BAYERN LEVERKUSEN VS BAYERN MUNICH 0-0

now yesterday bayern munich played bayer leverkusen at their home . now befor i write about the game let me talk about the things that have happened regarding the appointment of pep gaurdiola . now gaurdiola is going to come to england and take over the reigns of man city . the stories have started circulating as to how man city would dominate the premier league . the most that is expected from gaurdiola is the tiki taka style that he will bring with him to the etihad . man city's appointment of gaurdiola and him choosing city over utd is seen as the balance of power tilting in manchester . now the thing is that tiki is played by spain but teams around the world have found a way to counter it and that is why spain had a disastorous campaign in the last world cup . but the most important thing regarding gaurdiola is will he teach them tiki taka or will he try something new . if you had watched bayern's game this season then you would had noticed that bayern had never played tiki taka this season . instead bayern had played more like a english team this season . playing very direct taking the ball from back to front very quickly and crossing the ball in the box rather than trying to open the opposition by outpassing them or working one zone and opening it . bayern under gaurdiola this season  hadnt been playing tiki taka anymore . they had been domination opponent in the first few games where on they defeated opponents with bigger margin but against gladbach they had been found out . gladbach played their counter attacking game and got the better or munich . even though people are very optimistic that man city will dominate the premier league but i am not too certain about it and gaurdiola will opt tiki taka at man city is another question that remains to be brewing for a time being .
now in yesterday's game leverkusen started with their usual 4-4-2 formation with jedvaj-jonathan tah -toprak and wendell in the back four . while kramer and kampl were the middle two in front of the back four while calhanoglu and bellarabi were on the flanks . hernandez and keibling were the front two . munich started with the 4-2-1-3 formation with lahm-kimmich-badstuber and alaba in the back four . while alonso and vidal were in front of the back four in the middle with costa playing just off lewandowski in the no.10 role who had robben and coman besides him.
now the game had a very good pace about it and leverkusen worked very hard into the game . now it can be said that gaurdiola was given the taste of his own medicine by leverkusen but not without a plan and they didnt just press because they wanted to but they had a plan on how they are going to press .first off they congested the middle of the park with both the back four and the middle four getting very narrow and just congesting the space in the middle of the park . both lines of the back four were had very little space between them . the leverkusen wingers were helping their fullbacks to deal with munich wingers since this season all the bayern attack had been through them . so leverkusen were determined not to give wingers any time on the ball . now as i had said that leverkusen made the middle of the park very congested so what they wanted was that bayern play the ball to either of the wing and then they would start pressing and they made bayern play to their tune rather than playing to bayern's tune . they didnt tried to overdo pressing means trying to press bayern centrebacks as well instead they would wait for the ball to be played out wide and then press and if the situation is there where on they can press the bayern's centrebacks then they will . leverkusen middle four and the fullbacks deserve special praise because they just neutralised bayern's offense . special mention has to given to toprak who's game reading was very good and he would stepup whenver it is needed .
now bayern's offense is that they take the ball wide and then cross it in the box and that what they had been doing this term. in this match he used robben and coman as the wide players and it was through them that bayern wanted to create . now this season lewandowski had been playing more as a link up player rather than as a out and out forward . he had been coming inside and trying to release coman or robben behind him . initially in the match lewandowski got the space between the lines where he would collect the ball and then try to release coman or robben he nearly got successful with releasing behind the back four but coman just couldnt find any team mates in the box . leverkusen didnt played a high line so that robben and coman had too much space to run . plus bayern just didnt work the ball and kept it instead they were happy to cross it in the box and find somebody . in the first half douglas coasta was just invisible and kept quite by leverkusen who's kampl and kramer worked very hard . leverkusen would try to hit bayern on the counter but never had an incisive opening to trouble neur in bayern goal .
now in gaurdiola's team we usually see somebody take the reign's of the game and control it but here it was just nobody . gaurdiola tried to change things in the second half where on he bought muller in the no.10 role and sent douglas costa wide . bayern did create two chances in the space of five minutes and there was a reason for that . kampl and kramer were pushing forward trying to press and costa could get the better on one on one with hilbert who had replaced degovah  and could find muller inside the box who missed his shot . the back two were engaged by lewandowski and it created a space for muller in the hole but he couldnt finish.
bayern's are not playing as to what we distinguish with gaurdiola instead they are evolving and gaurdiola is trying new things . but to hype gaurdiola would be very stupid . he can be found out and without a proper flair player he can be found out and it had been shown in the games with gladbach and leverkusen . but one thing about gaurdiola is he is very open to changes and will be very flexible with his approach .

