MY TAKE ON PSG VS BAYERN MUNICH.

 psg played bayern munich in the ucl cup final . this was the game between two german coaches and their teams . both the coaches had a good players at their disposal and it was interesting to see as to who comes at the top . before i write anything about the game let me tell you the difference between a good player and a great player . di maria ,neymar and mbappe are good players but messi,bergkamp and maradona are great players . the reason being not that they are good dribblers but the great players just know when they can take an extra touch and set the ball up and fire it up . while the good players just like to take  in one go which reduces it chances . great players are able to compute as to how they can use the spaces and the players around them . this game was just about how each coaches sets their team up and how they try to improvise during the game . just look the difference between two managers . flick was instructing his players throughout the game while tuchel was trying to be beilsa sitting on coffee ( i know his leg is broken but i think his mouth was ok considering he was chewing the gum whole time . ) . the reason me commenting was as to how much are you aware of the situation and how are trying to improvise the things . the opposition will always try to stop you and its you study and depth of the game that allows you make changes and try to get the better of the opposition . 

now bayern started their game with the usual 4-2-3-1 formation while psg started with their usual 4-3-3 formation . bayern made one change with koman coming in for perisic . now here was chess match that was going on . bayern play a high line and there coach drilled the team as to how to implement it . bayern first congested the midfield so that psg would take the ball wide . once they took the ball wide they just kind of pressed them in that zone and either had the possession back or made them play some desperate moves . there are some advantages of playing a high line and this is where the chess match begins . as like in chess the midfield is congested so the teams have to find a route through the flanks or they have to go long since they are getting pressed . the purpose of playing a high line is to congest the other team and make it play in compact spaces . 

now here is the trap at times the opposing team when they see a high line they try to release a player behind the back four and if the team playing the high line can read the opposition correctly then they can either catch the runner offisde or can intercept the pass . second thing about trap is that when the team plays a high line it can do a very good press to the opposition and this press is genreally in the midfield and upfront . teams rarely go for a full press unless they can find a good moment where on they can press the opposition . so when they are pressing the oppostion cant find a space to pass and move the ball upwards and they have or try to play a long pass ( 30-35 yards pass) and try to release somebody behind the back four and if the teams can read that then they can again intercept the pass or can  read the play and take proper measures . 

to the game bayern play a very high line . on the other hand psg are predominantly setup for counter attack . they keep mbappe and neymar high up the pitch so that when they can get possession they can release either of them behind the back four or try to get the ball  to since both are good dribblers and fast . here is the thing that i was intrigued about psg . bayern were never ever going to give them space in the middle of the pitch and were not going to give neymar time and space on the ball . so psg were kind of forced to move the ball through the flanks . they mostly moved the ball through right side ( through di maria bayern's left side ) . when they were moving the ball there were only three three players that were involved into the offense . neymar and mbappe were stuck to their positions . may they were told to do so because they can distract players with their positioning can create that space where on di maria, and kehrer can operate . but here is the trouble time and time they were stuck again in that channel and they were not getting the ball near the box . when the system is not working you have to change it . you have to atleast get the ball near the box to atleast create a threat . when you are getting stuck in a move change the things . try neymar to make a diagonal run or make mbappe come inside . most importantly they were overwhelmed because of the numbers . psg only had di maria,herrera and kehrer operating in a triangle . touchle should had changed the things when  he could see that things were not working for him and they were getting bogged down . bayern were sixes and seven's whenever psg could the ball near the box . 

the reason being first a defender never likes to come out of his zone because once the shape or geometry gets distorted then he kinds of get suspect and in the running play you can always exploit the gaps that  get created by the play . for me psg were just one gear team trying to get play a forward play game . they never tried to draw bayern in and never tried to control the tempo . most importantly at times they should had just played the ball around but with a purpose . i had seen teams playing the ball around but without a purpose the latest being conte's inter in the uefa cup final . touchle had not been able to do that . he is just predominantly a counter attacking man. most importantly he is sitting there on the water basket for that only to instruct his team as to what they need to do. compare that to flick who looks to be in control of his team and knew exactly as to what his team should do . 

