MY TAKE ON THE GAME BETWEEN DORTMUND VS BARCELONA

barca playd dortmund at  the signal iduna park . barca were without messi untill the half of this match . this is when valverde will be judged as to how he marshalls his troops . around does he base his offense . what combination he uses and what tactics does he uses . to be honest valverde has come up short in his examination without messi . with messi its very easy to base tactics . he makes things very easy he can spot runs and pick him up with a pin point pass . his sense of positioning is also very superb where on he makes available for the pass . with messi its very easy but what if he is not there . in football injuries are very common and you need to have a plan b and you need to plan that in advance . i didnt watch the ath bilbao game but barca failed to score in that game .. while in the game versus real betis griezman was the real hero . he was the one around whom all the offense was circling . he found spaces between the lines and everything flowed through him on that day and it looked as if barca have finally found the answer without messi and found a way to play without the great player . in the game against valencia it was ansu fati and de jong who stole the show . both found spaces between the lines and punished valencia for it .
the thing to see in this game was how does barcelona unlocks dortmunds defense . dortmund were not going to make this easy for them . lucien favre's team has a good discipline about them as soon as they loose the ball they organise themselves in two banks of four and most importantly both the lines work very good in tandem with each other . now it was worth seeing as to who would be star for barcelona as to who would unlock dortmund's defense . for the last two matches ansu fati was the star so he was given the ball in the final third to do something in the final third . the trouble with barca was that valverde didnt let him the full freedom to go and charge against his opposite number and try something . instead they just kept on moving the ball and trying to find the opening but dortmund were equal to the task . they defended very nicely . most importantly they kept suarez quite and didnt allow him time and space on the ball . in the first half dortmund's defense was very good and they kept barca at bay . 
dortmund played on the counter but dortmund's offense was nothing but  a lesson to all the young coaches as to how to play a floor game . dortmund kept moving the ball with short crisp passes and evaded the barca's press in their final third and pushed barca back . delaney and witsel supported their wide players and moved the ball very well . dortmund's passing was very good but there is a flaw the way they move the ball . their moves can be read and most importantly they can be pressed if the opposition can read their moves and hit them on the quick counter  . this is what bayern did to dortmund in the last season's bundesliga . in this game dortmund moved the ball very well at least guerrero was very good on the ball and his  ability and ball control was very good .  another thing with dortmund is that dortmund may be moving the ball crisply but then they are allowing the oppositon time to regroup and this makes dortmund's job difficult  since they wont find the space they desire . dortmund needs to bring some novelty in their attack and at time needs to go very direct and surprise the opponents .
the trouble with barca is with pique and the back four they are torn in the indecision as to whether they should press or should they sit back and maintain the shape and organisation and defend.  they are told to drop deep and let others come and dont get caught high on the pitch .  pique is supposed to be the organiser from the back but he is one who keeps on making mistakes and barca need a leader at the back .
in the second half messi and rakitic were introduced but the shape was the same . there was nothing new from barca . but messi has clearly lost his legs and hasnt got the pace that he had earlier in his carrier . but while he has lost his legs his game reading ability and positioning sense has improved leaps and bounds . valverde now has the headache as to how he play's messi,griezman and suarez together . compared to suarez griezman has better ability on the ball and can be a better link up player with messi . 

MY TAKE ON THE JUVENTUS VS NAPOLI .

