MY TAKE ON THE GAME BETWEEN MAN CITY VS CHELSEA .

 man city played chelsea in the final of the ucl . before i write about the game i would like the viewers to read the earlier post about man city's games . 

i had been reading a lot of news about gaurdiola over thinking and touchel staying simple . to be honest why is always thought that gaurdiola does the thinking . let me tell you a simple story before i write about the game . there  was a great painter and the paintings that he would do had a lot of great meaning in them . people would scratch their heads trying to extract the meaning out of the painting that he would do . one day he did something which had no meaning just plain simple but the people kept on scratching their heads trying to find meaning in the piece that he had painted . similar is with gaurdiola i wont say that the team was without any thought but if it is not able to carry out the plan and the coach is not able to make adjustments then i think he hasnt thought through . the changes should had been made earlier . he could see that the plan wasnt working but he kept on having faith in the plan . the best way to describe the game is that chelsea played like a team while man city played like a disjointed unit where on not all the pieces were not in cohesion with each other . the lack of cohesion is evident when you spend time on the ball . 

before talking about the game lets talk about the player selection . gaurdiola selected sterling and mahrez in the wide positions . the idea was that they would run on the defense and would cause chaos in the ranks and players like de bruyne and foden and take advantage of that . but touchel was prepared for that . i dont know whether he prepared the team sheets after seeing man city's team sheet because he played james who is quite good runner and can match sterling in stride was selected . similarly chilwell was man marking mahrez . the instructions were very clear that they should not give sterling and mahrez time and space on the ball cause if they do that then they can cause a lot of problems . 

chelsea started the game with 5-3-2 formation while city started with 4-3-3 formation .instead of rodri or fernandiniho gundogan was selected to play in front of the back four . the game started with the familiar pattern because both the teams play opposite kind of football . while chelsea are set up for counter attack city play possession football ( it is said that way). city had sterling and mahrez in the wide positions with foden in the middle . although chelsea were playing were playing on the counter attack they were not defending deep . they played a relative high line and he had a good thinking about that . even if city were able to open chelsea they had an extra player who could cover for them . playing high means that city would have to cover that extra 10 to 20 yards to the goal to have a good shot in that a defender can do something plus there is the goalkeeper . playing deeper means that you are allowing them to have a direct shot at the goal .  touchel had thought that instead of having a deeper line lets play a high line and its benefit was seen when sterling was released on the goal by a long ball by ederson . james who was guarding sterling could make amends because sterling had to dribble the ball a further 10,20 yards and he could come back and make an interception . 

chelsea were playing a game with a good plan in mind . they were determined not to give sterling and mahrez any time and space ont the ball . secondly they played a very compact game . there was a very little space between the lines . whenever the ball in the midfield they would go on to press the ball . they read the city game very good and were able to stop city's attack most of the times . now chelsea were playing on the counter attacks . there were two thing that were noticeable in the first half . werner was told to run in the space which was left by the fullback who was coming forward to join the attack . his finishing was poor but he kept the ball very well . now whenver city lost the ball they would press and chelsea knew that so they moved the ball very well . but in this one thing was very visible first off rudigers passing from the ball . rudiger played some  very good 40-50 yards pass from back to the front . his passing range was the reason that chelsea were able to create so many chances . the second thing that was very much noticable was that the second balls that were won by chelsea . chelsea would pass the ball from back to the front but the man city centre backs would win the headers but chelsea would win the ball back and thus the counter was on . most importantly chelsea played as a team and they had ngolo kante who was just superb . 

city's defense was just hopeless in the first half especially zinchenko who just wasnt able to read the game . the ball was on the left flank so zinchenko should had just congested the back line  . he should had read the game better and stones should had given him the ball about the danger that would arise if he is caught sleeping . he should had seen that havertz was getting direct run to goal and had zinchenko then he wouldnt had been caught on the wrong side of the ball . had zinchenko been inside and havertz had been outside then the ball reaching him would had taken that much more time . he would be much more wider to the goal with an acute angle  shot at goal. city were sixes and sevens when defending they just couldnt decide as to whether they should mark zones or go for man to man marking and they were getting stretched all over the field and chelsea was taking good advantage of that .  