now bayern's goal came because of the psg's shape . i think di maria was instructed to drop back and help the midfield but he was doing so when davies was coming up . the goal is just common communication  and positional error made by the back four . the centre backs were definitely going to look after lewandowski and they should had told kehrer to look out for coman since he is his marker . defending is not an easy job . kehrer lost his positional sense and the goal was conceded . i mentioned di maria because if he had been there then he would had been a handful there giving kehrer the should since he is the one who is covering kehrer . most importantly this what happens when you have insufficient numbers in the midfield since psg only had three in there had they had four then one of them could have been near kehrer and could had been helpful . 

i think i can help mention but one player in the match and that is groetzka . he isnt that good a technical player but he has got a very serious engine and most importantly he will keep things simple and follows his coaches words to the letter . i liked his energy and the way he closed psg and was always there along side thiago and covering him and doing simpler things and getting up and down the pitch with ease . such players are a handful to a coach who may not be that much technically great but will put on a shift and do a defensive job perfectly . 

up untill now i had seen just a handful of coaches who really know as to what their team should do in the final third . to be honest flick and kloop's team know better as to what they need to do in the final third . these two are the ones at par with gaurdiola and really know as to what they are coaching . i have watched football for a long time now and i can say that except for arsenal under wenger when they played a good flowing football and man utd in 07-08 with carlos queiroz as assistant were the teams that were good and pleasent to watch . 

MY TAKE ON PSG VS RB LEIPZIG

 now PSG played leipzig in the ucl s/f . the result was already decided . it was just to be seen as to with how many PSG would win . how would they dominate the game and create chances at will . it didnt turned out  to be that . leipzig gave them a good game and had their manager made some finer adjustments then i think they could had sprung out a surprise . i think what led to leipzig's downfall was that they overdid things and had they kept it simple and then improvise it then i think that they would given PSG a good game . 

psg started the game with 4-3-3 but di maria would drop back to make it the middle four . leipzig started the game with 3-4-3 formation but they were 5-4-1 with almo and nkunu dropping besides kampl and sabitzer . i just wanted to see as to how leipzig can stop the front three and on the other hand how the front three of psg combine . the game started with leipzig sitting back and  psg controlling the possession and tempo .even though psg were in the asendency . even with the possession psg just couldnt create chances at will . leipzig defended very well . once they lost the possession they would go for back four and middle and they would work hard to deny psg player whenever they come forward . the trouble with psg is that they just couldnt get the ball to neymar and mbappe . 

now leipzig were playing on the counter attack with poulson upfront . whenever leipzig regained the possession they didnt went direct as they  should had . they believed in the game that they had been playing against ath mad . what i thought of the leipzig game is that they made one too many passes and that invited pressure . they should had gone a bit direct and should tried to put the ball in the box more . trying to play one too many passes invites pressure because the opposition can read the game inbetween . secondly it allows the opposition to bring players behind the ball . the other thing that i think bothered me was that poulson was playing upfront . when the ball was played to him he was trying to press against thiago silva . instead i think what he should had done is that he should had tried to peel off thiago silva and make him come to you to press instead of viceversa . when you press to him your weight doesnt remain stable and that allows the marker to intercept and most importantly you are just giving him the chance to dispossess . there are these little things that make or break the game and i think with time nagelsman will learn the importance of it . the the other thing was that  when leipzig had the possession and passing the ball they didnt tried to take the ball deep in the oppositions half and then try to cross or score . they just kept on passing on the edge of the box and i think they need to work on their passing given the kind of opposition they were against . 

while leipzig were playing their own game . psg were trying to kind of giving leipzig the possession because when they were losing the possession psg were countering them . they were trying to release neymar and mbappe behind the back line . since leipzig were coming in opposition half . it was leaving space in their own half and psg were trying to exploit that . the one thing that didnt liked about psg were that they were not able to create chances in open play which they should had . i think that even if psg win the ucl i think that their manager may get the axe.