yesterday napoli played juventus in the serie a . the game can be best described as the game of two halves with each team domination either of it . while juventus dominated the first half . napoli came back strong in the second half to equal the game . before writing about the game let me tell you one thing a couple of years back the england managers job was vacant and several names were considered among them was harry redknapp . now the reasons that were given as to why he was fit for the job was that he makes very good tactically astute substitutions . the reason for telling this tale is similar thing happened in this game . napoli was run over by juventus in the first half and he was just watching and in the second half he made two good substitutions and they could have had a different result . 
juventus started the game with 4-3-3 formation while sarri's former side started with 4-4-2 formation other will show  different but for me he had two upfront and callejon and insigne wide . ancelotti has kept the nucleus of the side the same that was under sarri what he has changed is the approach and the way they go forward . they still play the high line which was a question for me because juventus has so many pacy players who can create problems for any defense plus they are playing on the counter where on the opposing team is in not in shape and back tracking.
now the game started with napoli playing building offense and juventus hitting on the counter attack . napoli wanted to press juventus for which they played a high line . the main problem had been napoli's offense . fabian was played behind or with mertens .now if you play mertens against bonucci and de ligt then the aerial battle is gone . napoli were in a disarry in the first half fabian was shooting whenever he was getting instead of trying to build a play . callejon was just a spectator on the left . insigne who recives most of the touches and is the main player at times does too many touches causing the play to slow down and allowing the defense to organise and stall the offense .
the main problem was just not napoli's offense but its defense . playing such a high line wasnt helping . they were prone to counter attack . napoli had only six players on defense with the back four and the middle two . even the full backs were sent up to press and it cause gaps in the napoli's defense . juventus second goal can be considered the perfect example as to how bad napoli were . the way juventus bought the ball in from wide to inside without any challenge and obstruction and then higuain turning koulibaly inside out was the worst napoli .  kahadeira and matuidi were constantly getting space between the lines and causing problems to napoli. napoli's back four just couldnt come out to defend them because they had ronaldo and higuian to deal with and had they left their organisation then that would had been more trouble . juventus just ran riot in the first half .

in the second half ancelotti changed some personal as well as their positions . he removed the entire left side . he replaced insigne with lazano and mario rui for ghoulam . another change he made was fabian who was in the no. 10 position was brought in the middle alongside allan and zlensky who was in the middle was promoted upfront alongside mertens and lazano . he was drafted on the left side . the second half started with juventus wanting to preserve the lead and trying to sit deep and hit napoli on the counter . lazano's pace and zlensky's  positioning was causing juventus all sort of problems . most importantly the counter attack which was causing napoli in the first half was not there . napoli equalised the game but last minute own goal by koulibaly means they dropped points . this can happen to anybody but the important thing about the game is that ancelotti needs to make his tactics smartly he could had been hammered badly in the first half itself . while sarri doesnt needs to just be italian when they have the lead instead he needs to be positive when they have a lead and should try to control the game rather than handing the reins of the to the opposition .

