MY TAKE ON THE GAMES BETWEEN CROATIA VS BRAZIL AND NETHERLANDS VS ARGENTINA.

 in the first q/f of the world cup brazil played croatia . brazil started the game with 4-3-3 . while croatia too started with the same formation . brazil may had started with 4 at the back tite brought out a page out of gaurdiola's book where on he brought danillo and even militao in the centre . the reason being that they knew that croatia are going to press them in the middle and high up the pitch so casmeiro wouldnt have time and space on the ball . so they brought mostly danillo who is a better passer than militao in the middle of the park with casmeiro . the game started with a similar note with croatia sitting back and hitting back on the counter attack . brazil were the aggressive because they they had more athletic players while croatia had more physical players . of all the croatia players juranovic was the most impressive one . he was playing against vinicius against whom he did very well in the one on one duel plus he was very athletic going forward . brazil started with two wide players . i really dont understand the concept of inverted wingers . for the whole of the game that raphinha was there he was just there to stretch the game and nothing more . most of the brazil's offense came from the left side from vinicius side but he had juranovic to deal with . 

brazil blew past south korea because they played against them on the counter attack . here croatia didnt made that mistake . they allowed brazil time and space on the ball . they made brazil to slow down the pace and they held there shape very nicely . i was disappointed with tite he should had worked more on the cohesion of the team . he should had thought that croatians were not going to give them time and space in their own half . croatians started the game with the right theme . they took the ball wide and whipped the cross in the box . but as the game progressed it became very less instead they were happy to keep the ball. they should had crossed the ball more in the box . neymar scored a very good goal in the extra time but it was useless since croatia equalized and won the tie on penalties . 

the second game was played between netherlands and argentina . argentina started the game with 3-5-2 formation while holland started the game with 3-4-1-2 formation . the game started with argentina sitting back and playing on the counter attack. while argentina were sitting back they didnt gave holland any time and space on the ball when it came into the midfield and beyond . they worked very hard but to be honest i was disappointed in van gal and his tactics . let me explain why. 

holland had 2 uptop with depay and bergwin while gapko was behind them . argentina knew of the pace that these three possess atleast bergwin and gapko have decent pace . argentina played a deep for them and when the ball came to them they man marked them and didnt offered them any time and space on the ball . the first reason that i am disappointed in van gal was that for the entierity of the game he kept all three of them high up the pitch . these players kept backing into argentinian players and that made argie players easier because they didnt had to come out of the defense to man mark them . van gal should had made them them deep and tried to disturb the argentinian formation . the second is the lack of cohesion between the front three and thirdly that all the players seemed to be cramped into one zone . all the full back was but didnt had any support from any of his team mate ( explain that in formation pic ) . the argentinians were very good in their defensive work as they didnt allowed any time and space for the dutch players . what van gal should had done is that he should had asked these come deep or atleast make inward runs so as to drag argentinian players out of their position and disturb there formation   if they are to mark them and if they dont then they would have time and space on the ball which would be great . vangal just didnt do any of these things. 

on the defensive front too they made the mistakes . blind was against molina so ake was tasked with the job of marking messi. now ake made a lot of mistake his hesitation cost the team . first off ake cam out to mark messi . now when you come out to mark somebody just do it . instead of thinking of the space behind you or anything just mark the player whom you are asked to mark . his hesitation gave messi time and space on the ball and he was able to pick out molina who could score .the dutch never though that molina would make such a run and that messi would pick him out . argies played a very good game and they deserved to win the game atleast by tacitcal standard. 

there are two players who were standout in last night ties . first we all know is juranovic of croatia and the second one is enzo fernandez who was very good . his man marking and his defensive ability is very good . from the day he had came into that DM position argentina had been ticking plus he had two very good shots at the end of the match . he is also very handful when going forward and is definitely a player to watch .  

MY TAKE ON THE GAME BETWEEN NETHERLANDS VS USA.

 usa played dutch in the round of 16. now the dutch started the game with 3-4-1-2 formation while usa started the game with 4-3-3 formation. the game started with dutch sitting back and hitting usa on the counter attack . usa team doesnt seems to know as to how play in the box be it on offense or defense . as i had said the players that you choose are very important. dutch had dumfries and lind in the wing back position . dumfries is a very good fullback and if you had seen his game against barcelona then you had seen that he was kept high on the pitch by the inter coach and his running cause all sorts of problems for barcelona . the us know as to how to play in the middle of the park and press and recover possession and this was noted very well by the dutch because they wanted that usa should press because then they can playaround the press . if you had seen the first goal that the dutch scored then you would see many mistakes that usa made on defense . all the goals were scored because of the organisational mistakes and the shape they had on defense  . the attack starts from the left and they beat the press from usa and shift it to the right to dumfries . as i had said that the usa doesnt knows to defend . first off they the midfielders were caught high off the pitch which should had not happened . secondly tyler adams and the mackienny or musah should had taken position in front of the back four which they completely did not . the defense just switched off . 

