19 UCL Semi-Final First Leg

SUMMARY:

This semi-final match-up featured two teams that, perhaps may have surprised us at the beginning of the tournament had we been told they would make it as far. The game started out with each team struggling to get into stride as they coped with the opposing teams pressure. Early on, Ajax were able to beat Spurs’ first line of pressure and get Schone on the ball who was playing balls through the Tottenham back-line. This was allowed to happen by Frenkie De Jong dropping between his two center-backs and picking up the ball and the ever-supporting Andre Onana in goal.

When Tottenham attempted to press the back-line of Ajax, Frenkie De Jong dropped in between his two center-backs which pulled one of Tottenhams midfielders out to pick him up (indicated by the black arrows. Often times they did not want to follow De Jong that deep so they laid off of him a little. This allowed space for him to play the ball to Schone who could then play balls in behind the Spurs line.

By the tenth minute, Tottenham decided to let Ajax’s center-backs keep the ball in order to properly mark all of the midfielders. This led to Ajax having a considerable amount of possession.

Goal (Ajax):

The volume of possession that Ajax had meant that they had many chances to move the ball around the Tottenham penalty which means they are only one pass away from being in on goal. This is exactly what happened when a thread of the needle pass from Ziyech went through the Spurs back-line to Van De Beek who had ages to fake-out Lloris and pick his spot to put it home for the visitors.

This goal did not seem to cause much of a reaction from Spurs and Ajax were completely dominant. At around the 22nd minute Tottenham changed from a 3-4-3 system to a 4-3-3 having Danny rose tuck into midfield and Vertonghen play left-back. This tactic was presumably to add another man to midfield to try to control Ajax’s complete domination in midfield.

The rest of the half was largely more of the same with Ajax dominating most of the possession. However, Spurs were able to create a few chances at the end of the half by exploiting the more direct route by giving service to their big physical target man in Llorente who posted himself against the much less physical Daley Blind.

Second Half:

The second half was much more balanced with Spurs realizing their attacking potential by playing the ball directly to Llorente and having Lucas Moura run off of him. They also switched from a 4-3-3 to a 4-4-2 with a diamond midfield to have Dele man-mark De Jong to spot Ajax’s possession. The onslaught of Spurs’ balls into the box were ultimately negated by the brilliance of Andre Onana coming off his line to snuff-out any danger. The game ended 1-0 after a dominant first half from Ajax and a second half that will leave Tottenham with some hope for the second-leg in Amsterdam.

GOALKEEPERS

Hugo Lloris

Perhaps a frustrating game from Hugo Lloirs being left stranded by his defenders in the goal, but otherwise Lloris had a good game between the sticks for Spurs. Lloris was forced to go long due to the smothering press from Ajax so there was not too much to observe in terms of his distribution. In the 24th minute Lloris made a save at his near-post when Van De Beeks run into the box was rewarded and it appeared that he would play the ball across goal, but instead mishit it at Lloris who had dove to cut-out the cross and the ball rebounded off of his leg for a corner. Again, I am a big believer in anticipating from goalkeepers, however from this angle I believe Lloris should have stayed on his feet as his first priority should be the near-post, but he was lucky that the ball hit his leg and did not end up in the back of the net. Other than a few high ball claims Lloris did not have a whole lot else to do.

Andre Onana

Perhaps I am way too early in this assessment, but I am beginning to consider Andre Onana as a top 5 goalkeeper in the world. At the beginning of the game the pure quality of Onana’s distribution was clear either playing short under pressure to his defenders or breaking the line of pressure confidently by playing balls to his high full-backs on many occasions. Another option that Onana found brilliantly well was the driven ball straight to the chest of Tadic. The hold-up play has been absolutely crucial to Ajax’s success and he has played the false nine role brilliantly. He receives a great deal of help from the quality of the driven balls that Onana plays to him that allows him to take the ball down and make it stick without giving the defender a chance to win it. Throughout the game I stopped taking notes on how many times Onana came out to claim a ball played into the Ajax penalty area. He put on an absolute clinic in commanding your area as a goalkeeper. Despite being very young for a goalkeeper Onana shows absolutely no hesitation when he sees a ball in the air coming toward his penalty area. He is very athletic and comes out displaying his impressive power and even came out 15 yards on a number of occasion to claim balls. On one occasion in the first half Onana came out to clear a free-kick and punched the ball while clearing out BOTH Tottenham center-backs who were attempting to head the ball. Unfortunately, this led to the injury of Jan Vertonghen and I wish him the best. Not only this, but Onana also cut out a few driven crosses with the technique of taking a very square stance to potential cut-back opportunities in his box. I could not be more impressed with Onana and I look forward to watching his progression further.