MY TAKE ON SPURS LAST TWO MATCHES

i watched three matches one i had already written and posted . spurs played newcastle and lost and barcelona blew away real betis in the second half blitz when they turned up the screw .
spurs played newcastle and this was one of the worst offensive performances by the spurs . newcastle were sitting back with two banks of 4 and hitting spurs on the counter . now the weaker they rely of their discipline,shape and concentration to defend and its the opposition job to find the way past it . generally in such matches the so called weaker teams can some how score a goal so the stronger team in this case spurs needed to find more than a goal . the most disappointing thing about spurs was their offense . on the defense it was very well known as to what newcastle were going to do so spurs had to put a combination together . spurs offense can be best illustrated by the tactical board where on the newcastle are waiting for spurs . newcastle are having two rows of 4's with one of the forward dropping deep to help on defense . 
in the board you can see that spurs attack started 8 to 10 yards beyond newcastle's midfield . it should be more closer . secondly the attack was lacking any creative spark . most importantly spurs were not helping not themselves . their offense can be seen from a long away by the newcastle defense . most importantly the spurs offense didnt had more than two moves . one of the midfielders or the wing backs would try to cross the ball in the box trying to find one of the players in the box . spurs needed to put more than three to four passes together so that they could create that confusion in the newcastle defense and have a real chance to score . spurs didnt a orchestrated offense which is the real problem when you are playing with such team who dont have that great quality and one who rely on their discipline ,organisation and shape and do hard work to preserve the lead when they have one .
spurs played man city and even though the score wont suggest the the lop sided contest it was . man city outplayed spurs but two mistakes and man city dropped points . man city started with their usual 4-2-3-1 formation while spurs started with the same formation .
now as  i had said in my posts that the coach can choose to play the way he feels best suits to his team . spurs were sitting back and playing to play on the counter attack while as always man city was the dominant team in possession as well as trying to control the tempo of the game . what i expect from pochttino was atleast to have some decent game plan and he has some good players in his team but the team just looked like bunch of ameteurs who had been put together and told to play most importantly their game plan both on offense was poor . 
i would like to elaborate on what tim sherwood said at half time during this game . now what tim sherwood said that winks and nNdombele who were playing in the middle were not taking half turn and were just passing the ball side ways and back . they need to take a half turn and pass the ball forward and start playing forward . now here i want to say this how can a player who is under pressure and getting pressed make a half turn and risk lossing the possession and have the chance of coceding the goal because he very near the goal will take that a risk . secondly if you had watched closely then winks wasnt that much of a great pressure but since the offense wasnt that orchestrated he had to find player to pass and that meant he spent time on the ball and slowed the game down . spurs were just not able to keep the ball not man city pressed heavily and nicely but because they lacked a cohesive team which didnt had a orchestrated offense . its always important as to what you do with the ball . when playing  from the back wasnt working they started to go direct . poch changed the shape of the team he sent issoko in the middle while kaine came deep in the no.10 position and lamela and eriksen were sent beyond him . the opposition can read the changes and they would like to stop spurs in the tracks . man city just man marked kane and denied him time and space on the ball . here i was disappointed with poch he should had read that since kane wasnt getting time and space . he should had positioned somebody near him so  that as soon as kane receives the ball he should pass the ball to him and keep the game rolling . instead kane tried to take the ball in stried and got fouled or lost possession . spurs offense was very poor they lacked cohesion most importantly there was no imagination and desire to win and just wanted to hang on .
on the defensive end too spurs were poor first off they played deep which i dont object but as the game went on they became much more compact and offered space for sterling to have a start . any player who has pace needs a start and if he is given that then he is difficult to stop . poch should had realised that . giving him space to run means he could turn any side and could cause problems for the defense because you dont know him as to where he is going . spurs committed  many mistakes in the game and they are lucky to come out of the game with a point .

MY TAKE ON THE LIVERPOOL VS ARSENAL

arsenal played liverpool at anfield . the result was as expected but at  same time i expect a fight and most importantly i expect it to be a close not a  wash out .  arsenal started the game with 4-3-1-2 formation . while liverpool started the game with their usual 4-3-3 formation . arsenal had pepe and abumeyang upfront and they choose to sit back and hit liverpool on the counter . i wont describe the whole but there are some instances in the game which i would love to point out and i think they are very important .
liverpool have their own game plan . but here arsenal sat back and made liverpool the possession team .  arsenal had 4 in the middle . they wanted to play a very compact game and they knew about liverpools passing and players qualities so on defense the game plan was correct . arsenal didnt want to give liverpool any space in the middle of the park . so they had to concede space wide on the flanks . 
first off what liverpool lacked when liverpool had the ball you could see that geundozi had to come on the right side to help out maitland -niles so that he doesnt get overload . now when geundozi would come out wide on right and at times ceballos would come out from the middle chasing the ball in trying to win the possession . klopp should had realised that arsenal would be light in the middle with only xhaka who is not a good game reader and most importantly he should be an organiser which he is not . liverpool should had tried to take advantage of that with firmino . when ball was in the middle sokratis would come out of the back to press firmino but when the ball is near the 18 yard box i dont thing sokratis would come out and press firmino and break that defensive structure . what i was appaled to see was the way henderson just swinging his boot and trying to deliver the ball near the 6 yard box without any proper target in mind . robertson and arnold didnt had a natural opposite player and they had plenty of space to run but apart from robertson arnold didnt tried to take the ball deep or even tried to go deeper . most importantly they tried crossing for which i think arsenal were prepared . most importantly liverpool only could penetrate when firmino started seeing more of the ball and his runs ,movement and passing caused all sort of probelems for liverpool .

