THIS IS MY TAKE ON THE GAME BETWEEN CHELSEA VS PSG 1-2.

yesterday chelsea played in their home against PSG . chelsea needed a goal to advance but were beaten with the same scoreline with which they lost the first game .

LINEUPS FOR BOTH THE TEAMS 

the lineups are very well known to all of us . the only change and which was positive one for me was playing kennedy in place of baba rehman . kennedy has a decent pace and certainly can match his brazilian compatriot in that one and is decent going forward so playing him was good sign for me . while he made on good change he kept the stupid mikel who is lazy and who's game reading is very poor in the middle of the park . his ineffectiveness does can be considered a reason for chelsea's downfall .

MOVEMENT FOR FIRST GOAL BY PSG

now the started the game with both teams playing deep . i dont know why PSG play deep they have two decent pace in their legs . the trouble was for chelsea . chelsea were playing deep and it is rightly so because both cahill and ivanovic dont have pace in their legs and would struggle if di maria or lucas runs past them. the trouble with chelsea was that even though they were playing deep . they were holding their last line 5 yards in front of the box so there was a space behind the back four to exploit . the trouble was that chelsea were offering psg time and space in the middle of the park which was dangerous . there were two errors in the first goal scored by psg which chelsea committed . first off zlatan made the diagonal run across the back four and cahill who was man marking him should have gone with him . had he gone with him then zlatan wouldnt had been able to turn that easily and pass the ball across the goal . secondly mikel  and fabregas with their support cast in the middle of the park . they didnt work hard to close psg down and make it hard . psg played the tactics well by bringing the wide playes inside and trying to achieve the numbers superiority in the middle of the park but then chelsea should had been able to deal with it . if you look at the statistics then psg had so much possession but was it worth it or did  they threaten each time when they had the ball . the passing game that they played in the middle and the back couldnt be replicated in the final third . psg had all the possession but were they able to play through zlatan or get zlatan properly in the game in the first half . except for the first half goal psg's threat was minimal and courtois goal wasnt  threatened . in the second half they brought zlatan more in the game . the script was just like the first game .
i was disappointed with chelsea's tactics . if you look at silva and luiz then first thing they were staying goal side of costa . they were not trying to press him up . he was offered time and space in the hole and i expected it to be exploited . if you look at the first chelsea goal then it is a proof of that where costa was given the time by silva to twist and take the shot . this was in the first half . i expected hiddink that he would exploit the space that costa was offered and try to have somebody run beyond costa and costa passing him on . costa cannot pass properly . i havent seen players playing off him just like lampard use to play off drogba . plus his positioning sense is not good . i will explain this later . willian and costa didnt had any cohesion between nor is any cohesion in the chelsea team and because of that chelsea cannot move the ball faster . they have to find to out where the support cast is . there were moments in match when chelsea won the ball in the middle of the park because psg were trying to be too cute and could had been to paid had chelsea had any cohesion .

COSTA'S POSITION WHEN WILLIAN TURNED ON RABIOT.

the most interesting statistics that i would like to not is the numbers of times that psg lost possession in the middle of the park where on i think they over pass the ball . psg pass the ball better but at times it is aimless . they try to take the risk by trying to outpass the opposition but in doing so they dont bring the ball up in the final third quickly enough instead they keep it passing in the midfield and at times they loose it and that happened number of times last night . had chelsea had a better cohesion and better couter attacking ability then i think chelsea could have had psg pay. the trouble with chelsea is that this team never had cohesion instead it is dependent of players qualities to open the opposition rather than team interplay .

THIS IS THE POSITION WHERE COSTA SHOULD HAD BEEN .

the explaination as to why costa has no positional sense is being explained in the following pic . chelsea broke psg attack and willian went past rabiot and he searching for the players in the box . at that time costa sould be lurking in and around the six yard box . his position would had kept back four occupied which would had created space between the back four and middle on the cut back or if there was a space between back four and goal keeper then ball could had been played there . but costa staying inside for the cut back meant the chance was lost .

MY TAKE ON GARY NEVILLE'S VALENCIA 1-3 .

valencia played ath mad in the their home yesterday . but before i describe the game let me talk about gary neville's comment . he said that valencia matched one of the best team in europe for 70 min then let me tell you that he is making a stupid statement . none of the best coaches or even any of the coaches talk like that . just either admit that either you were second best or there is a fault in your coaching or in your game plan and that is why you were defeated . i dont think neville is made up for coaching . he should be constantly making adjustments telling his players as to what they need to do or try to improvise on the game plan with which the team is playing . the best coaches remain constantly glued to the touch lines talking to their players passing instructions and thinking about the game .i am sorry but neville just doesnt cut like a good coach .
valencia started the game with a 4-1-4-1 formation or with 4-1-2-3 formation whichever you like to take . valencia had alcacar up front with cheryshev and feghouli alongside him . while gomes and fuego were just behind them . enzo perez was in front of the back four trying to protect them . while the back four consisted of cancelo,mustafi,santos with siquiera . ath mad have their tried and tested 4-6-0 formation with vieto and griezman upfront with koke,gabi,krainvetter and saul in the middle four while the back four consisted of juanfran,gimenez,hernandez and felipe luis .
now we know how ath mad play they start slow . they start by weighing up the opposition sitting back in the half having all the players behind the ball . they like to play on the counter but there is an important statistics that i would like to mention or try to find this . ath mad must have had the most no. of shots on goal or attempts beyond the box or from its edge . yes they are very good at counter attacking and defend very resolutely but their one feature which had not been highlighted is that they tend to conserve the energy at the start of the battle . they start to come up the pitch as the game start to progress . when the opposition start to get tired that time ath mad start to prees them . plus a good thing about simeone's coaching is that he has really taught them good as to when they should press and when they should sit back and invite the opposition to open them .
now gary neville must had watched the game between ath mad and real madrid and must had noted some points from it but then he made the same mistakes which real madrid in their game . real madrid were in control of the game till their was not much space between the back four and middle two . valencia's back two dont have the pace which vieto or griezman has in their legs so trying to catch them in an off side trap was stupidity . so gary played the back four pretty deep in doing that he stretched the game and also made ath mad cover more grass to have a shot at valencia's goal . but the one mistake that real madrid made and what neville made was that he didnt had enough protection for the back four . the back four wasnt going to come up and press instead they were waiting for griezman or vieto to go beyond them but as i had said earlier griezman wont try to get beyond the back four instead will try his chances once he gets around the box . the reason why valencia were struggling was because valencia didnt had enough players in front of the back four . they only had perez . he was 2-1 against griezman and vieto . mustafi and santos were not coming up to help perez since the cohesion on defense was very poor . gary should had noted the influence of griezman on ath mad game and the way he plays and what should he do .
while the valencia's defense was not very great but it was helped about by some poor ath mad passing and some decent valencia defending in individual battle's they were very poor on the offensive side of the game . now in what world is alcacar going to win the aerial battle against ath mad's centre back . firstly gary tried to stretch game by playing fehouli and cheryshev very wide . he tried to stretch the game . he played andre gomes and fueigo in supprt of the front three . valencia move the ball from flank to flank but then the most frustrating thing was their inability to bring  alcacar in the game . it would be worth noting the number of touches he had during the first half or the number of successful passess he had . just like alcacar he couldnt bring andre gomes into the game who i think is one of the best players on the ball . plus neville's valencia didnt really had the idea as to what they were going to do when they were in the final third . it wasnt that valencia werent getting space. with koke moving inside to support griezman and vieto siqueira was getting the space to move forward . but their was lack of imagination from valencia plus a clear lack of coaching inputs as to what they need to do when they bring the ball upfield . valencia's goal was because for the first time cheryshev moved inside and alcacar instead of trying to chest the ball headed it in the path of cheryshev showing his good game sense . other than that valencia just didnt had nothing to show in the game . valencia played too wide which was never going to ath mad . since they themselves defend narrow and allow the space in the wide areas trying to draw out opposition so as to hit them on the counter and explore the space left by them .

had gary just kept the a good tab on griezman and tried to frustrate griezman then he could had been able give headache to simeone . secondly why not give ball to ath mad and sit back and ask ath mad to open them up and try to hit ath mad on the counter . if somebody had watched the carefully then you would had seen that ath mad were always in the trouble when valcenica could stop them in the track and hit them on the counter even when they would soak ath's attack and hit them on the counter . gary showed no tactical nuance which is necessary for a coach . i was disapponted with him and i think valencia too would be . 

THIS IS MY TAKE ON THE MADRID DERBY .

yesterday real madrid played their local rivals ath mad at their home . this is one of the biggest test that zidane has to face after becoming real madrid manager and this was the game where on he had to show as what he can do with the team and what does he offers as a manager . this game offered him to stake the claim to be a permanent real madrid manager someone who wont be questioned for his credentials . i think the game answered the question as whether zidane has the ability to be a permanent madrid manager .
madrid started the game with the 4-2-4 formation . people may be saying that while showing on tv it was 4-4-2 but i am saying 4-2-4 because madrid had pushed 4 players up the field  and only had 2 in the middle . madrid started with ronaldo and benzema in the attack with james and isco wide . modric and kross were in the middle in front of the back four . the back four consisted of carvajal,varane,ramos and danillo who was on the left because marcelo was absent . ath played with their usual 4-6-0 formation or in other words you can call it 4-4-2 but those front two also come inside to squeeze space  in the middle and help the midfield . they had torres and griezman up front . the middle four consisted of koke,gabi,agusto and saul . while the back four consisted of juanfran,godin,gimenez and felipe luis .
 the game started with the usual note with ath mad sitting deep with two banks of four and trying to absorb real's pressure and hit them on the counter . to be honest ath mad team are the best counter attacking team in europe . real may had superstars but they are of no use since none  of them cant get better of his opposite number in one on one situation . ath mad have better player in my opinion . the cohesion between players on the counter is very good . they play better counter than most of the team in europe .
real madrid were the offensive team . here was a chance for zidane to show as to what does he offers as  a manager . he has a very talented squad in terms of isco,james,modric and kroos . now the difference between zidane madrid and other's is that zidane has got ronaldo more on the ball . he has brought him deep . he is playing him more as  winger than as an out an out forward .even though in the earlier teams ronaldo was wide but he would eventually end up in the middle . ronaldo here is getting more on the ball he is coming late in the box .he is out wide delivering crosses to others and has more touches in the game than any other player in the game . now madrid started with a lop sided offense and i am saying this because on the left they had ronaldo,isco and even benzema . but the right side had only james. so even though madrid had numbers superiority on the left flank they didnt had too much joy with penetration . instead of trying to take the ball deeper madrid were happy to deliver crosses in the box . they didnt had the usual threat of ronaldo in the box in the first half who was out wide . the game was going according to ath mad plans since they didnt to deal with ronaldo's threat in the box .

REAL MADRID AND ATH.MADRID STARTING LINEUP

zidane had pulled ronaldo out wide but to be honest ronaldo is very inside the box . he is one of the best headers of the ball .his threat alone in the box creates space for others . zidane had pulled him wide and that meant that ath didnt had to deal with a good threat in the box . ath mad likes to have all their players behind the ball trying to squeeze the space for the opposition . they let the opposition ( good teams like barca and real ) come beyond the half line and then try to press them up . real madrid were offered quite a bit of space by athletico . ath mad had numbers in the middle so madrid were trying to play balls from flank to flank in an attempt to stretch the play . but the trouble with real is that they are much dependent on players abilities to open opposition defense rather than having good interplay between them . in trying to get ronaldo on the ball players like isco,james and benzema have very little of the ball and dont have too many touches on the ball .

ATH MADRID ON DEFENSE .

the main problem with real madrid is that they had not been able to bring benzema into the game . ath mad were never ever going to give benzema time and space on the ball . they marked him tightly . plus zidane hadnt been able to create that cohesion between benzema and ronaldo or others . the inter play in real team is just not good their are certain players who spent too much time on the ball and slow the game. zidane likes to get the ball moving from back to front very quickly but these players like james ,isco and at times modrid spent time on the ball and lets the opposition settle and take shape .

