, followed by a grueling period of gritty, desperate defending. Bilic might have set up to play in this way once again, despite being at home, but he chose not to. With Pedro Obiang available, a sturdy defend-first midfielder, Bilic chose to start Alex Song, who hasn’t played 90 minutes at all this season, instead. Song is less reliable a defender, and with Mark Noble beside him, he completed a midfield looking to pass with ambition first and foremost.

The teams split possession in this match, something few teams have managed against City this season. Song was hardly instrumental here, but his poise on the ball (even if his manner of finding space for himself can shred the nerves) gave the West Ham midfield some added fluency. He made more tackles than anyone else on the pitch, showing that he is no defensive liability either. With a versatile, multi-threat midfield such as this, with both Noble and Song able and willing to make the more difficult pass, West Ham showed no small amount of ambition against one of the league favourites.

Conclusion

Small subtleties, in each teams’ midfield, told the most compelling story of this match. This was no smash-and-grab result, West Ham didn’t finish this game chapped and heaving and thanking their luck they held on. No, this was a contest between two excellent teams, and their contrasting midfield performances meant that the home side were, if anything, unlucky not to have won. Manchester City might rethink their choices in the middle, and will be worried that David Silva was so anonymous here. City are now three points off the top, and the Hammers stay clear of Liverpool in sixth.

What are your thoughts? Let us know by dropping a comment below via our Facebook comment box. Make sure you follow us on Twitter @Outside90 and like us on Facebook

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR