Kevin De Bruyne says Manchester City spent just 15 minutes preparing the false-nine tactics that helped to destroy Manchester United in the first half of Tuesday’s Carabao Cup game.
City blitzed their rivals in the first-half, going 3-0 up after only 38 minutes during the semi-final first leg at Old Trafford.
Marcus Rashford pulled a goal back for the Red devils after half-time but they went down 3-1, with Bernardo Silva playing an important role in his unfamiliar false nine position.
Pep Guardiola often used a false nine when he was still in charge at Barcelona but has rarely done so at the Etihad.
But despite the team’s lack of experience with the tactic, De Bruyne said: “We did 15 minutes on it in the morning, that’s about it.
“We didn’t train that but it’s not like we never did it before – we did it sometimes against teams that prefer to play man-against-man; Cardiff, United, in Barcelona away we did it the first year with Pep, so we’ve done it a couple of times.
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“With Bernardo dropping it is four against three in the midfield, so they have to choose what they do – if they put their defender up there is more space behind and if not Bernardo is going to be free and that is what we tried to do.
“I think overall we played well. The second half they tried to put a bit more pressure on us and we made one mistake and they scored from it.
“I don’t think they had a lot of chances and I think we should have scored more but in the end 3-1 is a good advantage. We know it is not over but obviously it was a good game for us.”
Manchester City are aiming for a third successive Carabao Cup title victory and have put themselves in pole position, but, despite the result, Guardiola is adamant that the semi-final is still in the balance.
He said: “In the first minutes, it was tight, they had one or two counter-attacks and the second shot. It was an outstanding goal from Bernardo and since then we played really good with a lot of passes arriving from behind.
“In the second half, they changed the shape from a diamond to a 4-4-2 and we struggled a little bit, but it’s a good result.
Marcus Rash
“It’s not over though, it’s Man United and we see how they can come back… but hopefully with our fans, we can make a good game and reach the final again.”