Manchester United Vs. Chelsea 4/28/19 Premier League

SUMMARY:

After Tottenham and Arsenal lost to West Ham and Wolves respectively on the weekend, an opportunity presented itself for either Manchester United or Chelsea to make a convincing case for themselves to finalize a spot in the UEFA Champions League. The game started quickly and intensely for both teams, but United had the better of the chances when Lukaku seemed to be in one of those moods in which he was going to have his way with the Chelsea back-line. In the fourth minute, Lukaku created an early chance as his break-away chance was saved by Kepa at a tight angle.

First Goal (Manchester United):

United kept the pressure on until they broke through in the 11th minute through Juan Mata. Luke Shaw made a well timed run deep from the left-back position into the box and was found by a superb dink over the line by Lukaku. Shaw squared the ball to Mata who could tap in from ten yards out.

Jorginho:

A key to understanding this game tactically, is the role of Jorginho in the game and in most Chelsea games. Jorginho acts as the playmaker for Chelsea who looks to be the pivot and distribute the ball to the full-backs who are pushing forward or play direct balls through to the front-three.

Jorginho in defense:

When Chelsea are not in possession of the ball, they press starting with the forwards and look to smother their opposition by pushing Jorginho very high to restrict the space. If they win the ball, they have the luxury of having their playmaker forward up the pitch. This does, however, leave a considerable amount of space behind in between their midfield and defensive lines.

Jorginho in attack:

In possession, Chelsea look to get Jorginho on the ball to take advantage of his superb passing range. They try to get him on the ball as quickly as possible after winning possession as he can exploit gaps in the defense of the opposition by playing through the space to a winger, creating 2v1 situations with their high-playing full-backs or play the direct route to Higuain.

The problem with this tactic for Chelsea, is that they are extremely reliant on the role of Jorginho. Manchester United nullified his presence by having one of their front three, usually Mata and McTominay later in the match, man mark Jorginho when Chelsea were in possession. It became difficult for Chelsea to create opportunities despite having marginally more possession than United in the first half. Manchester United looked very dangerous on the break as Marcus Rashford proved to be a real handful with his intelligent and well timed runs.

Second Goal (Chelsea):

The goal came when the apparent lack of options for Chelsea in possession led to their center-back, Antonio Rudiger, to take a more than 30 yard strike at goal. De Gea made a mess of holding onto the shot and let up a rebound into the path of Marcos Alonso who did well to finish it from the tight angle. Unfortunate for the Red Devils.

Second Half:

The second-half started with largely the same intensity that it ended with and it was a well-balanced back and forth game. As the half progressed, a multitude of injuries to both sets of players created long stoppages in the game and by the 75th minute the pace of the game had slowed considerably. The game ended with both teams having a clear cut chance each in stoppage time when Rojo’s header was cleared off the line by Pedro and De Gea blocked a shot from Higuain in which the whole stadium had assumed he was offside. It was a tightly run affair, but neither team were able to convincing stake their claim to the top four.

