EVERTON VS MAN CITY TILL 60TH MIN

this is the match report between everton vs manchester city . let me first clarify but i watched the match till 60th min only so developments after that are not known to me .
now city and everton both play the same formation . both play the 4-2-3-1 . the playing style is also similar but the main difference is the forwards . city has a mobile forward while everton have a strong and big forward .
now these are the important points that i observed in the match. let me start with everton . now everton like to play progressive football . they like the pass the ball and open the opposition with their team work . now eveton had lukaku upfront with kone,barkeley and cleverly behind him . now the main problem with everton which i feel was that whenver they would give the ball to lukaku he didnt had nobody around him to feed and then get the return from him . city were never going to allow lukaku time over the ball. they were always going to close him down . for me kone and barkeley were too far from him while they should had been in the near vicinity . another thing is that everton need to have a game plan at time i felt that they were going with the without  a proper game plan as to what they wanted to do in the match. to be honest martinez needs to a proper game plan and then improvise  and tweak it on the field . secondly now mccarthy plays as a midfielder but he is clear libaility on offense .he hasnt got any playing skills . his touch is poor plus he has the lisence to come forward from the midfield two then he needs to be better on the ball . the third thing is that barkeley needs to do better on the defensive front he needs to close the player down and help his team defend better .
the most important thing was the space that everton afforded city to work out the ball . yes barry tried to close silva and mccarthy tried to come out of the middle two to close either of the two city midfielders but the most important thing that was the space that aguero was offered . everton  centre backs never came out of defense to come and close out aguero they just stood their positions and never bothered to come out of defense and close aguero out . this one piece let the entire defense loose and this allowed city the space to make inroads in everton's defense and city were just away from a tap in to score . to be honest i am reading that chelsea are interested in stones but yesterday's performance didnt convince me anyhow . he was sluggish on the ball and lost the possession many times . he couldnt properly pass the ball from back to front .
now city won the contest but if you are city fan then you should be worried because of the the space that city gave to everton. to be honest good teams try to close oppositon 10 to 15 yards away from their box . they try to stop them there . the trouble with city is even though their front four are very good going forward but they are not good on defense . silva is good player but is a liability on defense. he needs to do more running and make more defensive effort . it was worth watching as to how easy everton were able to work the ball from back to front . it was only that when the ball came from back to front then everton lacked the idea as to what they have to do with that and clearly lacked a good game plan . had they had one and worked on how they approach the game then i think  it would had been more interesting . but the worrying thing is the space at times that eveton had . but the real trouble was that everton never tried to take the ball deep . lukaku never did a channel run to take the ball and then work the ball . i really would love to see them do that .
if you read my posts then please leave your comments and  what more do you expect .

MAN UTD VS BRUGGE .

now utd won againt brugge 3-1 but the score line doesnt highlights the true game. the scoreline shows that man utd might had dominated but it was not so . first man utd started with 4-2-3-1 with notable ommission being herrera for me and i will try to explain why . first thing from the very start utd struggled to move the ball from back to front and you could see no. of time utd kicking the ball out or conceding possession . now there are two utd midfielders in front of the back four which would be easier for utd to move the ball up . but the trouble is utd have two players who are very similar . both carrick and schneiderlin are very similar . they like to pass long although carrick's strength is floor but both are not very fluid movers who will keep the game moving and move with it . this is why utd miss herrera he not only moves the ball but is very fluid . he keeps on ticking the game and if you had seen the last game against aston villa then you would had noted that utd were better when he came along in the second half because he keeps the game ticking . never spend too much time on the ball . always has his head up and has spotted the pass even before he has the ball to his speed . so i think utd need to play herrera in place of carrick or schneiderlin . the other reason i say that is when schneiderling or carrick passes the ball they dont look for a back pass which is very important . herrera is very good in that . he will always keep himself free for a back pass . while scneiderlin or carricks work ends with the pass but that is not the case when you play midfield .
 the other culprit that i believe because of which utd failed to move the ball or you could say that utd offense slows down is mata . this man spends too much time on the ball . he struggles in one on one situation cant play with his back to the ball . he starts wide and then cuts inside but him spending time on the ball and him cutting inside does allows the opposition to organise or close utd  down . i think it would be better to put valencia on that flank .he will complement darmian very well and protect each other when one of them goes forward .
to be honest compared to brugge utd didnt close brugge that quickly or that fast which they should and i am certainly apprehend to van gal's thinking of janujaz . but i feel janujaz should not be singeled out i think mata too is equal parter in the crime and if you see then brugge had more joy down on the left wing rather than on the right wing . the other thing is that mata atleast shouldnt spend time on the ball in his own half . if you had seen then utd got into trouble just because mata lost the ball in his own half . we all know about rooney's struggles and his inability to keep the ball with player on his back . the main thing why he is not able to keep that is because he doesnt keeps the ball in the middle of the body and shield it properly but keeps it on one side which allows the oppsition to nick it from him .
now at time i think player get in one dimensional zone when they tend to pass the ball to player just because he asked for it or say that they had been told to pass the ball to them . i think van gal needs to coach the players more and make them aware to make better decisions on the ball and make certain as to whether the pass is on or not . there are time when there is a give and go situation but needs to think beyond that move as to whether the player has space and time . whether it has further continuation and then should decide on the pass . those who play football will understand this .
to be honest from yesterday's match just as depay was hero on the offensive front i think smalling was hero on the defensive front who just won every other duel he was involved and showed as to how improved he his and why he should be the first man on the sheet .

