Shadowing Practice: How PSG Systematically Broke Down Man City - Learn English Speaking with Video
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PSG kept finding themselves with acres of space to run at City's backline.
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And this fast vertical football was the driving force behind their goals, repeatedly making Man City's defence look completely exposed.
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So in this video, we're going to take a look at how PSG's rotations made life incredibly difficult for Man City,
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and how their press made it impossible for Man City to stick to their game plan.
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But we also need to take a look at some halftime changes from Maresca, and how these transformed
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City's approach in the second half.
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welcome back to football meta it's no secret
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that psg are one of the most aggressive pressing teams in europe
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and against city we saw exactly why it's
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so difficult for their opponents to find any solution man city
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wanted to play their usual possession football building from the back
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and gradually creating their 3 -1 -3 -3 shape they would create this shape with gradiol moving inside
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and fernandez pushing forward alongside shirky
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and anderson would remain as the single pivot in front of the back three
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but for man city to establish this shape their players needed time to rotate into position
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and psg simply wouldn't allow them
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that time from the high press
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we see how tightly every outfield player is tracked as soon
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as the ball goes back to donnarumma he's immediately rushed into
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playing long with very few short passing options available even
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when city managed to progress slightly further up the pitch psg had a clear pressing trigger whenever city played the ball backwards,
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the entire team stepped forward, closing every single player down and making it incredibly difficult to receive the ball facing forward.
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City were either forced back towards their goalkeeper or had to play long.
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We see a great example of this in the 15th minute, with PSG already leading 2 -0.
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The move starts with a fairly standard throw -in for City.
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But as soon as the ball goes backwards, watch how every PSG player steps forward.
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Dembele continues his run towards Donnarumma, making a pass back to Diaz virtually impossible, while the central passing options are marked tightly.
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The pass eventually goes into Guardio, who is immediately tracked by Hakimi.
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And every time
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City look as though they might have found a way out, another PSG player is ready to close them down.
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And when the ball finally reaches Doku, the centre -back Marquinhos steps forward aggressively to close him down.
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Eventually, PSG force a mistake, and Vettinha finds himself with space on the edge of the box to shoot nearly making it 3 -0
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so man city simply couldn't establish any control in possession psg kept forcing them backwards leaving donnarumma with little choice
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but to go long where psg could regain possession
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and launch another attack in fact this pressure directly contributed to the goal
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that made it 3 -0 as well once again psg forced man city long recovered the ball
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and attacked quickly with city's defensive line being dragged backwards
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and leaving space for vitina to finish nicely on the edge of the box
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but there's another little detail that psg follow that makes their press even more dangerous and difficult to escape
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when a psg player closed down an opponent and
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that player passed the ball to someone else the presser wouldn't necessarily stop instead
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they continue their run towards the next player
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while the rest of the team adjusts around them for example if dembele presses the center back before chasing the goalkeeper,
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and City managed the pass into the holding midfielder, then in this case, Zaire Emery would immediately close him down,
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and if the ball went back to the other centre -back, he would continue his run forward, making a pass back into Anderson almost impossible,
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and immediately applying pressure on the free player.
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Meanwhile, the rest of the PSG players would tighten around the ball, leaving the only free option on the opposite side of the pitch.
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This essentially meant that
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Man City had no free option and struggled to find the safe pass to make
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so the press from psg was certainly the main reason why they were
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so dominant in the first half but there was another important detail
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that made all their attacks incredibly dangerous as well
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but before we look at that
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Now let's take a look at how PSG's rotations created so many issues for Man City.
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We have a good example in the 20th minute.
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PSG once again forced
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City lock, regain possession, and begin another attack.
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This time we can see that
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City's defensive approach is much more passive than PSG's press.
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The problem is that
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City are combining man marking and zonal principles.
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The defensive line tries to maintain its shape, while the midfielders and attackers are expected to close down PSG's defenders and midfielders.
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Against a team that rotates as frequently as PSG,
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This creates a difficult decision should a player follow their opponent or maintain their position and protect the space
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In this example, as PSG moved the ball to the right and City stepped forward, Dembele finds himself completely unmarked.
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He can receive the ball, turn, and attack the defensive line.
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This was a recurring problem.
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City's defenders wanted to maintain their shape, but their midfielders and attackers were stepping forward to close down the ball.
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And PSG could continuously exploit these gaps between the lines, receiving the ball facing forward and running directly at the defense.
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But these rotations weren't only happening when PSG were already high up the pitch.
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And Man City also struggled to deal with these rotations when PSG were playing out from the back.
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And this was directly responsible for their opening goal.
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The move starts with PSG in a relatively standard shape, as City prepare to press high.
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But as soon as Marquinhos takes control of the ball, several rotations happen simultaneously.
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Vitinha makes a rapid forward run, but Scherke doesn't follow him.
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Dembele drops towards the ball, and is picked up by Guardiol, which prevents Guardiol from closing down Hakimi.
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Meanwhile Fabian Ruiz shifts across to provide additional support.
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Within seconds PSG have disrupted
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City's initial pressing structure, and created a numerical advantage.
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Even when Dembele's pass is intercepted, Ruiz is completely free to collect the loose ball and restart the attack.
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He finds Hakimi out wide, who is once again unmarked, creating another 4v3 situation on the flank.
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city are then forced to push more players forward to compensate
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but that only creates another problem because gay is left in a 2v1
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and can't close down a kliush who plays a 1 -2
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and breaks into the space in midfield from there psg can
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attack at speed eventually moving the ball out wide to doing who cuts inside
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and finishes brilliantly from outside the box at halftime it was 3 -0 to psg
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and frankly the score could have been even more one -sided in favor of the Parisians.
