Thursday 27 October 2016

THIS IS MY TAKE ON UTD'S OFFENSE TO BE MORE EFFECTIVE .

 yesterday man utd played man city in the efl cup . utd played a 4-2-3-1 formation . utd had been one dimensional in the past games . the utd opposition could read their play and could prepare themselves for that .  if yesterday's utd's performance is anthing to go by then i would say that jose could play this team with some different players and with some tweaks that i think would make utd much more threatning and more incisive and would utd's opponent on the back would and create space for them to play . in the past games utd had been playing through ibramovic and most importantly what had happened that when he is stopped utd's offense was stalling . yesterday he was coming deep turning and playing passess to on rushing rashford who was playing wide . i think there is a catch here and i think if jose could just rashford inside and make his starting postion just beside ibramovic then i think he will be more threatning . ibra has pogba for company but the trouble is that those two are just not clicking and i think that adding rashford to the mix will create space for them . if rashford could have his starting postion just between right back and the centre back . what this will mean that if the centre back comes out to deal with ibra then just as he turned on kompany yesterday ( ibra has the quality to do that the same way ) he could release rashford behind these back four and i think this threat will create space for utd and they could keep the ball better and if they can get the ball near the box then i think pogba are ibra are very good shot from distance and they could be a threat . what utd needs to do is that they need to keep the opposition guessing with their movement as to whether rashford is going to come inside or whether he is going to remain wide . rashford's starting postion would give him added threat and better use of his pace  . 
the other thing had been about juan mata and i think his movement has given utd a fresh impetus in offense but to be offense i think he makes too many touches to the ball and slows the game . if we can replace him with mikhitariyan or martial then i think the threat will be even more with their ability in one on one situations . the thing is that utd's wide players had been too orthodox in their approach and that had been the problem for utd . the other player that had been overlooked but can be useful for utd would be schneiderling . he has the same qualities as carrick and is a very good long ball passer and he could be the one who would partner herrera in the middle of the park and would give more impetus to utd's attack . if utd can play compact then the opposition will have to play compact and that will give utd chance to close them down and retain ball high up the pitch .

Monday 24 October 2016

MY TAKE ON THE GAME BETWEEN CHELSEA VS MAN UTD .

yesterday man utd  got humiliated by  chelsea and it is more to mouriniho's hopeless than it is to the defensive indiscipline . i had said that in my earlier post that offense is the greatest defense and if you look at the yesterday's game then it is perfectly true . the trouble with man utd is that they are very one dimensional and unimaginative when they have the ball . i would like to take references of the liverpool game while writing about this game .
chelsea started the with 3-4-3 formation and this formation had them playing because conte had been able to accomodate his all best players plus he had been able to make them play as they want to at the same time adding pace to the attack and making them play at counter rather than playing with possession football . the transition from back to front had been at pace that had helped to win 2 consecutive matches and dominate opposition . while man utd started with their usual 4-4-1-1 formation .
man utd were behind even before they could kick the ball and it was because of chelsea's changed style of play . what the 3-4-3 had done is that it had given pedro and hazard to play as no.10 who could go beyond costa . in this system instead of costa backing out to  the centrebacks and get into a confrontation . in this chelsea formation he  drops deep asking the centre backs to close him down and if they dont then he has got time on the ball and he releases hazard and pedro beyond him . the other thing that chelsea are doing good is that now both hazard and pedro are not binded to one zone and this gives headache to the defense because they dont know as to whether hazard or pedro are going to come inside or stay wide in their natural positions . the width is provided by fullbacks and the midfielders are there to pull the strings . this system suits pedro the most because he is a natural runner who like to make diagonal runs breaking offside traps . he is better at making runs rather than with ball at his feet . plus he is not binded with the zone and he can make diagonal crossing into others zone which gives headaches to the opposition defenes . conte has got chelsea playing again and his plan A has got him two good wins but the trouble is what happens when his plan A fails and what will he do . the good thing about chelsea's offense is that now both hazard and pedro have got the lisence to move out of their zone instead of having responsibilities to keep on stretching zone and staying wide instead that job is now left to the full backs . chelsea can switch now from back three to back five or four as the situation required and the formation is quite flexible .
in this game man utd started the game with fellaini started to drop on matic while pogba would drop on kante . the trouble with man utd is that they are just ordinary with the ball . first and foremost can somebody fathom the idea of dropping ibramovic and to be honest i think he is the main cause for man utd attack stalling and other is mouriniho  who is unimaginative . the thing is that if you stop ibramovic then you stop man utd attack and that's what liverpool did when they played man utd last monday . they just man marked ibra out of the game and they did the same with pogba to just stifle utd attack . whatever attack that came from the flanks they just crowded the box to give no space t head the ball . the trouble with utd is that the attack gets stalled because ibra is making no movement . he is not getting wide and drifting wide or doing anything . secondly there are no runners beyond ibra and nor rashford nor lindgaard made a central run to go beyond ibra . the troubel with utd are that they spend too much time on the ball and this because the offense is not orchestrated by the coach . mouriniho is too dependent on counter attacks but last monday liverpool just killed man utd's counter by stopping two players . the trouble with man utd had been that they had been too reliant on ibra but he had not that mobile so why not play rashford or martial upfront and add more pace to the utd attack which is severly lacking . utd were decent after the half time and it was because mata wasnt confined to his zone instead he was making diagonal runs and creating problems for the opposition and you see that it was the time when utd had the best penetration and ball possession . the trouble with utd is that they know only one type of offense and that is taking ball wide and crossing it into the box . instead they should start working the ball in and they have very good shot takers from beyond the box in pogba and herrera .
one thing i dont understand is why is mouriniho hell bent on playing lindgaard ,young and fellaini . to be honest fellaini is useful when the game is physical but here chelsea were going to play floor and he is not that good in closing down and very mobile . secondly why are young and lindgaard playing when there is an excellent player in mikhitariyan who is better than all of these . i had said that mouriniho has to invent himself as a offensive coach in this job and if he cannot then this will be another bad year for utd fans and they should be ready for it because the football world has moved on with insistence not just only good defending but also on good offense as well . 