 all and all a very vital win but not a very satisfying performance .

manchester city vs chelsea .

now in the game between city and chelsea . both teams used different formations . while city went with 4-4-1-1 which meant with a back four of kompany,mangala ,sagna and kolarov . they had fernandiniho and toure in the middle with navas and sterling on flanks . silva played in the hole and aguero upfront . while chelsea used 4-2-3-1 . chelsea had cahill,terry ,ivanovic with azpilicueta in the back four . while fabregas and matic in the middle . further up they had hazard and ramires wide while willian played behind costa . now if you ahd looked at the game then city played on the counter while chelsea tried with a bit of a slow pace and tried to build up the offense which is not their strong suit . even though both teams played quite deep but chelsea's centre back were struggling against aguero's pace and there were about 4 chances which were all stopped by begovic . had begovic not been good then chelsea would had been atleast 3 three down under first 20 min . if you had looked at the line up then the city's front four had tremendous pace compared to the lack of pace that chelsea had . plus it was all evident that cahill and terry would struggle against toure with ball on the floor .
now in the game there were some individual battle with some tactical shifts . first matic was told by mouriniho to be tight on silva which he was doing duly . secondly was willian playing as a third midfielder trying to narrow the space and deny any space for toure and fernandiniho to work about . even costa was helping his defense to close down toure and fernandiniho and deny any time on the ball . while sagna didnt forged too much because of hazard's threat but kolarov did moved forward . now if had looked during the game then you could see that fabregas had a very fixed role . he was playing alongside matic but he was much more disciplined and wasnt moving too much up compared to matic who i think had much more lisence to move forward but fabregas was told to stay deep and look out for that threat sterling and help out ivanovic .  so that he would not cut inside and cause trouble .i think the other thought was to put balls behind the defense if city ever try to play a high line . some pundits criticized him and gave him lower rating but to be honest when your boss asks you do a disciplined then you need to follow and i cannot criticize him.
now during the game cahill and terry were struggling against aguero but there was one instance which i want to point . now if you had seen then kolarov passed a ball to aguero inside the box who was guarded by cahill . but you can see the idiocracy of cahill and how good aguero is when he could easily turn on cahill and shoot . to be honest cahill should had been tight on him and deny any movement to ageuro but he is just hopeless . now during the if you had seen then city were playing deep and fernandinho and toure were playing in front of the back four . now at times i think chelsea had an extra player in  the midfield through whom they can work the ball . if you had seen then both kompany and mangala are reluctant to come out of the defense and many a times in the first half costa would come deep
and help out his team in possession in moving the ball upfield . now on one such play willian ,hazard and azpilicueta worked the ball beautifully the thing is city didnt had enough cover in the midfield . now one of the midfielders was dragged out of position to protect the flank and then there would be only toure or fernandiniho in the front of the back four plus there was enough space between them to be worked up  . you could see on one such play ramires had a chance which he hart saved nicely . my exact point is even though both city and chelsea played three in the middle but the work which willian does in supporting the middle two is not done by silva and at times city feels like playing short handed . now when i thought about this then i couldnt stop myself comparing him with janujaz situation at utd who was criticized by van gal even after scoring the goal and it was because of the lack of  defensive  effort  that he put in for the team . i think pellegrini needs to think about  that .
 the another talking point is terry's substitution then let me tell you i think jose is very correct to sub terry who struggles against a pacy forward . now with zouma in the team could play a bit high up the pitch and they tried to stop aguero by closing him down early . i think it would be wise of jose to play either cahill or terry as both struggle to pace . to be honest i would prefer terry to cahill who is completely idiot .
now there are some finer points in the game which i want to talk about . now in the second half sterling was marking hazard in the run of play . now hazard had his back to the goal and was cornered but what sterling did was he let go of hazard now that is stupidity you dont let your opponent off easely . make him work the possession and the pass and dont try to be too smart too nick the ball off him but keep him on his toes  and make him work . it helps in pressing the oppostion and you can ease some load of your team . sterling let go him and you could see hazard could pick an easy  pass and chelsea had a chance . second thing is kompany being overzelous . he tried to pin costa which cost him the card . why try to be oversmart try to be physical when the opponent is away from the goal and not that threatning . to be honest this overzealousness cost kompany last season and he should learn from it .
now if we are to draw some conclusion from the game then chelsea needs to have some creative minded coach in their ranks who will coach them some offense . not evey time will the defense win chelsea their title . while for city i think they need to think of playing sterling in silva's positon and then can shift them in the role which will benefit the team . since sterling can close the oppostion far too quicky and give the initiative to city . all and all a good game . 

