Will Nuno Espirito Santo stick with his four-man backline when West Ham United host Manchester City? Or, inspired by Alvaro Arbeloa’s Real Madrid, will he shake things up?
That is one of many questions the Hammers boss must answer as Saturday’s 8pm kick-off looms at the London Stadium.
Real Madrid tore Pep Guardiola’s Man City apart in a thumping, 3-0 Champions League round-of-16 first-leg victory on Wednesday night. It goes without saying that Nuno Espirito Santo, Paco Jemez and the rest of the West Ham United coaching staff will spend the next 48 hours poring over that encounter at the Santiago Bernabeu, all the while putting together their own plan of action.
The fixture we all dread… 😮💨
How on earth can West Ham beat City WITHOUT Summerville?
And Guardiola’s admission that he struggled to deal with a Real Madrid side who set up with a five-man backline out of possession should give Nuno plenty of food for thought.
West Ham United may consider mirroring Real Madrid’s three-at-the-back
Without the ball, Aurelian Tchouameni often dropped in alongside Dean Huijsen and Antonio Rudiger, while an injury to star man Kylian Mbappe allowed Arbeloa to deploy a mobile frontline without a natural number nine.
Quick, direct passes in behind also caused numerous problems to a City side who could not cope with the rampaging Vinicius Jr or the free-scoring Fede Valverde.
“They defended with a 5-3-2 or a 5-4-1 and, above all, they played with no fixed striker,” Guardiola said at full-time. “They stretched the field a lot.”
West Ham may lack the star quality of Real Madrid, but they do perhaps have the personnel to put out a similar system. Konstantinos Mavropanos and Axel Disasi have excelled for the most part since the latter arrived from Chelsea six weeks ago.
Nuno has the option to bring in Jean-Clair Todibo alongside them and field a back three. Todibo’s line-breaking passes could also help play through a City side who were carved open on numerous occasions by Real Madrid when building from the back.
In Taty Castellanos and Pablo Felipe, Nuno also has two mobile forwards who loved to drift wide and drop deep. This would potentially enable the captain to drift infield – Jarrod Bowen is back on the goal trail – while utilising the raw pace of Adama Traore in behind.
Traore appears the most likely Crysencio Summerville replacement. What he lacks in finesse, he could make up for with his searing counter-attacking potential up against a City side who tend to leave big gaps in behind. Gaps Real Madrid frequently exploited with direct balls into the space.
How would YOU set the Hammers up against Man City? ⚒️ v 🩵
Three at the back? Another start for Kante and Pablo?
Manchester City could not cope with Real Madrid’s counter attacks
Overload the midfield, with Pablo or Castellanos dropping in alongside the all-action Mateus Fernandes out of possession, and West Ham could have the energy to outrun an ageing pairing of Rodri and Bernardo Silva.
“With Vinicius and [hat-trick hero] Fede Valverde, they dropped [Arda] Guler and Brahim [Diaz] to play near [midfielders Thiago] Pitarch and Tchouameni, ensuring they had extra players in the midfield,” Guardiola adds.
“There were good counter-attacks, strong positional play, and skilful moves by players who navigated the space well.”
“It was difficult sometimes to control the transition. When we lose the ball and they connect, they don’t just keep the ball, they contact the next line, and Vinicius and the rest of the players can run.
“It ended very well [for Madrid]. Given all this, we have to congratulate them.”
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