MY TAKE ON THE GAME BETWEEN GERMANY VS SWEDEN .

germany played sweden yesterday . this was one of the best games played in the tournament not just because germany scored a last gasp winner but because both teams had a very simplified approach as to what are they going to do with or without the ball . germany started the game with 4-2-3-1 formation while sweden started the game with 4-4-2 formation . the game was of two halved for germans who adopted different approach in both the halves . in the first half werner was the no.9 and germany wanted to outpass sweden and try to score .
anybody can read as to how the game was going to proceed . germany were going to dominate the possession and sweden were going to hit on the counter . germany had both the fullbacks high up the pitch and were trying to stretch sweden's defense . sweden were not going to drawn in german's trap. they were patient and sat back compact conceding wide spaces to germans and instead waited for germans to come onto them rather than trying to be proactive they were going to be reactive for german actions . 

the reason why werners name was taken was because sweden are one of the biggest team in the tournamet but are not that mobile  so low played werner with the idea that he would make diagonal runs which would get the defense stretched and the three at the back  of werner would be able to exploit that space . the trouble with germans is that germans have good positional knowledge and tactical very astute but the trouble is that they still lack that cohesion and they keep searching for pass . germany were finding space on the flank but there trouble was that bringing the ball inside . i had already said that when one player makes the movement it should be key for others . instead players were not on same wavelength of each other . that is why even when draxler and rues were able to find space in the box they were not able to find  their teammates who didnt had the cue make the move and make themselves  available in the box . second thing is that werner is the no.9 . even though werner is no.9 he like to make diagonal runs and get himself involved in the game . when the ball goes wide werner needs to hold his position in the box try to occupy the two centre halves which would open spaces for other . if he is going wide in trying to get the ball deeper then somebody from german team should try to occupy werner's position . germans were having all the possession and were crossing but were failing to find team mate in the box . this was the story of the first half .
low must had noticed that he wasnt having a traditional no.9 in the box and a target man in the box . so he bought on gomez to be the target man and freed werner to make those diagonal and have run on the defense in a bid to disrupt their discipline  and organisation . but the trouble for germans had been for germans all night long was that they were not able to bring that ball from the wide areas into the inside . i think they had one two many touches on the ball which slowed down the game and allowed the opposition to regroup and make it harder for them .

germany on the attack and spaces exploited by sweden on the counter . 

sweden just played according to the script . not both teams can play possession football . teams need to play to their strength and sweden just did that . for me berg and toivonen were very good in holding the ball and then releasing classen and forsberg beyond them . most importantly berg's passing was very good . sweden's organisation was very good and should have had got something from the game . the one player i was disappointed was forsberg . it is because he has the quality and he needed to show more of it . he should had noted that it was necessary for them to keep moving the ball and shouldnt spend time on the ball and two or three times he lost the possession in trying to be smart . still i am picking him to be the player to be signed by man utd if mouriniho has some brains . he is the missing piece that utd want. the no. 10 that they desperately need .

if germans  need to repeat their  exploits from the brazil worldcup then they need to improve overnight because there is still a lack of cohesion between the front three and they should devise some special play and try to have that one touch football going because better team in the world cup will exploit them .

MY TAKE ON THE GAME BETWEEN ARGENTINA VS CROATIA .

yesterday argetina played crotia . to be honest i had never seen such a weaker argentina side in my life . they all talk about maradona but it was not lone maradona . he had a great support cast who would do the work for him . sampoli is talking about how the other player didnot get with messi and that is cause for defeat . if you had looked closely then i think that messi is not 100% . either he is injured or unfit and that is why he is not seeing more of the ball . secondly it is sampoli who is to be blamed for the defeat . its his team he is the one who has chosen the players . he is the one who has chosen the team and had devised the tactics . if messi is not fit then he should had just dropped him and showed the balls . sampoli just put the players on the pitch and then wants his team to gel . geling doesnt happens overnight . plus the coach needs to have his thoughts cleared if his team needs to perform . all of failure falls squarely on sampoli's shoulder and he should be the one who needs to be put to sword . i had never ever seen argentina team getting outmuscled and outpaced by the opposition . they were literally second best all night .