now city's plan with the ball was to stretch the offense with sterling and maharez and the spaces would be exploited by de bruyne,foden and silva but if you had read the earlier post then you might seen the shortcomings in gaurdiola's plan . he doesnt have a proper no.9 around whom his team would play . secondly all the players that i mentioned are no.10's they all like to come deep and then advance with the play . the trouble is that none of them didnt want to run beyond the back line . i really dont know as to why gaurdiola is so much adamant with his plan or whether can he really see the game . there are space behind the back five to explore but not a single pass was played in that direction . both sterling and mahrez were pretty tightly gaurded . i think that garudiola was more dependent on sterling who is just one dimensional and even gaurdiola . sterling just likes to go one way and it was easy for the defender to read that and defend him . this is stupid by sterling he needs to mix things up and keep the defender guessing .he should had moved inside if he doesnt sees the space on the outside . i was wondering as to why even gaurdiola didnt asked him to do that . to be honest i think i would give credit to chelsea's good defending who closed down very well and denied man city too much space for city's players . 

city's best chance came when sterling instead of trying to run passed the ball inside to de bruyne who foxed azipilicueta ( a rare thing)to set up a cross foden who was through on goal . what i find here is interesting . both foden and werner just couldnt sort there feet and scuffed their shots .they should had realized that the ball was going to come to them and should had prepared for that . they should positioned so that they should be ready to take shot without taking an extra touch . 

in the second half gaurdiola realized that his plan wasnt working so be bought fernandiniho who can read the play better and stop the counter in the tracks . secondly he asked his fullbacks to be more conservative but still there wasnt a proper no.9 who would be there in the box . he bought aguero but he likes to run bith the ball rather than be in the box to be at the end of the cross . to be honest in the second half gaurdiola's was out of sorts and didnt had a proper plan to open up the chelsea defense . in the second half chelsea had even dropped deeper because they knew that the energy levels that are in the first half arent there in the second half so they started to play deeper . except for one or two good crosses city couldnt muster anything significant . 

last but not the least man utd had become a medicore club its managed by a manager who has a medicore mentality . if utd are to challenge for the title then they need to change the manager and bring somebody who has fire in the belly and sell some of the worst players in the team like pogba,martial ,mctomminay and many others who are just hopeless . big names but lack the hunger for win.

MY TAKE ON THE GAME BETWEEN MAN CITY VS PSG .

 psg played man city in the second leg  of the ucl . psg had to score two goals to reach the finals . mbappe was injured in this tie and so psg selected icardi in place of mbappe to lead the line. even though it was shown 4-2-3-1 it was 4-4-2 . i had already said that players are the ones who execute the coaches plan and the coach has to take into account their weakness and their strength's . icardi is not that mobile he is a good header and finisher of the crosses . for man city they selected zinchenko in place of cancelo who also i like but zinchenko takes nod because i think he is technically a bit better than cancello who is also very good . in midfield fernandiniho came in place of rodri  . i think compared to rodri fernandiniho is bit more mobile even though the age has caught with him . 

the match started with psg chasing and trying to close down man city and in that process they conceded the goal . here the game reading is very important . i had already said that while you go on attack you dont keep your back door open to let the opposition creep through that . that is what is exactly happened in this game . psg went on to press but in that process they forgot that zinchenko was there unmarked and he could open up psg defense . the game then started with man city trying to frustrate psg and play around and keep the ball and if they get out of shape try to exploit it . when psg had the ball i think neymar and veratti were there preffered ball players . just like first leg neymar would drop deep to help his midfield move the ball but here was the catch . now man city could play a high line because icardi is not mbappe who could out run dias and stones . so man city could play a high line and press psg . man city could congest psg and psg didnt had proper plan as to how they would open man city's defense cause whenever they would come near the man city box they would ran into a man city wall who defended very nicely . pochettino had a good plan in mind he brought both wide players di maria and veratti inside so that the full backs can bomb forwarded . the other thing was that by bringing both wide players inside you have advantage and disadvantage both . the advantage is that you can play a crisp tiki taka  game and it can be very fast and the second advantage is that since you congest the opposition too has to congest so when you loose the possession you can press them quickly and try to recover the possession. these are the advantages but there are obvious disadvantages . first thing is that the opposition can read your moves and can stop you in the tracks . pochettino made the right plan but there was wrong execution . first off icardi was not seeing any of the ball and he had little on the game . when you make a plan you need to have a balance of all the sides not just one or two . only neymar,veratti and di maria were preffered on the ball and this hampers the moves because if the opposition can shut you main players then you are blocked . man city knew what they had to do and they just literally shut down neymar and di maria and frustrated them which is what gaurdiola wanted since that would had let to the breakdown in the shape and that is what had happened for the first goal and that is what was gaurdiola had set his team up for . most of the psg's shots were from distance they didnt the necessary compsure . they should had hold on the ball more and should had worked man city more . there desperation cost them the match .