the usa was playing the classic back four and compared to the three at the back of the dutch . so when the attack starts from the wide positions supposedly right then the left back tucks up with the centre backs to provide the extra cover and not expose that back behind them . now when if you see in the goals scored by the dutch usa fullbacks are in their rightful positions because they have to tucked up with their centre backs .in the open play when you are pressing then its ok that the fullbacks can go press ( even though its a risk ) because the pace is slow compared to the counter attack because they are pacy that is why they are called counters . now as i was saying that the fullbacks are going to be tucked alongside the centre backs then the usa coach should had asked the respective midfielders or the wide players to mark the fullbacks when they are on defense on when the ball comes in their own half . he should had done that and asked weah and pulisic to mark lind and dumfries. the third goal was classical mistake of positioning and body shape . i would show that in pics . 

even though the dutch won the game i am not so impressed by the game because they have all the tools to win this tournament . they started with depay and gapko forward and classen in the middle of the park . in the first half they scored the goal but they were dominated by usa in terms of possession because they the front two were not combining very well and klassen is not a no.10 . van did corrected his mistake in the second half and to be honest if you have gapko,simmons and bergwin in the team who can just any defense to ground if they can combine together. gapko as no.10 is very good it is now upto him as to how much big he wants to because because i will tell you there are two players gapko and leao who have all the qualities in them and its upto them as to how much forward they want to go. 

usa has a lot of work to do . they know on how to win possession but they dont know on how to open up the opposition defense as well how to defend their own box . there are some good players but they have to work on the defense and offense . 

i didnt watch the game between australia and argentina . australia could had troubled argentia had they had a better midfield . the midfielders were poor their decision making was very poor and some of the passes that were made were just poor . the switched the ball from one side to other way to quickly making it easier for argentina to close them down. argentina needs to pray to god that poland do some godly miracle that they beat france so that they can have a real chance to win the cup but at this time i think for me dutch are one of the teams to beat other than france . 

MY TAKES ON THE IRAN VS USA AND GERMANY VS ESPANA.

From now on the post will be short and sweet .

usa played iran in the crunch match of the final group game . usa started the game with 4-3-3 formation . iran started with 4-4-1-1 . usa started the game by dominating the possession while iran was sitting back and trying to play on the counter attack . usa sent there fullbacks very high up the pitch as they were trying to stretch the game and create spaces for pulisic and weah . but iran were aware of pulisic's and weah's pace and decidedly played a deep back four . the only goal in the match came late in the first half . now i really like carlos queiroz and i thought that iran would give a stern test to usa . as i had said that usa had sent there fullbacks high up the pitch as this was because usa was confident with their midfields and that they can contain iran in the tracks . both robinson and dest were high up the pitch . if you had seen then look the number of times mckiennie crossed the ball to dest from left to right . iran should taken the care of marking dest . secondly they were playing way deep and allowing usa midfielders all the time and space on the ball . iran's left sided winger should had followed dest very diligently because before the goal dest had shown very good crossing ability so marking him was necessary but iran's defense fell asleep and usa could score the winner .

As i was listening to the commentary the commentators were saying that iran had taken there offense 10 yards upfield which was stupid . what happened was that after usa took the lead usa didnt wanted to get caught high on the pitch so they started playing deep and they stopped doing close downs which they were doing earlier in the match which in turn helped iran because now iran could find space in front of the back four . now since iran was having ball in the usa's half . usa had to play compact and that meant that iran's fullbacks and wingers found space on the wings . they throwed some very good crosses which could been a problem for usa . but all and all usa survived and reached the round of 16. 

now as like in every every tournament i like scout players who i think can become very good players . for musa and adams were the best performers for usa and they should have a great future but need to develop physically to play in the big leagues . the other one is from ecuador Pervis Estupiñán is his name and i think that he should be signed by a big club .