argentina started the game with 3-2-1-3 formation . while crotia started the game with 4-3-3 formation with brozovic playing the anchor role in the middle of the midfield . even before the game anybody would read the script that messi wasnt going to get time and space on the ball and that is why brozovic was bought in front of the back four . the game started brightly for argentina with messi finding aguero and releasing him behind the back four and this was the only chance created by messi and the argies . after that the game just slipped out of argies hand . what were argentina were going to do with the ball is very questionable . sampoli played two wing backs with the thinking that they would stretch crotia's defense but while doing that he didnt take into account other factors . first off he was having aguero in the middle so aguero beating lovren and riga in the air is not possible .secondly just consider the mobility of perez and mascherano to modric and rakitic . crotia had better midfielders than argentina . argentina were always going to have problems when they were going to bring the ball from wide areas to inside of pitch because croatia were going to have numbers behind the ball and most importantly argentina's interplay wasnt that crisp . to be honest going forward argentina just didnt had a clear plan and most importantly what is sampoli doing on the sidelines pacing up and down . he should had corrected and gone to plan b but sampoli for me just didnt had a plan b . instead he took off perez and bought messi in the midfield . now when  you bring your best player that far from the goal you give opposition the chance because you have to move the ball that much to get the ball to opposition box and in doing so you give the opposition that much chance to stop you in the tracks . the other thing was that argentina were trying to play out of the back a very risky thing to do against a good opposition . it was always risky for argies to play out of the back . argies offense not working is all sampoli's fault and he should  answer for that and not messi . messi didnt made the tactics it was sampoli . 

speaking of tactics sampoli wanted to stretch the play so he deployed two wing backs and to play out of the back with the thinking that croatia would come out and press them . i havent seen a team who had gone to press opposition in their half . instead all the team are playing safe and sitting back and press team when they come in their half . secondly team are not going to chase you in wide instead they want  you to come and then defend in numbers . sampoli's tactics were just not justifying with the ground realities .  most importantly all the teams are not capable or playing out of the press and it doesnt work very well .without the ball argentina were having five at the back so both vrsjlko and strinic had no opposing player for a good half of the pitch . the tactical problem was that whether the fullbacks tuck alongside the centre backs or do they go on and press their opposite numbers which leaves the centre backs exposed .

croatia had a simple game plan they just wanted to hit argentina on the counter and most importantly they had players to do that with manzukic and rebic very good at holding the ball . most importantly the man of the match performance came from their three midfielders  modric,rakitic and brozovic who moved the ball very well .

when the match started the only players that i was worrying about were caballero and subasic who are good goal keepers but are mistake prone and i wasnt wrong with my assumption with subasic making a hash of the situation when he should had just gone to collect the ball when lovren was sheilding it and asking him to collect it . for caballero's mistake i would again put sampoli in the cage because he wants them to play out of the back a move which backfired .
all and all hope argentina are just not the team who can win the cup and for me crotia are the dark horse who can go all the way since they have the team and style to do it . 

MY TAKE ON THE GAMES BETWEEN BRAZIL VS SWITZERLAND AND GERMANY VS MEXICO .

