the madrid derby was played on sunday . the matches have big implications in the title race and a win for simeone's side would had made them clear favourite for the title . while the win for read madrid would had brought them back in the reckoning . the match was of two shades for both simeone and zidane . the game was of two different tactics in two different half's . first off if you are simeone's team then the real threat comes from either carrasco and llorente who are good but other than that simeone still has not shown as to how he will carve out the opening when the opposition is sitting back and asking them to try to open their defense . zidane's team in first half was not back while whoever would had watched his team in the second half would just be amazed as to why doesnt he do this in the first half itself and why wait for the last quarter of the match .
before i write about the tactical stuff let me tell you that after i watch these players most of them are just technically hopeless and even the coaches dont understand the importance of it . when they talk about the technical stuff they are always concerned about passing the ball long or good first touch or bringing the ball down acrobatically . but the most important things are the ones that are simple that are the ones that matter . just look at the passing why do they pass from the out of the boot ( i will post pic of that over here . instead practice to play to play from inside the boot stop using that part of that boot . it causes the ball to jump or gets the ball off the surface . the best passes are the ones where on the ball just rolls on the surface and never leaves it . just look at the ath mad passes in the first half. the ball just keeps on bouncing and you have take an extra touch to control it and pass it . these players are paid millions to play and coaches are paid the same but i havent seen a single coach shouting or rebuking his players for not passing properly . yours tactics goes off in smoke if you are good technically .
real started the game with 4-3-3 formation while ath mad started the game with 4-4-2 formation . in the first half ath mad were in the ascendency . the real reason for ath mad resussergence is carrasco . he has been good taking on players running on them beating them in one on one and creating chances for the team but to be honest simeone is not the coach who is able to fully utilize the ability that carrasco has . in the first half because of carrasco real had to sit back and absorb the pressure and play counter attack because they were afraid that if they go high up the pitch then there are two reasons . first off ath mad are a counter attacking team . secondly carrasco would had exploited the space that would had been available behind the back four and would had created problems for real so zidane was right in sitting back and hitting ath mad on the counter . in doing so what zidane did was that he got ath mad out of their comfort zone . ath mad are counter attacking team . they like to absorb the pressure and then hit the opposition on the counter .
in the first half anybody would see that ath mad are crisply passing and playing a good flowing but to be honest they were just one dimensional . the out ball was only for carrasco . he was supposed to take on lucas and then create the opening by crossing or scoring himself . real did very well . they played deep and they doubled up on him and were lucky . carrasco was pressing from one side so the other flank had space so ath mad transferred ball from one flank to other . the thing is that team just go through motions of moving the ball from one flank to other . while doing this why dont they see that whether there are opening in the middle or one the same side that they started the offense on . if they do this then i think that they are more effective and are more dangerous in their offense and the opponents will scramble and more gaps will open up . the goal that was scored by ath. in the first half was on counter counter attack where on they found marcus llorente and he released suarez to score . everybody will hail suarez as the hero but for me he is a loser . because of him ath lost two points and had he passed properly to joao felix in the second half then i think that ath would won that match easy and that is why suarez is not playing for barcelona .
the game changed as soon as carrasco was subbed in the second half . real who were sitting back now sensed an opportunity . most importantly simeone caught the italian bug and he wanted to preserve that one goal lead so he bought all the player behind the ball when he lost the possession . ath who were dominating in the first half now started to sit back and play on the counter . now when you are playing with five at the back with three in the middle there is a problem . first off late in the match the intensity dries down . you dont close down as you would do in the first half of the match . secondly with three at the back the trouble arises as to who would pick the lone centre forward . there are some positions where on the zones cross and the centre forward are in the quandary as to who is going to go and close down the forward . another thing is that in the last quarter the players are drained and the sharpness is not there so players find time and space on the ball and can cause problems which benzema did for the equalizer .
there are two major differences with real playing in the first half and real playing in the second half . in the first half mendy was playing as wing back while in the second half he was instructed to join attack with benzema and others . i think zidane trusts mendy with ball playing skills . now benzema likes to drop on the left side and operate from there . since ronaldo has left he is playing ronaldo's role but one thing that zidane needs to understand that once he leaves that no.9 positions and moves on flank there is another one who takes that position and most importantly benzema is a good header of the ball . he just needs to play around the box . the major improvement that zidane did in the second half was that he asked benzema to stay in the middle . ath mad should had sensed the trouble because before the equalizer cause instead of his defensive position casmeiro was storming in the box and nobody was picking him up . even before the equalizer similar move had happened and benzema had failed to pass the ball to casmeiro . if somebody is just shown that move then i dont think that they would ever doubt his managerial credentials .