Friday 21 October 2016

MY TAKE ON THE GAME BETWEEN BARCELONA VS MAN CITY .

yesterday man city played barcelona at nou camp and it is always test as to how gaurdiola's current team tries to match up against his former team who have set level of excellence in the world of football . now i am very much confused with the articles that are there in the media and the comments made by some of the former players about man city . one comment was particularly very stupid by roy keane who said that city were brave and stupid . we know the kind of game that gaurdiola coaches and his footballing philosophy . seconldy did you ever hear a grandmaster leave his pet opening against another grandmaster in a candidates match and try uncharted water i dont think so . gaurdiola play's football and it is very admiring if you beat your opponent at his own game . yes city came short but then it is not the final and gaurdiola will now have the time to assess as to where his team were short and why do he needs to do and did he lacked and i am certain that in the return leg we will see a better performance from city .
city and barcelona both started with 4-3-3 formation . both started to play deep with barca more deeper than city . for the first 20 min the game was evenly poised with gundogan dropping on iniesta and silva trying to man mark busquestus so that they cannot play through him . man city tried to press barca to test them and tried to win ball high up the pitch but barca stretched man city vertically . first they started very deep so that city players would had to cover more ground to press and in that time barcelona could move the ball . for the first 20 sterling was giving a very hard time to alaba and he was able to have some joy against alaba but he was let down by the other players . first off city didnt had a proper no.9 who is a goal poacher and one who would play on the shoulder of the last defender or one would be poacher on the crosses made in the box . if gaurdiola does play's de bruyne as the man up front then he should just ask him to try to get beyond the centre backs to keep them occupied so that there is space in front of these defenders . what barcelona do when they loose the ball is that they congest that space in the middle . once alaba went injured enrique asked busquestus and iniesta to give protection to digne . the trouble with man city was that at times they were not able to work out tight spaces and were getting caught out particularly on the flanks with sterling particularly losing the ball in those exchanges . the trouble was that gundogan who was suppose the support to sterling wasnt there . i thought that at times man city tried to over work the ball on the flank and get behind . instead they needed to spread from flank to flank as barca were doing . they just wanted to stretch city and they knew that the more the stretch city the harder it will be city to close them down and barcelona will be able to move ball more freely . the trouble with city was that there players were not that mobile as compared to barca's and at times i thought that the attack stalled or created a chance for barca where on they could force city into making desperate passes . nolito and sterling stayed wide to stretch barca's defense but then they stayed in their position and waited for the ball instead they could had moved with ball . just as suarez and messi do which doesnt allows the defense to settle down and get a grip of the situation . they keep on changing zones and tracking them becomes difficult but sterling and nolito kept rooted to the position so when the ball got to them barca just could read as to what was going to happen next and could adjust themselves .i mean to say that city just need to add a bit more pace to the attack and creativity and dropping silva wont be a bad idea .
the trouble playing barcelona with messi is that you are virtually playing against 12 players . you cannot contain messi . he is so good on the ball and most importantly just as he is good on the ball he is very good passer as well and has a very good vision plus he has good reading of the game . barcelona's plan was simple when city started pressing that get the ball to either of the front three and then start from there . while city tried to contain neymar with zabaleta and fernandiniho trying to contain him but instead they fouled . while they went tight on neymar . against messi they just didnt went that hard . instead they dropped back a little giving him time and space on the ball . the trouble for city was that when gundogan went upfront to close down either iniesta or busquestus fernandiniho was left with a very space to guard down in front of the back four . another thing is that the front three of barcelona have a very good understanding in respect to the opposition as to what they needs to do and how they are going to open up the opposition defense . i think pep will look at this match and will try to figure out a way to stop messi or atleast contain him . i think clichy deserves next chance against him and if possible put a right footed player against him .
the one thing that i felt awkward is that bravo is good goal keeper and he made a mistake but when the ball fell to neymar on his miss pass why didnt he let him score and just be on the pitch and keep the game 11 vs 11 . atleast the contest would had been there and dont know what would had happened . i think pep will look into his .
messi scored a hattrick in this game but there was one player who i was impressed in this game and his ability over the ball that was samuel umiti and stones should take a look at his performance . he was the one who passing 30 yards ball from the back to the front players feet with ease . he was equally good on defense as well never putting a foot wrong.
last but not the least but i think gaurdiola will have make the balance between keeping shape and pressing and hope he figures out that . 