 swiss played brazil in the world cup match . brazil started the game with 4-4-2 because both jesus and neymar were upfront and even though they looked like 4-3-3 they were not they were more like 4-4-2 . while swiss started the game with 4-2-3-1 formation . now in what world would you let one of the best players in the world have time and space on the ball and leave him alone . it was abvious from the start that the swiss were going to strangle neymar . now here is where tite needs to coach him tell him and change the tactics . the more neymar is drawn into the battle the more he wants to fight it . instead tite should had just tried  to play one touch football and keep the play rolling and tite should had created the offense with other player who too are actually good .
the game started with a fimiliar note with swiss trying to sit back and strangle neymar . now i had just read the statistics that neymar was fouled 10 times in the match why wont he be . brazil were always going to have their offense on the left side because that the side neymar operates plus coutiniho was deployed there so that neymar can link up with him and can open up the swiss defense. brazil started the game brightly neymar was closed down so they spread the ball to willian who was on the other flank and he caused swiss the problem by crossing good  crosses  in the box . the trouble started with neymar getting shutdown more by berhami who was very good . what brazil lack is that height upfront which they make up with their crisp passing . jesus was never going to win headers against ikanji and schar so keeping  the ball on the floor was the best option .
swiss were never going to chase brazil in their half what swiss lacked was mobility but they had the physical advantage over brazil . now neymar likes to come deep and start dribble from there . berhami was specifically told to keep tabs on neymar who and he did a very good job with that . here is where i am disappointed with tite . neymar is the main man for brazil as messi is for argentina and every thing and anything is going to flow through him .  so the opposition are going to strangle them . now either you create and offense where on the other member of the team combine when neymar is strangled or create offense so that he can have space to work . the second thing that i was disappointed with tite was neymar's positioning . neymar likes to start from the left and deep . first off the deeper he comes the deeper the offense starts so brazil has to work that  length of the pitch to get to the box or goal . secondly when he getting closed down why not ask him to play one touch football instead trying to drive the ball and prove his ego . why play to his ego . if tite had taken the cue then it was there in the match when neymar was high up the pitch and he beat schar and schar had to take a card to stop him  . so why didnt tite asked him to stay high up the pitch and let the ball come to him and work his magic or let him stay on one side of the pitch and attract the opposition and let others combine . 
i was disappointed in brazil but i was more disappointed in swiss because going forward they didnt had a plan as to  what they are going to do when they are going to take the ball in the final third . now seferovic is a very good player and a good header of the ball plus you can play around him but none of that was visible in the swiss offense and shaqiri,dzemaili and zuber when the ball was bought high up the pitch . just try to cross the ball in the box for seferovic and test silva and mirando with both shaqiri and rodriguez good crosser of the ball . going forward the swiss were pretty hopeless and if the swiiss want to get into the next round then they need to have a better offense . the swiss let a very good chance of beating brazil who i think were vulnerable in the match .
both tite and sampoli need to solve neymar and messi or it may not get them far in the worldcup .
yesterday germany played mexico . germany started the game with 4-2-3-1 formation while mexico too played with the same formation . the tactics were clear from the start that mexico were going to sit back deep and hit germnay on the counter for that they had hernandez upfront who pace can trouble anybody but his overall link up play and finishing are found wanting . germany wanted to stretch the game so that kimmich high up the pitch trying to stretch the play so that players can ozil and kross can exploit that space in the defense and find muller,draxler and wener upfront . the warning signs were from the start from both sides . first germany had the shot when werner found the space behind the back four with his diagonal run . this was because mexico tried to play a slight bit of high line and werner showed his pace to find space behind the back four .  while mexico were finding the space in the hole where on either or vela or hernandez were coming inside and releasing  lugano on the left . lugano was finding the space because kimmich use to high up the pitch and his pace was causing germany the problems . germany were playing the high line trying to congest mexico and press them but the trouble is that mexico are very good in one on one situations and are extremly mobile plus their ground game is very good . their crisp passing is very good with good positional  knowledge .
the game was all about germany dominating possession and trying to open up mexico and even though they lost it doesnt means that germany were bad . it was only that they could not find the back of the net . their game plan and the way played was actually decent and i think after this game low must had thought that perhaps he had a player like sane who can make run on defense with his after burners and open it up . the only player that i would criticise here is ozil . he is the no.10 in the side and on one of the time in the game he could had just released werner . he needs to be strong on the ball and needs to pull the strings and get himself more involved in the game . vela played the no.10 role for mexico and he played it with aplomb . both the teams should could had done more into the game . mexico should had thought about having a bigger scoreline while germany would had thought to have atleast a point in the game .
i think that low needs to look into his side and play kross in place of ozil and needs to have some crisp passing going because otherwise i think that there was nothing bad with the team with some little adjustments . if mexico are to go far into this worldcup then i think hernandez's game needs to improve overnight . the second thing is that they need to be a bit more patient they work the ball in a good position but they just get impatient with their shot . instead if they just can be a little bit more patient then they can just trouble a lot of teams but playing this deep and taking chances against team would someday catch them .