THIS IS MY TAKE ON THE MILAN DERBY . AC- INTER 3-0

now yesterday milan played inter . before i talk about the game i think the level of italian football has really gone down . italian teams play slow tempo game plus players spent too much time on the ball making the game slow . plus the most important factor that makes the game boring is the number of unforced error's that is the lesser percentage of pass completion rate by the teams  makes the football boring to watch . the teams may play different formations but unless the pass completion rate is not improved or the unforced errors are not reduced then the game will continue to be boring .
now in yesterday's game milan started with the 4-4-2 formation with bacca and niang at the top . while honda and bonaventura were on the wings with montolivo and kuca in front of the back four . the back four consisted of abate,alex,romagnoli and antonelli . inter started with a 4-2-3-1 formation with jovetic uptop supported by peresic,ader and ljajic . while brazovic and  medel played in front of the back four . the back four consisted of santon,miranda,murillo and jesus .
the game had a decent pace about it . it was box to box game with both teams sitting deep . both teams wanted to play out from the back and both teams wanted to press when the ball was upfield and they loose the ball  .  now milan has two upfront but there was little cohesion between bacca and niang . bacca is very good at holding the ball and laying it off to the running player . his link up play is very good . the trouble with milan was that there was no link up play between niang and bacca . niang should had been on the shoulder of the last defender where on bacca could had released him . milan's main offense came through bonaventura and honda on the flanks and milan were committing players in the box on either players cross to score . milan's best player was kuca who was a breath of fresh air in the side . the trouble with kuca was that he was playing in a position where on he couldnt be very adventurous . while many may laud his offensive side but on the defensive front also he was very good . i am not a fan of montolivo . i think he is very slow and takes time on the ball and cant control tempo of the game and like general english midfielders likes to move very little . had it not been kuca then milan could had conceded in the match . milan were generally helped in their game because of inter's one dimensional approach  on offense .

now for inter's offense jovetic is the instigator,creator and most of the times finisher . jovetic at times comes inside to start the move and he releases peresic or llalajic and then play's one two to open the offense . they are very comfortable when the opposition comes to close them down  so that they can play around them and that what milan were doing . milan had pushed antonelli upfront to stop peresic and were trying to press inter high up which jovetic used very nicely . he first released eder behind the back four only for the ref to rule the foul against him . then he secondly released peresic but both time inter couldnt had a decent shot at goal . inter never worked the ball properly to carve out a proper opening . the only one created when jesus crossed for eder but he couldnt finish it but other than that inter just didnt used the ball properly . they were just taking shot from distance and were of no trouble for milan . adam llajalic was just absent in the first half and most of the offense was through jovetic . inter used brazovic in the middle but the game was such and the instructions from mancini must had been to the ball upfield and to jovetic as soon as possible so he couldnt make his mark on the game . neither of the two side tried to control the tempo instead whenever they had the ball their sole ain was to take it upfield and play a forward game and try to hit the oppositon instead of letting him settle down . since both teams played deep both teams were able to handle the pressure that was put on them because they could read the attack . the side that finished won the game and the side which defended poorly lost .
i just watched the game till jovetic went off and i thought that with him coming off inter didnt had any chance in the game and  i wasnt proved wrong ( although they missed a penalty ) . 

THIS IS MY TAKE ON BARCELONA VS ATH. MADRID 2-1.

