Manchester City will host Manchester United on Sunday at the Etihad Stadium.
This match will mean a lot to both teams, giving both a chance to build some much-needed momentum.
In this tactical analysis preview of the Manchester Derby, we will explore both teams’ tactics and identify what to avoid and build on based on their latest games and lineups.
The analysis will also focus on both teams’ issues and propose solutions to get out of this delicate period as quickly as possible to avoid losing many more points, with a special focus on how to play during the derby.
Background
What unites both teams lately is their respective runs of poor form.
Manchester City’s situation became worrying for Pep Guardiola and his team after the draws against Inter Milan and Arsenal in the Premier League.
Things worsened with a draw against Newcastle, a loss in the EFL Cup against Tottenham, a 2-1 loss against Bournemouth, and a painful 4-1 loss in the UEFA Champions League against Sporting CP.
Following these bad results that Manchester City had not witnessed since many years ago, the team continued their bad run of results by losing 2-1 against Brighton and surprising everyone with a 0-4 loss against Tottenham at the Etihad Stadium.
In the following game, Manchester City failed to secure a 3-0 win against Feyenoord and conceded the three equalising goals late, confirming Man City’s crisis even further.
In the clash against Liverpool, Manchester City were also incapable of winning, losing 0-2 and drawing against Crystal Palace soon after.
In their latest match, Juventus were capable of beating Manchester City 2-0.
They made things a bit complicated for the team’s UEFA Champions League qualification, as they are now obliged to win the rest of their games to secure their playoff ticket and challenge for a top-eight spot.
Of course, Manchester City was capable of winning many games, but we wanted to focus only on their negative results to stress that this large number of bad results did not occur for a long time for Manchester City.
Therefore, we can confirm that the team is experiencing a crisis that must end as soon as possible to keep their chances alive in the Premier League and the UEFA Champions League knockout round.
On the other hand, Manchester United have been suffering in terms of results as well and witnessed several crises in the last couple of years in addition to a remarkable number of head coach changes in the last five or ten years.
As a result, consistency in ideas, lineups, and philosophies has muddled the team.
The managerial board hopes to attain some positive results and build something sustainable under the management of the new head coach, Ruben Amorim, who took charge of the team on November 1 following the sacking of Erik ten Hag.
Losing 0-3 to Liverpool at Old Trafford, 0-3 against Tottenham at Old Trafford, 2-0 against Arsenal, 2-1 against West Ham United, and 2-3 against Nottingham Forest at home confirms that Manchester United need to recover as soon as possible.
In this regard, a valuable win in the Manchester Derby could mean a lot to the team.
It can change their whole season, primarily from a psychological perspective, as it would make them believe more in their ability to win against the top teams in the EPL this season.
Moreover, holding the 13th spot in the EPL is very worrying for a team like Manchester United, and that represents a strong motive for everyone at the club to put in extra effort to start winning more points and, therefore, climb the standings to ultimately challenge for spots that can help them qualify for European competitions.
Ruben Amorim’s 3-4-3
Following Ten Hag’s regular use of the 4-2-3-1 formation, Amorim preferred to switch to his preferred 3-4-3.
Amorim is essentially trying to build two defensive lines, each consisting of three centre-backs and four midfielders, to make the defensive phase more compact.
At the same time, he wants to use both wing-backs to help with playmaking and to retreat whenever needed, especially when facing dangerous wingers.
With many solid defenders in his squad, Amorim would likely use Matthijs de Ligt, Noussair Mazraoui, and Lisandro Martínez as centre-backs and Harry Maguire as a backup defender.
Amorim has been using Diogo Dalot and Tyrell Malacia as wing-backs in these roles.
Both players guarantee defensive balance and attacking input whenever needed.
That said, goalkeeper André Onana will need to avoid committing passing mistakes like the one he made against Viktoria Plzeň inside the team’s own half.
These mistakes can be crucial, especially in a match against their direct rivals.
Onana’s Mistake Against Viktoria Plzeň
EPL 24/25: Manchester City Vs Manchester United - Tactical Preview tactics
Moreover, the team must work extensively on collective set-piece defending.
They have been conceding many points from set-pieces lately.
The goalkeeper and the defenders are responsible for conceding these goals, as we usually get the impression that Onana and the defenders lack chemistry and organisation in these cases.
To fix these issues, much more communication will be needed, and extra training on positioning during set-pieces can be beneficial, especially given that the defenders against Manchester City will have to be extra attentive to someone like Erling Haaland in such actions.
Set-Piece Defending Mistakes
EPL 24/25: Manchester City Vs Manchester United - Tactical Preview tactics
Midfielders have also been causing issues for their own team’s defence.
Poor passes and a lack of concentration were noticed during many of Manchester United’s conceded goals.
One example is Bruno Fernandes’ mistimed backward pass, which created a counterattacking opportunity for Nottingham Forest and ended with a goal.
This kind of indifferent passing or showing-off can harm the team against Manchester City as they will be eager to exploit such wrong passes in their favour.