MY TAKE ON THE GAME BETWEEN PORTUGAL VS SPAIN .

yesterday portugal played spain in the world cup group match . portugal started the match with a 4-4-2 formation . while spain started the match with 4-3-3 formation . the game started with the usual script of portugal sitting back and hitting spain on the counter . fernando santo had his tactics right because if you are to play on the counter attack then you need to have two upfront and most importantly the front two seems to working in tandem with each other . portugal took the early lead because they able to overlaoad the left flank . portugal were able to do that because ronaldo shifted from the middle there and most importantly in the first 15-20 min spain's back line wasnt coming along upfield  with the front players to press them . so portugals players were getting time on the ball and were able to beat spains pressing game . now spain's pressing game were able to win them the 2010 world cup . the real reason why portugal were able to win the penalty was that there wasnt that clarity in the  spain team as to who was going to pick up raphael gurrero . porugal's left back was able to get go unabated upfield without an opposing player against him . spain had two player on that side with silva and koke but who was going to pick up gurrero wasnt decided . secondly he was aided by portugals tactics where on i think fernandes was told to come inside and provide cover to gurrero and let gurrero upfield because gurrero is a good crosser of the ball . in this match ronaldo was very good and he was ready to take players on and that won him the penalty for the first goal .

spain on offense

the game settled after 15 min where on the intial eurphoria of the portugal team died . the teams dont have the legs in them to close down players . spain there tiki taka game . spain attack was mostly from the left side and isco being the main progenitor .   there was some thinking to spains attack because of the players involved and the players that were in opposition . spain had isco,iniesta and alaba on that side while portugal had cedric,moutiniho and silva on that flank . portugals silva in one of the better players in that team and spain may had not wanted him to combine with the front players so spain wanted to push him back because he was marking alaba . alaba was given the lisecne to go beyond his front player a page taken barcelona's tactical book . spain had their tiki taka going and portugal were sitting back with a very compact two banks of four . even though portugal were trying to sit back compat but it a dangerous ploy because spain can move the ball very crisply and they have some very good players who have a very good game iq who know how to take position in the play and make themselves available .

what spain were trying to acheive with their offense was that they were trying to overload one flank and get either of isco or inesta getting deep into the portugal's box and then either crossing the ball for costa or koke who coming from the opposite flank .  even though spain were dominating the possession i think that they didnt use the arsenal that were at their disposal . nor did they use all of the canvas . while isco was seeing a lot of the ball silva was not having that joy . he too is one of the best ball player in that team . secondly the attack was just happening on the left flank and spain wasnt able to spread it on the right flank and they were getting greedy in crossing the ball . instead had they been patient and a better game reader and orchestrator of the game would had used the full canvas and tried to stretch portugal and opened them more . thirdly they have to bring costa more into the game and the offense should be around him and he should  be more involved in the offense . at time i felt that spain got greedy in trying to keep the ball instead of trying to take pick out players upfront who were in a good position to test oppsition's defense . spain had a good tiki taka game and dominated the possession but struggled on the counter and busquestus needs to be better with his game reading .i think he should be a little more upfront and should be the one pulling the strings . most important spain conceded three goals and at time on defense in think that on the counter there positinal awareness wasnt very good and were getting caught in wrong position . even when you are on offense you should have a reading as to from where the opposition can hurt them and should make that necessary adjustments to the game and i think after the tapes of the game heirro would make that  if spain are to go far in the world cup .

portugal had their tactics right but sitting this deep and inviting pressure in not going to get them very far in the world cup because a better organised team on offense will put them to sword . they cannot play this deep  but the satisfying thing for santos would be that they were able to beat the press and moved the ball very nicely . rafael carvalaho's performance in this game would be one of the most satisfying thing for him . the front two worked very well  and ronaldo's attitude and his performace would had satisfied him . 