now yesterday ath.  madrid played  barceloan at latter home .now first i want to talk about both clubs transfer policy . for whichever player barca goes they feel an honour to be linked with such a club and barca do get the player . but i want to talk about ath. mad transfer policy and i feel that out of the top clubs they do their business very quick and really know the player that they want and are very good about scouting talent . the signing of Ferreira-Carrasco and now agusto fernandez shows that . simeone does know what he wants and generally gets the player . the signing of griezman, Ferreira-Carrasco and agusto shows that .
now about the game . barcelona started the game with their 4-3-3 formation . with messi,suarez and neymar upfront . they had iniesta,busquestus and rakitic in the middle . while alves,pique,mascherano and alba in the back four with bravo in the goal . while ath. started with the 4-6-0 formation . now people may say that they were 4-4-2 but griezman and Ferreira-Carrasco were playing just in front of the middle four but never on the shoulders of the barca back four . they never played as a forward even though they were playing up front .  while saul,agusto,gabi and koke were in the middle four. juanfran,gimenez,godin and luis were in the back four . why i am saying that it was 4-6-0 because both giezman and Ferreira-Carrasco would take the position in front of the middle and would not leave their position and try to press pique or mascherano or any of the back four .they would let the ball come into the midfield and then start pressing untill then they would be disiciplined and wait for the ball to move upfield .
the game started at a very good pace with ath mad sitting back and hitting barca on the counter . initially barca were playing deep trying to stretch the play . they were trying to play out from the back and open ath mad . barca had three in the middle compared to ath madrid so ath.mad asked griezman and Ferreira-Carrasco to stay very close to the midfield so as not to offer any space in the middle of the park . secondly they now trying to overtly press they were letting the back four especially pique and mascherano time and space on the ball and waiting it for to come into the midfield and then press . while messi, suarez and neymar were very tightly marked and both fullbacks committed several fouls on both messi and neymar . while godin even came out of the defense to mark suarez and he too was guilty of committing some fouls . but all and all ath mad were able to stop barca from playing their own game . now when ath mad had the ball they were good . they passed the ball around . they didnt had any player upfront to release since both griezman and Ferreira-Carrasco came inside and they didnt had anybody on the shoulder of pique or maschrano to release . so they had to play the ball around . they passed the ball around very nicely and showed quality on the ball . the main reason being the use of agusto in the middle of the park .  initially till the first goal barca were not pressing heavily . they were letting ath. mad play and then hit them on the counter . the first goal came as a good luck and barca's back four were in sleep letting koke stand in the box and have a comfortable shot .

now the game changed with the first goal . barca started to press very fiercly with the first goal and another thing was that they would launch the counter -counter on ath goal . they were very swift to get the ball to messi or neymar and were going to cause ath. problems . they started to play a very high line and congest the game for ath . iniesta and rakitic moved very close to busquestus to press ath mad .  now last time when ath. met barca barca exploited the space between the lines and hammered ath . this time around ath. shape was very congested . there was not much space between the lines and they never allowed anybody time on the ball . but while they were congesting the middle of the park they were reluctant to go and mark the barca fullbacks  and get themselves stretch . the thing was both koke and saul were very close to their fullbacks and their primary job was to help their fullbacks deal with messi and neymar who were the influential players in the barca side and who are responsible to create the chances in the side . barca started turning he screw and started to attack at a very fast pace they started to press very hard and hit them very fast as soon as they had the ball . the first goal came because the fullback was given the time on the ball to pick out a player in the box and who else it could be than messi . now the new barca is very different from the old one who test your  defensive concentration by outpassing you . but the barca under luis enrique is very direct they are comfortable playing on the counter and this game showed that they can turn the style when required and press the opposition and hammer them at an incredible pace .

BARCA ON ATTACK 

now the second goal came because of gimenez's stupidity . it should be taught that the defending player needs to be  between the goal and the attacking player not on the shoulder .it was alves who made the pass and  suarez held gimenez very nicely and never let him take the proper position and finished beautifully . the game was half over when luis was red carded the foul would not had been red carded had he not made fouls earlier then i think the case would had been different but then luis was bad selection for me who was struggling against messi and should had been subbed earlier only . ath showed a way that barca can be played against and most importantly their game plan wasnt bad but some personal mistakes cost them the game . 

MY TAKE ON JUVENTUS VS ROMA 1-0

please do comment on this article below as i can know as to how you feel about the article .
now yesterday juventus played roma at their home . juventus acheived success last season with their 4-3-3 formation but this season they have switched to 3-5-2 and were struggling at the start of their season but they have turn around their season and have put 11 straight victories this season . while roma just have sacked their manager and are getting used to new manager methods . spaletti had been here before and this is his second stint .