ATH MADRID GOAL AND WHY FELIPE WOULD REACH FIRST BEFORE JAMES

to be honest i think zidane got the defensive tactics right but were let down by his players . ath mad likes to have all the players behind the ball . mostly they have all their players in their own half . so instead trying to squeeze them high up the pitch and offering the space behind the back four real madrid receded backwards towards their own goal trying to draw them in . ath madrid had to cover that much grass in order to have a shot at the goal . plus real's had their back four always on the goal side .  the trouble with real madrid was that both isco and james were pushed high up the pitch with benzema and ronaldo so kroos and modric had too many players to deal with in the middle . real's back line were receding deep in their own half so there was a space between back four and midfield. griezman was using this space excellently and he had a first warning shot before the goal from the same space .
now james rodriguez was termed guilty for the goal since his opposite number felipe luis had time and space  plus he trodded scott free in the box . but the real culprits had been modric and kroos . it was their job to take their proper place in front of the back four and try to protect it . they were played out of the game since they tried to close down the ath mad players and were played around . if you look closely then they were coming jogging around rather than coming fast and trying to close down ath . mad players or atleast numbers in front of the back four . plus if you look at james and luis positioning then on the break luis will always be on the front of james since he will have less distance to travel to real goal than james . the best chance that madrid had was on the counter . i think real mad are better counter attacking than being offensive team with time on the ball .
in the second half zidane tried to change things by changing personal. he bought ronaldo in the middle but the story remained the same instead real madrid were seen content to cross ball in the box rather than trying to seek penetration or try to open opposition with good inter play . i think zidane has to go to the drawing board and most of all get good inter play going on the training pitch and teach his players about positioning and his ideas .
last but not the least about ronaldo i think he is stupid . he really should look after his perfromances . he is looked upon as if he is one who will create something special . ronaldo looks more like an ordinary player he expects special from his team players but fails to deliver when required . he cannot beat players in one on one situation . he is more of a box poacher than anything else . he is a finisher now rather than a creator . his comments are stupid and arrogant and he does that when he wants to leave the club making the club to get rid of him . 

THIS IS MY TAKE O BAYERN LEVERKUSEN VS DORTMUND.0-1.

now yesterday dortmund played leverkusen in their home . for the first time in my life i saw a referee taking a defenitive action and walking out of the pitch because the one of the coaches hadnt followed his orders . robert schmidt had not only let his team down but also let the game down . he should had left the dugout when he was given the order to go to the stands . instead he kept arguing and let his team down. i think the referee's action's were perfectly correct when he found robert schmidt not cooperating . i think a harsher punishment should be dealt to schmidt so that no other manager wouldnt dare to behave so irresponsibly .

leverkusen and dortmund team lineups

leverkusen started the game with their tried and tested 4-4-2 formation. keibling and hernandez started the game as forwards . while mehmedi and bellarabi were the wide players . kampl and kramer were the two player sitting in front of the back four . the back four consisted of jedvaj,tah,toprak and wendell . dortmund started the game with their 4-3-3 formation with obemeyang up top with mikhitariyan and pulisic alongside him . while the middle consisted of bender,ginter and leitner . the back four consisted of pisczek,sokratis,hummels and drum .

this is how dortmund move the ball from back to front with abumeyang making wide runs stretching the offense and opening spaces for mikhitariyan and pulisic .

leverkusen go direct to hernandez or keibling who pass out wide to mehmedi or bellarabi to cross in the box . 