MY TAKE ON THE EUROPA LEAGUE FINAL BETWEEN MARSEILLE VS ATH MAD .

on wednesday marseille played ath mad in the UEL final . marseille started the game with 4-2-3-1 formation while ath mad continued with their 4-4-2 formation . the game started with a very interesting punt from  marseille deep in ath mad half . now this stratergy has been used in the nfl,rugby to punt the ball deep in the opposition half and then try to win the possession back as high as possible in the opposition half . it puts pressure on the opposition because they have to cover that much of the grass and this true even in football . marseille punted the ball and then tried to press ath mad . atleast this move showed that rudy garcia was thinking out of the book and trying to have some advantage on his opposition . the game had a good flow to it . both the teams were cautious trying to press each other and at the same time they play deep instead of trying to play a high line and get caught . both the teams like to play out of the back but while marseille like to have possession of the ball ath mad likes to sit back and hit on the counter . ath mad had koke and corriea on the wings while griezman was playing behind costa .  when ath mad have the ball they tried to feed the ball to either corriea , griezman or costa because these three are the main weapons for counter used by ath mad . griezman and corriea are very good on the ball while costa can hold the ball and bring others into play . koke is more of a playmaker or no.10 in the ath mad team . in the first half marseille dominated the proceedings they nullified corriea and costa because the two midfielders in the middle did their job very well to support their back four . 
marseille created the first chance of the match and it was because they could strip ath mad of the possession and bring the ball from back to front quickly . till this chance i think there was  a confusion in ath mad team as to who would pick payet and he was afforded time on the ball and he was able to release germain on goal who missed . after this chance ath mad tightened up . first off they reduced the space between midfield and back four . secondly payet wasnt given time on the ball . as soon he had the ball either of the two midfielders would try to close him down . the thing marseille went wrong was that marseille had germain upfront . now germain's strength is to run behind the back four . he has a good floor game and is decent in the air given his stature but he cannot beat gimenez and godin in the air . just as payet went off the field marseille didnt had anybody who could dictate the game for them . secondly marseille were feeding germain with high balls which is not his strength . marseille's problem was that they were just not able to bring the ball inside the in the final third . the reason being that they dindnt had payed on the field . secondly even if the ball was crossed in the box germain wasnt going to win the aerial duel against gimenez and godin . most importantly marseille passed the ball crisply but there was no novelty in the final third to open up the ath defense . it was just way too straight with players occupying their respective zones and not doing anything new .
when tactics are designed at that time players at hand are considered with respect to the opposition . i think in this match rudy garcia didnt take germain physical aspect into consideration . marseille were good till the final third but lack of creativity with not many players in the box didnt bore them any fruit on offense . he tried to change that in the second half where on he brought the sub lopez in the deeper in the midfield and sent sanson upfront . sanson showed some good movement but till that the game was out of marseille's hand . he should had bought mitrogolu at the start of the second half itself when he could see that the lack of height upfront was hampering his offense so he should had bought him earlier . most importantly marseille didnt had a plan B when they need to change thing because there initial approach wasnt working and that they were just not able to bring the ball back into the centre . i think he did the substitution too late to give marseille a chance .
ath mad were on the back foot in the first half the offense wasnt working for them but there is a difference between an immature team and a mature team . mature would not hasten they would not overtry to expose themselves and would just keep on trying and they would know that the chance would come and that they will take it . the first goal for ath mad came because saul was aware and when Anguissa made the mistake he was ready to pounce and punished marseille . the second goal came into the second half and till that time ath had take hold of the game they were passing crisply costa was running channels and was holding the ball better .most importantly ath mad were able to break marseille's offense in the middle and were able to hit them quickly on the counter . they showed good quality on the ball and were able to beat  marseille's  press and were able to open them up on every counter . ath mad won just because they not only quality but are also a mature team and i think that was the difference between the two .

