Zlatan Ibrahimovic will give John Stones his biggest test and Jose Mourinho MUST start Marcus Rashford in Manchester Derby
Kelechi Iheanacho can drag United's rearguard all over the place and Pep Guardiola's side will dominate possession
JOHN STONES has had a great start to his Manchester City career, putting Everton behind him and beginning the World Cup campaign as England’s first-choice centre-back.
But he has not gone up against anybody with the real physicality Zlatan Ibrahimovic will bring on to the pitch at Old Trafford.
And that is why today represents the biggest test Stones has faced so far.
If you look at the average positions of the United players in their game at Bournemouth, you will see how deep Zlatan was. That is going to be the problem for Stones to deal with.
It is critical he communicates with City’s defensive midfielder, whether that is Fernandinho or Ilkay Gundogan.
Zlatan will drop deep into space and if the defensive midfielder isn’t close enough to the centre-backs, that creates a problem for Stones.
His positioning and decision-making will be key. If Stones goes with Zlatan, he knows the Swede will receive the ball, look to hold him off and play out into the area vacated by City’s full-backs.
But if Zlatan drops with his back to goal, Stones should not jump in and try to win it because the last thing he wants to do is be rolled by such a strong player and left on his backside.
Stones must try to keep Zlatan going back towards his own goal.
When United pump it long it is imperative Stones makes sure Fernandinho stands on top of Ibrahimovic, preventing him from taking the ball down on his chest.
If the centre-half goes to challenge it leaves a huge space behind — and that is where the runners will be heading. So Fernandinho has to stand on his toes to stop Zlatan turning on the ball.
If Stones goes up for the header and loses the ball City then have a real issue because of the gap that exposes, although Nicolas Otamendi is more likely to be the one that makes that error and attacks the ball as a “destroyer”.
If it gets flicked on, the centre-backs should be able to deal with it but if Zlatan drops into midfield, Stones should leave him to the midfielders.
That is where communication is vital and Fernandinho must step in.
If Stones gets embroiled in a physical scrap with Zlatan, there is only one winner.
So it is about intelligence and communication. Stones has to show he understands that.
JOSE MOURINHO, even at home, will be quite happy to allow City to have the ball, drop with four at the back and five in midfield.
But because of where he thinks he can hurt City, this is a game Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial should BOTH start.
Mourinho will be pragmatic and not want to go toe-to-toe. He’ll remember his first Real Madrid game against Pep Guardiola’s Barcelona — when they were battered 5-0 — and will allow City to have 60 or even 65 per cent possession, just sit deep and look to spring the trap.
City’s style of play allows the full-backs to come into central midfield areas and that leaves space down the sides.
City try to create situations where the wide men can go one-against-one with the opposing full-backs.
Mourinho saw what Atletico Madrid did to Pep’s Bayern Munich last season and will look to do the same.
When City are running, with and without the ball, United will want to make them go into the congested area in the middle, where the bodies are.
Then, the instant they retrieve the ball, United will look to break quickly into the wide areas vacated by the City full-backs.
United will only press when Claudio Bravo has the ball because Mourinho will want to make City play long or take a risk at the back.
He will back his side to win anything knocked up long because of their sheer physical size. But as soon as City get beyond the press, United will retreat to halfway and let City have the ball — but make them play sideways or backwards and channel them into the central area where they have the numbers.
If City are forced inside, that will leave the space United will look to exploit through their own pace, with Ibrahimovic the focal point.
That is why I feel Jose might want to play both Rashford and Martial.
The pace they both have is ideal for this sort of game — and Zlatan will look to thread the ball through to them.
THERE is not much doubt about how United will play.
Mourinho has adopted 4-2-3-1 over the past few years and while he has to make a choice about the wide players — with two from Anthony Martial, Marcus Rashford and Juan Mata — the shape is pretty fixed.
It could not be more different with City.
At Barcelona and especially at Bayern, Guardiola was happy to change his formation completely depending on the opponents.
I don’t see him playing three at the back at City yet but he has far more options.
They will miss Sergio Aguero, of course, but Pep can go about things in a number of ways.
Related stories
The obvious straight swap is Kelechi Iheanacho, who can go up against the centre-backs in a 4-3-3. He has the pace to drag the defenders out of position to create space for City’s midfielders to get in between the United central players and back line.
But Guardiola could play with Nolito in the middle, with Leroy Sane and Raheem Sterling wide. He could also play with that front trio in a flatter line with no real line leader, as a very aggressive 4-3-3.
The other option he might consider for this game is to play David Silva as a “false nine”.
City — much more flexible tactically — like to keep the ball to shift opposition players and create space.
And Silva, dropping off the nominal central striking role, could do that.
Tweet