man city had two upfront they were prepared as to what psg were going to do . they knew that psg were desperate and would come hot and would try to close them down . they could play a high line and press psg since they knew that psg didnt had the pace upfront . whenever man city would recover the possession de bruyne or silva either one of them would take positions which had been left open by the fullbacks . the centre back couldnt come too wide since they knew that would put quite a bit of space between them and de bruyne and silva are very good on the ball as well as with pass . once the pressure was released by man city they would pass the ball around frustrating man city and in process eating time . the difference from the first half was that man city were ready this time . they were getting players in the box and were ready to pounce as soon as psg was to make mistake but the onus on psg . 

pochettino just couldnt change things and when he should had . till icardi was on the field he wasnt trusted with a pass . instead of playing a team game psg were dependent on individual skills to open up opposition defense . only veratti,di maria and neymar were trusted with the ball . he should had realized that the forward wasnt coming much into the game . he could have asked di maria to go forward and try something new to confuse the opposition defense . di maria's pace would had caused some worry to opposition . pochettino should had played his team as whole instead of relying on the individuals . 

MY TAKE ON THE GAME BETWEEN PSG VS MAN CITY .

 on wedenesday man city played PSG in the uefa champions league s/f . now nobody will even question pep gaurdiola because he is the master of tactical games . whatever he does is just beyong question by ordinary people . i want to ask this did he played a negative formation . its not about him playing de bryune in the no.9 position cause he had done this before but it is the kind of game that they played . it doesnt matter who plays where but who was there to be in the box . who was supposed to be at the end of the crosses . the thing was there was nobody who trying to get in the box .whatever the play was that was outside the box . doesnt matter how much you dominate the possession but if you cannot threaten the opposition goal then that possession and domination has no meaning at all . ciritics might say that man city scored two goals but both those goals were on free kick and a cross not by interplay . other than a foden solo run which he made on his own there was not a single shot on goal by man city. they were outplayed in the first half . they came back in the second half and i would credit them for that cause PSG should have had some confidence in them and coach should had calmed them down . they lost that plot and are down from the first leg but they are not out and if they can play the way in the first half of this tie then i think they are still in the tie and it has many a twist and turns and if gaurdiola keeps on playing negative then i think that he may come to regret about it . 

the game started with psg playing a 4-4-2 formation with mbappe and neymar upfront . while man city started the game with 4-3-3 formation . gaurdiola selected cancelo as the left back while he has two left backs at his disposal . the reason of playing cancelo as the left back is that he is right footed and him facing di maria who is left footed makes the match up even cause di maria likes to cut inside . cancelo being right footed as his strong on di maria's strong side so he can very well counter di maria . the game started with similar pace with both team trying to dominate whenever they had the ball and press upfield when they loose the ball and if the opposition can beat the press then sit back in shape and try to absorb the offense . there is definite reason why neymar was coming deep to help out his side move the ball upfield . neymar is very good on the ball and even when pressed can dribble the ball out of the press and can really open the opposition up . while mbappe has the pace and man city were scared of it and they were playing and not letting have any space behind the back four to exploit . so man city were stretched vertically . in the first half man city were not trying to close down neymar they were letting come deep and have the possession and he was causing all sort of problems for man city . veratti and di maria were coming inside which was allowing the fullbacks to come forward and cause many problems to man city defense because they were getting stretched . 

