Chelsea vs City analysis: A THREAD
City completely dominated Chelsea at the Bridge and it was a Pep masterclass. So far the best performance this season, defensively solid, attacking wise very sharp. In this thread I'll analyse the formations and roles of particular players. (1)

1. The formation
City played in the 3-1-3-3 formation with Stones and Zinchenko as wide CBs. Chelsea didn't press high when the CBs had the ball, instead Werner was focused on marking Rodri. To create superiority, Gundo/Berna started dropping deep with Rodri as a double pivot.(2)

Once City bypassed the first phase, we created a massive overload in the midfield with Cancelo as an inverted fullback and KDB in a false 9 role dropping with the midfielders creating a 4v3 situation. Sterling and Foden held the width therefore holding Chelsea fullbacks.(3)

To counteract KDB dropping deep a Chelsea centre back started tracking him. But this was the trigger for Zinchenko to go high on the left and Foden to move into the left half space. This often left gaps for Sterling and Foden to make a run in behind the Chelsea defence.(4)

This is exactly how the second goal was scored. Zinchenko's position caused a lot of problems because Ziyech's positioning off the ball was very poor. It often created a 2v1 overload on the left with Zinchenko and Foden against Azpilicueta. Check the pictures for explanation.(5)

Chelsea's midfield was completely dominated by City and the reason for that is Chelsea leaving massive spaces in midfield either due to poor pressing or City having numerical superiority. We exploited it time and again with the likes of Gundo, Silva, KDB, Cancelo and Rodri.(6)

2. KDB/Gundo role
As explained above KDB took a false 9 role. But sometimes him and Gundo rotated their positions which caused more problems for Chelsea. This was how the first goal was created. Check the pictures (7).

3. The Bernardo role
Silva was probably given the most difficult role because he had to mark both Chilwell(LB) and Mount (LCM) at the same time because City pressed in a 4-4-2 shape. He was instrumental in dragging Kante out of position with his ability to carry the ball.(8)

He also played as a double pivot with Rodri sometimes. Pep utilised his workrate and his ability to hold and carry the ball combined with Gundo's ability to control the game. The two no.8s role were very important and were utilised perfectly according to their strengths. (9)

4. Off the ball
City pressed rather conservatively and choosed their moments to initiate a press. The wingers pressed the centre backs high while using covershadow to mark the fullbacks while KDB marked Kante, Chelsea's DM out of the game.(10)

Conclusion:
City were in cruise control throughout the game as we were very clinical in the first half. Pep's false 9 tactics worked perfectly because he played the players according to their strengths. A harsh lesson for Lampard as his team struggled to cope up with City.(11)