Their players will strive to intercept passes and push Manchester United’s midfielders into committing passing mistakes.
Bruno Fernandes’ Passing Mistake Against Nottingham Forest
EPL 24/25: Manchester City Vs Manchester United - Tactical Preview tactics
In the Manchester Derby, Amorim will likely use Bruno Fernandes and Manuel Ugarte as a midfielder duo, with Casemiro or Kobbie Mainoo more likely to start from the bench.
Up front, Rasmus Højlund has the advantage of starting as a striker, with Amad Diallo as a right winger and Marcus Rashford as a left winger.
Adding Joshua Zirkzee to the second-half lineup can also help Manchester United a lot upfront.
He will add dynamism and create trouble for Manchester City’s defence.
Attacking-wise, Manchester United will need to exploit Manchester City’s confusion and defensive fragility by using their powerful wingers to cut inside and rely on passing combinations to penetrate through the opposing defence with the help of Fernandes.
Moreover, trying to exploit Fernandes’ excellent shooting from distance abilities and Diallo’s penetrations from the right wing can cause problems for City’s defence, especially if they leave shooting trajectories for a player like Fernandes or Højlund, who is also excellent in terms of finishing.
Shooting From Distance
EPL 24/25: Manchester City Vs Manchester United - Tactical Preview tactics
Manchester City’s Crisis 2024/25
Although Guardiola and his team have been having a poor run lately, dropping many points in the EPL and the UEFA Champions League, they can still get back in the race and finish among the top two teams in the standings.
However, in order to achieve such a remarkable comeback, Guardiola needs to fix a few things and avoid creating more confusion within his team’s tactics.
Following the loss against Juventus in the UEFA Champions League, it will be essential to reflect wisely on what has not been going according to the plan and try to find reliable solutions for the rest of the season, in addition to the acquisition of key players in the transfer window to help resolve the team’s problems.
To start with, it will be crucial to fix Manchester City’s goalkeeping issue by using Stefan Ortega as the starting goalkeeper and Ederson as a backup goalkeeper.
The latter has been making several errors lately and is not currently in his best form.
His latest decisive error against Juventus directly caused him to concede the team’s first goal, which is unacceptable at the highest level.
Ederson’s Mistake Against Juventus
EPL 24/25: Manchester City Vs Manchester United - Tactical Preview tactics
Defensively, Manchester City has also been making many marking mistakes, conceding many goals that could have been avoided if the players had been better organised as a unit and more focused individually.
The second Juventus goal highlights this marking issue within Manchester City’s defence.
Joško Gvardiol was lost during this counterattack because he was marking no one, leaving McKennie utterly free inside the box.
This enabled him to receive the ball and score a goal.
Gvardiol’s Marking Mistake Against Juventus
EPL 24/25: Manchester City Vs Manchester United - Tactical Preview tactics
Guardiola will likely choose Kyle Walker, Rúben Dias, Manuel Akanji, and Nathan Aké in defence, İlkay Gündoğan and Jack Grealish as central midfielders, Jérémy Doku and Bernardo Silva as wingers, Kevin De Bruyne as an advanced playmaker, and Erling Haaland as a striker.
However, it will be more beneficial for Guardiola to opt for one of Mateo Kovačić or Matheus Nunes for the central midfielder role instead of Grealish instead of exploiting the latter upfront and having a more solid and experienced central midfielder alongside Gündoğan.
At the same time, it will be vital to regain the confidence and chemistry of the attacking players, as Doku, De Bruyne, Grealish, Foden, and Haaland are capable of disturbing any team in the world.
Therefore, it will be crucial for Manchester City to find its way to Manchester United’s goal.
They must remain calm, prepare multiple attacking plans for this derby, and train extensively on finishing and the last key passes.
As you can see below, the team does not have skills or finishing problems, as they have some of the most valuable players in their positions.
This goal against Nottingham Forest showcases the complementarity between Doku and De Bruyne and the high level of skill of both players.
Doku acted like he intended to shoot but then passed the ball to De Bruyne, who was unmarked, paving the way for him to shoot freely.
Manchester City’s problems in such a game can be resolved by relying on passing combinations inside the final third, the wingers’ dribbling skills, and the shooting from distance by someone like De Bruyne.
De Bruyne’s Shooting From Distance
EPL 24/25: Manchester City Vs Manchester United - Tactical Preview tactics
Conclusion
Manchester United will do their best to avoid defeat at the Etihad Stadium so that they can start the season again under Amorim’s management.
Instead, they will strive to snatch a win to make Manchester City’s crisis much more problematic.
On the other hand, Manchester City will need to end its series of losses.
The time has come for the Citizens to win one of the most important games of the season, start a new chapter, and make the fans forget all their previous disappointments.
My name is Selim Ben Hmida, a Tunisian football analyst and a passionate fan of this sport. Follow me on Twitter if you are interested in reading more about the tactical side of the game.