In principle, the change was to move up one of the midfielders from the 4-2-3-1 (i.e., the "2-3" part) as an extra striker. In particular, instead of Tevez playing up top and Balotelli playing wide or deep (or vice versa), they started with both strikers up front.
However, it did not take long before Tevez dropped deep, as he likes to do, and the team returned to a familiar 4-2-3-1 shape. Indeed, it took no more than 6 minutes according to the clock:
They continued to use this shape for most of the match.
Even though they stayed broadly in this 4-2-3-1 shape, the movement of the attacking players was much better. Sometimes Balotelli was up top, sometimes Tevez was. Silva moved from side to side or played centrally. And Adam Johnson continued to show how good he is at making runs not picked up by defenders. He created the first goal almost singlehandedly, and continued to create good chances while he was on the field.
Perhaps more important than the positioning of the strikers was the movement of the two defensive midfielders. While Yaya Toure and Nigel de Jong (the "2" part of the formation) spent most of the match side by side, as can be seen in the photos, Yaya was frequently seen storming forward. He combined with Adam Johnson in a neat 1-2 for the initial goal, and was frequently involved in link-up play. (He also scored, but that was after he had moved to a forward role, replacing Johnson.)
This is more like the way that Arsenal play in their 4-2-3-1. Previously, the two defensive midfielders had been staying deep (perhaps against Mancini's wishes), which left it up to the fullbacks to push forward. Fortunately, with Micah Richards and Aleks Kolarov on the pitch, that is bound to happen. In this match, though, only one fullback moved forward at any time, but Yaya Toure was also moving forward to meet the usual total of 6 attacking players.
Later on, Johnson came off and was replaced by Patrick Viera. Viera moved into Yaya Toure's position and Yaya moved forward into an attacking role, which he has played in some recent matches. Fortunately, Viera also managed to get forward, breaking away from de Jong's side, to provide the extra attacker that Toure had.
As an aside, numerous pundits and fans, I think, are confused by the use of Yaya Toure in an attacking role. As we can see in the picture above, he is one of the attacking "3" rather than the defensive "2". Others assumed that since three capable defensive midfielders were named in the side that they were all playing in defensive roles, but this was not the case.
The typical way to play three defensive midfielders is in a 4-5-1: the three DMs play in a line with two wide attacking midfielders just above. However, City have never played this formation as far as I have seen. We always play with two defensive midfielders, in either a 4-2-3-1 or a 4-4-2 / 4-2-2-2 shape — the latter used for the first time today, at the start of the match.
In summary, the two striker formation did not last long, and it was not clear that it had any effect on the match. City were back in their usual shape before the first goal, and that goal did not even involve either striker. What seemed more important, to me anyway, was the ability of one of the two defensive midfielders (Toure) to get forward more often, the improved movement of the attacking players, and the penetrating runs of Adam Johnson. Indeed, Johnson gets my vote for Man of the Match.
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