germany played spain in the second round of the world cup . losing this game would had been elimination for germany. spain started the game with 4-3-3 formation while germany too started the game with the same formation . in the midfield spain had gavi,pedri and sergio in the midfield . while germany had groetzka,kimmich and gundogan in the midfield . gundogan was played in the no.10 position and was put up against busquestus while kimmich was against pedri and groetzka was against gavi . playing these three in the midfield makes perfect sense but i would do it differently . i would put groetzka against busquestus . he would had just frustrated busquestus . secondly on the offensive front groetzka is way better than he is thought . he can drive the ball is a good header of the ball and has a good shot from distance . this was just one of the mistake that i think that flick made . 

the game started with familiar note . spain had asensio in the no.9 position. the game started with spain dominating possession and germany trying to hit out on the counter attack . both teams try to press each other but spain dominated the possession . the reason for it was that assensio kept on dropping in the midfield to help move the ball up field . olmo and torres stayed out wide to stretch the back four . the diffence why spain dominated the possession to germans was that spain didnt thought of trying to exploit that high back line which both team played . instead they concentrated on moving the ball and bring it up field and then open up the opposition . pedri did very good on the ball considering that he was against kimmich who is a good defender . the other thing is that after spain scored the goal they knew that the germans would try to change formation and also personal and they should had tried to play the same game as they did in the first half . 

MY TAKE ON BARCA VE BAYERN .

 barcelona played 5-6 matches from their defeat with bayern .they played twice against inter in that space of time and came up second.before i write about the game i want to write something just like always . there is  a thing called positional reading or positional analysis in chess or you can say puzzles in simple terms. now the thing is that when you are playing you have to make reading of all the things its just not defense or offense but both because we had seen that things can change in a giffy . we had seen that when on team is on offense and suddenly you are backtracking to defend . it is very important that you need to be on your toes .you have to keep on reading the game and the one that read the game better and take proper actions for it are the ones that are victorious at the end .

barca played in four important mathches in the last three weeks .they played inter twice , el classico and bayern in the return fixture . first off xavi has to get this out of his mind that if he dominates possession then he is going to win games . secondly teams now know  how to play against pressing teams .when you are playing with fire then you have to answer with fire .you cannot answer it with anything else .i will try to explain this in respect to the first goal . first barca needs to give the notion that the things that they did in the past and one same tactic cannot be applied to every opposition . barca like to press and for that they have to play a high line but while playing this game you do have to take into account the opposition its players there abilities but also many things.what do you think about the bayern side .for me they are the best athletic side in europe with many fast players like sane,gnabry,coman,davies and the one who is underrated is goretzka . nagelsman has gathered a team which is very pacy and they play a very fast paced football .now other thing while coaching his team nagelsman must be calculating as to what the opposition can do or how can the opposition  counter him( if you cannot calculate that then you shouldnt coach).  i think xavi lack this .he is trying to play his own game but is not calculating as to what his opposition can do to him or how they can counter him. the first goal is a prime example of xavi's inability to think the game deeper .

 now lets take into account bellerin's position  for the first goal .while defending bellerin has to take into account many a things .he needs to take look at sane's position with respect to him since he is man marking him.secondly he has to take into account his position in accordance to his team mates that is the back four .then he has to take into account the space that is in front of him as well as the space behind his back ( since alonso and kounde didnt take it into account that is why the first goal was scored .)now when you play a high line you do have to take into account many a things . for the first goal we see sane's position but we dont take into account chipo moting and musiala's position because both had time and space on the ball since neither alonso nor kounde came out of the back four to close them down . before that you had seen that barca closed down bayern had to pass the ball back to the back four but they have this ability that they can bring the ball from back to front very quickly and this caught barca offguard .if when the first goal was scored you could see that bayern bought ball from back to front very quickly . it is this ability that makes bayern a very threatning team . even in the match you could see that bayern 3 against 3 on barca's goal because barca's players were caught high up the pitch trying to press . 

xavi should learn that dominating possession doesnt wins games .bayern play a very high tempo game and to answer bayern's game is to play a very high tempo game.you have to play fire with fire. barca's offense had been very poor .first off you can see as to what barca are trying to do. the attack is not choreographed.yes you are playing players in their desired positions but how should they operate and what they should do .for that you have to take drills and coach them the movements as to what they need to do when they are encountered with different positions . when you coach them that then they can improvise that on the field .barca's attack was flat footed . when the ball was on the let wing dembele didnt tried to make diagonal runs and create that flutter in opposition ranks .if you dont do something out of the ordinary then you cannot threaten the opposition and create problem for them .when de jong  was driving the ball he didnt had any player around him to whom he  could pass the ball and further the play . the other thing is that xavi should had taught de jong as how much he should drive the ball and when should he just pass it . its important that you have the possession if you want to do offense because if you driving the ball but if its going nowhere then you need to pass the ball . barcelona are playing a one dimensional game .it may work against weaker teams but against good teams you need to have something different to surprise the opponents .all and all xavi may had been bought with large fanfare but he is falling short of expectations and most importantly he is not able to drop players who need to be dropped like busquestus and pique . i hope he improves soon or he will be gone before he completes a year. 