 both sides like to play out from the back and both like to take ball up quickly . both like to high press and are very energetic team . they both like to play more on the counter where on they break opposition offense and hit them on a fast counter exploiting the spaces left by them.both teams played deep because each team had a pacy forward who would trouble the opposition with pace and they didnt want to get caught out . they kept the forwards in front of them and started two yards on the goal side of their opposition number .  while dortmund are reliable on abumeyang and mikhitariyan for goals . leverkusen are dependent on their two forwards keibling and hernandez . the first half was a very cagey affair with both teams pressing and not allowing time on the ball for each other . now in the first half tuchel borrowed a page from gaurdiola's page from his time at barcelona where on he would ask busquestus to go deep between two centre which would allow the two fullbacks to bomb forward since they would have the cover of their respective centre back since they would be out wide since busquestus has moved into their space to guard it ( i will shot that in the pic ). but the trouble with both the teams is that they like to take the ball very quickly forward instead of trying to draw out team and play as per the situation . leverkusen too move the ball up very quickly . they try to find keibling or hernandez and then try to play through them . tuchel playing bender deep is because he wanted to help his centre backs deal with leverkusen forwards and have an extra man there to deal with them .
dortmund are very much dependent on abumeyang for his goals . but if the opposition plays deep and defends properly then dortmund can be stopped. plus leverkusen pressing in the middle meant that dortmund couldnt release or pass the ball to abumeyang  through the middle . in  the first half it would be worth nothing as to how many times sokratis and hummels launched the ball towards abumeyang . how many times they fialed to find . the most reliable option for dortmund is mikhitariyan but in the first half he was kept quite and he was guarded extremely tight . now leverkusen's defenders dont like to come out of their positions so abumeyang coming deep and collect the ball and lay it pulisic and mikhitairyan but they were not able to provide the service since leverkusen did a very good job on defense . dortmund lack a no. 10 and their one dimensional game makes it easy for the opposition to read and take proper measures .
 the first half was very cagey with both teams pressing and not having too much joy on the ball . kampl recived first half yellow card so he was taken off at half time and was replaced by ramalho . leverkusen started to sit back in the second half allowing hummels and sokratis time on the ball . dortmund bought reus in the second half and he played on the left . now dortmund started to play what tuchel like to play ( will show in the pic ) . the first goal arrived because leverkusen hadnt recovered from their offensive play and were caught on the wrong side of the ball . first off was ramalho who couldnt read the danger and the second was hilbert who were caught flatfooted . ginter showed the presence of mind to release reus in the space who found abumeyang for score . to be honest even after the goal leverkusen's style never changed and they continued with same way and dortmund just made changes to ensure they kept their lead and have victory .
the game wasnt a very tactical affair even though some may say it . the coaches should be able to determine when they should move the ball faster or when they should move the ball and what they need to do . both tuchel and schmidt appeared to one dimensional with their approach and on offense they didnt appear to offer anything new .

MY TAKE ON ROMA VS REAL MADRID .0-2

REAL MADRID TEAM

now yesterday roma played real madrid at stadio olympico . before i write about the game i want to talk about zidane's real madrid and spaletti's roma . are madrid better under zidane than it was under rafa benitez then the answer is no . i dont think so . i will explain that in the game . while under spaletti roma has indeed improved . their defensive structure is far better . they move the ball better but it can be said that they havent got a worthy opponent who would test them . they had a match against juventus two weeks ago but juventus were cagey and never really tested roma fully . roma are playing out from the back they are moving the ball better but still there are certain problems which needs to be addressed like dependebility on certain individuals for scoring goals .

BOTH MADRID AND ROMA WITH THEIR LINEUP

now roma started with the 4-2-1-3 formation or we can say that they started with the 4-5-1 formation . spaletti started without a recognised striker and used perotti as the no.9 while salah and al sharaway were alongside him .while nainggolan was just behind these front three. vainqueur and prajnic were in front of the back four . the back four consisted of florenzi,rudiger,manolas and digne. while real madrid too had the same formation but it was a sligthly tweaked one . it may looked like 4-3-3 but i would say that it was 4-4-2 with ronaldo staying up top with benzema even though he operated from the left but still it was more of 4-4-2 than 4-3-3 . madrid may had shown 4-3-3 on the paper but they played like 4-4-2 . now benzema was uptop with ronaldo alongside him while kross and modric were in the middle with isco and james on the wings . the back four consisted of carvajal,varane,ramos and marcelo .
 the game started with a decent pace with madrid on offense and roma sitting back and hitting back on counter . roma were comfortably playing very deep because of the fear of the pace of benzema and ronaldo . plus rudiger and manolas dont have that great pace . while under spaletti roma are a bit better they have a good shape to the team on defense . they started by closing ronaldo and james not being allowed time on the ball . florenzi and digne were tight on ronaldo and james giving them no time on the ball . i had said this even in the juventus game that roma allows time and space between the lines (hole) but madrid were not able to exploit that . there are reason's for that .
 halguera had come heavily on zidane and isco this week in press and i think he is right . now what is the difference between zidane's madrid and that of benitez's madrid . well the first off difference is that ronaldo is seeing lot of the ball and everthing is going through him . he is helping his team to bring the ball up . he is coming deep to move the ball up . his touches has increased and he is more involved in the game than before . but the thing that is wrong is the offense . on madrid's offense how many players are involved in a move then the answer will not more than two or three . are they trying to work a zone and take the ball deeper in opposition's box then the answer is not . instead when it reaches the box they are happy to cross it . arent zidane's tactics a bit similar to ancelotti to whom he was an assistant then i would say that he definitely taken some element from that . they are moving the ball from one flank to another . they are trying to exploit the space that is created on opposite  flank when one flank is worked on . the shocking statistics is the number of touches that ronaldo had and the no. of touches that players like james and benzema had . i think benzema was not very much involved in the first half . i had said that madrid were not able to explore the  time the space that they had in the hole that was offered by roma in the first half . the reason for this because they didnt had anybody fromt the midfield to go beyond benzema . they dont have a proper no. 10 .

