Manchester United goes in the derby confrontation of Sunday versus City desperately looking for a rare double over their bright rivals.
Ruben Amorim and Pep Guardiola both have huge phone calls with their seasons that are not going to plan exactly.
Serial Champions City desperately scraps to a place in the top four, while United is in the middle of one of their worst seasons ever.
It is far removed from the 2011-12 season when the Manchester Giants fought all the way to the last day for the title, with Sergio Aguero's Last Gasp winner vs qpr Sealing City's first Premier League Crown on target difference.
So a slightly different meeting this time, but a very important for both parties.
In the last episode of Sunssport's Tactics exposed, our expert Dean Scoggins breaks the most important points for the derby.
Why does Amorim Garnacho continue to play on the left?
This is a hot topic for United. Alejandro Garnacho is furious fans because he is in good positions.
So often United does the good job and the ball moves to midfield. They struggled to get the ball from behind, but they have improved.
However, Garnacho gets the ball in wide positions, where he likes him. When he receives the ball, he is immediately confronted with his defender.
He wants the defender to walk in, so you get a center-back and another center-back comes in. The defense comes in, then you get a midfielder back and end up in a traffic jam.
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In the forest game of Nottingham, Forest defended very deep on the edge of their own box and Garnacho had five or six shots of long distance, but none of them was clean – and that is because he is full.
Secondly: when he comes in, he has a wing -like one who likes to run. So Patrick Dorgu goes on the outside of him.
The number of times he makes this run and Garnacho does not give him that the ball is furious man utd fans. That must change.
He has to give the ball to Dorgu in that area for the overlap, because there you open this space for the cross with the other players arriving.
We saw United in earlier competitions – such as against Arsenal – when Garnacho was released on the right – and that was because he made a run and had a fullback, who was Noussair Mazraoui, who ran the inside of him in that position.
When Garnacho does not play, everyone says that Garnacho should play … and when Garnacho plays, he is furious to watch, but he is almost there. So he has to play.
Should he play on the left? I'm not that sure. Without Amad Diallo they need a Balloper who accepts players.
This Amorim formation is all about players who walk on full-backs and to defenders to try to bring them to the box. And Garnacho is the only real player in the United Team who does that.
I would like to see Garnacho on the right in this game, because at the moment the chemistry between him and Dorgu on the left is not entirely there.
But I would like to see that Garnacho is still in the team … United needs an out-ball against Man City, and Garnacho will hopefully offer that.
Can United City beat with less property?
Against Nottingham Forest in the week – a 1-0 defeat – Man Utd had almost 70 percent owned.
Against Man City Earlier in the season, City already had the possession and United was comfortable without the ball.
United is currently doing very well at the back to get into a very good shape from where they can arise counterattacks.
That is a problem when they play against a team that immediately falls as Nottingham Forest – but that will not happen in this game, because City will dominate the possession.
City will attack in a 2-3-5 or 3-2-5 form and will mark United Defenders man-for-man.
We see Wingers being marked by wing backs, and central midfielders go man-for-man … so it's how they get the ball and the counterattacking.
They will be very happy to record possession. We saw them doing the first half against Arsenal, in a great achievement against Liverpool, and then that big victory against Manchester City.
But … this time it is with Old Trafford, so they get a little busy from the crowd. It is a derby, they want to see progressive football.
For me, the transition from defense to attack where they are not quite right.
It comes in two triangles – one on the right flank and another on the left … If they get the ball in this area, they can play the ball in a player who is printed to play long or they can get it to a winger to get them in a dangerous 1V1 situation.
That will be the plan. Whether they can do that or not, is another matter.
Is Marmoush better suited to play United than Haaland?
This is a very difficult question. Which team would not have Haaland in it?
But this happens a lot for Manchester City … they are stuck around the edge of the box, and Haaland does not move … Do nothing.
There are two sides on that … On the one hand he occupies a defender and they want him in the box in front of the cross.
But on the other, in the 2-0 win over Leicester Midweek, you could see without Haaland that Omar Marmoush and then Doku one side and Savinho the other formed a very flat front three.
When they played Newcastle earlier in the season, Marmoush scored a hat trick as part of a front two with Haaland – but when they play united, it will not work, because of their back three.
And so if Haaland played, you know that United sits down deep … They are a back of five, with the wingbacks.
It would be a complete traffic jam with fans frustrated because they do not break the lines, where the middle behind gets a lot of touches with passes that have been played with them.
So against United we see a sleek front three of City, with Foden, Marmoush and De Bruyne … they will use Savinho, Doku or Grealish to keep the width on the other side.
Because of this narrow front three, you finish with space around the edges of the box and, in contrast to Haaland, Marmoush will not just park in the middle behind.
We will see much more rotation of the front three with Marmoush together with one of the other two and then we would have done it with Haaland – who can be a bit a passenger when the opposition parks the bus.
Marmoush has had twice as many touches per game this season, so from the point of view of a frustrated city fan, Marmoush is perhaps the one who unlocks things.
De Bruyne or Fernandes?
Kevin De Bruyne and Bruno Fernandes. The two captains, the two talismans …
It will be a truly intriguing battle, because if we end up with Garnacho on the right and Fernandes plays as one of the attacking midfielders, we could see De Bruyne in the inside of the right phase, where he tries to put crosses in the box.
It can very well be Fernandes who speaks to him. And one thing that you can guarantee is that De Bruyne Fernandes wants Fernandes to go that way. If Fernandes and De Bruyne go that way, the city will have a lot of joy.
But we know the work percentage of Fernandes. We know that he creates opportunities later in the games. We know that 60, 70, 80 minutes inside, it is Bruno that appears on the ball in an attack area.
Perhaps that is where Pep will make the change later. If City wins the game, De Bruyne takes out and get someone else on Bruno.
Put me on the spot, I'm going to make De Bruyne backwards because I feel like getting into a position where he is going to hit the face and Marmoush is going to come on the score sheet.
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