Dear Editor,

There is an old fundamental of American football that has always resonated with me. Simply, defence wins championships.

Manchester City Football Club (Man City) won the Premier League going away on a canter. They scored the most goals — 83 — and had the largest goal difference — 51. Yet, despite all its attacking brilliance, in a sense it was never properly tested.

And so, they went into the 2021 Champions League Final with a team built to attack. Pep Guardiola started five out-and-out attackers: Raheim Sterling, Riyad Mahrez, Phil Foden, Kevin De Bruyne, and Bernardo Silva. The game plan was obvious: Attack, attack, and attack again, and score. Yet, Man City lost.

In my view, there were four fundamental mistakes by Pep, and they cost Man City the Champions League.

The first was to underestimate the steel that the ‘German Chancellor’ Thomas Tuchel has instilled in the spine of the Chelsea set-up. The second was to think that because Chelsea plays three at the back that Sterling and Mahrez would have had the freedom of the park. The third was to underestimate the quality and worth of Reece James and Ben Chilwell. The fourth was to omit Fernandinho from the starting line-up.

On the other side the Chancellor Herr Tuchel proved the wise words of my old coach at high school, that if the other side does not score, you cannot lose the match.

Antonio Rudiger was brilliant. N’golo Kante was awesome. They were my joint ‘Men of the Match’. They brought the steel and spine to the Chelsea defence.

James and Chilwell smothered Sterling and Mahrez and made them look like League One players. They were that innocuous.

Fernandinho is the lynchpin in the Man City team. He plugs the gap in the middle of the park and brings stability and balance to the team. He, like Fabinho in my beloved Liverpool FC, is a game-changer when he is present and anchoring the midfield. His omission was almost criminal.

Man City played without a true centre forward. They played what is now called a ‘false 9’. This works against teams that play the 4-3-3 or 4-4-2 formation. It does not work that well with a team that either plays with three centre halves or one that plays with four traditional defenders and two deep holding midfielders in front of the centre of the defence.

Man City lost this game before it even began. It was lost in the tactics and team selection.

Defence wins championships!

Walter H Scott QC

walter@whscottlaw.com