 juventus started with chilleni,ponucci and barzaglli in the back three with evra and Lichtsteiner as the full backs . while marchisio,pogba and khedira were in the middle with marchisio in front of the back four . dybala and manzukic were in the front two . while for roma started with the 3-4-3 but switched to 4-4-1-1 through the first half and there was a reason for that . roma had dzeko up front with salah and Nainggolan on the either wings . while prajnic ,Vainqueur ,florenzi and digne were the middle four . while rudiger,de rossi and manolas were in the back three .
now the game started the game with a decent pace with roma sitting back and trying to hit back juve on the counter . now roma have a new coach and he has new ideas as to how the team needs to play . initially roma held a bit high line with considerable space between the lines . roma had three against one at the back with dzeko battling the back three . the trouble was that with prajnic and Vainqueur sitting in front of the back four and not coming out of their postions to close down marchisio and stop his from spreading the ball . the thing was juventus even though were dominant were not playing that high and were playing deep and stretching the game . in the first 10 to 15 min marchisio had the freedom and time on the ball as he had no opposing player . spaletti realised this and switched Nainggolan from the wings to mark marchisio and mark him and stop his spreading the ball and stop juve to play from the back .now the thing is that even though if you mark marchisio juve have ponucci who can play very decent passes from the back and he produced one to spot dybala making a run behind the back four and had been not an offside it would had cost roma . the other things that was troubling roma was that roma had too much space between the lines and time and again dybala ,kehdira and pobga were getting time on the ball in between the lines but the trouble was that juventus were not able to capitalise on that . another thing is that rudiger comes out of the defense to close down dybala but he seems to be in two minds whether to come out with the man or stay in the back three . most importantly he seems to be last coming out and gets played around and leaves a space to explot which spaletti needs to address .
in the second half spaletti made the necessary changes and reduced the gap between the line . plus roma started to play a little deeper plus they reduced the space between their player but on the offense they still  struggled . now roma's offense depends on dzeko and salah but here he had no players who run beyond dzeko plus roma depend on salah's movement and runs but here he was very heavily guarded by juventus and it can be said that he was marked out of the game . he was never given time and space on the ball to do the half turn and in the first half roma didnt had any joy with the ball . they improved in the second half where they some joy over the ball they had some possession and moved the ball .but the bad thing was that there was no no.10 in the roma who would control the game for them . secondly if they made more that 3 passes and didnt move the ball upfield then they would losse the ball . roma did had some corners but they never troubled buffon and infact he didnt had to do anything in the entire match. even though juventus had such a hefty possession but they too never could carve out a clear cut chance for them and most of them were shot from distance and the goal came from a counter attack rather than a carved out chance .
to be honest pogba is touted as the best young midfielders in the world . to be honest if he is to the best then he needs to control the tempo of the game and make the game revolve around himself and try to get beyond the striker . he is played on the left side and is offered the space where on dybala and manzukic take the positions on the right side so that pogba can work his magic . i think allegeri needs to make him understand the game better . he comes near the box and he either crosses or takes a shot .it would be better if starts playing some short passing game try to have more penetration in the box . he is very good technically but needs to assert himself more on the game .
juventus totally dominated the game but were not able to create clear cut chances and were kept at bay by roma for much of the game . allegeri needs to refine his offense . for roma other than dzeko and salah they dont have any offense and will always struggle if those two are kept quite so it would be better for spaletti if he finds a way that the team can find some offense from other players .

MY TAKE ON BORUSSIA GLADBACHMUNCHEN VS BORUSSIA DORTMUND. 1-3

now yesterday dortmund played gladbach at their home . first let me tell you klopp is successful and is now a liverpool manager because he improved the players made them better technical players . good in close quarter passing and good in one on one situation . players under  klopp are played had very good interplay and that were the highlight of his team then gladbach team  coach is no different . his team too has very good interplay and are very good in one on one situations .
now gladbach started the game with a 4-4-2  where they had raffael and stindl upfront with johnson and traore on the flanks . dahoud and Nordtveit were in the middle in front of the bac four . the back four consisted of korb,christiansen,elvedi and wendt. dortmund started the game with a 4-3-3 formation . they had abumeyang upfront with mikhitariyan and reus alongside him . while the midfield consisted of weigl,gundogan and castro . weigl was sitting in front of the back four while gundogan was on the right while castro was on the left . the back four consited of Piszczek,sokratis,hummels and jo hoo .
now both the teams like to play on the counter but the difference between them is that gladbach like the opposition to come and close them down so that they can play around them  . dahoud,raffael,traore are very good in one on one situations and good at moving the ball and finding the pass . gladbach's offense is that they wait till the ball comes into the  midfield and then press and then launch their counter . while dortmund on the other hand like to move the ball through the flanks . they try to open a flank then try to swith the play and exploit the space that is left open by opposition who is concentrating to guard attack from one flank .