Saturday 15 October 2016

MY TAKE ON THE GAME BETWEEN DORTMUND VS HERTHA BERLIN .

now yesterday dortmund played hertha berlin . about three weeks back touchel's stock were very high and his team was highflying and when they destroyed wolfsburg at that time everybody who had seen them thought that this team would definitely challenge bayern munich for the title and even can pip them . but come three weeks later everybody has started doubting touchel's tactical ability and his inability to correct at what is wrong or what is lacking in the team and what should be done . the first half especially highlighted his lack of tactical acumen and inability to change things when they were direly needed . his team was one dimensional in the first half and except for one or two moments when they troubled the opposition then there is something lacking in the game .
dortmund started the game with 3-4-1-2 formation . pulisic and Schmelzer were the two wingbacks with weigl and rode sitting in front of the back three while gotze was playing the no.10 while mor was abumeyang upfront but mor was on the left . hertha berling started the game with 4-1-4-1 formation with stark in front of the back four .
the game started with hertha berling sitting back and playing on the counter and inviting dortmund to open them up . dortmund start the game very fast they try to close down very fast and they try to play abumeyang behind the back four . hertha berlin were disciplined from the very start . they were sitting back and pressing only when the ball was getting into the midfield or up . they played narrow since they knew about the pace that certain dortmund player's possessed and their ability to run with the ball . they didnt went for overpressing trying to expose themselves with spaces everywhere to be exploited . dortmund's offense depends on players running behind the ball or abumeyang getting released behind the back four . the trouble with dortmund was that hertha were prepared for that . hertha's back four kept abumeyang in front of them and starting 2 or 3 yards behind him . secondly when they pressed they pressed with intent and made sure that they get the ball or foul the player to stop the play .
the trouble with dortmund was that they just couldnt bring ball upfield in the first half and the player responsible who charged with the responsibility to play in the hole and dictate the offense and around whose whole offense was revolving was kept very quite by hertha berlin and stark man marking gotze out of the game . now there are some facets of the game that are very interesting and this is where i find that touchel lacked improvisation and should had needed to change things . first mor was dropping on the left side where there was Schmelzer already so virtually they could work the zone better and at times you could see that Schmelzer was getting quite lot of space to run in the hertha's half . while it was it was opposite on the right flank it was left for pulisic to explore and there was no support from him on that flank and he himself had to carve out chances with his great running with the ball . the trouble with dortmund was that in the first half that they were not able to bring abumeyang in the game . it was touchel's incopetence that he couldnt work out as what needs to be done . if gotze wasnt getting time on the ball then he could have asked his players to surround gotze and get the ball from him on the first touch and play around him . secondly he needed to do more to bring abumeyang in the game . touchel just failed to do that . whenever rode or speigel moved upfield they were getting space and time on the ball but they were hurrying too much with the offense . instead they should learn from germany's coach joachim low who's team never hurries and plays very good football . dortmund were below par in the first half . if abumeyang wants to be a top striker then he needs to learn to combine with the team and have an all round game . he is not that good in the air . secondly he should hold the ball more and release playes beyond him but then touchel needs to ask him to do that . he was just hanging there upfield in the first half without any service . the trouble with dortmund is that there is too much of individual running by the players instead of team play and it from way to far deep that is why leverkusen were able to stop them in the tracks . both speigel and rode are good player and can control the game if only touchel can devise a proper offense .
hertha had a very good offense . Ibisevic was playing upfront but had Haraguchi,stocker and Esswein to run beyond him . i was impressed by haraguchi who created first two chances for hertha in the first half . his vision was very good his running with the ball also . i am glad for him . another player i was impressed was hertha's goal keeper jarstein who was very good and very comfortable on the ball and what he was doing .
i feel asleep when rode was replaced by kagawa on the 60 min but for the first 60 min i wasnt impressed with touchel and with such a fine squad i think he needs to do more . his tactical incompetence is holding the team back . secondly gotze needs to introspect his game . he was totally hopeless in the game and a player should realize when he needs to change the game and when he should spend time on the ball and when he should play one touch game . hope dortmund improve .