MAN UTD VS SPURS . MY THOUGHTS

now let me start with this but at this moment of time utd are trying to stop teams rather than out playing them and outscoring them . but then i think the first step in team building is taken in proper direction on a good defense you can base good offense or else you will always get caught .

i would like to add some points that i observed during the game . first thing even though utd are stopping teams playing but on the offence they just lack that incisiveness . rooney for me is just not good enough for the striker role you cannot play through him or lets say he is just not good enough .depay played in the no.10 role but to be honest he has the mentality of a winger rather than a no.10 . mata and young played on the wings but you can say one thing about them that both are one dimensional . while young keeps on remaining wide mata will always keep inside . van needs to work on it . there need to keep the opposition guessing as to whether coming inside or staying wide which keeps the oppsition guessing and cause trouble . schneiderlin and carrick played in front of the back four out of which carrick did a very good job on bentaleb and one such occasion led to utd goal , he read the game beautifully and intercepted when he had the chance didnt went on rushing leaving scheniderlin alone . out of the back four i think darmian just made himself a star in the very first game itself .

now during both teams were trying to press other and i think during the match i observed these points .

both mata and schneiderlin need to move the ball fasted . mata spends too much time on the ball . he needs to understand that the oposition always tries to put him under pressure for which he just needs to pass the ball quicker and keep the ball rolling . he always seem to look for a decisive pass but at times when under pressure should just let the play roll on . schneiderlin was caught on the ball 2 or three times in the opening half and should move the ball quicker and should try his long balls when he has time on the ball .

smalling did good in this game but then once he asked the goalie to come out and claim the ball but which was stupidity he should deal with it himself rather than making the situation complicated and allowing the oppsition any sniff at it .

now spurs started well they too played the same formation but their trouble had been that chadli and dembele just couldnt get into the game . kane was very superb for them . he came deep linked very well with eriksen but the thing is they were not complemented by anybody in the spurs team and utd did a decent job on defense to stop them . both darmian and shaw need to patted on the back cause they just ate dembele and chadli . to be honest in the second half spurs stratergy was tht they just lost the confidence to move the ball through midfield and Alderweireld was seen passing long diagonals from right to left . pochettino needs to correct this mentality . even though bentaleb was subbed by pochettino but that didnt do anything good and mason just couldnt do anything good . pochettino need improvement just as utd do .