HOLE MARKED WITH SQUARE AND PLAYERS MOVEMENT 

 is roma under spaletti better than the previous manager the answer is a tad better . they are playing more like a team . they still lining up the same way that they were under the previous manager . they are still dependent for goals on salah and now al sharaway . but the difference is the ball movement . before they would just try to get the ball to salah but instead they are moving the ball better . they are passing it better . but still there offense is one dimensional and there needs to be some improvement on that.
 the game had a good pace to it . roma were sitting back and allowing to come and absorb the attack and hit them on the counter. in the first half majority of the attacks were from the left since ronaldo was on that side . madrid were a bit hesitant about salah's pace so they played deep . they let him in front of the ramos and varane rather than trying to play very high defensive line. ramos was always a yard goalside of salah . now the first goal came because of florenzi's mistake . in earlier matches too florenzi was criticized about his position on defense . here too instead of him on ronaldo had he chosen to let ronaldo and then taken proper actions like showing him outside or getting close to him on the run and dislodging him  off the ball which he had done earlier in the match . instead he tried to close him down which allowed ronaldo the space to run and then florenzi helping him by going down too early and allowing ronaldo  a shot on goal  which too a lucky deflection .
after the first goal roma's players hear dropped a little they started to make some erractic passes . spaletti tried to change the system when he bought dzeko for alsharaway and it worked a bit . they now had a target in the box and it did cause some problems for roma but madrid started pressing roma high up the pitch and most importantly the midfield getting caught high up the pitch so there was space in front of the back four and benzema or ronaldo could pass to each other piercing the back four on the run. the second goal was a resultant of that.
 even though madrid were the dominant one and won the match comfortably zidane still has a long way to go . he still needs to get more player on the offense to make the team more complete and the offense more effective .

MY THOUGHTS ON THE GAME BETWEEN PSG AND CHELSEA 2-1.

now yesterday chelsea played psg at their home . before i write about the match i think chelsea under hiddink are better than they were under mouriniho . they are moving the ball better . the players are working harder plus the team structure is far better than before .for last match i think he got the selection very correct .he didnt went defensive like mouriniho and played only three attackers but instead he went with a good lineup who could play good football . they didnt show value of themselves when they had the ball . i think terry getting injured was a boon in disguise for chelsea and i will tell why in the analysis of the game .
now PSG started the game with a 4-3-3 game . they had ibramovic up top with lucas and di maria along side him . while the midfield consisted of motta,matuidi and veratti . while the back four consisted of marquinihos,thiago silva ,luiz and maxwell . while chelsea started the game with a 4-4-1-1 formation with costa uptop with willian just behind him . the middle four consisted of pedro,fabregas,mikel and hazard . while the back four consisted of azpilicueta,cahill,ivanovic and baba rehman .