GOALKEEPERS:

David De Gea

Another tough night for De Gea. It is clear to me De Gea’s mistakes of late can be broken down technically, but to do so would miss the point completely. The Spaniard is not in the right state of mind as the mistakes all come from saves that he usually routinely makes. Any goalkeeper can tell you that they know exactly what he is going through, because it happens to every goalkeeper and it is a feeling exclusive to goalkeepers. Unless you are a goalkeeper, you cannot fully understand the feeling after making a mistake, but I will tell those who don’t know that it can only be described as isolating. You feel that you have let your team down, you feel that you have let yourself down, and you feel the humiliation of the opposing team begin to shoot from anywhere. I believe this feeling comes from an extreme level of wanting to do well and then letting yourself down in one moment and from feeling the expectations of your teammates to have done better. Each mistake leaves a mental scar on a goalkeeper forever. I cannot remember my best save ever, but I can certainly remember my worst mistake ever and I expect that this is true for all other ‘keepers. After one mistake, the human inclination the next time out is to avoid making mistakes. The problem with this, however, is that playing a game with the objective of not making a mistake is a great way to make one. Overthinking for a goalkeeper is fatal as your visions of making mistakes will surely turn into reality. I still believe that De Gea is one of the best in the world and maybe spending some time on the bench to reflect is not the worst thing for De Gea, this tactic worked earlier in his career to spring him onto being one of the best in the world, and I suspect he will be back.

Kepa Arrizabalaga

If you are a Kepa fan, perhaps this game can be interpreted as foreshadowing of the passing of the guard from De Gea in the Spanish National team in the near or the distant future. Despite his distribution lacking slightly in this game which is typically superb, Kepa had a solid game between the Chelsea sticks. Kepa has been a good replacement for Courtois and I believe that we are only seeing tip of the iceberg when it comes to his potential. I good sign of a great goalkeeper is controlling 1v1 situations and Kepa did that brilliantly to deny Lukaku in the fourth minute. Kepa narrowed the angle well and stayed on his feet to force Lukaku wide. Kepa then received aid from his defender cutting off one side allowing Kepa to sprawl to his right to the near-post and take the ball off the chest, very good goalkeeping. Their was very little that Kepa could have done about the goal as he came out and closed the angle on Shaw who was through, but he scared it to Mata who could then tap it in, Kepa was helpless. In the 50th minute the Spaniard made a save from a United free kick in which the top spin on the ball made it bounce directly before getting to Kepa. Kepa took one shuffle to his right and collapsed to hold onto the ball. He tracked the ball very well and did not give up a rebound, this seemed to be in stark contrast to the ball that De Gea had spilled that led to the goal at the other end. In the 76th minute Kepa took up a good angle against a driven cross from inside the box in which he set with his body square to the ball at his near-post. This allowed Kepa to cover the near post angle, but was also able to handle the cross that was hammered in well and, again, avoid the rebound. I am impressed with the young Kepa.

Barcelona vs. Manchester United 4/16/19 UCL Quarter-Finals, Second-Leg

SUMMARY:

Having gone down an away goal on aggregate last week, it was crucial that Manchester scored two goals away at the Camp Nou. The early signs were good for the opening 15 minutes or so with United looking threatening and creating a few early chances through the pace of Marcus Rashford. This pressure soon broke as Barcelona started to keep possession of the football, something they struggled to do a week ago in Manchester. Another change that the Catalans implemented was that they gave the United defenders very little time on the ball and close them down quickly to prevent them from playing a ball in behind for the pace of United’s front three.

Manchester United’s plan had remained largely the same from the first leg, looking to catch Barcelona vulnerable on the break.

Manchester United’s Plan was to catch Barcelona high up the field, as when they are in possession they push their full-backs very high up the field leaving gaps in behind for the likes of Rashford or Martial to run into.

This plan was thwarted by Barcelona players immediately swarming the United defenders as soon as they had possession of the ball, thus cutting of the outlet for the Red Devils.