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now the game started with a very good pace with gladbach sitting back and hitting dortmund on the counters . for the first 20-25 min the best chances fell to gladbach . now dortmund were trying to high press gladbach and it was working perfectly gladbach who would pass the ball around had play out of the press and move the ball . now the thing is that gladbach had two in the  middle while dortmund had three in the middle . so to compensate numbers both stindl would drop into the midfield to help out the midfielders . now the problem was that they didnt had a players up front on the shoulders of the back four so they play johnson and traore very high up the pitch . dortmund have a very way to move the ball and at times the players were single minded on who they were going to pass which the opposition could read and the move wouldnt have continuation since the opposition could take protective measures . now dahoud was playing in the middle two because xhaka was serving suspension . he is good player but lacks the discipline that is required for a middle player . he would leave his position and try to go and close down weigl leaving a big space in front of the back four for Nordtveit to cover .
now in the initial exchanges galdbach were having the upperhand with dortmund not troubling gladbach that much . the reason being that at time dortmund were not releasing the ball quickly enough for their team who would make a run who would then caught offside or loose the ball under challenge . now as i had said that dahoud has the tendency to go upfront quickly trying to press . the other thing was that gladbach's back four were concenrned about abumeyang's and didnt want to come from their positions and close him down leaving his time on the ball to find a pass . the first goal was because dahoud had left his position and gundogan collected the ball just off the hole and released the ball to reus who slotted it home . now there was a difference in the approach for dortmunds play and the way they defended .
for the first 25 to 30 min dortmund were trying to hardpress which was getting beneficial for gladbach but after 25 min dortmund started to wait a little and let gladbach take the initiative on the dribble and not hard press them . they would let gladbach start the move and then press them . the trouble with gladbach is that their game plan is simply counter offensive . they want the opposition to come and close them down . they dont have particular offense if the opposition sits back and invites them to come and open then up . in the second half dortmund just started to sit back and hit gladbach on the counter which made dortmund even more potent . they moved the ball faster and from back to front and gladbach trying to press offered them space everywhere and dortmund just milked them up .
gladbach will have to find a good offense when they have the ball and the opposition tried to sit back and hold their shape . dortmund on the other hand have a plan but it needs improvisation as well as changes as the situation demands . game against bayern munich had shown the flaw in dortmund's plan and they need to address that . 

MY TAKE ON LIVERPOOL VS MAN UTD.