MY TAKE ON BARCELONA VS BAYERN MUNICH.

 yesterday barcelona played bayern munich which ended in a humiliation for barcelona . this defeat brought back memories of brazil's humiliation at the hands of germany . i would say that this was even worse for the reason that barcelona just didnt had a game plan other than going wide and trying to whip the ball inside . offense is the best defense and vice versa is true in this game barcelona just didnt had any offense and the middle players were struggling to pass the ball . the reason they were struggling was just not from bayern press but because there was no movement in the front to pass the ball or shall we say that barcelona just dont to  play other than playing the ball to messi .they really couldnt pass the ball around just because they just didnt know how to operate . barca midfielders just made one too many touches on the ball allowing the bayern players to close them down. bayern played a high line and messi,suareaz and even vidal stayed just high up the pitch instead of dropping deep. the most important thing was that setien didnt instruct messi or suarez to drop into the hole and then try to release other . both messi and suarez were flat in line and even if one was released bayern could close them down easily. 

now barcelona started the game with 4-4-2 formation . while bayern started the game with 4-2-3-1 formation . barcelona started the game with 4 midfielders in the middle while bayern had two in front the back four the three upfront would drop in the midfield and even lewandowski to press . bayern from the very start started to play a very high line . the reason being that bayern coach may had saw that even though there is messi .bayern back four have a decent pace and they can catch any runner even if he is free in the space .secondly they wanted to press and wanted to give barcelona the very medicine which barcelona gives to others . barcelona had four in the middle of the park . they wanted to congest the game because they must had studied  bayern tactics . bayern just turn the screw as soon as the ball reaches the final  third  and they play some good intricate football .  lewandowski drops deep to release the wide players beyond the back four .  he not only a good goal scorer and header of the ball but also a good passer of the ball .

the most intriguing thing that i observed was that bayern's   game revolve around  thiago and none of the barcelona idfielders or  forwards made a slight effort to keep   a tab on him . this is where i am very critical of setien .his job is to spot things and change things . he needs to tell his players as to where they need to improvise and what they should and most importantly he needs to have guts to take any player out of the game who is not performing . he should had seen that thiago is the one through whom the bayern game flows . yes bayern's front players combine very well but its tiago who supplies them with the accurate passes . he is one who spots them in the spaces . even though bayern have two midfielders but goetzka is more of a runner where he is good at getting in the box and scoring goal .his forte is not passing or controlling the game which is thiago'sforte  .i was amazed that for the whole game setien didnt tried to atleast hassel thiago . he is one that control's the game and tempo and i think for that i would blame setien.

 in the first 15 min i thought that barcelona were going to tear bayern apart even after barca had  conceded a goal the reason being that  barcelona may had altered their tactics .  when messi released semedo in the space beyond the back four he didnt wait for messi to get involved instead he crossed for suarez . barcelona were going to let others combine and messi was going to be the provider . messi even showed alaba as to why he is the best player in the world . alaba tried to take ball off messi and he just left alaba red faced . he released suarez who should had scored . there after barca just couldnt get messi in the game . barca just couldnt work the ball in the middle of the park even when having basically six players in there . the four midfielders and two forwards . this again setien's lack of coaching . he should had been coaching as to how they would operate without messi . they just couldnt pass the ball around and get the ball to the front line .there best line of attack was to pass wide and then cross inside . in the second half i thought they would give a game to bayern since they started pressing and started to bring the ball from back to front quickly and exploit those bayern cracks when they press . but again they got themselves in that slow rhythm and lost the tempo which they had initially at the start of the half .  