Wednesday 12 October 2016

MY TAKE ON ENGLAND'S GAME VS SLOVENIA .

well after yesterday's match vs slovenia i am reading the comments made by england manager southgate and i am feeling amazed and i fell certain that this man is certainly not fit to be a manager . southgate had commented that he has taken over a mess i mean what mess .you have players you prepare them for the game . first off you try to have a plan and then you try to improvise it . after that i read reports that southgate had won over the fans by making such comments i mean arent these comments foolish . why are you a managerto sort that mess out to get the best out of the players and give that team a direction which is lacking and that is what is expected out of you . if you are not upto a job then atleast you should not be talking and making stupid comments which will harm ur furture prospects . secondly did we ever see a top manager sitting idly in his seat and not watching the game intently ( van gal was one who would sit but would take notes of that game of what the players had done wrong in every aspect and try to improvise it in the next game ) . i havent seen a top manager sitting ideally in his seat when the game is going on . he should always be trying to improvise and telling players at what they are doing wrong and what they are to do and improvise on plan . for entire game i watched southgate sitting on the bench . i am sorry but i dont find any sympathy for soothgate and i find him incompetent for the job as a football manager . then i read giggs comment that rooney is confused with his positioning. why is he confused he has played both postions before . he certainly got the briefing from his manager as to what he wants or what he needs to do on the pitch then why is he confused . thirdly rooney was hammered and several journalist noted that he wasnt missed and they celebrated on that then i want to ask if dropping rooney was celebrated then how many of those players do really warrant or deserve a place in the first 11 rather than the team itself . off the starting 11 i would only recomment two or three players who would be starting if england are really serious about chopping players on their performances . for me delle alli,joe hart and stones would only make the 11 who would retain their places and others shown the door .
to be honest if we look at the game then i fail to find a game plan with england . compared to england slovenian players were better on the ball and there organisation was way better than england . the eastern european teams are known for their pacy counter attacking football ( the czecks ,yugoslav's ) . the slovenians were no different and they would be cursing themselves for drawing . the trouble was with england what was their game plan ( dont know) what were they trying to do ( dont know ) . first off in modern football you dont spend too much time on the ball because it slows down the game and allows the opposition to regroup and defend better . the reason why england players were spending time on the ball because they dont have the positoning sense which needs to be there when you need to move the ball upfield . the organisation needed and the roles that are to be played in that move is certainly not known to these players .
struddinge was playing as the no.9 and he was criticized by the former players for coming deep and leaving his position . first off struddige wasnt going to beat the slovenian centre backs in the air and so any way that england were going to muster any threat to slovenian goal then it was going to be on the floor . to be honest england dont have any flair players in the side who could open opposition on his own ( the one that they have was bought on after 80 min ) . if you are not having any flair players then  the team combination and crisp passing is very important . to be honest england players arent that good technically . delle alli is good but still lacks that killer first touch . lets start from the back . why do you let cahill pass the ball from the back . how many times did he gave away the ball by picking the wrong player to pass . all through the team didnt had any cohesion . the back four ,the midfield and front players didnT  that had any understanding between them . why were lindgaard and walcoot hell bent on dribbling the ball . secondly the midfield were not able to support there winger's and the forward . they were not able to control the game and their lack of movement and understanding of the game meant that england just couldnt stamp their authority on the game . why did southgate took this much time to bring rashford and what deserved lindgaard a full 90 min. there are many a question but one simple answer that they need a good coach and that cant be mancini or it will be another stupid decision by the FA . 