now yesterday man utd played liverpool at anfield . the game was best summarised by the commentators that the level of game play was very much like their league positions . the game wasnt a classic and none of the teams werent the dominant one . the most important statistics that needs to checked is the number of misplaced passes and the turnover that happened in the game . liverpool jurgen klopp and commentators jim beglin said that liverpool deserved to have a draw atleast . liverpool had more shots during the game than utd but if cannot what you create or you get the ball till the final third but fail to carve an opening then that dominance is of no use .
now yesterday both the team started the game with same formation with liverpool starting firmino as the forward with lallana and milner alongside him . while lucas ,can and henderson starting in the middle in front of the back four . clyne,toure,sakho and moreno were in the back four . for utd rooney was upfront with martial and lingraad besides him . while schneiderlin,herrera and fellaini in the midfield . the back four consisted of young,smalling,blind and darmian.
the game had a decent pace to it . liverpool were sitting back and not trying to close down utd as what jurgen klopp's team had been doing . instead they were allowing utd to come into the midfield and then start to press . the reason why klopp might not had asked his team to press so earnestly because the teams were lacking a proper back four with toure being the weak link and if they try to play high up the pitch then he can get caught in the foot race . so klopp asked his team to play deep and because of it they had to play on the counter . now whenever  van gal is interviewed he always makes one remark in particular that he likes his team to keep the ball and move it better . to be honest this is  his failure  in determining the tactics and making game plan which suits his players rather than asking too much of the player who really dont have the quality to carry out his game plan . the players which were available today cannot carry out his game plan or what van gal and his philosophy desires . this is the first one failure the second was the game plan . yesterday he asked schneiderlin to play at the base of the middle three with herrera and fellaini pushed up . the trouble with utd is that there is too much space between the lines secondly there is nobody who will go beyond ronney . thirdly they move the ball much too slowly to trouble their opponents . now what van gal wishes is that the forward line stretches the defenses and keeps the ball or one can in this case ( martial ) run on defense and create the opening . if not then they should keep the ball and move it and let the fullbacks come into play and then create an opening through intricate ball movement but he is forgetting one thing that he hasnt got the players who can play this . they havent got the quality . except for martial and herrera utd dont have quality players . you cannot play through rooney he is hopeless . under pressure rooney cannot pass the ball or even at times fails to keep it . the only joy that he had in recent games was against chelsea where on john terry didnt came out to close him down where he had the time on the ball even though there was very little space to work with .
now liverpool were sitting back and trying to hit on the counter . they dint had a proper centre forward around who they could base their game . liverpool's formation was fluid with 4-3-3 changing to 4-4-2 with lallana and firmino up top . utd had too much of space between their lines so firmino and lallana could come inside and help their team to move the ball or relive them of the pressure because the midfield had some fierce battles going on with lucas dropping on fellaini and can battling schneiderlin and herrera and henderson getting in the mix . now the space that liverpool were exploiting and why klopp thought that his team should have got something out of the game was the space in front of the back four . now united pushed fellaini and herrera up top with rooney ,martial and lingaard up top so there was lot of space that was there in front of the back four to exploit with schneiderlin only there to guard that space . so there was a lot of space to exploit . other thing was that milner or lallana could cut inside without anybody any interference and then try to find player on the other flank with a long and stretch utd defense who would try to gather onto one flank . the other thing that was working for liverpool with utd players coming to close down liverpool players . liverpool move the ball and really leave them stranded . even though liverpool having so much of the ball and they had a decent penetration but failed to carve out proper chances except for one or two which de gea expertly parried . to behonest in the first half liverpool would make good use of the ball where on the first half they played good passess with sakho  and others . i thought that like dutch football they would out pass the opposition and draw out the opposition and open them up but then the ball came to henderson and he just gave the possession away. liverpool needs to have a decent plan and carry it out they cannot expect to play on the counter that what jurgen teams are best of and second is depending on players quality to carry them out because they can have a bad day .
to be honest last season teams were able to stop dortmund and at times he just couldnt change things other than changing personal or make changes or try something different like hiddink who expertly went direct against everton when he saw that he cannot out play them on the floor . even in his last game against wolfsburg he couldnt change things and lost . i think he needs to incorporate benteke in his plans and not leave him out just because he doesnt plays to klopp's style but should be fluid with his plans .
van gal is playing schneiderlin at the base of midfield where on he is responsible for protecting the back four and starting the offense and recycling the possession . but schneiderlin's game is different . he likes to play long balls and like typical english midfielder he likes to tackle but doesnt likes to move and his ground game is not that good . to depend on him to recylce possession or keep the game ticking is not great and most importantly his game reading is poor . it would be better to move him.
all and all both are poor and it would be better to improve themselves or  both could finish out of top four this season . 

THIS IS MY TAKE ON GARY NEVILLE'S VALENCIA VS REAL SOCIEDAD .