i had seen people talking about man city and psg's press . to be honest most of the teams are very well prepared against the press they can be pressed on one move but the managers make the necessary positional changes to beat the press .when any team gets pressed they just move the ball from one flank to other . so even in this game whenever teams were spread they would just spread the ball and try to stretch the game and get some time and space on the ball . in the first half man city were playing deep and were getting torn apart by psg . if somebody watches the first half of this game then the interplay between neymar and mbaape and other psg players was like pro's playing against school children . the only thing lacking and for which they must be cursing was the finishing which even they lacked in the bayern game . they were just causing man city from all sides . i think psg would score more than two in the first half and the tie would be over . 

i dont know told this but i think in the second half and i would credit this to the commentators who made the right spot . man city started to play more compact . they started to play more upfield and started to press and started denying the space that neymar was getting . the game changed when de bruyne scored of the equalizer for man city . city scored the second just minutes later and psg started to chase the game and in that they lost the concentration and discipline that is required to chase the game and they lost . 

the most important thing that i said in the first para was that whether gaurdiola played negative . man city had three in the middle and three upfront with debruyne in the middle . i dont mind de bruyne not playing as an out and out forward . but then there has to somebody who has to at the end of the cross in the box . but then if gaurdiola doesnt wants it then its his choice. but then there are other alternatives in opening the opposition defense where on you can have a very good interplay and open the opposition or midfielders can go beyond the striker or that the wide players can make diagonal runs in the box but the problem was that none of this was happening . they were having possession but the movement was all outside of the box . even when the ball was pass wide there was nobody inside the box for the cross . there are no good interplay nor were they taking shots from outside of the box . other than the two goals man city didnt present with any threat to the psg goal . i would like to commend the commentators that they were calling for a proper no.9 to be in the match or they wanted gundogan to go beyond de bruyne who was dropping deep . there were no diagonal runs by mahrez or foden . they were staying wide trying to stretch the defense but there was  no great interplay trying to bring the ball inside . i dont think that man city were ever threatning in the match . it doesnt matters whether they dominated the possession but they just didnt threatened psg goal . i think the tie is very much alive and hope to see a good match . 

MY TAKE ON THE GAME BETWEEN REAL VS CHELSEA .

 real madrid played chelsea at home in the ucl semi's . both the teams started the game with the same formation 3-5-2 . for the first time i think i saw zidane's team play with a back three . while chelsea was 3-5-2 real madrid were 5-2-3 . the fascinating thing was that zidane taking  a page out of gaurdiola's book of bringing the left back in the central position and trying to have an extra option in the midfield which is an advantage when you have numbers in any position . the game wasnt that great it was slow game compared to the other game . both the teams were not ready to commit too many men forwards since they could be caught on the quick counter . 

you cannot say for sure that real madrid were sitting back and chelsea were playing the counter attack . they both were playing both and compared to chelsea real played a bit of a high line in the first half . in the first half real were light in the midfield . chelsea particularly were exploiting this . the interesting thing was that real were playing in a twisted mindset .when the ball was upfield they wanted to press but then there back four or back five didnt want to come too up so as to close . they were playing relatively deep and this was creating quite a bit of space between the back line and the midfield and as soon as chelsea could beat the real press they were through on real goal with just back four defending. this was the feature of the first half . the midfield was crowded because both sides forward player would drop deep to support their mdifielders in trying to winning  the ball back and congest the spaces between lines . real were five at the back now the thing is that whenever chelsea were on the counter their one fullback had quite a bit of space to run on the real back line . childwell specially had this luxury time and again . since modric was upfield and carvajal was sliding besides the back four childwell had quite a space to run on the back four and had he made some intelligent  runs then things would be different .  the other thing was that had werner had the intelligence to pick his team mates with the pass  then chelsea would had caused real more problems . the more you cause chaos in the opponents minds the more you get the opportunity to defeat him . the thing in the first half was that both the teams players were getting time on the ball for both the teams  . there was just light pressing where on they didnt caught on the wrong side of the defense.

