The Regista - Man City vs Man Utd tactical review: Stones wildcard; Foden class; Ten Hag too deep

Tribalfootball.com's tactics expert Connor Holden reviews Manchester City's triumph against Manchester United and admits he enjoyed the tactical battle, along with the performance of Phil Foden, on the day.

In a game that had it all, two absolute belting goals, a “howling" miss from the clinical Erling Haaland, and a shock halftime result where United went in 1-0 up, there were a few tactical aspects that stood out in this game, let's take a look...

UNITED GAME-PLAN

Let's start with Erik ten Hag's side, and how he set them up to challenge Pep Guardiola's City.

United started the game in what looked like a 4-3-3 with Bruno Fernandes as the “false 9" with Marcus Rashford and Alejandro Garnacho out wide. However this began very quickly to look like a classic 4-4-2 with Scott McTominay and Fernandes being the central outlets, Rashford and Garnacho on the flanks, and a double pivot of Kobbie Mainoo and Casemiro.

The game-plan very much felt like it was to pack the middle of the park, have Fernandes and McTominay coming deeper into almost a midfield four, and having Rashford and Garnacho as outlets to attack the flanks.

But it was actually Fernandes who made the run in behind the City defence for Andre Onana to pick out, holding the ball up perfectly and laying it off to Rashford who scored a rocket of a strike. The run of McTominay into the box is also hugely important in this phase of play, as it drags Rodri away from the position Rashford is arriving in to strike the ball.

How deep United sat

Defensively United wanted to make it hard for City to play centrally, aiming to stop the threat of De Bruyne, Foden and Silva in central zones. This often saw Mainoo and Casemiro dropping so deep, it made the back four look