arsenal had been disappointing but the way they play most importantly for some of its players . emery choose his tactics which he thought were there to be suitable for his team . he had abumeyang and pepe upfront trying to run behind liverpool's defense . now this is the first step of the offense and once you do this two or three times the opposition starts to expect  it and it starts to take steps to counter it . so this is when you need to change the gear and change the game plan . the threat of that long ball to abumeyang and pepe should be there  . so while keeping that threat you can pass the ball around and develop the play . arsenal just went one dimensional trying to release pepe and abumeyang just as they did in the uefa cup final against chelsea when they tried to play through lacazatte . chelsea kept tab on him and stopped arsenal's attack in the tracks .
arsenal play front two . you need these front two to get them to combine together . if you had seen the starting position of both these players then they are far too apart from each other . i dont understand this . you do this when the players have quality but then again its better to have players combine with each other than trying to do the solo act which has a very low success rate . the most important factor in terms of counter attack is maintaining tempo of the game and most importantly the selection of the pass and players decision making . the main  problem with arsenal is with the selection of personal . on what merit is xhaka commanding his position in the team . his game reading is poor . his distribution is poor most importantly he just doesnt have that game reading in him to play in the midfield . he needs to understand as to when to throw the  long ball    and when to just continue the regular offense . the big problem is with pepe and abumeyang . whenever they recive the ball they tend to just go into one gear and try to take on the entire  opposition . instead they need to taught  as to when they need to go solo and when they need to hold the ball and bring their team into play and wait for support  . i hope he plays torreira who is a very fine player .

MY TAKE ON THE GAME BETWEEN LIVERPOOL VS CHELSEA UEFA SUPER CUP .

liverpool played chelsea in the uefa super cup final . now on sunday chelsea were hammered by man utd and lost . people were questioning lampard's choice of personal . this game would erase some doubts about his approach towards the game and the understanding he has . towards the game . i think he still has some strides to make but the process is in the right direction . the tactics he employed nullified liverpool atleast in the first half and some observation and some improvisations defensively and he can become one of the top managers in the game .
liverpool started the game with their usual 4-3-3 formation while chelsea started the game with the same formation . while chelsea had started with 4-2-3-1 formation against man utd but i think he reverted to 4-3-3 formation so as tribute to sarri because of whom he was playing this game . liverpool approach to the game is very well known they like to play on the counter attack . most importantly what liverpool does better than anybody is that whenever they win the ball in any part of the field they start the counter attack then and there . they have a well oiled machine who know how to counter opposition quick and fast and catch them out of shape . the game started with chelsea sitting back and hitting liverpool on the counter . the first chance of the game came towards liverpool and this was liverpool offense theme in the first half . liverpool have salah and chamberlain out wide . salah saw most of the ball and liverpool tried to have offense starting from salah . chelsea were trying to deny salah time and space on the ball and emerson was coming out to close him down . this was freeing up the space between him and zouma which henderson was taking full advantage of . this where i think frank lampard needs to tweak and ask his midfielders to follow handerson so that he doesnt have time and space on the ball . henderson's cross produced the first real chance of the game . 
there are two good things about chelsea which are with ball and without the ball . chelsea even were playing on the counter wanted to play out of the back and they wanted liverpool to come and press them . i think this was because chelsea had the belief in their game that they can beat liverpool's press and in turn exploit that space behind the back four . while doing this playing out of the back i think kepa's passing will be the most important thing because he should be able to pass the ball from to back in a jiffy and accurately . in this game zouma did redeem himself because he was criticized for his performance in the man utd game  . his passing was superb in this game . his passing is most important because nowadays teams dont allow opposition's midfielders time and space on the ball so defenders should be able to pass the ball . most importantly he needs to make understand emerson that he should allow salah to cut on his strong foot and inside instead show him out and on his weaker foot . these are little things that change the complexity and outcome of the game .
what nobody noticed but what chelsea did very correct with liverpool in the first half is that chelsea pressed the ball as soon as they lost it but didnt over commit which would had been suicidal . now what this little press meant was that liverpool  like start offense as soon as they win the ball but what this little press meant was that liverpool had to pass the ball back to their back four and this allowed chelsea to regroup and slowed the game down . liverpool just could do what they like to do and start a quick counter . 
in the first half chelsea played the ball from side to side trying to find the space and let pulisic and pedro on the ball . i think this is ancelotti's influence on lampard but lampard's game is a bit pacy compared with ancelotti. both pulisic and pedro are good on the ball but the problem lies with giroud . giroud is very good on the ball but he has no pace and because of his team can play that high line and can take their chances on defense . emerson should be taught that  another thing is that the midfieders have to make better read of the game and both kovacic and jorginiho were failing as to read as to what is going to come next and that is very important . the most worrying thing is that of goal who needs to command the back four and right of now kepa hasnt got that . he is circumspect . most important on the set pieces he should be commanding the box and his organisation of the players is tested . lampard needs to get that sorted . i think in the coming few weeks we will see a better chelsea .
liverpool were out played in the first although they created some chances but it was their which was exploited by chelsea . liverpool have their two midfielders high up the field and there is an ample space for the opposition to explore in front of the back four which chelsea did very nicely and that is how they got the first goal in the first half . most importantly liverpool couldnt play the quick counter that they are famous for . in the second half he bought on firminiho and in the first 5 minutes he was able to score but then chelsea were able to slow the game a bit . i watched the game till 90 min and slept .