i had just heard some pique's statement and he had offered to quit the club to rebuilding . setien made a mistake by starting both alba and pique . i mean just look that goals that were conceded by barca . the first goal where on alba going circles around muller . second goal in the box the centre back has to be like the centre forward and he should try to get to the ball first and thats what lenglet lacked which muller to score . the reason i mentioned pique was that just look at his decision making and the number of goals that were conceded from his half . the one that he commands . barca let 7 goals because of pique's incompetency . just look at what he did when perisic scored . he should had gone with perisic when he scored the second goal . his most comical defending can be seen in the fifth goal . davies got the better of semedo who should had never got into that  wingchun stance while defending . from that stance you cannot run quickly . fine when davies got the better off semedo . pique is the covering defender for semedo who had stepped up and gone forward to cover davies run . what he does is that he is does is a shame . he is not even covering the straight line which he is supposed to do  .he is dilly dallying . please see bayern goals to see as to how hopeless pique is and he should be the that needs to the first  one to go .

ATLANTA VS PSG .

 atlanta played PSG in the first Q/F of the ucl . this is the first knockout tournament . the game can be summed up in one sentence that the team playing better football lost to the team who had better individual players . although atlanta lost the game but gasperini's stock had rosen quite well . gasperini's team showed the way ball needs to be played and the style that led to their rise was the reason for their downfall but all and all they believed in their system and they stuck to that note for the full 90 min gasperini's only mistake that the some subtle changes that he needed were not done by him . when the game was in the last quarter at that time he needed to just change the gears because the way they were operating was going to cause them problems but then it was a good match . 

atlanta started the game with their usual 3-4-1-2 formation while psg started with 4-3-3 formation but sarabia kept on dropping leaving neymar and icardi upfront . in my last post i had talked the space between the lines and the understanding between the players . atlanta displayed that perfectly . the differene between their lines was not more that 12-15 yards . the players seem to know their roles and they even played better in one on one situation coming out on top in that one . atlanta play a very compact game which allows them  to press whenever they loose the ball but because of which they have to play a high line just so that they can apply a proper press to the opposition . now this can work both ways you can recover the ball and deny opposition the space but at the same time when the opposition can somehow beat the press or there are players like neymar who can dribble past players with ease it gives them spaces beyond the last line to exploit . 

the game was nothing but full atlanta team against neymar . psg's who offense depended on neymar getting the ball and then taking on the whole atlanta team . touchel was asked the other day by somebody as to why psg not scoring enough goals . i think the answer lies in the fact that the who offense depends on neymar and how well he can do against the opposition . i think touchel wants to recreate what  gaurdiola created for messi at barcelona  . the difference is the understanding by the players and the player himself . the education that gaurdiola gave messi in that time had helped messi to be the player he today is .  also the understanding of the situation and what he should do and the spaces that he can operate and the way other team mates would position themselves around him made that team special . here touchel has a player neymar who has messi's dribbling qualities but touchel hasnt been able to teach him the proper decision making process as to what the team should do and how they should help neymar operate better as well teaching neymar to how he should operate in various formations and situations . neymar was doing things alone but he and the other team mates didnt seem to be on the same page . in the first half he just tore atlanta apart by his dribbling skills but lack of finishing skill kept psg blank . 

atlanta just played their game . they played compact game . the reason that i said  they should had taken a different to the game in the second half was that .in the second half psg changed the approach with neymar coming deep and trying to release mbappe and others beyond the last line. in the first half itself neymar had shown that he can beat them in the foot race . so mbappe is a notch better than neymar in the foot race . when mbappe came atlanta had changed their approach and had gone conservative by substituting gomez for a defensive midfielder but they kept on playing a high line and trying to congest psg . instead they should had dropped deep let neymar and mbappe come on them and then try to contain them instead of trying to win ball off them . i had already written as to how deal with such good dribblers in my earlier posts . you have to be patient . against good players and if you make a mistake then they will punish you . 

why i laud about gasperini was that in the second half after taking the lead the italian in gasperini got awaken and he went conservative . but this approach was backfiring because zapata was all on his own upfornt  and he didnt had any support and psg kept winning the ball back easily off him . so he again changed the approach and brought muriel in support of zapata and changed to two upfront . this did change some things and they could keep and move the ball better . his tactical acumen is good and had a good brain for the game . while on the other hand i dont think touchel will be in his job for long .his tactical acumen is stupid and i dont think he has a good game sense . how can he keep his mouth shut and chew gum when he should be instructing his players as to what they need to improvise . 