ARSENAL VS CHELSEA IN THE COMMUNITY SHIELD .

your observation is decent but i would like to add something . now lets start with arsenal . first off whenever arsenal against big teams it was said mens against boys . well to be honest i think ramsey,coquelin and even the rest of the arsenal team need to man up . in the first half arsenal tried to play a very line and tried to squeeze chelsea but you could see that couple of times arsenal's midfielders come off second best in the physical battle especially ramsey and czorla . secondly mertasacker is still a problem for arsenal . either chelsea were a bit late to get the ball to remy or he was clearling hurrying but he was in mertasacker zone who doesnt like the floor game . for chelsea the out ball or the final ball to remy was always on . even though arsenal played a high line they were sitting ducks who will be picked by a better team . ramsey and czorla have to do better on defense if they are have any chance at the title and start turning out as men not boys .

in the second half arsenal played what they had been doing for the latter half of the season . sitting deep soaking pressure and hitting opposition on counter and that would had paid well .

you had observed that chelsea are more negative or would be that way this season . well it is because of the fact that chelsea keep on playing cahill and terry who have genuine lack of pace and they like the players in front of them rather than on their shoulders . because of cahill and terry chelsea have to play a very high line atleast when they have a very pace forward who can explore the space . arsenal's goal came when walcott came between the line to collect the ball to spread the ball to chamberlain . now there are things to notice here first off hazard who forgot his defensive duty because had hazard been there then i think atleast chamberlain would had been denied that space to cut inside .

secondly teams dont need to get behind the chelsea back four they can just use the chelsea players as wall and score . they can explore the space between lines for that .thirdly you could see that neither cahill not terry came out with walcott to close him when he came inside to collect the ball .

to be honest chelsea need a lot of players they need good attacking full backs who will properly complement the wingers like hazard and willian . he needs to drop terry and play zouma who has better pace who can complement cahill better and play against a pacy forward .

now walcott played in this game as a forward but he needs to understand his position and his strength and weakness . he has pace but is not very good on dribble and crossing . first off arsenal need to play somebody around walcott . secondly walcott needs to understand that whenver he has the ball he needs to pass the ball and on the move to create that necessary diversion in the defense . also he needs to create that surprize element as to whether he is coming inside or going down the lane . hope arsenal and walcott work towards that .

The real difference in the game between the game between wolfsburg vs dortmund were the no. 10's . for wolfsburg kevin de bruyne was the no. 10 . while for dortmund it was kagawa .



now yesterday in the game between VfL Wolfsburg vs  Dortmund both teams played the same formations . they played 4 at the back with two in front of them . they played a single striker with three behind them . the man that made the difference for the winning side was  kevin de bruyne .
now the wolfsburg were the rightful winners because they finished the chances they had created . now dortmund started the match very promisingly . wolfsburg started to play the high line and a simple high ball over the defense found abumeyang behind the defense . he and kagawa combined beautifully for the first goal . mikhitaryan was the main component in that he made an inside run so that kagawa could had time on the ball and he produced a delightful cross for abumeyang to score . untill the first goal dotmund played very decent they closed down wolfsburg players whenever the ball came into midfield and beyond they did not try to over do and let themselves over stretched while closing down so they were pretty conservative on that .

now the trouble for dortmund started when wolfsburg started to find de bruyne .he played between the line . the problem with dortmund is there was a considerable space between back line and the middle line consisting of kehl and gundogan and this was the space that was exploited by de bruyne . he would collect the ball between the lines and distribute it to the wingers most importantly caliguari and perisic . now wolfsburg were playing on counter and dortmund players were trying to close down the wolfsburg players and in that they were being played around . now the first goal was scored because dortmund players and the goal keeper forgot the basic's of football . first the naldo free kick which was saved by langerak was straightly spilled in the danger zone . secondly none of the dortmund cared to come and help the goal keeper so that if this situation arised they could be there to clear the ball . now as the game progressed de bruyne became more influential while dortmund  started to loose ideas . the trouble with dortmund is they are just one pace even though in that they created one or two chances which they failed to score . now when you see the run of the play you could see that naldo was the one that was the one who was the weak link in the wolfsburg defense. even in the first goal he let abumeyang get an easy chance and even on other chances that dortmund created he was the one who was found wanting .
now after dortmund's first goal worlfsburg started to play a little deeper than they had started . they were worried about abumeyang's pace so wolfsburg started playing  deep .majority of dortmund's offensive moves were from the right side with mikhitaryan , abumeyang and kagawa combining . the trouble was however on the other end, dortmund's closing game means that the fullbacks were always pushed up to close the wingers and they were found wanting when the attack was switched from one flank to other . the full because they were trying to close were always found scurrying back to their positions trying to help their centre backs on defense and on such one occasion wolfburg scored the goal off bas dost head . the problem was drum was trying to close down caliguari when the ball was switched from left to right and drum couldnt retrieve in his position to help subotic .
the game was all about the team who could finish the chances they had created and dortmund were  the team who did that . the most notable point in the match was de bruyne and his ability to find spaces between the lines and then successfully distributing it to either flanks and then putting it to fruition . compare that to kagawa he started good but then started to get disappear into the game . he did created another chance but the influence that de bruyne made wasnt replicated by kagawa for dortmund. the other notable failure was reus who just couldnt get into the game .