MY TAKE ON THE GAME BETWEEN CHELSEA VS BARCELONA.

before i write about the game let me say doesnt matters as to how many time you have the ball and how much you have the possession but if you cannot stick in the back of the net . gaurdiola can moun that wigan had only one chance but what matters is the score and when after some years people will not remember that man city dominated the possession but the way we remember brazil dominating argentina in the 1990 world cup but ended up losing the match . in the game between chelsea vs barcelona i had read news about how barca dominated and messi being unstoppable but to be honest i would say that if i was conte i would just be happy at the way barca were playing because he should had figuered them out . i had never seen an offense being so concentrated around one player . i have heard that certain section of the press were critical of pauliniho starting but to be honest doenst matters whoever you start will he get the freedom to do his thing because eventually after two or three passess the ball ends at messi's feet and as if so he is everything creator and finisher . all the team has to play around him and adjust accordingly if i had to critical of neymar and PSG's tactics then what should i say about barca because they too look like a single man team . i think valverde had to look after his tactics and should change because if the barca board sane people and if the opposition starts figuering them out then i think clearly they will struggle . 
the game started with barca with 4-4-2 formation while chelsea started with 3-5-2 formation  with willian in the no.9 role while hazard in the no.10 role  but they kept on interchanging the role . it was very much written that chelsea were going to sit back and barca were going to be in the ascendancy and going to dominate the possession . before the game it was hyped as the battle between ngolo kante and messi but that was not the case atleast in the first half . in the first half messi was finding the space between lines and he was causing good trouble to chelsea and the interplay was good between him iniesta and  busquestus but again as i had said everything is messi . barca know that the opponent are going to be very compact because little amount of space can be exploited by barca . to honest i was a little surprised that valverde was not able to spot that chelsea were a little thin in their midfield . chelsea only had two midfielders in the middle with kante and fabregas . while pedro and willian were shifting besides them to make numbers . but at times willian was staying just high up the pitch at that time i thought that the chelsea  midfield was way too thin and there was space ( will show in figure ) that could had been exploited but then we come back to square one because it had to be done by messi . in the first half there was considerable space between back five and the middle three . most importantly messi's was staying in between the lines and was causing problems for chelsea . the reason why barcelona play pauliniho is his ability to make the runs and has a very good positional sense . the only thing that let him down is his touch . the other player that had benifitted from barca's formation had been jordi alaba . both pauliniho come inside and the fullbacks get the space to go up the pitch and when messi drifts on the right alaba had made some darting runs evading his opposite number and had been very successful in providing assists . 
in the second half chelsea made the adjustmest . in the first half the distance between chelsea back five and middle three was about 15 yards but in the second half it was less that 10 yards . conte made the adjustmests to make them more compact . secondly messi started coming more deeper which put him against kante and fabregas who now know on how to defend messi . they dont try to snatch ball from him instead try to be patient and they get the chance or they double on him . barca's equaliser because chelsea were trying to play out from the back . conte wanted barca to press them so that they can play around them and there are players like hazard and willian who can show their quality in the final third and in one on one situations . chelsea's formation had been based around good defending and most importantly the understanding between the front two . in this match i think both willian and hazard were not on the same wavelength . most importantly in this match chelsea's most unsung hero pedro was not that used or else he can cause trouble to the oppostion with his runs behind the back four and had got good postional sense.
barca may had the advantage with away goal but the tie is certainly not over and most importantly if conte had watched the game and if he is able to make some adjustments then definitely the tie is very much open . there are already talks of barca slowing down or getting tired but that is not true but after certain time the opposition starts fiuering you out and i think this may be the time when valverde needs to freshen up his tactics and should give more freedom to other players like iniesta who looks to be tied up to messi . they had been asking as to why dembele is not playing but to be honest in this style nobody cant shine except messi .