 

the thing that impressed me but which real didnt do enough was that benzema and vinicius had good inter play between themselves but what intrigued me was that they pulled the trigger just a bit too early where on they could have tried a better penetration and more deeper in the opponents half . the other thing was that they should had brought others in the play which would had made it threatning .in the first half real had two in the middle and they were getting run over by chelsea especially kante who is more athletic than any of the real's midfielders . the main thing was that there was a vast space between midfield and back four . this was because real were afraid of pulisic's pace and his dribbling ability . so they were not keen on coming forward to press . instead they held their positions which allowed kante and pulisic time and space on the ball. time and again in the first half chelsea had chances to run on oppositions defense but they didnt capatalized the chances and wasted with thier poor choices of passes and trigger pulling .  

 zidane saw this and he bought modric in the middle along side kross and casmeiro in the second half but then you take one from the front and put in the middle that reduces the threat that you have . the game wasnt that great in the second half . both the team just played through the motions but i was exicited about chelsea when they introduced havartz on 65 min who me is the future of chelsea and should be the one that should start instead of werner . he will be combine very well with pulisic and is technically better than  werner and has a good common sense as to when to shoot and when to pass plus his passing is very good . 

the guy that i was disappointed with most in the match was jorghiniho . his passing was bad and most importantly he is one who sets up the tempo the game . a good midfielder not only passes the ball but also he plays himself and finds spots in move from where he can be more effective . a midfielder needs to find the spot from where he can be effective .jorghiniho was very pedestrian in this game and even his passing was not that good . i think mendy for real madrid who will come in the second leg will make major difference for real madrid . last but most important chelsea centre were not very comfortable whenever the ball came upfield and there is no cohesion between them which is needed . 

MY TAKE ON THE EL CLASSICO.

  //OM//

real madrid played barcelona which can be a title decider and can have big implications on the title race . first and foremost i dont reason why koeman should be coaching barcelona next season . but first i am amazed as to why there idiots doing commentary on the match . i had never seen a more idiotic commentrator than these ones . 

now barcelona started the game with 3-5-2 formation . while real madrid started the game with 4-3-3 formation but let me tell you it was 5-4-1 till valverde was on the pitch . when i am to write about the game i try to find a pattern in the offense and needs to be one . you need to have a clear approach why attacking the opposition and then you try to improvise on the go . the coach is there to change things to make changes to improvise things not sit in the dugout . you play a certain foramtion beacause you want to acheive something from that . barcelona were just hopeless for the entire match . most importantly as i had said before the players are the ones that carry out the coaches plan and make the formation work . 

real were set up to play the counter and they were sitting deep and absorbing barca pressure . barca were trying to play dutch football trying to pass the ball around and try to create gaps in the real defense . why does koeman thinks that the opposition is stupid and it will fall into his plans . any team that thinks that the opposition will fall to plan a are either fool or living in dream land . zidane must had seen how barca operate and that is why he bought valverde who was supposed to playing up field along side back four and made it back five . secondly is that they didnt went overzelous with their defending instead they let barca come on them and defend properly . you can create in the oppositions defense only when you are playing properly and you have a proper plan A and you execute it and then improvise it . 

barca started the game with 3-5-2 combination but in the first half they didnt had much of the joy . to counter alaba's run zidane asked valverde to play alongside the back four and he did his job deligently . barca were trying to play tiki taka but it didnt had any direction as to what they wanted to achieve. they couldnt find the space to release dembele behind the back four .messi wasnt able to open up the defense with his runs cause real defended well . most importantly when messi is making the run he wants players around him to be open so that he can pass on to them if he cannot find the space . here there wasnt that much help from other players . so in the second half he changed the things . he bought griezman on and changed the formation from 3-5-2 to 4-2-1-3 . he pushed de jong up front which he had done that this season . he pushed dembele on right and griezman on the left . demble did alright on the ball but griezman was poor . now even the goal which was scored because messi just passed the ball to alaba who must had crossed the half heartedly since he knew that messi wasnt in the box . the commentrators made a meal of it crediting griezman of playing a dummy for letting mingueza to score . they were saying that as if the defense was sleeping and they were just going to let the ball crawl to mingueza to score . btw he scored in desperation not a clear strike . none of the formation or changes were going to work because they lacked the plan and the proper cohesion that is required to open the opposition . 

