Judging on the one game against Tottenham and a fuzzy image of something in white vs. what looked like people or really big insects, he's trying to play exactly like Barca this year. No more, no less.
The biggest problems so far has been two things imho:
1) Against Spurs (probably due to poor fitness) City didn't press high enough. The key for it to work is to force the opposition into defensive mode with a high possession% and an immediate pressure when you lose the ball to isolate attacks. This has progressively become better during these two games so not to worry.
2) The fullbacks/wingbacks (I'm going with fullbacks since it's all the same these days) are struggling with when to go deep, when to give the passing option and when to defend. The timing of the team as a whole is also naturally fairly poor. I'll have to do this quickly and can't dazzle you with my awesome paint skills or my flawless spelling and grammar, but ideally it should look like this in the build up:
---------------cb--------cb------------
fb------------------------------------fb
-------------------dm------------------
------------cm----------cm------------
am----------------------------------am
-------------------cf-------------------
to this:
---------------cb--------cb------------
----------------------------------------
fb-----------------dm----------------fb
----------cm--------------cm----------
am-----------------cf---------------am
or this:
--------------cb--------cb-------------
----------------------------------------
fb-----------------dm----------------fb
-------------cm---------cm------------
-------am---------cf----------am------
which gives you neat little triangles when moving forward and compressing the team - BUT - when in
full attack - one fb should go deep to release one of the am's followed by instant movement from the team (or vice verca), like this:
---------------cb--------cb------------
---------------------------fb---------- (<-- covers left/centre/left cb if counter/flank if passing option)
---------------dm--------------------- (<-- covers right/centre)
---------cm--------cm----------------
---fb----am---cf-------am------------
... and what this does is give crossing/passing options whilst overloading the defensive pairing on either chosen side. As the opposition has to adjust their positions - either of the cm's, the cf, the fb or the am's can run into spaces; essentialy breaking the pattern of play and creating positional chaos. This is all about timing and it hasn't fully clicked yet - mostly because of the fb's - but also because everyone needs to switch tempo at the same moment. As of now City tends to get stuck in the centre and it's because the fb's are too hesitant and the timing isn't there yet, they are still finding their way with this:
--------------cb--------cb-------------
----------------------------------------
fb-----------------dm----------------fb
-------------cm---------cm------------
-------am---------cf----------am------
And that's basically how it works, or should work, in the simplified version. It's of course not as static and there's several way of freeing a player by overloading a position whilst maintaining triangles, but that's the geist of it: you build it up, then overload, build up, then overload. Once in a while you throw a unexpected through ball into the mix when your opponents are waiting for the onslaught (but not too often though cause that would kill the system. Xavi could thread balls all day but he only does it prematurely a few times each game to switch things up, careful not to ruin the "suspense" or the flow of the system).
"Defensive"? It certainly isn't a defensive system but one heavily reliant of literally breaking down your opponents spirit and guide them into an panic mode. There is a point where the players on the opposition find themselves swapping positions one time too many. Running blind on your own creates a sense of isolation with your team - a pitch is a big, empty space for a player and the only way of saying "hi" is to pass or recieve the ball. When you get lonely enough you'll naturally feel compelled to stick with your mates in the clustered defence instead of going at it alone against a solid unit of 10 men doing high fives on the full lenght of the pitch. It's fight or flight and group think 101 and very few players have the tenacity to break that mold.
Mourinho counter acts this (his formula really) by preparing his players for the onslaught before the game and supposedly giving them clear instructions on how to hit them on the counter. He (and others after him) have also been successful mirroring the formation in a purely destructive set up - using the two central midfielders to man mark and kick Xavi and Iniesta off the ball; the striker picks on the dm and his own dm picks up any scraps (followed by a rush on goal by the striker, the am's and cm's). This is why Pep initially opted for Ibra; to have a strong target man that could circumvent the centre triangle/mess (unfortunately for Pep Ibra's first touch and fitness was shit last season and his footballing brain in terms of tactics is the size of a peanut. Mancini solved it by playing the team in a technical 4-3-1-2 and variations of it, but really it was 4-3-1-1 + Ibra, 4-1-3-1 + Ibra and 4-4-1 + Ibra. Pep though is stuck at Rijkaards formula). It's likely also why Mancini has targeted cm's that can deliver a pass AND a gentle elbow if needed; so they wont get bullied off the ball when man marked like Xavi and Iniesta... or Stevie.
As mentioned the formation has remained largely unchanged [for Barca] since Rijkaard (thank you internet for the pic):
This is how the team set up against the
Spurs:
--------------De Jong--------------
---------Yaya--------Barry--------
Swp----------Tevez----------Silva
After the Johnson sub:
--------------De Jong--------------
---------Yaya--------Barry--------
Johnson-------Tevez---------Silva
After Ade sub:
--------------De Jong--------------
---------Yaya--------Barry--------
Johnson-------Ade-----------Silva
And against
Timisoara we saw:
--------------De Jong--------------
---------Yaya--------Barry--------
Tevez----------Ade----------Silva
After the first two subs:
--------------De Jong--------------
---------Yaya--------Tevez--------
Johnson--------Ade--------Balotelli
(the goal came when Johnson took a run to the left and him and Mario was about to switch sides. Tevez added more punch to the cm)
After Tevez sub:
--------------De Jong--------------
---------Yaya--------Jo-----------
Johnson--------Ade--------Balotelli
Some extremely "defensive" formations in other words... (dot, dot, dot)
(About the "wingers" and where Silva play etc: both am's can switch with each other and the cf. Against Timisoara Balotelli and Johnson switched several times and we saw the same thing with Silva and Swp/Johnson against the Spurs. At times Silva was even playing cf with Carlos on the left and Swp on the right. This is not a manager directive but something they have the freedom to do by themselves. There IS a front three however - it's just that the switching creates an illusion)