The first goal came when the ball was stolen off of Ashley Young who was a victim of this Barcelona press. The ball found its way to Messi on the right wing who cut inside onto his left and nutmegged a defender before using another defender to bend the ball around and curl it into the bottom left corner of the net to De Gea’s right. Shortly after, Messi was there to terrorize Manchester again when he cut onto is right foot this time to curl a shot toward De Gea’s goal. The ball squeezed underneath the Spanish ‘keeper in a moment to forget for David De Gea. At this point, at 3-0 down on aggregate and having seen the extent of the talents of the greatest player the world has ever seen, Manchester United were left deflated allowing Barcelona to completely dominate the match. Manchester United made minimal chances throughout the rest of the game and were chasing the ball for much of the time. To add insult to injury, the former Liverpool man, Coutinho banged one home in classic Coutinho fashion. None other than Messi played the important ball of the move over the back line to an onrushing Jordi Alba who played it back to Coutinho to strike from 20 yards out. The game ended with Barcelona creating a few more opportunities and Manchester United seeing their late attempt at a consolation goal brilliantly denied by Ter Stegen.

GOALKEEPERS:

DE GEA: A tough night out for the Madrid native having conceded three goals on the night one of which coming from a mistake. The first goal was a very good finish from Leo Messi. Perhaps, De Gea could have set his feet quicker as he had only set his feet after the ball had left Messi’s foot which may have given him more time to reach it. It is very difficult, however, to predict when Messi will shoot the ball and even more difficult to anticipate which direction he will shoot as we often see him shoot to the other side of the goal from similar positions. This brings us back to my statement from last week of anticipation, had De Gea gone early perhaps he could have saved it as most of the time the forward will strike in that direction. If you go early you then risk the forward shooting in the other direction leaving you look foolish. The second goal was one to forget for David De Gea. Messi cut onto his right foot to curl one and De Gea collapsed to his left to collect, but it slipped underneath him into the goal. I won’t spend too much time on it as I believe that the pressure put on ‘keepers to be flawless is completely unreasonable hopefully this will change in the future. The criticism of a goalkeeper who makes one mistake only makes him more likely to make a mistake in the future, therefore becoming preoccupied with a mistake is completely unproductive for everyone. The third goal, created by Messi, came when Messi played a ball over the top for Jordi Alba who laid it to Coutinho to unleash his trademark curling strike from 20 yards out. Despite coming close, it would have been miraculous had De Gea saved it, though he is capable of miracles. He only had time to take a power dive and try to reach it with his top hand, but it was out of reach. De Gea made three saves in this match of note. The first came from a glanced header following an in-swung Messi free-kick which was down slightly to De Gea’s left. He did well to be in the correct position and get two palms down to cushion it and gather at the second attempt. The second save was a bit of a mystery to him. Alba lashed a ball across the 6 yard box to the opposite full-back, Sergi Roberto who attempted to tap it in. De Gea had used cross steps to get across his goal and the ball hit him preventing the goal. A lot of ‘keepers would have gave up on the play, but De Gea decided to cross step just in case and luck was in his favor this time. The final save came from Messi who lashed one toward De Gea from 8 yards out to De Gea’s right and he stood up and got two hands on it to beat it away as it was placed close to his left ear. A tough night for De Gea, but even the best ‘keepers in the world have an off day.

TER STEGEN: The German is everything that you would want out of a modern goalkeeper and appears to have it all. It has become such a regularity that we forget just how good Ter Stegen is with his feet and today had he not been wearing the green goalkeeper kit you would think he was a midfielder. The range of his passing is possibly the best in the world being able to play a ball to any player on the pitch with pinpoint accuracy. There were a number of times I thought he would have to kick long given pressure coming from both his left and right, but proceeded to take a touch a find Busquets in the middle to break the first line of pressure from United. Other times, a United midfielder would step up to mark a defender when the forwards were out of position and Ter Stegen would calmly chip dink a ball to the open man in the middle of midfield. He is what allowed Barcelona to keep the ball on many occasions in this game and was a factor to their dominance. His first save came early on when Rashford was played through, but forced to take an early shot on due to pressure from defenders. It was a fairly easy save to collapse dive to his right to pin down the bouncing ball, but I noticed that Ter Stegen is one of the best in the world at always having his feet set at the time of the shot. As we saw with De Gea today and Ederson last week, some goalkeepers have timed their set in a way that they are landing into their set while the ball is moving towards them. This rarely ever happens with Ter Stegen. His second save came from a long range Paul Pogba effort which bounced in front of him, but Ter Stegen smothered it with a front dive, again having his feet set before the shot. Ter Stegen’s biggest moment was in the 90th minute when a cross was whipped in from his left and a glancing header at the near post turned it towards Ter Stegen’s left and appeared to be creeping just inside the post. Ter Stegen had squared his body thinking that the ball would pass by the first onrushing United forward, but he was able to dive and get his head on it. Again, becuase Ter Stegen set his feet he was able to react and get down at his near post to claw it out of the goal despite being slightly out of position. So many other keepers would still be moving across goal and have no chance. It was a fantastic performance from a goalkeeper who I consider to be the best in the world at the moment.