my biggest complain is not how about barca operate but how they defend . first off real were defending deep so they had to cover a lot of grass to get to barca's goal . you should play as such that when you play offense at the same time you should be thinking defense that you can loose possession anytime and how can you defend or can recover the possession . barca were pressing initially but the first goal was a total idiotic defending by the barca defenders . first off look at just look at barca left back who is hopeless and shouldnt be played and is only played because messi likes him or else he is a hopeless defender. just look at the ease with which valverde got passed him like a kid . he should had known that instead of trying to recover the possession off valverde he can just stick with him and just put him pressure and limit his passing angles . the another was araujo who was stupid he should be the first to the ball . you have be a striker in your own box and try to be the first to the ball . 

now my complain is that if you ask the chess players is that they dont just do offense . while constructing a move they make sure that they dont leave spaces for the opposition to exploit and put his offense in jeopardy so that like barca your players ( pieces are caught on wrong side of the board ) . in this barca side sergio busquetus is  one the most senior player and plays in front of the back four . when he is making the distribution at the same time he should be reading as to what spaces are being left and read as to how the opposition can counter cause the opposition is doing the same to you .  they too are reading the spaces that you are leaving behind and thats how they counter . busquestus is the most important peice of the puzzle and he should instructing players as to what they need to do . he needs to take positions where on he can stop those counters in track or slow that flow so as to get players behind the ball and defend in numbers . he was just hopeless just look the number he was caught high up the pitch with his team needing him and he is just jogging back not caring about them . he should be the one who should be the one who should be running the game both on offense and defense for the team while defending he should be thinking about countering quickly and while on offense he should thinking about the way opposition can counter and stop it in track . barca should had replaced him in the summer instead of rakitic .

you cannot expect to open the opposition with your plan a . instead its just an opening sequence or you can call it a feeling process as to how the opposition reacts . you improvise it and then you can open them .the other complain about barca's defense is just not about reading the play but also if you dont defend individually then you cannot win as a team . passes are coming for more than 15 yards or more and you are not closing down players and allowing the opposition time and space on the ball is very criminal . all and all i dont think that i dont think that koeman has done anything great with this team and even though he may just win the league but it will be pure luck than his coaching accomplishment . 

the only positive for barcelona is the young kid pedri . he looks assured on the ball and looks technically good and hope that the coaches will let him dictate the play and let him have some more freedom with the play . 

let me get something off my chest and it is very vital to the game also . i was watching the fulham vs aston villa game . i appreciate scott parker very much . i think while idiots like steven gerrard and lampard are receiving all the plaudits he was the most underappreciated one . he was a true midfielder for me the other one being carrick . both gerrard and lampard never played midfield they played as number 10 never as a midfielder and whenever they played as midfielders the team lost badly . thing is that i was watching the half time comments and it was bothroyd who was commenting . he was asked as to why fulham are playing tiki taka and why dont they try something different . this is where your knowledge of football is seen . he replied that the manager believes in that philosophy and he is entitled to that . yes you should play any style but should be flexible in that you should be able to read the game and the opposition and make changes on the go and then adopt those changes in the game . every style has its plus and minuses . i had watched bothroyd  under 21 team they were utterly hopeless . also roy kean's comment on fred that he would miss an open goal is stupid . i am disappointed in keane . he was a midfielder and he should understand or appreciate a good player . fred does all the dirty work for man utd and he is good at that and plus if you do understand football then he has the best pass completion rate and if solskjaer can let him have some freedom then he can really show that he is good in scoring too . 

