Friday 19 August 2016 17:49, UK
Manchester United and Manchester City have made big changes this summer. Sky Sports has once again teamed up with Hewlett Packard Enterprises (HPE) to look at how the two teams did on the opening weekend of the new season – and how their tactics and style changed from the final fixture of 2015/16.
Manchester United
Manchester United beat Bournemouth 3-1 at Old Trafford in their final Premier League fixture last season and they repeated that scoreline on the opening weekend of the new campaign at the Vitality Stadium - but there's been plenty of change both on and off the pitch between those two games.
In the dugout, Jose Mourinho has replaced Louis van Gaal and the Portuguese has made significant changes on the field. New signings have taken up key positions and there was also a change in formation and approach for his first Premier League in charge of United.
In Van Gaal's Old Trafford farewell - a game postponed after a bomb scare - United cruised to victory against Eddie Howe's men, with Wayne Rooney playing a key role in the creation of two of the home side's goals as well as finding the net himself in a man-of-the-match performance.
Van Gaal fielded a 4-1-4-1 formation back in May, with Michael Carrick sitting behind a midfield four of Juan Mata, Jesse Lingard, Rooney and Anthony Martial, with breakthrough star Marcus Rashford leading the line.
Rashford's place in the starting line-up was taken by United's new superstar striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic on Sunday, while Mourinho also opted for a midfield pair of Ander Herrera and Marouane Fellaini (with £89m buy Paul Pogba suspended) behind an attacking trio of Rooney, Martial and Mata.
The new boss also made changes to the defence, with new signing Eric Bailly and Luke Shaw stepping into the back-line in place of the suspended Chris Smalling and youngster Cameron Borthwick-Jackson.
There were always going to be clear differences in United's style for an opening-weekend away game compared to an end-of-season dead rubber at home and the contrast in their approach was marked.
United played far deeper at the weekend compared to May - just three of their players had an average position in the Bournemouth half, compared with eight at the end of last season. This could be indicative of Mourinho's long-held preference for a low-block when defending.
Indeed, the average distance from United's goal at which they won back possession from their opponents shifted 12 metres further back. They also played 52 more passes in their own half and 169 fewer in Bournemouth's.
Other notable differences between Van Gaal's final Premier League United side and Mourinho's first was a significant drop-off in possession (66.3 per cent to 52.6 per cent) and fewer passes (677 to 560), which perhaps hints the current United XI have been instructed to play in a more direct manner. But the significant increase in clearances and tackles made by the visitors on the south coast highlights the improved performance from Bournemouth.
United's three goals came in a different fashion to those they scored against Bournemouth at Old Trafford. In May, United spent long periods camped around the Cherries' box, and eventually unlocked their defence with neat passing moves. On Sunday, Mata capitalised on a poor back-pass, Rooney pounced on a Martial mis-hit shot and Ibrahimovic fired in a long-range drive.
So is this a sign of things to come? It's too early to tell. Henrikh Mkhitaryan came on as a second half sub and Pogba will almost certainly be involved on Friday night - two players who will have a significant influence on United's play - while home advantage and the context of the two matches cannot be overlooked.
But the Mourinho era is underway with a victory - and the hope at Old Trafford is it will prove more successful than his predecessor's.
Manchester City
A narrow 2-1 home win over Sunderland - thanks to an 87th-minute own goal - is probably not how Manchester City fans imagined their first game of the Pep Guardiola era going but the Spaniard is off to a winning start and, just one game into his reign, there are already notable differences from the methods of his predecessor Manuel Pellegrini.
The Chilean drew his final game in charge on the last weekend of the 2015/16 season 1-1 at Swansea to all-but guarantee City a top-four finish. The visitors dominated the fixture and should have won comfortably but in the end the team did what they had to do to achieve the bare minimum in terms of their league ambitions: Champions League qualification.
Sights are set far higher this term and Guardiola has spent heavily in the summer transfer window to bring about change. John Stones, now the world's most expensive defender after his £50m move from Everton, and £13.8m purchase Nolito both went straight into City's starting line-up on Saturday but it was changes to established personnel which made the headlines.
Joe Hart, criticised by Guardiola for his distribution, was replaced in goal by Willy Caballero, while, alongside Stones, left-back Aleksandar Kolarov was preferred to Nicolas Otamendi (who was carrying a knock) and Eliaquim Mangala.
Fernando, Kelechi Iheanacho and Jesus Navas were also replaced from the starting XI which closed Pellegrini's era, with David Silva, Raheem Sterling and Nolito stepping in.
It was Sterling who made an immediate impact, winning a penalty inside five minutes for Sergio Aguero to convert, and, after a Stones error had allowed Jermain Defoe to equalise, Navas - whom Guardiola had turned to just before the hour mark - fizzed in a cross which led to Paddy McNair's own goal.
Aguero had also played a part in the early City goal at Swansea, with his blocked shot being tucked in by Iheanacho, but despite the Manchester club being the better side in both games, there was a clear change in style under the new manager.
Unlike in south Wales, City dominated possession on Saturday, controlling the ball 76.9 per cent of the time, compared to the 50-50 split in Swansea. While City unleashed a similar number of shots across the two matches, the total number and accuracy of passes increased in Guardiola's first game.
City didn't just control the game better against Sunderland, they did so in a more attacking way, higher up the field. They won back possession five metres further up the pitch on average, had six players spend the majority of the game in the visitors' half and made 128 more passes in the Black Cats' portion of the pitch.
The average position graphic also highlights some interesting tactical moves by Guardiola, with the full-backs playing further forward and more tucked in than they did at Swansea, and central midfielder Fernandinho splitting the centre-backs, who pushed up the field.
Two games where City had the upper hand, one drawn, one won. Only time will tell whether the changes by Guardiola prove to be as effective throughout the course of the season.
Find out more about Hewlett Packard Enterprise data solutions.