now as i had said that terry's injury's was boon in disguise because ivanovic would started as a right back had terry being fit and it would had been a problem for chelsea . ivanovic would have had to deal with lucas who is very tricky and has lot of pace and he would had struggled against him . but instead hiddink moved azpilicueta to right back spot and he can match lucas's pace and negotiated successfully with him . PSG was continously trying to release lucas and di maria behind the back four and chelsea playing proper fullbacks helped them deal with these two threats properly . plus i think ivanovic is better centre back than terry . he very mobile and does comes out of the defense to close down his opposite number . while terry does sticks with his position which allows the opposition time and space on the ball which can be fatal .
now the game started with decent pace to it . chelsea were sitting back with two banks of four and sitting deep . the reason with chelsea sitting deep was that both cahill and ivanovic struggle against pace and they like to players in front of them than having them on the shoulders and trying to catch them on in offside trap . chelsea didnt want to offer the opposition the space behind the back four since ibra was coming deep and allowing lucas and di maria to make diagonal runs in the box . now psg passed the ball around but they never threatened  the chelsea goal . they passed the ball around crisply around in the midfield but never played that sort of passes in the midfield . for the first 20 min they passed the ball around and tried to outpass chelsea and tried to open up chelsea with their passing game . the troubel with chelsea was that they didnt had anybody who was going beyond ibra through the middle . lucas and di maria were trying to make diagonal runs from the wide to the middle but chelsea fullbacks kept good tabs on them . for me PSG made one pass two many they passed the ball just in the midfield and never brought it up in the final third quickly to threaten chelsea . for the first 25 min i think they couldnt just involve ibra into the game . when psg's attempt failed to outpass chelsea and open them then they took the ball wide and cross it into the box and it did created the chances for them which ibra couldnt finish .
now for the first half hour chelsea were just sitting back and defending whenever they had the ball they were closed down very aggresively by psg and the possession was lost . why i lauded hiddink for choosing such a good team was shown in the 30 min when chelsea had the ball and they passed it backed and forth and kept the ball which mouriniho's team certainly lacked . they didnt spend time on the ball and passed the ball very nicely . now chelsea were negotiating psg very well in every zone but they had obviously one weakness in the form of mikel . if somebody had noticed then there was space between mikel and fabregas plus fabregas was very good today in his defenisve pressing while mikel was less so . he was the reason why chelsea conceded the first goal .it wasnt because he turned on the free kick but because he couldnt defend lucas properly in the first place . fabreagas was very good with his defensive pressing very good but mikel lacked that energy plus his game reading is also not that nice . it was his zone that was exloited in the second half .
in the second half psg changed the approach they started to bring the ball in the final third very quickly . they created some very decent chances but chelsea dealt them very nicely . chelsea's centre backs dont like to ccome out of the defense and it was the reason for the second goal . in the second half psg started to play through ibra . they had lucas and di maria going beyond him . ibra was getting time and space between the line where on he could play the ball for the player who was making the run from the midfield . earlier psg had changed the personal and brought cavani and pastore . cavani exploited the space left on by baba rehman who had came out of the defense to press him . earlier too ibra too had a shot saved by courtious when the similar thing had happened when rehman came out to press somebody and left the space to exploit .
now chelsea were sitting and hitting back on the counter and it was a bit helped by psg who played a bit of deep defensive line . the reason being that even though thiago and luiz could deal with costa . the trouble was with pedro and hazard who would put psg in trouble . plus the thing was that with playing a deep last line meant that chelsea would get stretched they would have to cover that much more distance to get beyond the last player or keep hold of the ball longer which inturn would bring more psg player back on defense and get the ball back . there were times in the match that both willian and costa had time and space in between the lines but they just couldnt exploit that advantage . the trouble with psg was that they were pressing but it meant that only with the player with possession of the bal not all around . so chelsea could move the ball around and they were good value for money .
as i had said that the lineup choosen by hiddink was very good but i would had just tweaked it a little i would had played pedro or hazard as the furthest player and played costa behind them . it a formation costa is familiar with when he played at ath. mad with david villa .  it would had trouble psg more than what the formaiton is .

JUVENTUS VS NAPOLI GAME . 1-0

yesterday juventus played napoli at their home in a game which can be decisive in the title race . but before i write about the game let me talk about massimo allegri . allgri has currently linked with chelsea head coach job . now over the years abramovic has yearned to play tiki taka or attractive football by chelsea but he has never succeeded in getting a coach of that type . allegri too is not the coach who fancies on attractive  football but rather his fundamentals are all strong defending and counter attacking  football . if yesterday's juve's display or their performance in last years UCL is to be considered then they defended the lead which they had got rather than trying to outscore or play attractive football . my consideration is that allegri and chelsea are not meant for each other . allegri is totally meant for italian football and if he takes out a job in england then it would be a total mistake for him and would damage his reputation but if i am proven wrong then i will be glad .