MY TAKE ON BAYERN VS PSG

  //AUM//

bayern munich played psg in the first leg of the ucl . just a few months back they played in the finals . the game was very good but a few things intrigued me but first . there are coaches that specifically design their teams to play on the counter like conte and mouriniho but their teams struggle when their own medicine is given to them and they struggle to open the opposition . but when the opposition really has to sit back that means the opposition has the quality and that is why team has to sit back and get numbers behind the ball and play deep . now i dont know whether the substitutions made in the game were forced or whether they were made keeping in mind the need of the game . even though bayern lost the game the tie is far from over and if hanzi flick can make some changes to personal or the way they operate then i think bayern can still bounce back and win this tie while psg still have neymar and mbapper there two main trump cards and if they can combine or there individual quality can change the game single handedly . 

both the team started the game with 4-2-3-1 formation . the game started with psg sitting back and bayern in the ascendancy . psg scored in the first 10 min and it was because of neymar's brilliant run but somebody forgot to see that bayerns second midfielder groetzka who was supposed to be along side kimmich failed to read the play and just couldnt see that psg could use the space that he had left along side kimmich . groetzka was caught high up the pitch and when good interplay between di maria and fullback released neymar in the space between the back four and midifield . even though bayern were a goal down they were controlling the possession and tempo of the game . 

obviously psg were afraid of bayern's offensive ability that is why they had a very compact back four with full backs tucked alongside of the centre backs . they played deep and had two central midfielders in front of them . the reason for this might be that they were afraid that if the full backs come out of their natural positions then the space that is left will be exploited by muller and even chipo moting so they kept a very compact shape but that means that they allowed bayern winger time and space on the ball . both the bayern wingers were kept high on the pitch . even though bayern wingers saw most of the possession and every move was through them they were not able to capitalise the time and space on the ball . this is why i said that even if your tactics are right its the players that get them executed . 

for me that is why i said that bayern missed some of its players . koman is good player . he has a good space and beats many a full backs in one on one situations but he lacks that final pass . he is very poor in that . even during the game there was pass in which he would had released muller or sane behind the back he failed to pass that ball perfectly which lost that chance to put that player in a scoring position . majority of the attacks were from his but he failed to produce that final chance . if he can improve that final then i think he can be very big player . the other one was sane . i was baffled by him . his first touch is not refined . the ball always bounces off his feet . hansi flick needs to work with him . there were positions where on the could try a curler which would put the defense on alert . most importantly he needs to work on his game to make himself pronouced . 

why i said that bayern missed lewandowski is that he links up very well these wingers . he comes deep and lets muller runs beyond him so that the centre backs cant come out and close him down . the other player who bayern missed was gnabry who runs and link up play makes the offense that much potent . most importantly in the run of play bayern went one dimensional they would let these wingers have a run on the defense and then try to cross which were finely dealt by the psg defense . if bayern are to successful in the second leg then they need to get create some chaos in the opposition and try to disturb the oppositions defense and use it to their advantage . 

when psg had the ball they were pressed by bayern and they were not able to find neymar and mbappe . they were struggling with their possession . they need to bring neymar and mbappe more in to the play and try to keep the ball more or else if bayern were to take the chances that they missed in the first leg then they would be in trouble .

i would commend hansi flick was making the substitutions . he saw that groetzka wasnt up the speed of the game and was finding it difficult .most importantly his game reading was poor which had led to the first goal so he sent alphonso davies and bought alaba in the middle . kimmich was very good in the whole game his distribution game reading was very good . what bayern are lacking is a leader on the pitch . for the second goal they just completly switched off and failed to read that the ball could come back and the di maria was having time and space on the ball and that they were letting space between defense and the goal keeper which marquinihos very well explored . they need somebody who would keep them on their toes and they can have a chance . 

MY TAKE ON MADRID DERBY.

 the madrid derby was played on sunday . the matches have big implications in the title race and a win for simeone's side would had made them clear favourite for the title . while the win for read madrid would had brought them back in the reckoning . the match was of two shades for both simeone and zidane . the game was of  two different tactics in two different half's . first off if you are simeone's team then the real threat comes from either carrasco and llorente who are good but other than that simeone still  has not shown as to how he will carve out the opening when the opposition is sitting back and asking them to try to open their defense . zidane's team in first half was not back while whoever would had watched his team in the second half would just be amazed as to why doesnt he do this in the first half itself and why wait for the last quarter of the match . 

