Psychological uncertainty and tactics - assessing the issues at Man City

Psychological uncertainty and tactics - assessing the issues at Man CityImage source, Getty ImagesImage caption, Enzo Fernandez and Elliot Anderson both cost Manchester City more than £100m in the summerByManchester City reporterThe ongoing international break will give Manchester City manager Enzo Maresca much-needed time to fix the growing issues in his squad.The Italian made a dream start after taking over from Pep Guardiola in the summer, leading the club to a record seven consecutive victories at the beginning of the Premier League season.But three consecutive defeats have followed as they have fallen six points adrift of league leaders Arsenal, who are looking in imperious form as they aim to retain their title.In September, it was announced that City had been found guilty of breaking the Premier League's financial rules, and matches have continued as the club await the outcome of their appeal.With possible sanctions hanging over them, is City's recent league form down to psychological issues or are there tactical problems Maresca needs to address?Renowned sports psychologist Dr Paul McCarthy has 25 years' experience working in the industry with top clubs in England, Scotland, Germany and France.McCarthy works on the personal and professional lives of players and says both contribute to how well they perform on the pitch, with the need to "piece together a jigsaw" when situations become disrupted."Players are like everyone else - they talk about what is going on in their own lives and things that are topical, especially about uncertain events," McCarthy tells BBC Sport."It generates communication with a lot of stories and rumour and over time if there are enough losses, there often becomes a reduced collective efficacy."A collective efficacy is a squad's belief in their ability to do what they need to do [to win] and because of their success in the past, that is often shaken a little by consecutive losses."Figure caption, Man City fan addresses club's midfield problem'Uncertainty leads to a lack of perceived control'City were sitting pretty at the top of the table after a flawless start, but have dropped to third - behind Arsenal and Brighton.After the guilty verdict was announced during the last international break, Maresca's men won their first game back - against 10-man Liverpool at Anfield - then narrowly overcame Ipswich at Etihad Stadium in their following match.But they have since lost to Aston Villa, Brighton and Nottingham Forest, with defensive issues exposed and individual mistakes proving costly.In their first seven games of the season, City did not concede any goals because of individual errors - but that has shifted dramatically in the past three matches, with four mistakes from players contributing to goals.City have conceded 13 goals after 10 league games - their highest total at this stage of a season since 2008-09, when they had let in 16 - and that has prompted questions about their defensive solidity.Asked if the uncertainty over the ongoing appeal process may affect the focus and attention of players, McCarthy said: "Yeah, that would be a very reasonable human response."When people are uncertain about their future, that uncertainty leads to a lack of perceived control, so uncertainty is often more stressful than bad news and the research shows that. "So while you are waiting and you don't know the outcome, you are uncertain of where you are and there is that lack of control for a lot of people - they come to training, they play their games and it's outside of their responsibility."Figure caption, Are Manchester City's players being affected by the charges verdict?'Anderson can't single-handedly resolve build-up play'ByFootball tactics correspondentWhile at Chelsea, in a video for NBC Sports, Maresca discussed his tactics - moving counters into a 3-2-2-3 shape before pushing one up to create the 3-1-6 shape. He explained using six attackers was a tactic he had employed against Inter Milan to outnumber their back five.This season, he has adopted the 3-1-6 shape more permanently - trading a second holding midfielder for an extra attacking midfielder.Coaching a team full of quality footballers, there is logic to wanting to play in a more front-footed and imposing manner, but how well tactics are performed depend on the skillset of the players asked to do them.Image caption, City's shape in possession this season has often looked like a 3-1-5-1 or 3-1-6 shape, with Anderson typically the holding midfielderThe big questions come in the form of Elliot Anderson and his midfield partners.Anderson - naturally more of a roaming midfielder - leans on his physical strengths. At Nottingham Forest, he defended intensely, pressed high and wide, and contributed to attacks. This season, Maresca and his staff have looked to mould him into more of a sitting midfielder after the departure of Rodri in the summer.Learning that role will take time, as it did for Rodri when he first joined.It is not problematic in its own right to try to coach a player into a key role, but City have looked exposed through the middle of the pitch more often in recent games. Anderson, who has largely impressed, has played to his habit - stepping out of a holding midfield position to attempt to press or track opposition players, often looking to win the ball back. Clever opponents have used this to drag him out of position before finding players through the middle.Image gallerySkip image galleryImage caption, Enzo Le Fee recognises Anderson's willingness to track him and pulls wideSlide 1 of 2, Screen grab of Anderson marking Enzo Le Fee against Sunderland., Enzo Le Fee recognises Anderson's willingness to track him and pulls wideWith City looking to press high and often in a man-to-man fashion, Anderson has had to cover more space with his partners in midfield lacking the physicality required to support him. When City are in possession, Enzo Fernandez - often one of City's midfield three - makes frequent attacking runs off the ball into the final third. When this happens, City can find themselves with as few as two or three players behind the ball, giving opponents favourable conditions to counter-attack if they can break the initial press.Image caption, Here, City lose the ball. Anderson is drawn out wide whilst Fernandez on the far side remains high and above the line of the ball, leaving City exposed in the middleFor Maresca, the issue is less around the shape, and more around losing the ball in the first instance. After the loss to Forest, he said: "You concede transitions when you lose the ball, and when you don't win duels."Further concerns arise when assessing the skillset of the players behind Anderson.Gianluigi Donnarumma is not a goalkeeper renowned for his ball-playing ability. The defensive cohort are serviceable on the ball but have made costly errors under pressure, playing out from the back, this season too.Image caption, City have four players near or behind the ball before Josko Gvardiol is dispossessed. Nottingham Forest, with four attackers of their own, score from this turnoverGuardiola's solution to mitigate some of these issues last season came in the form of asking midfielders to shoulder more ball-playing responsibility.The loss of Rodri and especially Bernardo Silva, who would drop deep and take City from their own goal into midfield alone, have made City's problems more obvious. As good as Anderson is, he is not a player who can single-handedly resolve build-up play as Bernardo Silva did, but Ayyoub Bouaddi may be somebody that could be used in this manner as we saw him against Brazil's press in the World Cup.Figure caption, What's going wrong with Manchester City?