Goals in offing with Sarri and Pep’s attacking styles

● Football is back! Finally, the annual overly anticipated, doesn’t-really-mean-anything but still-feels-important Community Shield is upon us today, starring a mighty battle between the champions of England and the FA Cup winners.

But who is better prepared, how will the teams set up and who will win?

Both Chelsea and Man City are suffering from the post-World Cup schedules of some key players and Maurizio Sarri has only been in charge for a couple of weeks. Is that long enough to even know everyone’s name?

It’s an unpredictable match but one which just might be excellent viewing — and if the Napoli vs Man City games last season are anything to go by, it absolutely will be.

Throughout his career and especially in recent seasons, Sarri has employed an attacking 4-3-3.

The forwards press high in the opponent’s half, the wing-backs get into advanced positions to stretch the pitch and the defensive line is high, to keep players closer together, making it easier (in theory) to win the ball back if there is a turnover in possession.

It’s great to watch and usually results in goals — similar in style to Guardiola and Jurgen Klopp’s teams.

Chelsea attacking shape

The danger of a high defensive line is clear. Quick attacking players can run in behind and Man City have a few of those — Sarri will be acutely aware that Leroy Sane, Gabriel Jesus and Sergio Aguero all pose a massive threat on the counterattack. If City can win the ball in their own half, a ball over the top from someone like Kevin De Bruyne (he’s not back in training yet) can send one of the nippy forwards through on goal with one pass.

Sarri’s sides keep the ball, move it quickly and attack aggressively in a possessionbased system. The players have to keep moving to find space and create diamond shapes, with passes encouraged to go forwards (vertical) but if there are no opportunities to get the ball into the box, they will be patient and wait for one hesitation, or a gap to emerge to thread a pass into.

We know roughly how Guardiola will set his team up this season: a 4-1-4-1/4-3-3 with specific player instructions depending on the opponents. What we can’t really be sure about is who will play in the Community Shield. It might be something like this:

The wingers stay wide and make the pitch big, the two attacking midfielders — usually De Bruyne and David Silva — roam and get forward to join in attacks, and the fullbacks/wing-backs either overlap or underlap depending on how the attack is developing.

Just like Sarri, it’s all about the players taking up the right positions.