MY TAKE ON MADRID DERBY.

 the madrid derby was played on sunday . before writing about the game as always i want to have something off my chest . ath mad have one of the best squad in europe . many of the clubs will envy ath mad squad . another thing is that simeone is also top paid managers in the world . the thing that wonders me is as to how does simeone is able to keep his job . looking at simeone's team is like looking at mouriniho's team . the team has no cohesion and for he didnt even take into account the qualities that the player possess and in which zone he can be useful and how he should operate . different players have different qualities and it is the managers job to gel them together . for that he needs to find them the positions from where they can be effective . its the managers job to devise tactics and get them to perform . its just not important to put these players in their comfort zone but also put players around who will support each other and thats how you devise tactics . tactics is just not putting players on the field and asking them to perform . secondly its common to question the losing team and analyze the factors which led to their downfall . 

ath mad started the game with 5-3-2 while real madrid started with 4-3-3 formation. let me start with ath mad they had three at the back with two wingbacks . they had three in the middle out of which two are out and out defensive minded then they had two upfront with griezman and jaoa felix. griezman like to play around a big forward while jaoa felix likes to take on players  and has a good pace and dribbling skill which he can use to beat players . ath mad like to play on the counter attack . simeone team never had cohesion so if the team sit back and just slow them down then they are not able to play .there are so many good players in the team but there is just no cohesion in them . there were three midfielders in the middle so there would be little space through the centre of the pitch . so that is why he wanted to have two full backs who have pace and dribbling ability . 

as i had said before football is like a chess game . both try to do out do each other . now simeone played carrasco and llorenete( he is very good midfielder but just because idiot enrique plays him as a fullback he is played as a full back by simeone . this reminds me of michael essien and owen hargreaves who were very good midfielders but were played as right back by their managers just to accomodate them in the team and if they need to change formation then they can switch their positions if the needs arises) as wing backs . in the opening exchanges of the match carrasco found the space to run on carvajal . he did very good in the dribbling exchange with carvajal but the trouble is that the forwards just didnt had the sense as to how position themselves . there are some position where on you just take to bind the opposition like the no.9 who plays on the shoulder of the last defender so that any mistake by the centre backs creates a tap in situation for him. neither jao felix nor griezman play as no.9 so they dont know on how to take positions on such plays . the other thing is the lack of positonal understanding by felix and griezman . they should had made themselves availble  for the pass so that carrasco would had passed to them . secondly he should had instill some discipline in carrasco . when he drives ball that time he is very single minded instead he needs to find players in the box which makes him more threatning and the opposition cannot have read on him as to what he will do next . 

as i had said this is a chess game carrasco would trouble carvajal so ancelotti brought valverde to help calvajal defend carrasco . both ath mad and real played  three in the middle but none of the team were pressing each other . the second player that i was talking about was de paul . when he is on the ball then you need to be very switched on . you try to make yourselves available . he is the one player who can slip the ball when the opposition least expect it . you find the best example of it in the 38th and 56th mnute of the match . he just slipped the ball and the player was just not switched on. paul is not the most mobile one but he is one of the best passer and his reading on the offensive front is very good one but sadly under manager like simeone he is totally wasted . 

real madrid sold casmeiro in summer to man utd and he was replaced Aurélien Tchouaméni. i think that real madrid got an upgrade on casmeiro. he stands tall on the ball and his game reading is also very good . one point i forgot to mention . real madrid played a very deep line compared to ath mad . there was always going to be space behind the fullbacks . they played qute a high line and the other feature was that they didnt even tried to press any of the midfielders . the game reading was very poor from ath mad and they paid for that . the first goal was what i would be proud of because that's how i operate or play . there isnt much to write about this game . but the sad thing was that both hermoso and witsel should had read that move quite a bit earlier . hermoso should had used his head or any other body part other than hand to clear the ball and if you see the replay then you can see that header was the better the choice than clearing it by foot . 

