MY TAKE ON THE GAME BETWEEN AC MILAN VS INTER MILAN

ac milan played inter at the san siro. both the milan teams are having new coaches and  what changes they have made to the teams and what formations do they use and how do they approach the game was worth noting . inter has conte while milan has giampolo .to be honest while one of the milan ( inter ) teams future looks  bright because they know what they need to do when they have the ball .while ac milans future doesnt looks  that good for me inter's future looks decent under conte . italian are supposed to be the most tactical teams in the footballing world . but while being tactical they do forget that football is a team game and there are other factors that too are important in the outcome of the game . giampolo had forgetten that while tactics are impotant but there are other factors like decision making , cohesion and understanding the situation is very important . the most important is you should have a plan a when you have the and then you go on improvising because its a constant chess game . inter had a clear plan as to what they wanted to do when they have the ball . i was struggling to find as to what they are going to do with the ball .
inter started the game with 3-5-2 formation while . ac milan started with 4-3-1-2 formation . ac milan were trying to play out of the back . now that a stupidity if dont have a clear approach as to what do you want to do when the opposition come on pressing you . most importantly you cannot spend time on the ball and allow the opposition to close you down . if you are not able to move the properly and most importantly if you are not able to bring the whole team into play and take the ball from back to front quickly then playing out from the back can come you and bite back in the backside . ac milan's tactics were just baffling me . most importantly they were taking the ball 5 yards front and 10 yards back . what was the team trying to do when they had the ball was unknown . ac milan had piatek and leao up front with suso just behind them . going forward what were ac' s  tactics were just confusing . first off suso is the best player in the side and the offense need to revlove around him . but at the same time suso needs to understand that he needs to use the players around him . he needs to understand the play as well as the opposition's formation and work his way through the maze that is oppositions formation . giampolo has his work cut out if needs to get better because leao was told to  drift in the space between right wing back and the centre back . but this where the coaching is needed and this is evident from ansu fati who has that maturity as to when to take on the opposite number and when to be conservative . leao wanted to take on godin every time he had the ball . there is moment for everything in football and decision making is a big part in football .
another thing that i noticed was that giampolo was very late to notice things . when the match started milan had two up top and suso was behind them . when ac milan lost the ball biaglia, kesse and chalangolu would form the middle three in front of the back four which would mean that they would be light in the wide areas . this was not observed by giampolo till 20  min and ac milan kept on losing the possession because they didnt had wide players would protect their fullbacks or would look out in zones in front of the fullbacks . he then changed the shape and asked suso to be in part of the middle four . 
in the match giampolo changed the formation three times . changing formations doesnt makes any difference unless and untill you dont have that necessary cohesion in the team . why do you change the formation is because you need to create new angles and explore new zones and try different things because your plan A wasnt working and that is why you change things . but if you dont have the necessary understanding of the play then changing things doesnt makes any difference . changing formation means you create new angles but to explore them you need to have understanding between the players and if you dont have that then the change of formation makes no sense .
conte likes to play on the counter attack . he likes his team to work hard and the basic thing is that his team has certain way to play . his offense is very well orchestrated . he likes to have a front two and likes to combine them together . plus every player in his team has a determined role and that is the sign of a well coached where the roles are very clear . they have a clear thought process as to what they need to do . the only thing was that the opposition was poor or else there are areas of concern that needs to be addressed .  some of his players(sensi an barella) need to be taught as to why they need to let the ball go and not spend time on the ball or try taking players in ne on one . his big test will come against barca and that will determine as to what his team can acheive this season . 

MY TAKE ON THE GAME BETWEEN ATH MAD VS JUVENTUS

juventus played ath mad in the ucl first match . juventus has the coach changed in the summer with sarri taking over from allegri . now the biggest threat from juventus is ronaldo but if he is not in and around the box then juventus just dont have any credible threat . sarri's team  drew a blank against fiorentina in their previous encounter . sarri likes to control possession while making short crisp passes and likes to keep the ball moving but his trouble even with his time at napoli and chelsea he was not able to bring his forward player in the offensive move . this was first credible test for sarri as ath mad are very good defensive side and opening them is a very difficult job as their organisation and discipline is very good . 
ath mad started the game with 4-4-2 formation with 4 out and out midfielders starting in the middle of the park while juventus started the game . juventus started the game with 4-4-2 formation . the reason i am saying this is because caudrado would slide back into the back four while on defense while higuian and ronaldo would stay top . juventus likes to dominate possession while ath likes to play on the counter . the trouble with ath mad is that they play deep so on the counter they have to  bring the ball way up and in that process they can be pressed and they can loose possession and the team can hit them on the counter counter . simeone realised this may throught the first half so he wanted to slow the game and asked his team to pass the ball around and push juventus back and then try to have a shot at goal . ath mad had four out and out midfielders who would move in the middle of the park so to counter it juventus had to bring all their midfieders in the middle of the park . it allowed ath mad fullbacks time and space on the ball and they could bomb forward because their natural numbers were busy in the middle of the park trying to defend spaces in front of the back four because ath mad had crowded that and had juventus not brought numbers in the middle of the park then ath mad could had been to work one of the zones and caused juventus the problem .

now here the main test was of ath mad fullbacks in particular trippier who was bought by ath mad in the summer because of his crossing ability because pochettino will tell you that on the defense trippier is a liablity. for me in this match he failed badly . had his crossing been better then he would had cause juventus a whole lot of problems . had his first touch and crossing been better then he would had caused juventus many problems because his crossing means juventus had to adjust for him and they would had looked to somebody to get to close him down which would had caused to create the gaps elsewhere and ath mad would had been able to work those . .any team requires a point of attack from where they can trouble the opposition  and from there on they need to improvise but here trippier was just letting his team down .  trippiers first touch was letting him down he is there in the team because of his crossing ability and if he is not doing that then he not doing then what is the use of such a player . second is simeone likes his team to play counter attacking but it doesnt work everytime and at times when they play a slow offensive game they need to move the ball crisply to have a better offense .

juventus two goals came on the counter rather than in the open play which sarri would had liked . ath mad had all the four midfielders inside of the park so the fullback was pushed up to counter juventus fullback which opened the space between centre backs and the fullbacks which was exploited by juventus on both the goals and both the goals came from the same side . the worry about juventus is that they are conceding on defense which is result of the zonal marking .

last but not the least if sarri needs to be a great coach then he needs to tell ronaldo that he needs him in and around the box and dont drift wide or anything because he is of no use and his potent threat is there and his team will be of good service from him if he stays just in and around the box . plus he can score a lot of goals and even have a lot of assist if just mould his game to be real no.9 rather than the no.7 he is wearing 

MY TAKE ON THE GAME BETWEEN DORTMUND VS BARCELONA

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

MY TAKE ON THE JUVENTUS VS NAPOLI .

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

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

MY TAKE ON SPURS LAST TWO MATCHES

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

MY TAKE ON THE LIVERPOOL VS ARSENAL

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

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

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

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