the notable fact that with dortmund's closing game and all that in the first half dortmund failed to mark debruyne . de bruyne played between lines . in the first half he was virtually unmarked they didnt too the notice to mark him where as all the attacks were instigated by him . he was the first out ball by wolfsburg on offense . in the second half hummels came out of the defense to mark druyne to close him down but untill then the damage was done .
we talk about klopp to be very good manager but then he failed tactically in this match . his team played just one pace game should had adjusted to control the game more and basically stop de bruyne .
the most notable players in the game were verihina , klose and caliguari . verihina and klose were very good on defense and i wouldnt be surprised that in the future they become most sought after . while caliguari showed good technical ability in holding the ball and troubling drum .
all and all this game could not be the fairy game ending for klopp which he hoped for .

MARSEILLE - PSG

now PSG and MARSEILLE both started with a 4-3-3 formation for PSG ibra was at the top with cavani and pastore along side him . matuidi , motta and veratti made he midfield three . for marseille gignac was at the top with payet behind him . ayew  on the left and thauvin on the right while lemina and morel were the midfielders .

now any side that is coached by beilsa it has its distinct properties . they try to press high . he likes his players to excel in one on one situations . they should be able to keep the ball in tight situations and individual battles with opposite number all over the pitch . now this game was a little bit different . marseille were trying to go all gung ho with psg instead they were conserving themselves . they were letting silva and luiz had the ball but they were waiting just like ath.mad to let the ball come in the midfield or beyond where they were pressing . in all marseille were playing on the counter to let psg come to them where on they break their attack and hit them on counter .
now in all this blanc did showed a good tactical acumen . he knew marseille were going to get tight to them . he knew that they would man marked all over the pitch and the opposite number will follow them anywhere . for the first 20 min marseille were playing a very high line and for which they could had payed . first ibra found space behind the centre backs by a good ball by veratti . most importantly ibra  was able to go past fani very easing only for mendy to recover and make the tackle . the second chance was clear cut one . pastore made a diagonal run on the inside and veratti again spotted him on a through ball and the chance was wasted by cavani who was hopeless all night long .
now marseille took the lead through gignac . marseille had a pattern about their play they were never ever going for the midfield battle instead they were advancing on one wing and switch on the other where there was space and then they would cross to gignac on the back post who scored on one such play . but psg soon equalised through  matuidi's wonder goal . he faked of going inside but cut on the weaker foot to slot home a very good shot . the second goal came because of ramao dispossessed pastore and fed gignac who finished nicely .
in the second the game became more intense and psg showed their class with marquinohos and own goal by morel .
now in this intense game where the personal duels all over the pitch there was one which made all the difference . for me the game changer or the one who ran the show was veratti the italian had matured under blanc his earlier habit was to keep hold of the ball in tight situations and show that he can come out of it . now in this game he had a personal duel with payet but not one single time did payet got the better of veratti or was able to stop him . the little italian defended very well he was supporting motta to shield the back plus he had to look on the left side and help marquinihos since cavani wasnt coming deep to do his duties . he was the one who sent pastore  and ibra clear on goal in the first half . he  had the responsibility of ticking the game and finding players who are in good positions . he was able to spot runs made by players and was able to feed them with proper through balls in their feet . to be honest if we look at the players performance for all over the match . then i think he was the one who was man of the match for me .