In The Zone: How Inter stifled City

In the FedEx Performance Zone, UEFA technical observer David Moyes saw much to intrigue in the UEFA Champions League draw between Manchester City and Inter – notably the visitors' flexibility with defenders and midfielders rotating positions.

This was a match in which we saw the champions of England and the champions of Italy, two gladiators, yet teams with completely opposite approaches to the game. Inter played really well in keeping City out in a very close contest, as well as building with precision and counterattacking. In their usual fashion, City dominated possession, keeping the ball well and showing patience in chance creation but they faced a tough challenge breaking down Inter's well-organised defensive block.

One thing which stood out for me about Inter was how unconventional and inventive they were with the midfielders and defenders switching positions – at times you would see a couple of the centre-backs advance ahead of the midfielders in the build-up. They were interchangeable and completely comfortable doing this. As shown in video 1, for example, you could see one central defender go wide to outside-right and another advancing centrally. This was integral to how Inter played.

In the centre-backs' place, the midfielders dropped to start the attack. Indeed, the Inter outfield players with the most passes were centre-back Alessandro Bastoni along with Hakan Çalhanoğlu and Nicoló Barella – and the fact two are midfielders is a reflection of how they rotated into deeper positions to get on the ball.

In Barella's case, he played a captain's role in linking the play. He has the quality to make key passes to build the play and overall, he made 13 passes to break the lines, more than any other player, and carried the ball forward too. When Inter regained the ball, he was often the one to get his first pass off and get them started.

Inter impressed me. The players were so flexible when rotating positions. They were comfortable rather than concerned that they might have appeared out of position – and this applied when they were out of possession too.

When Inter didn't have possession (Video 2), their 5-3-2 organisation was solid and structured. They used multiple players to make their low block. As both the video and graphic above show, as well as the midfield three working hard to cover the width they had the wide centre-backs, Yann Bisseck on the right and Bastoni on the left, stepping out to apply pressure on City's players in the pockets.

City did try to punish them, with players trying to run into space or to get the runners in behind but Inter looked well-coached and knew what they were doing. There were few chances for City partly because of this.

They used their low block well and, as mentioned already, had the technical ability of midfielders like Barella and Piotr Zieliński to get the first pass off and drive forward when they turned the ball over. They were well connected and yet they were prepared to take defensive risks and some of their play getting out of defence was exceptional.