i had been watching other games and i would like to summarize them in short . first off juventus played psg in the ucl . i had said that the team should play to its strength instead of trying to outdo opposition . juventus played two big forwards in the game. whatever chances that juventus created in the game were from the crosses from the wide areas . you are playing two big forwards who are good headers of the ball . play to their strengths get the ball wide and start crossing the ball . when you start doing that then the opposition tries to stop you which opens up space in other areas of the field . instead juventus tried to be cute and tried to outpass psg which is studpidity . secondly juventus dont have any flare player anymore and are devoid of any creative spark . 

the other game that was played was the game between bayern munich vs barcelona . in first half barcelona were very good . but if xavi looks at the tapes and analyzes the game then he should realize that they were just one move short in the final third . two players like rafiniha and lewandowski were combining nicely but a third angle or third pass was required to make it more effective and potent. the second goal was the most important play in the game . that move can be likened to the basketball where on the guard gets a free run in the paint for dunk . after that goal xavi replaced christensen just because he thought that he was responsible for that goal . since he could read the play and stop sane in the tracks . the question that i want to ask is why didnt he replace sergio busquetus who had been poor all these years . untill now till rakitic was playing besides him he was doing up the mop up work but since he had left busquestus had been badly exposed and he is the one who should been replaced not christensen . barcelona are playing a decent game but they need to gel their players together to make them more potent and be more effective. 

MY THINKING ABOUT MAN UTD .

 whoever had been reading my blog would had noticed that i hadnt done any man utd game for the last 2 years because after watching them i didnt felt that they were upto the standard of a good team . now man utd had appointed new manager in erik ten heg . he had brought some players from his former club mainly lisandro martinez . they had also signed casmeiro who is also a good player . over the years man utd had accumalated defenders after defenders but always signed the wrong ones. they had let go of some of the better players plus they had been interested in some very wrong players . what they need is a good creative midfielder who can use the players around him. man utd had been in the market for a good creative midfielder. name like melinkovic -savic and others were linked with a move to utd .  i find it stupid that these so called scouts or even the manager cant see a real talent . for me utd needs a player like rodrigo de paul, danny almo or lazio's former liverpool player luis alberto . for me rodrigo de paul and danny almo are the best candidates for man utd transfer . i find it amazing that these names are not linked with the club. danny almo had been the best player for spain and many clubs should had been in the market for him. technically he is very good and also a good passer of the ball . de paul had shown some very good eye for pass .his spotting is very good and that is the kind of player that utd need . if utd sign any of the player then i need to get paid . 

the thing that i am going to write is from one of my favourite coaches who always thinks out of the box . carlos queroz not only coached good football but also an out of the box thinker . utd had signed lisandro martinez who is just 5-9 but his speciality is the ability to play out from the back . he can do pin point 35-40 yards passes and also is very good passer on the floor . but my fear is that putting him against much bigger opponents and he could be utd's weak link .i think what utd needs to do is play him in the defensive midfielder position . utd had signed casmeiro for that but there will be games where utd will have to feild two defensive midfielders and he can be an able candidate . his passing ability as well as his game reading can be very handy to the team . 

last but the most important ronaldo staying at the club had been in the papers . idiots like carragher wanted ronaldo to leave the club . i think both utd need ronaldo and viceversa . ronaldo had got old and he hasnt got the pace that was there . he cannot now chase balls that will be played behind the defense . but his importance and his ability cannot be undermined . he is still the best header of the ball and has a thuderous shot from anywhere near the box . now then ten heg needs to change his game style . he needs to learn playng his back to the goal and let the younger players bomb beyond him and then can come into box or around the box and use his powerful shot . his time to chase balls is over instead he has to make adjustments to his game which messi had done beautifully . he can be assist as well as scoring champions because he may had lost the pace but his jumping power is still there and that is his main weapon. ten heg just needs to get him on the same page and we can see a good team . 

MY TAKE ON THE GAME BETWEEN LIVERPOOL VS REAL MADRID .

 liverpool played real madrid in the final of the ucl . before i write about the game let me tell you that even though these are premier league stars and playing at the highest level . they are making boyish mistakes . these are not tacitcal mistakes but technical mistakes . i had said earlier that little things in the game are the difference between winning and losing. the coaches job is not only coaching team the tactical aspect of the game but also making his players technical efficient as well so that when the need arises they can improvise . as i had before in this age coaches have the luxury of watching tapes they can watch live games as well they can go to opponent games and get a first hand experience of the game. i was surprized abput liverpools defense after the blunders that they had made in the last game . now nobody will write about that and i too had not written because the opposition wasnt that good and the tie was dead rubber . in the second game against villareal liverpools defense was badly exposed . i think that kloop should had looked at that and should had corrected the errors that his players are doing while on defense . the one mistakes that they were making was the difference between the winner and loser in this game. the other thing that i want to point is that kloop coaches his team nicely and has a good idea as to what they should do in the final third but they are one dimensional and can only play on counter attack . kloops team struggles when the opposition sits back and have players behind the ball . 