before i write about the tactical stuff let me tell you that after i watch these players most of them are just technically hopeless and even the coaches dont understand the importance of it . when they talk about the technical stuff they are always concerned about passing the ball long or good first touch or bringing the ball down acrobatically . but the most important things are the ones that are simple that are the ones that matter . just look at the passing why do they pass from the out of the boot ( i will post pic of that over here . instead practice to play to play from inside the boot stop using that part of that boot . it causes the ball to jump or gets the ball off the surface . the best passes are the ones where on the ball just rolls on the surface and never leaves it . just look at the ath mad passes in the first half. the ball just keeps on bouncing and you have take an extra touch to control it and pass it . these players are paid millions to play and coaches are paid the same but i havent seen a single coach shouting or rebuking his players for not passing properly . yours tactics goes off in smoke if you are good technically . 

real started the game with 4-3-3 formation while ath mad started the game with 4-4-2 formation . in the first half ath mad were in the ascendency . the real reason for ath mad resussergence is carrasco . he has been good taking on players running on them beating them in one on one and creating chances for the team but to be honest simeone is not the coach who is able to fully utilize the ability that carrasco has . in the first half because of carrasco real had to sit back and absorb the pressure and play counter attack because they were afraid that if they go high up the pitch then there are two reasons . first off ath mad are a counter attacking team . secondly carrasco would had exploited the space that would had been available behind the back four and would had created problems for real so zidane was right in sitting back and hitting ath mad on the counter . in doing so what zidane did was that he got ath mad out of their comfort zone . ath mad are counter attacking team . they like to absorb the pressure and then hit the opposition on the counter . 

in the first half anybody would see that ath mad are crisply passing and playing a good flowing but to be honest they were just one dimensional . the out ball was only for carrasco . he was supposed to take on lucas and then create the opening by crossing or scoring himself . real did very well . they played deep and they doubled up on him and were lucky . carrasco was pressing from one side so the other flank had space so ath mad transferred ball from one flank to other . the thing is that team just go through motions of moving the ball from one flank to other . while doing this why dont they see that whether there are opening in the middle or one the same side that they started the offense on . if they do this then  i think that they are more effective and are more dangerous in their offense and the opponents will scramble and more gaps will open up . the goal that was scored by ath. in the first half was on counter counter attack where on they found marcus llorente and he released suarez to score . everybody will hail suarez as the hero but for me he is a loser . because of him ath lost two points and had he passed properly to joao felix in the second half then i think that ath would won that match easy and that is why suarez is not playing for barcelona . 

the game changed as soon as carrasco was subbed in the second half . real who were sitting back now sensed an opportunity . most importantly simeone caught the italian bug and he wanted to preserve that one goal lead so he bought all the player behind the ball when he lost the possession . ath who were dominating in the first half now started to sit back and play on the counter . now when you are playing with five at the back with three in the middle there is a problem . first off late in the match the intensity dries down . you dont close down as you would do in the first half of the match . secondly with three at the back the trouble arises as to who would pick the lone centre forward . there are some positions where on the zones cross and the centre forward are in the quandary as to who is going to go and close down the forward . another thing is that in the last quarter the players are drained and the sharpness is not there so players find time and space on the ball and can cause problems which benzema did for the equalizer . 

there are two major differences with real playing in the first half and real playing in the second half . in the first half mendy was playing as wing back while in the second half he was instructed to join attack with benzema and others . i think zidane trusts mendy with ball playing skills . now benzema likes to drop on the left side and operate from there . since ronaldo has left he is playing ronaldo's role but one thing that zidane needs to understand that once he leaves that no.9 positions and moves on flank there is another one who takes that position and most importantly benzema is a good header of the ball . he just needs to play around the box . the major improvement that zidane did in the second half was that he asked benzema to stay in the middle . ath mad should had sensed the trouble because before the equalizer cause instead of his defensive position casmeiro was storming in the box and nobody was picking him up . even before the equalizer similar move had happened and benzema had failed to pass the ball to casmeiro . if somebody is just shown that move then i dont think that they would ever doubt his managerial credentials .