MY TAKE ON THE UNL FINAL BETWEEN PORTUGAL VS NETHERLANDS

netherlands played portugal in the unl finals . dutch started the game with 4-2-3-1 formation while portugal started the game with 4-3-3 formation . the game started with holland dominating the possession while portugal were sitting back and trying to hit back holland on the counter . holland had two in the middle with de roon and de jong in the middle while wijnauldum was playing behind depay who had babel and bergwin alongside hide . wijnauldum had a free role with him allowed to drift anywhere . the trouble with dutch was that even though they dominated the possession they were not able to convert that domination in creating chances and were short of ideas in the final third . the dutch's idea of offense was that in the final third depay will come deeper and get the ball and then try to create the chances or try to release bable or bergwin who would try to go beyond . the trouble with holland was that their offense can be read from a mile and after first 15 min portugal would stop depay from getting depay time and space on the ball . they would just close him down as soon as he would receive the ball . the most trouble with holland was that they didnt had a flair player who would create the chances for them or say finish that had been created by others . portugal has two good players in form of ronaldo the finisher and silva the creator . 
portugal might had won the match but they were not convincing . most importantly portugal have a very good team and they should be dominating the opponents . instead they are sitting back and hitting on the counter just what weaker teams do . santos started the game by dropping two players . he dropped jao felix and started ronaldo in the no.9 position . he had guedes and silva either side of him . silva is one of the best ball players in the game and he just had to increase his game intelligence . gone are the days when ronaldo could start from the wide left and cut inside and had the pace to get past opponents . he has lost the pace but still has the leap and the terrific finishing ability with the feet . the trouble with portugal was that they dont have an orchestrated offense and some of their players spent too much time on the ball which allows the opposition to close them down and loss of possession . some players in the team were ready to shoot the ball even when they would had been better to keep the ball and pass it to player like ronaldo or silva who would make better use of it .
portugal's goal came in the second half and i think it was because of a bit of over confidence from the dutch plus the good ball play by silva and the threat by ronaldo . people will see guedes finishing plus silva passing but they dont see that ronaldo was on the right and that made the shot easy because ronaldo's presence made the defenders distracted and guedes had time and space over the ball to take shot and score . ceillesen should had done more and should have had more firm touch over the ball .

this was the position when de light came out to close down guedes and lost in one on one battle .

this was the position when guesdes scored off silva's pass . 