real and liverpool both started the game with 4-3-3 formation . ancelotti must had studied liverpool and he just asked his team to sit back but at the same what he did was that he would press them a little to get them slow down and so real could get players behind the ball . liverpool played very well in the first 20 min. ancelotti was offering liverpool time and space on the ball and liverpool were able create some chances in the first 20 min. they had pinned real madrid in their own half . all through out the match liverpool forwards were space and time on the ball. one the liverpool forwards would come deep and he would have time and space on the ball but the trouble was that the other two forwards would remain wide . there was nobody who would go beyond the forward who would come deep . they were just stuck to their positions and they could derive the advantage that was offered to them . for first 20 min only real goal keeper kept the slate clean. in this match klopp tried play man vs man in the midfield . he knew that the real madrid midfielders are not that mobile and they can be pressed . so kloop had asked his midfielders henderson and thiago to press hard on modric and kroos . it also meant that real madrid had to go direct from back to front because they were getting closed down in the midfield . this startegy worked very well because real had to play 30-40 yard passed to find benzema and vinicius . this worked very well for liverpool since they could see the long balls coming and defend properly . this startegy woked nicely but then kloop couldnt reap the benefits of the ball possession that they had .the one complain that i have about liverpool is that they are one dimensional and that is klopp's shortcoming . when things are not going your way you try to change things because the players realize that the plan a that they executing is not working and they want to try something different and that is where the coach comes in. he should be there to spot the weak links in the opposition and should be able to improvise things . i really wanted to see origi instead of jota since he would added another dimension to the liverpool offense . he has the height to trouble the defenders and would tied the central defenders which would had created space for salah and mane to operate . after 20 min just as the game settled real started to come up the field and they started to have a bit higher backline since they knew that they were getting bogged down . 

this was the direction of the back four when the ball was wide with valverde or carvajal.

now real madrid's main threats are vinicius and benzema . real madrid just hijacked liverpool's plan and made them play possession football which they are not very good at . while they played there own game. even though real's main weapons are vinicius and benzema they are not complete without valverde and his hard work . he may not be the most talented but he is decently talented and his hard work is second to none and he will execute  just coaches instruction to fore . in this game when vinicius wasnt able to create things you could see that valverde took on himself to create things for real . he was constantly troubling robertson and his pace was a  constant trouble for robertson . before that goal too he had created a chance which benzema couldnt score . 

this is how the right backs posture should while defending from opposite flank . 

the reason for me writing this piece was that the way liverpool back four performed . there were two instances in which the game changed . you play the game because you need to raise your concentration levels .defense isnot that easy . not only do you need to have a positional sense but also you need to have your bodily position correct so that you are able to see threats that are coming . after the villareal game i think that klopp may have worked his team on defense and would had corrected the defecencies that his team had on defense . in football you are thinking of defending while on offense atleast that what the defenders do and vice versa . you have to be constantly on your toes in football. the defensive positions requires some extra bit because a mistake from them can be fatal . as i had said that the back four always has to make reading as to from where the threat can come from and how they can stop it in the tracks or atleast not let it get to fruition . van dyk is considered on of the best central defenders in the premier league . i think in the last against villareal he was caught sleeping which led to the first villareal goal.the ball was in midfield and benzema was in between him and robertson and most importantly they were holding a high line . van dyk should had known that benzema could be released beyond him and he should had taken position in which he would either be close to benzema or he would try to catch benzema off side . he could direct robertson to get closer to him or mark him. instead he was caught ball watching and what happened afterwards was a farce . 

the other incident which led to the goal was the one that is most important and it was the sole reason as to why i wanted to write this post . alexander-arnold the liverpool right back is very good at going forward but he lacks the concentration that is required to be a right back . now i had seen right backs who were not that good going forward but they were good at defending which is their primary concern . in the game against villareal alexander arnold was exposed his concentration level and his bodily position is very wrong . the ball is coming from the opposite flank and what the players do is that they get their body turned in that direction because of this they cannot look the threats that are their back. if instead of turning fully you just turn partially then you can see the ball that is coming but also the player that is making the run ( i will explain this in the digram .) even though these players are professional they make these mistakes and pay for it which is what liverpool paid .