yesterday valencia played real sociedad in their home . valencia were looking after there first win and most of the eyes were on gary neville and the team taking shape under him . the style he adopts and the formation he prefers . after watching the game i can only say that gary neville if he cannot turn things around in the next couple of games then not only is his coaching carrer but also his pundit carrer will also be in jeopardy because people like to listen to coaches who have done something on the pitch not the ones who are poor and devoid of ideas .
before i start with the game let me tell you that i was watching real sociedad for the first time so it was difficult to know and track their players . off the sociedad players i knew only vela . about the game now sociedad started the game with a 4-3-3 formation with jonathas uptop with bruma and vela supporting him . while prado,prieto and bergara were the middle three . the back four consisted of carlos martinez,inigo martinez ,elustondo and yuri . valencia played with a typical english 4-4-2 formation with rodrigo and alcacer uptop while rodrigo de paul and santi mina on the wings . perejo and perez were in the middle in front of the back four . the back four consisted of barragan,mustafi,abdenour and cancello .
the game started at a very decent pace with sociedad pressing valencia as soon as the ball came in to the midfield and countering them . sociedad played a very high line compared to valencia who played quite deep . now for any good coach three to four weeks is enough to put up his ideas and what he expects from the team . yes the results matter but the fans expects theteam to  play well .they like to see their team playing well and play with a plan . now every coach needs to have a plan but most importantly he should be able to improvise it because that what is expected of him . the opposition will always try to stop him and he needs to improvise it to open the oppostion .
now yesterday in the game gary neville played a very english game . he played alcacer and rodrigo up top but also he played santi mina and de paul very high as if to play four forwards . they were all in the same line . now in the last few game every thing and anything that valencia were creating or starting it was going through perejo . there was quite a load on him and at times he was criticized for spending time on the ball and not being quick enough in his distribution but also that on the defensive end he was also quite explosed since he was asked to cover  quite a lot of space . so gary neville brought enzo perez to play along side perejo to give more cover to the back four but also reduce load on perejo where on he was getting closed down by opposition and valencia's having problems . now the front four played very high on the pitch since socidad would start with a very high line . they would drop back as soon as the ball came in the midfield and were trying to keep rodrigo alcacer in front of them rather than letting them play on the shoulder . the first basic flaw in valencia's play was that they didnt moved the ball fast enough .valencia started the game by trying to move the ball on the flanks since they had numbers inferiority in the middle of the park and didnt want to get exploited . the real trouble with valencia was that the players were too rigid with their positions . i never saw paul and santi mina coming inside or changing zones . the second flaw was that they move the ball very slow and this is ufcourse nevillle's fault who should have asked his team to move the ball faster .

now let me explain why as i had said earlier sociedad started by playing a very high line and had valencia moved the ball faster then they could have exploited that high line . secondly there needs to cohesion between players . as soon as the player have the ball the players surrounding him should make themselves available for the pass and the one who has the ball should get his head early and choose the correct pass . unfortunately for valencia there is a lack of cohesion in the team . now neville played two strikers and it is said that strikers hunt in pairs . but there was no cohsion between rodrigo and alcacer . this was evident even in the game against villareal where alcacer and negredo were never on the same wavelength . thirdly there was no no.10 for valencia a player which they very much require someone around who the offense would revolve and one who would control the tempo of the game . the most frustrating thing about valencia was the ball movement they moved it very slow . they allowed sociedad to close them down . the most frustrating and the annoying statistics would be the number of touches that alcacer had . he was literally left frustrated by the amount of service that he received . valencia played a couple of high balls behind the defense but were not good . by playing two strikers with same pedigree he killed the aerial battle . he sould had asked alcacer or rodrigo to come deep and play in tandem . neville just couldnt improvise . the other bad thing about valencia's play was that because they moved the ball slowly the fullbacks didnt found the space or time to move forward and join the attack . they couldnt stretch the game and affect the game and provide another dimension to the game . another thing was that even though sociedad had a good back four and there was a cover from prieto but there was enough space in front of the back four which could be exploited . valencia just didnt kept the ball enough and didnt move enough and never tried to work out a zone and improvise .
now sociedad were playing on the counter but there game had a plan all the three attackers tried to have positioned themselves in such a way that they would work out a single zone . vela would come into bruma's zone when the ball would move from his zone while bruma will move over to vela's zone when he had the ball . this was a tactics made famous by the 2012 bayern munich team who would  have ribery and robben coming into each other zones .  they were very nicely supported by prado who was very good . bruma gave scare to barragan all through the match but he lacked the final product . the other good performer for martinez the right back who was good on both ends and his crosses were the creator for both the goals .
the worse thing was that neville made me remember mancini who would get up from the bench thinking something but would forget that ones he came into the technical area . neville is there on the touch line because he needs to spot or direct players as to what he sees which the player cannot spot since he has a much clearer view of the game and that is his job . there is one other thing that he needs to taught is the better decision making by the players . in the first half cancello took a card for stopping vela or bruma who were going nowhere or atleast he was going away from the goal and cancello could have recovered even after getting beaten in the first battle and close the player . but he stupidly bought the player down and got the card and gave neville an headache . the second is how to uplift players like danny perejo who seem to be lost in the game . he needs to teach better game reading and how make himself useful on the pitch .