Apart from Mendy, Pep was able to play his regular lineup and fielded a hybrid shape of 4-3-3/2-3-2-3/3-2-2-3 (MW) asymmetric in the 1st phase of their possession play. At times, with Fernandinho dropping into the back line and Silva into the 6 the shape adjusted slightly into a 3-3-1-3. The keys in the 1st phase of City’s build up were: The shape in the first two lines of their build up; The presence of Silva and Kevin De Bruyne in both half space at 8; and The high and wide positioning of both wide-forwards. With City pressed high (three players in the first line of press), Napoli were often forced to play long balls and thus clean access was hardly generated. But when they did manage to keep the possession, after the said long ball, Napoli would again tried to create (more) space by playing it backward then, if needed, distribute it wide from side to side to stretch City’s compactness. The collective press-resistance made it possible for them to purposely play to the right flank then bring the ball back to the left side. As always, Napoli emphasized the circulation through the left side. Napoli used Koulibaly as the support and covered the deepest ground of the local overload. There would be Hamsik (and Insigne) on the (slightly) higher space, mainly between City’s lines. n the 2nd half, the main talking point was now how Napoli would press and have the ball as much as possible and how City could (still) defend against it. Right after the break Napoli looked better and they managed to force the ball in City’s half. But, City’s defensive play was still remarkable. Sane, for example, went very narrow and far to the right half space of City’s defense which positioned him in the right place to give adequate security to City’s 6 space. This was crucial given one of Napoli’s principles is to play the ball into that intermediate space into Hamsik’s feet. With such a narrow structure, City managed to stop Napoli from exploiting the space between the lines. For full read, please visit this link http://outsideoftheboot.com/2017/10/20/tactical-analysis-manchester-city-2-1-napoli/ Thank you for reading. You can meet me on Twitter @ryantank100