on saturday's barca played real madrid in the el classico . the tie is called el classico but there is no classic about this match . there was poor showing in terms of the play. whenever there is talk of tactics it is about how the team stops the opposition not how the team puts the ball in the back of the net . the beautiful game is not beautiful game anymore because of the defensive nature of the game . the opponent will only respect you when you show quality with the ball . the teams just dont know as to what they should do in the final third and how they should work the opposition .
real and barca both started the game with 5-3-2 formation . now i dont know why real started the game with 5 at the back and why is valverde underrated with his offensive game . valverde's ball retention and his ability over the ball is very good . barca had set themselves up to dominate the possession but that domination never culminated in chances . to dominate the possession barca played a high line and pressed real . there were some key battles and xavi had rightly noticed that if real need to be stopped then they need to stop kross and vinicius . so whenever real had the ball kross was pressed but the player near him either by gavi or lopez . they know that kross is not that mobile and can be pressed . barcelona had specifically congested the middle of the park but the trouble was that they didnt a plan to open real's defense. barca had 2 uptop and three in the middle . out of the top two joao felix would come inside while torres would stay uptop . both barca and real wanted to the other to press then when they had the ball so that they can play around them but to be honest nor one of them did had the plan a as to how they are going to open up the opposition . barca scored in the first half but it was all luck plus a stupid decision making on the part of alaba who should had cleared the ball .
just as barca's front two were not combining the real's front two were just miles apart . while rodrygo was playing on the right vinicius was playing on the left side . barca were quite susceptible about vinicius's pace . they had araujo tightly marking him .the commentators commented that vinicius needs to do something different . but didnt ancelotti saw that why did he let him do that or tried to change anything . real were struggling with possession and bellingham who was asked to play as a no. 10 had to come deep to collect possession . real were just poor in the first half they just didnt had the plan when they had the ball . they were relying on vinicius pace to create chaos in barca's defense and try to score from that but there was no plan .
in the second half real had to change things so right players were introduced . kross was replaced by modric who is much more mobile while mendy was replaced by kamavinga . real changed from 5-3-2 to 4-3-3 . they brought joselu who would be a target man in the middle . to be honest bellingham's first goal was nothing but a lucky or desperation or frustration shot ( but a very good shot ) . real were not having offense till they scored the first goal. after the first goal with modric and kamavinga's substitution real started to dominate the possession but the second goal was nothing but a bit of luck as well as bellingham's reaction's for which he is very good at . he has shown great reactions which the other player lack . but now i am going to disappoint you .
as i watching these news and interviews claiming that bellingham is the best player in the world . let me ask as to whether bellingham wasnt playing in the first half . i wouldnt say he was poor but he needs to polished . he still needs to learn to control the tempo of the game . he needs to rally players around him and read the game better . he needs to be involved more in the build up than just the finishing just as modric does . he should just ancelotti as to whether he can play deeper alongside tchoumeni or kross and the control game from there . he is a diamond who needs some polishing . needs to play more with the middle of the foot . his finishing and positional understanding and reactions are very good .
man utd lost man city and immediately roy keane was calling for ten heg's head . sadly i agree with that . man utd were just played around . your ability is seen when you have the ball and the opposition respects that but at the same time you need to defend well and have a good tactical plan to stop the opposition . man utd were just played around . you cannot press with eriksen in the middle . secondly you do a lone some press rather than a team press . most importantly utd need to show their quality when they have the ball which is just bad because they just dont have any cohesion in the ranks .
the other thing is that i was reading daily mail there is podcast by chris sutton that were talking about mason mount . i had already said in one of my earlier post that signing mason mount was a mistake . players like mason mount are never no.10 no defensive abilities and are just waste of money. instead of mount they could had signed better players .
