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The Carling Cup game against United was chicken soup for a tactics junky like me. The chess game that was fought between Mancini and Ferguson was a highlight of the encounter, and on reflection the City manager made several important changes, both to the starting line-up and during the game, that contributed to victory. Ferguson responded, but it was too late, and City saw out the win. So how did Mancini and his depleted team achieve success?

Well, to begin with, Mancini appeared to have learned from the Everton defeat. Playing the likes of Robinho and Petrov just does not work against physical, well-organized sides and, mindful of the threat that Valencia posed on United's right, Mancini chose to start the game with this line-up -

FORMATION 1

~~~~~~~~~~~~Given

Richards ~~~Boyata ~~~Kompany~~~ Garrido

~~~~~~~~~~~ De Jong

~~~SWP~~~~~~~ Barry ~~~~~~~~Zaba

~~~~~~~~Tevez ~~~~~Bellamy

This is how the team seemed to begin the game iirc, and played this way for about 15 minutes or so. It did not seem to be a typical 4-3-3, because Tevez and Bellamy were certainly paired up front together. Unfortunately, United, and specifically Raphael and Valencia, were somewhat able to bypass Zabaleta in this unfamiliar position, but perhaps more surprisingly, Barry/Bellamy/Tevez were unable to prevent Carrick from spraying diagonal passes out to Giggs or Evra, putting pressure on Micah and so forcing SWP deeper and deeper to help out defensively. Additionally, Bellamy was compelled to track back at times to aid Garrido and Zaba on the left, leaving only Tevez up front and so compounding the problems. Mancini alleviated the issues to an extent by altering the formation like this -

FORMATION 2

~~~~~~~~~~~~Given

Richards ~~~Boyata ~~~Kompany ~~Garrido

~~~~~~~~~~~ De Jong

~~~SWP ~~~~~~Zaba ~~~~~~~~~ Barry

~~~~~~~Tevez ~~~~~~~Bellamy

Barry and Zabaleta were instructed to swap places, Zaba given a mandate to close Carrick down and prevent the out-ball to Giggs. Barry, used to playing on the left, was able to stem the runs of Raphael a bit better.
More crucially, this also allowed Bellamy to concentrate on getting
forward and in doing so he was able to put pressure on United's young right-back, eventually winning a penalty.
The main concern for Mancini now was the dangerous forward runs of Evra and Giggs. To counter this, Mancini changed the actual formation this time, as well as moving individuals around. I can't recall exactly when this change took place, but it coincided with City's best spell in the match -

FORMATION 3

~~~~~~~~~~~~~Given

Richards~~~ Boyata~~~ Kompany~~~Garrido

~~~~~~~~~~~~De Jong

~~Zabaleta ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Barry

~~~~~~~SWP ~~~~~~~ Bellamy

~~~~~~~~~~~~Tevez

I suppose this is a wonky diamond formation, varying a 4-5-1.
This set-up worked quite well until the front 3 tired -
the efficacy of this formation depended on the ability of the City
front-line to close down the deep-lying Utd midfielders. Until then,
Zaba did well against Evra, allowing Micah to concentrate more on
shackling Giggs. SWP helped out with this and also made in-roads
against United midfield, as did Bellamy. Barry was perhaps the least successful part of the game-plan, but that could be due to injuries.

Up until the 70th minute or so, Rooney was largely ineffective, mainly due to the De Jong/Boyata/Kompany trio, and replacing young Boyata with the more experienced (and fleet-footed) Nedum Onuoha made sense on the face of it. At this point, however, Ferguson made his own tactical throw of the dice by bringing on Owen to partner Rooney. Zaba felt the need, or was instructed, to help out in a more central position, again allowing Evra and Giggs more possession. This resulted in United's best passage of play and almost undermined Mancini's (and City's) good work. Bearing in mind the undoubted fatigue of the City midfield/front players, I felt that Mancini maybe made the wrong decision at this point in the game - there was nothing wrong with bringing Ned on for Boyata, but the real issue for City was the inability to hold onto the ball for any length of time. I don't know how fit Ireland is, but his introduction may have eased the pressure on the defenders. As it was, City finished the game like this -

FORMATION 4

~~~~~~~~~~~~~Given

Richards~~~ Onuoha~~~ Kompany ~~~Garrido

~~~~De Jong ~~~~Barry ~~~~Sylvinho

~~~~Zaba ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Bellamy

~~~~~~~~~~~~Benjani

Benjani was rather ineffective at holding the ball (although he was up against 4 defenders and Carrick on his own) which resulted in wave after wave of pressure. I can understand Mancini's logic in bringing on 2 defenders and a big(ish)forward, but at Old Trafford this may not be enough. Still, we should have Ade back, and Vieira and Ireland should be able to help out.
Hope I didn't bore everyone too much! ~~~Bloovic~