Saturday 8 October 2016

MY TAKE ON THE GAME BETWEEN ITALY VS SPAIN .

spain played italy in the world cup qualifier in italy . there were number of changes for both the teams but most noticaly for italy had been giacherenni being dropped while for spain koke started the game . this was the classic example of how dropping one guy or one jig saw marble builds the whole team and how it crumbles it . montolivo started in place of giacherreni but both are different kinds of player . montolivo is not that mobile player and his asset is passing the ball long rather than his athletic ability while giacherreni had been know all about his hard work and running . his whole hard work and running was missed by italy in the first half and he was the main difference in  italy's win over  spain at the euros .
now spain are under new steward ship of Julen Lopetegui . his team started the game with their usual 4-3-3 formation while italy are too under new coach ventura and he went with the same 3-5-2 formation that is very well known to the team . he went with the obvious because the italian players are very well versed in this formation and do know there roles . the only problem was chilleni was not there and romanigoli started in his place . the game started with italy sitting back and spain enjoying all the possession in the world for the first 20 min and spain had some very good chances in the first 20 min .
even though italy were playing the same formation the way they were lining up and executing it was very different compared to what they did it in europe . in this match the italians were playing flat 5-3-2 formation . both the fullbacks were getting tucked in along side the back three and making it a back 5 while middle three were beyond them . when spain had the ball they would just get in their half lineup like that and there was no pressing which was there in the euro's . the first difference was that the fullbacks alongside the back three here while in the conte's team they would high up the pitch whichever flank had the ball trying to congest the space and the other flank fullback will be tucked along side the back three making it a back four . the difference was that the fullbacks were active in that formation not over here . secondly italy played very placid with no pressing on the ball atleast in their own half which was not the case in conte's team . this inaction by the italians helped the spaniards to move the ball  . they are masters to move the ball . they tried to stretch the italians by moving the ball from flank to flank . the fullbaks were getting the spaces because the italians fullbacks who were guarding them were tucked alongside their centre backs . iniesta ran the show for first 20 min . he dribbled the ball. played one two with costa and silva and spain had the ball in italy's half . but after first 20 min spain started to loose the grip on the game and the italians were able to make comeback  into the game .
italians tried to play out from the back and in the previous fixture they were successful because spain's pressing wasnt that good . they didnt had the most energetic players in the team which are now replaced by energetic ones . the other factor that helped the italians was the partnership of pelle and eder which was taken due notice by the spaniards and it was taken care that they dont have time on the ball . the other thing was that italians were trying to play out from way too deep and that gave the spaniards plenty of time to close down the italians and stop them in the tracks .
in the second half the italians tried to come up the pitch . they were playing far too deep in the first half and late in the first half they started to play up the pitch and the spaniards started to take advantage of that . costa started coming deep and vitolo  started to the get beyond costa . the trouble with italy was that there defense was static and the back three lacked communication and most importantly romaniogli lacked anticipation and the play reading that is needed when you play at the back . the first goal was a result of that . the game changed after that because spain were getting comfortable and italy had to find answers and goal down and that too away meant that the group was handed over to spain .
now the trouble with spain is that and the so called big star name players in the spanish players in the spain squad is that they went into hiding as soon as italy started coming up the pitch to close them down and asking them questions . just like in the latter part of the first half iniesta and silva went into hiding . if you had seen man city vs spurs match then even in that silva went into hiding in that match . spain wanted to protect the lead and try to hit italy on the counter attack . the trouble with spain is that part of the spain squad just dont know on how to maintain discipline on defense . you could see the amount of space between lines in the spanish team . the spanish coach wanted to play deep and soak up the italy pressure . i think the spanish coach would had been better if he had taken off these two and replace them with defensive players .
i really did not understand pelle's substitution with immobile . with goal in the bag spain were going play deep so they needed somebody to have a target man in  the box which was pelle . immobile is similar to eder so removing pelle made no sense to me . but i dont understand pelle's action . i think they should make an example out of him for misbehaving with the coach .
the other trouble with spanish team had been lack of discipline . ramos and pique are good centre backs but are prone to mistake and most importantly they dont understand the situation . a defender doesnt needs to always win the first challenge but he needs to be very patient and ramos especially lacks that . his lack of situation reading would cost big to spain and same can be said about costa .