BARCELONA VS NAPOLI .

 barcelona played napoli in the ucl  round of 16 . i had done barcelona ganes before and i dont think that anything has changed but i expected a fight from napoli . i dont know about gatusso but i dont think he had watched barcelona's game's much . the italian's are called the masters of tactical football but i didnt find any great tactical understanding from gatusso because he just couldnt gauge the length of pitch and the distance between his lines . 

both the teams operate with 4-3-3 formation but they can change depending upon the situation of the game . first off napoli with the team that gattuso selected barca knew that they couldnt get in the running game against napoli .secondly with the front three off insigne,mertens and callejon they knew that they couldnt play a high line to they dropped back deep and got numbers behind the ball whenever they lost the ball . barcelona played a patient game when they lost the ball and didnt went chasing trying to win the ball back . there things that i was disappointed with gattuso's napoli . they knew that they didnt had height in the ball and barca had dropped deep to deny them space behind the back four so they needed to change the way they tried to get the ball in the box . if you had watched the game closely then you would had seen that the distance between the lines was way more than 12 yards which gives the defender to take proper actions .it is very natural the bigger the distance between two players the more time the ball takes to reach to  the intended player and in that time the defense can take necessary actions . the distance between the midfield and front three should had been narrower that between 8 to 10 yards which would had enabled a slick passing game. secondly napoli were just not slick on the ball . the trouble with napoli is that barcelona could sense the danger and could take evasive action . 

the reason i am disappointed by gattusso is that the way barcelona operate . they are just messi and messi . the game just flows through him . griezman played in this game and i was reminded of oscar in the brazilian team  who use to play around neymar . his job was to fill in the blanks . he will go wide if neymar comes inside and if he stays wide then he stays in his midfield position . the reason barcelona lost the la liga this season was that they just couldnt offer anything new . it was just messi and messi . he operates from the right side and there is no left side offense from barcelona . there is no offensive build up from the left side . if messi needs to be effective then barcelona need to play like the way they played for their 2nd . barca build up from the left which left messi in a 1 on 1  situation with his opposite number. that is what they did when they won the treble when neymar was there . 

 

i think messi is mid 30's and i think he should have a game sense and he needs to let others share the ball and let them  combine . there were two instances in the game in the first half where on semedo and de jong made the runs deep in napoli's half . but they halted there runs just because first reason messi wasnt there and the second reason being that barcelona are not coached to exploit such situations . whenever you see somebody free up then you need to coach then as to how you can exploit that position . how do you exploit spaces and who will make runs and support the runner and how will they do it .  yes i know that messi is one of the best players and this little man is the best passer of the ball and most importantly even if he surrounded by two players then he knows how to work the space between those players and how to negotiate with them but then he too should realize that football is a team game and if needs to be effective then he needs his teammates to be effective . most importantly barcelona dont let anybody from the midfield to get beyond suarez and messi .secondly they need to let griezman and suarez combine which in turn will only help messi .

i was disappointed by gattuso because let me tell you i dont know what he was telling  to his players or what his instructions was he passing .most importantly what he should had realised at the half time ( which he should had realized earlier . had he done that we would had a better game ) that the game that he had set up the team wasnt  working . secondly he hasnt got any height in the box . he should have had bought milik earlier than later . the impact he had on the game could be seen .there was  a target man in the box at the end of the cross because of which the fullbacks couldnt cross the ball and when they tried to work the ball inside they were not getting successful . i was diappointed in gattusso for not changing earlier which he  should had done .