man city played chelsea in the epl . a few months ago chelsea had defeated city in the ucl final . they had completely outclassed man city in the final although they played on the counter attack but playing counter attack too takes a lot of smart thinking but what was present at that time was absent in this match . when touchel was appointed as the chelsea boss in december i had reservations about him . the thing is that not that he cannot lay out the team but the thing is that when the things dont work out for you and you have make changes or find that chink in the oppositions armour there is where i think he lacks . gaurdiola's team was a winner in this duel but am i impressed then certainly not . his team dominated the possession but in the first half till the game was not that opened his team was not able to penetrate chelsea and was not able to muster a shot at goal . all his efforts were just shots from beyond the box and if the ball came in the box it was very well dealt by chelsea . let me tell you as to why i am not impressed with gaurdiola . lets say that for the first 10-15 its a feeling out process but after that you should be able to start playing your game and start exerting and play out the game that you had mind . now a coach does has to take into consideration the players that he has as well as the opposition and he has to play and imagine as to how the opponent will responds to his moves and how he can outsmart them . now why was i not impressed with gaurdiola is that there was a break in the first half and he was talking with walker ,rodri and diaz . now its not wrong but for its half as to what he should be doing . yes he is correct in asking walker and rodri to spot something which they had been missing or make adjustments in their positions or asking them to spot the players which they are not seeing but them at the same time he should be asking the front players that when walker,rodri diaz has the ball that they should start the move . they should make these movements and the try to combine to have a better shot at goal and try to open the opposition . opposition will only give you spaces when you create chaos in their ranks .
chelsea started the game with 3-5-2 formation while city started the game with 4-2-1-3 formation with foden starting in the no.9 position while de bruyne just behind him . chelsea had two up front with new man lukaku with werner. the game started with the fimiliar note with chelsea sitting back and hitting city on the counter attack . in this game compared to the ucl final chelsea played deeper . touchel's idea to play upfront sounds very good theoratically but the execution needs to be correct . first off the way chelsea were just way too one dimensional in their counter attacks . what they wanted to do was that whenever they have the ball they would try to find lukaku who would try to combine with werner where on he would try to release werner beyond the city back four . city could read this game from a long distance and could take the necessary moves . most importantly what was important was that lukaku tried to back into laporte . instead try to bring him out of the comfort zone . make him chase you . in that way the man city's defense does gets disjointed and gaps are created . most importantly even lukaku's touch isnt that good as it should be . the important defect that i found in the chelsea's formation was the lack of no.10 . somebody that would connect between the forward line and the midfield . what he does is that he makes those passes smaller and make it more crisper . he can release a player beyond the back four or can just go beyond lukaku . most importantly the distance between the lines for chelsea was just little more than what was needed . it meant that the ball needed to travel that much more and that allowed the opposition to close you down . most importantly chelsea player one too many touches on the ball and that allowed the opposition to close them down . he chose to substitute the wrong players . he should had replaced jorginiho instead of kante . i had already written in my earlier posts that when jorginiho struggles when he is put under pressure and city just did exactly that. chelsea players like alonso spend too much time on the ball and most importantly their game reading is just poor . touchel needs to teach them that cause the honeymoon period is over .
city dominated the game not because they were superior but because chelsea were poor . in the first half city just couldnt penetrate chelsea . gaurdiola thinks theorotically well but to be honest he is dependent on individual players to open the opposition defense . he has got good player in the side but he hasnt got a flair player in the side who can threaten the opposition defense . man city purchased jack grealish for 100 mil . i mean the money just has got no value because if you purchase an average player like grealish for 100 mil who has no pace,no flair and nothing great about him then i think that players like bergkamp and crespo . he is just one dimensional and plays one footed only . i would like him to be coached . he just plays in one zone and operates over there and most importantly he needs to understand that he slows down the game when he takes too many touches and stops the flow of the game which makes it easier for the opposition to stop his team and him. de bruyne was playing behind foden but his trouble is that he is a good player but he needs to move the game around him . the thing is that he passes the ball very well to other players but he needs to play himself cause he has a good shot from distance and that is a very good threat which can create cracks in opposition defense . man city didnt had a great time in the first half they didnt had a clear shot on goal . i had said that gaurdiola was talking with walker and silva but at the same time he should talking with jesus,foden and others who play upfront . man city were just one dimensional in their offense . people expect bigger things from gaurdiola team . where on they expect playing slick crisp tiki taka football and the cohesion between players is exceptional but here it just looks another ordinary team who beat another below ordinary team .
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