the goal prompted dutch to change things . they had already substituted promes for bable but the trouble with dutch shape was that when depay comes deep they didnt had anybody who would go beyond him or get in the six yard box .  van de beek is the kind of player that was wanted . wijnauldum is good player but not the one who can create or control the tempo of the game . he is hard worker . lastly he throwed de jong upfront to have some height in the box but by that time portugal had started to get men behind the ball and kept holland at bay and won the cup .
last but not the least about the transfers but if dortmund are asking 70 mil for sancho then man utd should  just pay them and get the player because the kid is good . Sergio Reguilón who i think will be surplus because real madrid has signed a new left back then i think he will be a very good signing . de beek will be a very good signing for a team as he is a very hard working player and a very underrated player .

MY TAKE ON THE UCL FINAL BETWEEN LIVERPOOL VS SPURS

liverpool played spurs in the final of the ucl . if this had not been the ucl final to be hones i would shut down the tv or atleast channel and watched something different . this was the worst final in terms of the football played and this match showcased the class of football played this season . the teams had been below par and what ever they talk of tactics at time i find it stupid . man city played a good game but if you dont defend properly then you are bound to loose and oversmartness is a crime in football . for the entirety of the match i was expecting to play some good football to understand the state of play and play accordingly .
liverpool started the game with their usual 4-3-3 formation while spurs started the game with the 4-2-3-1 formation . liverpool got in front in the very first minute because of a stupid refree decision and these laws needs to be revisited because sissoko wasnt trying to stop the ball instead he was just jesturing to the others to keep eye on players behind him when the ball stuck him . so when liverpool got ahead too early in the match spurs had the entirety of the match to equalize or even win it but spurs were just too bad . 
now about the game lets talk liverpool likes to play on the counter attack also they like to press if possible . spurs had two in the middle with sissoko and winks in the middle . kane was upfront with alli just behind him while eriksen and son were wide of kane . lets get to basic winks and sissoko's job is to get the ball to front four and from there the real attack starts because you are trying to breach the defense that the opposition is put . liverpool were trying to play a very high line and spurs were trying to play son behind the back four but there was no cohesion between son and the player who playing the pass . secondly whenever the ball is in the final third and is passed either in the middle or wide you have to take into consideration the formation of the opposition . not only that but you have to take into consideration the players strength's and weakness as well as our players strength and weakness for that you need the coach to properly coach the players as to what they need to do . in the game spurs front use to get the ball but were not able to put three good passes together so as to trouble the opposition and cause worry to the opposition . in this particular i think son was the guilty party because he wasnt able to read the game properly . secondly you try to overdo with the ball is a crime in football . you let your team down . you just cant put four players upfront and expect them to combine but you need to create the proper cohesion plus you need to make them understand the various scenario's as well as how they need to improvise . spurs front four were just too bad in the final  third and they just couldnt combine together to cause any trouble to liverpool  . most importantly the players who are cool and read as to whether they can shoot first time or they have a time to take touch or pass to the player in the better position are the players who excel in the game .
the trouble with spurs was that not only were not able to combine but also they were not able to control the tempo the game . see in the final third its very important to control the tempo of the game . you play a somewhat slow game till you bring the ball in the final third but from there you need to control the tempo . you can suddenly up the tempo by playing quick one two pass and combining or just slow down when you see that the gaps that you envision are not there . you need to again restart the offense from a certain point and that is what a coach is for . he needs to coach this  . frankly spurs have guys like eriksen who can do that but sadly for me the technical ability is not matched by the technical knowledge of the play . alli was let down for me .
liverpool too didnt played a very good game . they like to play on the counter . kloop had rightly judged that mane will have a very good chance against tippier and mane was seeing more of the ball in the first half but as liverpool started to sit back spurs even though they dindt do very good with the ball but still dominated the possession liverpool started to play more through mane and salah trying to release them in the space between fullbacks but i think what let them down was the support of the midfield who should had controlled the tempo better and tried to keep the hold of the ball and try to trouble the opposition more but liverpool were poor and it wasnt the best performance by liverpool although they won .