MY TAKE ON THE GAME BETWEEN JUVENTUS VS SPURS.

the uefa champions league matches are a great audition for the coaches as well as the players . the game between spurs and juventus was an audition for pochettino and his players . over the period of two weeks spurs have played against good opponents notably against liverpool and utd . i watched the game against liverpool and whoever had watched it then they would had found the similarities in terms of the way the game went . spurs dominated the game but were not good in the final third . the same was the story here spurs dominated the proceedings but most of the times they didnt look that threatning and squandered there possession off .
juventus started the game with 4-4-2 formation . higuain was upfront with costa who was preferred in the no.10 role because of his ability to dribble as well as he can exchange positions with manzukic who can come inside and join higuain if costa goes wide and be at the end of the cross from costa . spurs started with 4-2-3-1 formation with dembele and dier in front of the back four . spurs wanted to congest the midfield and have dominance over it . spurs fell back through two early goals because of their defensive lapses . both the goal could had been prevented atleast the second one i mean its a stupidity from the fullback davies . he should had just cleared the ball from direction where it came from instead of trying to clear it to the other side and secondly he should had tried to catch it much higher instead of trying to let it come that much down . 
spurs went two goals down early but credit goes to the coach and the players who didnt let their head go down and instead started to play their game and stamped their authority in the game . while at the same time juventus went into their italian mentality of trying to protect the lead that they had . the initial game plan of trying to close down spurs and try to win the ball high up the pitch and hit them on the fast counter went out of the window . now if you had watched the game between liverpool and spurs and this game then the reason why spurs dominated was because of one player and that is dembele . his ability to get out of the pressure and dominate the game was amazing .he was the main reason why spurs dominated .
spurs dominated the game but i was disappointed in the their offense . liverpool game was repeated here . there are three main zones in football the defense,midfield and offensive third . now spurs were playing out of the back demebele was able to pass that pressure that was exerted to him in the midfield and was able to pass that ball forward in the final third . its the role of the final third that they need to combine and the coach needs to orchestrated the offense as to what happens when the ball comes in this zone or that whoever recives the ball and who makes the makes the run and who takes what position . this is the role of the coach because unlike midfield the opposition is not going to give time and space on the ball in the final third and get themselves murdered . here i was disappointed with delle alli . he plays in the no.10 postion and is supposed to be the main creator in the spurs team but how many times did he squandered the possession in the final third . plus spurs players dont have that sharpness as to whether they have aplayer around or whether they can take a touch or should they just pass back .
i had read somewhere that pep gaurdiola use to discuss the tactics with chess grandmaster's . chess and football are way similar and the grandmasters would had taught him as to how to draw out an opponent or use various positions and how to use them . how do you read your opponent and their game plan and get an upperhand on that . the context of this is that spurs were able to bring the ball upfield but were simply poor in the final third . just as when you press a player and one of the player starts as it is a cue for others to press others . similarly it is on offense when the ball is passed upfield then the other players needs to take the cue and take positions and it needs to be crisp . there is no stopping for crisp passing and only it can be stopped is by fouling the offensive team . i think spurs need to up their game in the final third and be more creative .
juventus took the lead early but then just took their foot off the paddle . first thing if it was an audition for pochettino then similarly allegri's name is being linked to various clubs and would any club like to have a manager who plays defensive football . there is nothing bad in sitting back and hitting back on the counter but when you can read that you need to you have ten players players behind the ball then you need to do level changes( ufc word) like be patient move the ball try to slow the game and then hit them . juventus just played one dimensional football just try to hit spurs on the counter atleast in the last quarter they should had just try to take different approach . juventus were helped by some stupid defending by spurs fullbacks who were just hopeless all night long and there decision making would cost spurs a place in the quarter finals .