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But in the second half Maresca didn't waste any time in making some tactical changes
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and immediately made three substitutions at half time.
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Doku, Shirky and Diaz were replaced by Nunes, Boadi and Ndaye and tactically speaking
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City moved away from their 3 -1 build -up towards a 3 -2 structure.
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By bringing on Boadi for Shirky City gained an additional option in central midfield
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and instead of relying on Anderson as the only player in front of the defensive line
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they now had two players available to support the build -up guardio also stopped pushing forward into midfield
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and remained in the defensive line
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while nunes took on a more attacking role essentially city moved
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from their attempted 3 -1 -3 -3 towards a 3 -2 -5 giving them more support centrally
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and more options to progress the ball this immediately made
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it much more difficult for psg to press them with two players available in the center
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and city had an extra passing option meaning psg needed to commit another player forward
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or leave someone free city's first goal also came soon after
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the break with india delivering a great ball into the box for harlan to flick off
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and for the first 15 minutes of the second half city looked far more dangerous
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they had greater control in midfield more players supporting build -up
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and more options to attack forward however as we've come to expect by now all
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it takes for psg is one attacking move to instantly be dangerous
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and we saw that in the goal that made it 4 -1.
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With their first proper attack of the second half, Dembele finds Aklyush between the lines and continues his run forward out wide.
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Dembele picks up the ball in space out wide and cuts it back to Aklyush,
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whose incredible effort is saved by Donnarumma before eventually sneaking past him to make it 4 -1
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and put the game to bed.
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And it's a perfect example of why PSG are just so difficult to stop.
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Even in a moment in the game where
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Man City were dominant
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and were looking to find their way back into the game all
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it took was one move to psg to completely kill the game after
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that goal city's dominance in the second half continued even though
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they weren't really able to convert a lot of good opportunities
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and having said that ferran torres actually missed the penalty to make it 5 -2 on the night
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so ultimately psg's first half performance proved decisive their extremely organized press made
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it incredibly difficult for man city to set up in their usual structure.
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And in attack, PSG's rotations consistently overloaded
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Man City in dangerous positions.
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And even though Maresca was able to address some of the major issues in the second half,
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PSG's ability to exploit space in transitions made them extremely dangerous for the whole game.
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But what did you make of this game?
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And do you think PSG could potentially go three
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Champions Leagues in a row?
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Let me know your thoughts in the comments down below.
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Thanks for watching
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This speaking lesson is built on the video “How PSG Systematically Broke Down Man City”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: psg, ball, player, forward, attack. This video has 142 sentences and 1789 words to shadow. The speech runs for 9:33. The speaker talks fast, about 187 words per minute, so expect linked and reduced sounds. 82% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English; the rest is worth studying before you start.
Key vocabulary in this video
15 words from the video worth learning, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| defensive adjective | /dɪˈfɛn.sɪv/ | Intended for defence; protective. |
| rotation noun | /ɹoʊˈteɪʃən/ | The act of turning around a centre or an axis. |
| incredibly adverb | /ɪŋˈkɹɛdɪbli/ | In an incredible manner; not to be believed. |
| possession noun | /pəˈzɛʃn̩/ | A control or occupancy of something for which one does not necessarily have private property rights. |
| midfielder noun | A player who operates behind the attackers and in front of the defence. | |
| backward adjective | /ˈbækwɚd/ | Situated toward or at the rear of something. |
| midfield noun | /ˈmɪd.fiːld/ | The portion of a team which typically plays centrally, between the attack (or forwards) and the defence (or backs). |
| pitch noun | /pɪt͡ʃ/ | A throw; a toss; a cast, as of something from the hand. |
| opponent noun | /əˈpəʊ.nənt/ | One who opposes another; one who works or takes a position against someone or something; one who attempts to stop the progress of someone or something. |
| meanwhile adverb | /ˈmiːnwaɪl/ | During the time that something is happening, often specifically in a different place. |
| establish verb | /ɪˈstæb.lɪʃ/ | To make stable or firm; to confirm. |
| essentially adverb | /ɪˈsɛnʃəli/ | In essence: by nature. |
| dominant adjective | /ˈdɑmənənt/ | Ruling; governing; prevailing |
| generate verb | /ˈd͡ʒɛn.ə.ɹeɪt/ | To bring into being; give rise to. |
| combine verb | /kəmˈbaɪn/ | To bring (two or more things or activities) together; to unite. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| close down verb | /kləʊzˈdaʊn/ | To stop trading as a business. |
| step forward verb | to take one or more steps forward, especially in response to a request for identification | |
| build up verb | To erect; to construct. | |
| go back to verb | To stem from; to originate in. | |
| pick up verb | To lift; to grasp and raise. | |
| check out verb | To record the departure or withdrawal of someone or something (such as guests, employees, books, etc.). | |
| push forward verb | To continue to act or do something, especially with a lot of effort |
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | is tracked · are marked · is immediately tracked |
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | have disrupted · we've come |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 12 contractions and reduced forms, such as weren't, wouldn't, you're. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: rotation /ɹoʊˈteɪʃən/, possession /pəˈzɛʃn̩/, establish /ɪˈstæb.lɪʃ/, essentially /ɪˈsɛnʃəli/, rush /ɹʌʃ/
- Long words — get the stress right: incredibly /ɪŋˈkɹɛdɪbli/, essentially /ɪˈsɛnʃəli/, necessarily /ˌnɛs.əˈsɛɹ.ə.li/, potentially /pəˈtɛnʃ(ə)li/, virtually /ˈvɚ.t͡ʃə.wə.li/
How to practise with this video
- Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
- Start at 0.75× speed, shadow it sentence by sentence, then go back to normal speed once it feels easy.
- Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like defensive, rotation, incredibly.
What is the Shadowing Technique?
Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.