Monday 3 October 2016

MY TAKE ON DORTMUND'S WEEK .

what a roller coster week this had been for dortmund they played 3 games in that time and they won -draw and lost one . whoever had watched dortmund last week would not believe the decline that dortmund had in just one weeks time . they absolutely destroyed wolfsburg and anybody who would had watched that would had thought they are going to major force to be reckon with in germany as well as in europe . in all the three games dortmund started with the same formation that is 4-1-4-1 . the way approached the game was similar in all the three games and the style of play was similar . the tactics and the game plan and the execution was all the same . the trouble is that even though when dortmund blew wolfsburg away there were warning signs and touchel was just ignorant to take them into consideration . let me take one game at a time and present it .
wolfsburg vs dortmund .
now dortmund's approach to the game had been the same in all the game . he has spiegel in front of the back four protecting the space and he would sent his other two players in the middle high up the pitch and the game plan had been in every game . either they try to release abumeyang behind the back four and use his pace or use the wide players like dembele and pulisic or emere mor to run on defenses and try to open up the offense . against wolfsburg they had a very easy game because wolfsburg try to play a very open game and that got into the hands of dortmund who could press wolfsburg very  hard and other thing that was very good for dortmund is that wolfsbug play a very high line and that too without any hard press and the formation is too open .  if you look at the distance between players then you would be amazed and dortmund just took advantage of that . the other joy for dortmund is that the space that their wingers got against wolfsburg . if you had watched dembele that day then you would had been amazed . he turned veirinha inside out but the trouble was that veiriha didnt got enough protection from the wolfsburg midfield and that is why dembele could terrorise veiriniha . but there were warning signs against wolfsburg which touchel ignored and he paid that against real madrid and leverkusen . the thing is that wolfsburg were finding space in front of the back four time and again and touchel was doing nothing to cover it . only speigel was there and he couldnt cover the big space that was there in front of the back four . if  you had looked at wolfsburg shots on goal on dortmunds goal  then time and again you would see that most of their chances were created in front of the back four .  you could even see that just like in leverkusen game also  time and again .the one important thing was that when crosses were made from the left by leverkusen then they didnt tried to find somebody in the box or tried to exploit the space in between the back four and the goalkeeper but the ball was cut back and it was played in front of the back four.  
dortmund vs madrid
real madrid are very good at playing counter attack and if you let them play that then you will get killed . thats what dortmund did and they almost got teared up . now at times i find touchel to be tactically naive because if things are going in front of his eyes and he does not corrects it then its not proper . the manager is there on the touchlines so that if he sees his primary game plan working then he could switch to other one and time and again i had seen that touchel game plan had been the same throughout the game . dortmund got into a fix as to what they need to do against real madrid as to whether they need to do pressing or should they hold the shape and defend . the pressing was singular and not the whole team was involved in it . real madrid could just pass the ball around and play around on the counter and hit dortmund hard . most importantly they were finding spaces in front of the back four and the space left by the fullback . madrid were just milking dortmund on the counter and most importantly time and again speigel was getting exposed and he couldnt get enough support from his team mates . the back four wasnt coming forward because of the fear of leaving space behind and the other two midfielders were  caught high on the pitch .
leverkusen against dortmund .
in this game dortmund got really dismantled . the offense was one dimensional . they tried one single thing time and time again and they were rightly punished for it . leverkusen press hard but they just dont go for it like a mad dog and get themselves exposed . they choose a moment on where on they can press the opponent and then go full on pressing . they let the opposition come on them and dont go on chasing after them . for leverkusen the middle four are very important and they are the ones that are responsible for the press and for ticking the team . kampl and aranguiz just read the game very good and they are nicely seconded by chalangolu and mehmedi. the trouble with dortmund was that they just had one game plan and that was release abumeyang in behind the back four but leverkusen played deep and seconldy their centre backs had good understanding between them and they both martialled abumeyang well . the other thing was that the dortmund players spent too much time on the ball allowing themselves to be pressed and lossing possession . the other factor is that time and again dembele doing the same thing time and again . first off he should be taught as to how he needs to play around a player and play give and go to really create the space for himself and the team . touchel was seeing telling the players to pass the ball but the playes were just not following him and at times he seemed frustrated . the trouble is that dortmund were just one dimensional in the game . how many times did they tried to release abumeyang behind the back four and how many times dembele tried to take bender and loose possession . dortmund needs to get back to drawing board and look at the mistakes they have committed .