now yesterday valencia played villareal at their home . this was the first of the big game that gary neville faced as the valencia coach . now over the years neville had analysed several coaches and their playing styles . some are defensive coaches who first prefer defense and then rely on counters to win games for them . others are more offensive minded like more of the ball . try to keep the ball and open defense up with their smooth play .
the second thing is that whatever game you play the midfield is the most important part of the game . if you loose battle in the midfield them you have lost half of the game itself . about the game now i dont know what was neville trying to achieve playing the 5-3-2- formation . the game remember those who not only defend well but also at that time win the game and make the opposition unplayable or open their defense at every opportunity that they get . by playing that three in the middle neville conceded that midfield to villareal from the begining . the second was that when you play 5 at the back you try to press team whenever possible after a certain point ( lets say in your own half ) . you try to push your fullbacks high up the pitch and not get them in the line and wait for the opposition to open you up . if you are playing 5 at the back you try to play deep and not that high without any pressure on the ball . i was more disappointed with villareal than valencia who couldnt open valencia right through the middle . there was one chance for bukumbu when he was put on goal by soldado while dos santos too had a good chance in the opening minutes . neville'e team was very poor in both offense and defense .
firstly defense by playing 5 at the back you literally conceded your team to play counter attacking football and making defense a priority . the fact is that neville playing a flat 5 meant that villareal's fullbacks didnt had a opponent untill they could cross the half line was worrying thing . the midfield was getting stretched trying to cover such a large portion and trying to cover the entire midfield area . the villareal coach just asked his team to move the ball from wing to wing in trying to stretch the valencia middle line and the back five . the second was the space that soldado was getting between the lines and i was quite disappointed that he didnt tried to exploit that space between the lines . valencia's back five were not ready to come out of their shape and go with saldado who was afforded the time and space over the ball in the hole and he used it beautifully to set up bakambu . i expected more from villareal to exploit that midfield region . there was a considerable space behind the back line where on if villareal had moved the ball better then they could had opened valencia more . the second disappointment with villareal was that they crossed the ball early . they could had tried to have more penetration . the space may not be behind the back four when the valencia dropped back but was in the front where on there was not adeaquate cover and it should had been exploited by villareal .
now about valencia's offense . they were trying to play out of the back but both negredo and alcacer were not in tandem and were playing too far apart . there was no coordination between them . valencia were trying to play out of the back and perejo was the oschestrator of that offense . even though villareal was pressing but the pressing was not that good enough plus it was not a team effort infact they were dropping back as soon as valencia moved the ball . the trouble was there was no clear plan as to what neville's team was trying to do on offense . it was not that they could move the ball but there was no clear cut plan as to what they need to do . the problem was that neville's fullbacks were playing too much deep and when they were to come into attack they needed to come from much deeper position and had to cover too much area to come forward and by that time viallreal could get numbers behind the ball and defend nicely . he tried to change shape after he fell behind but then the problem do reamin as to what the team needs to do on offense .
to be honest i think neville needs to go back to the drawing board and it would much more advisable for him to take a high up position than sit in the dugout from where he could observe the game better and make necessary changes .
the second thing is that whatever game you play the midfield is the most important part of the game . if you loose battle in the midfield them you have lost half of the game itself . about the game now i dont know what was neville trying to achieve playing the 5-3-2- formation . the game remember those who not only defend well but also at that time win the game and make the opposition unplayable or open their defense at every opportunity that they get . by playing that three in the middle neville conceded that midfield to villareal from the begining . the second was that when you play 5 at the back you try to press team whenever possible after a certain point ( lets say in your own half ) . you try to push your fullbacks high up the pitch and not get them in the line and wait for the opposition to open you up . if you are playing 5 at the back you try to play deep and not that high without any pressure on the ball . i was more disappointed with villareal than valencia who couldnt open valencia right through the middle . there was one chance for bukumbu when he was put on goal by soldado while dos santos too had a good chance in the opening minutes . neville'e team was very poor in both offense and defense .
firstly defense by playing 5 at the back you literally conceded your team to play counter attacking football and making defense a priority . the fact is that neville playing a flat 5 meant that villareal's fullbacks didnt had a opponent untill they could cross the half line was worrying thing . the midfield was getting stretched trying to cover such a large portion and trying to cover the entire midfield area . the villareal coach just asked his team to move the ball from wing to wing in trying to stretch the valencia middle line and the back five . the second was the space that soldado was getting between the lines and i was quite disappointed that he didnt tried to exploit that space between the lines . valencia's back five were not ready to come out of their shape and go with saldado who was afforded the time and space over the ball in the hole and he used it beautifully to set up bakambu . i expected more from villareal to exploit that midfield region . there was a considerable space behind the back line where on if villareal had moved the ball better then they could had opened valencia more . the second disappointment with villareal was that they crossed the ball early . they could had tried to have more penetration . the space may not be behind the back four when the valencia dropped back but was in the front where on there was not adeaquate cover and it should had been exploited by villareal .
now about valencia's offense . they were trying to play out of the back but both negredo and alcacer were not in tandem and were playing too far apart . there was no coordination between them . valencia were trying to play out of the back and perejo was the oschestrator of that offense . even though villareal was pressing but the pressing was not that good enough plus it was not a team effort infact they were dropping back as soon as valencia moved the ball . the trouble was there was no clear plan as to what neville's team was trying to do on offense . it was not that they could move the ball but there was no clear cut plan as to what they need to do . the problem was that neville's fullbacks were playing too much deep and when they were to come into attack they needed to come from much deeper position and had to cover too much area to come forward and by that time viallreal could get numbers behind the ball and defend nicely . he tried to change shape after he fell behind but then the problem do reamin as to what the team needs to do on offense .
to be honest i think neville needs to go back to the drawing board and it would much more advisable for him to take a high up position than sit in the dugout from where he could observe the game better and make necessary changes .
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