A couple of points that I've noticed at a quick glance (and from what I remember from watching the game):
- Their fullbacks alternate being attacking/defensive about every 15-20mins or so. If we can identify these sections of the game when one of them is attacking then there's a lot of space to attack in behind them. Having Sterling switch flanks now and again to target the attacking side when they alternate could be a good option.
- Demichelis is often left quite exposed and sits deeper than Kompany, who himself likes to step forward quite often. Making blindside runs behind Kompany off our left (similar to how Sterling scored this weekend) could be particularly lucrative, since Demichelis could play our attackers onside when Kompany pushes up more.
- Newcastle had a player pushing very high to run in behind their defense - first Gouffran, then Cabella, then Reviere. They did this to great effect, and having Sturridge, Sterling, or Markovic in a free roaming role (perhaps taking it in turns like Newcastle did) could make them difficult to pick up for City's CB's.
- Newcastle managed to get Colback in behind Toure several times, and that was one of the keys to breaking on them in the first half particularly.
- We need to have Henderson playing centrally (perhaps in the Colback role). Looking at the position tracker of our game with Southampton its noticeable that Henderson was really isolated out wide. Against City we need the extra body in the middle, since Silva, Nasri, and Toure all overload that area. Unless Navas or Milner are on the pitch the fullbacks are essentially left 1v1 on the outside, with the key battles being in the middle.
With this in mind, I'd like to see us play a 433 (or lopsided diamond as PoP calls it, or "rhombus" if you prefer :)), with Can playing just ahead of Gerrard to add some physical presence and occupy Toure. Henderson's vertical runs will be key to breaking the Toure-Fernando partnership, though I suspect they might opt for another holding player in there instead of Jovetic to contain that threat.