napoli's formation

now about the game . juve and napoli are the two best sides in italy and they had healthy respect for each other . it was shown on the pitch with the way they lined up and the way they defended but then i am not very pleased with allegri . i mean he literally had 10 men behind the ball with a narrow 4-4-2 and literally no press on napoli and sitting deep and letting them have the ball . i was frustrated with both teams and i will try to explain why . juve started with a 4-4-2 with dybala and moratta up front it should be said 4-6 not 4-4-2 because all these players were behind the ball when they would loose possession . now marchisio in the middle with khadeira with pogba and caudrado on the wings . the back four consisted of Lichtsteiner,bonucci,brazagalli and evra . napoli started the game with a 4-3-3 formation . they had higuain up top with insigne and callejon .while allen,jorginiho and hamsik were in the middle . the back four consisted of hysaj,albiol,Koulibaly and ghoulam .

juventus on defense

now the game had a decent pace about it . juventus were sitting back and letting napoli come on  and then hit them on the counter . the most intriguining thing about juventus was that they would have all the 10 players behind the ball but they would press very little and were trying to soak in napoli's offense . the trouble with this formation was that they didnt anybody to release behind napoli's back four so they had to move the ball around just to bring it upfield . since juve had to move the ball around to bring the ball upfield . this helped napoli since they could bring players behind the ball and have numbers on defending and stop juve's offense . since there were no juventus players playing on Koulibaly and albiol's shoulder napoli could play much higher defensive line  compared to juve who were playing much deeper defensive line.
now both teams offense are dependent on certain players . napoli's offense is totally dependent on higuain . he is their sole finisher and in this game it was totally dependent on him napoli were just happy to take the ball wide and whip the ball in the box . they never ever tried to work the ball to have better penetration or there wasnt anybody who was trying to go beyond higuain . they were happy to cross the ball for higuain . juve had deduced this thing very well that napoli's everything and anything flows through higuain and that is why squeezed the space in the middle . they marked higuain very well and never allowed him too much space and time on the ball . brazaglli was the key man who was tasked to keep tabs on higuain and he did a good job . callejon and insigne were not very effective with the ball while hamsik just couldnt exert himself on the game . he just couldnt carve out a opening out for the team and was content on shooting ball from the distance when presented with the opportunity . napoli's limited offense was exposed in this fixture . there fullbacks could move upfield without any opposition since both pogba and caudrado moved very close to khadeira and marchisio to a very narrow two sets of four . but still they were happy to cross the ball in the box rather than working the zone and trying to have a deeper penetration where on they could cause problems for juve's defense . juve were deep where on they didnt allow any space behind the back four to exploit .
now juventus offense is dependent on two people in particular dybala and pogba . dyabal comes inside and collect the ball and releases players that are beyond him and he can play good one two but the juventus offense and their positoning isnt helping him . juventus are dependent on pogba for his deep runs and his thundersome shots from distance and his ability to open defense single handedly . now xavi was asked about the player that he would like barca then he pointed at dybala not at pogba and i think he is correct with his observation and allegri is not able to get the best out of dybala he needs to get the team playing around him where this little guy can play small passes and can dribble in tight spaces and can open defenses . there was no cohesion between him and moratta . juventus have to play him more forward and him playing on the should make him more dangerous and more unpredictable with his movement and juventus can stretch opposition . pogba is very good technical equipped player but lacks the guile at this point to be world class . he needs to be bit more patient and should work with the players around him . whenever on the ball his first priority is to shoot the ball rather than passing the ball and trying to take the ball deeper . several time he wasted the ball in the match . if allegri can work with him and can make him understand as to how he can control the game and exert himself on the game then i think he can definitely be world class . he needs to work on the passess he tends to make them very hard (i.e he puts lots of weight on the ball which becomes difficult for the receiver to whom he passes to control ) .
allegri had moratta and dybala upfront which meant that they didnt had a aerial presence in the box and allegri tried to change it by giving something new to the napoli's defense . he brought zaza who could be a aerial threat in the box and it did the trick .
to be honest both the teams lacked creativity and were more dependent on players quality than the interplay between their players and their movement . i think allegri got really lucky last season but this season he could get caught against the better teams . napoli i think just blew the best chance to win the scudetto and should concentrate on getting in the UCL now .