Manchester United Vs. Barcelona 4/10/19 UCL Quarter-Finals

SUMMARY

Given the injuries for Manchester United including: Valencia, Bailly, Darmian, Matic, Herrera, and Alexis it seemed as though the Red Devils faced an uphill battle at home against an in-form Barcelona side. This appeared to be true in the opening minutes of the match with Barcelona enjoying most of the ball, although United were always a threat on the break with the pace of Marcus Rashford. It only took 12 minutes for Barcelona to open up the scoring when a Sergio Busquets played a good ball over the heads of the Manchester defense to Messi who had made a penetrating run. Messi’s first touch took him wide to the left of the box allowing him to use his famous left-foot to find Suarez at the back posts whose close range header glanced off Luke Shaw and found the back of the net for the own goal. When the goal was scored you would be forgiven to assume that the weakened line-up for Manchester United were in for a long night. Uncharacteristically, Barcelona struggled to keep the ball after the goal seeing some key experienced players of theirs give the ball away incredibly cheaply on a number of occasions, it was an extremely rare sight of Barcelona. Their sloppy play in the half still yielded their share of chances, one of which produced a heroic save from David De Gea in the 36th minute. Most of the United chances came from unforced errors from Barcelona which forced them to cease trying to build-out from goal kicks and instead choose the longer route which is borderline sacrilegious to the Blaugrana side. The half ended with the game opening up and both sides showing that they still possess a threat, particularly Manchester United on the break. At the start of the second half, Barcelona looked rattled by the pressure of Manchester United. The renewed energy and most likely an energetic half-time talk from Ole Gunnar Solskjaer allowed united to unleash a press on Barcelona who struggled to get out. The Red Devils had most of the ball, but seemed to lack some creativity in the final third to reward them for their pressure. It seemed that their only game plan was to allow a well-marked Pogba to do his best to create a chance or get the ball wide and swing it into the box. They chose the latter on most occasions which yielded little fruit and became very predictable for Barcelona to defend. It was a game that was crying out for the quality and experience of Juan Mata. The game changed for the better from a Barcelona perspective when Arturo Vidal came on for Coutinho and Sergi Roberto replaced Arthur, perhaps to try to establish a foothold in midfield. After a few hot-headed minutes from Vidal due to watching his side give the ball away, the substitutions seemed to work and the new midfield duo were able to help establish some consistent possession for Barcelona and ultimately see the game to its finish at 1-0 to the away side.

GOALKEEPERS:

DE GEA: The Spaniard had no chance in saving the Barcelona goal due to the quality of the Leonel Messi cross to Luis Suarez. He did prove his worth in this game, despite conceding, by keeping the deficit to one on three occasions. The first was a brilliant save following a Coutinho blast at the top of the box after being laid the ball by Luis Suarez. After coming out to close the angle on Luis Suarez, De Gea’s defenders were able to recover allowing him to get back to his line, set his feet, and produce a fantastic reaction to save the low shot by stretching out his left-foot. We see De Gea make saves with his feet often. His coordination is very impressive having very little time to react and get good contact with his weaker left foot. The second save was from a Leonel Messi free kick. Messi struck the ball underneath the wall from the top-left of the box to De Gea’s left and Dea Gea took one shuffle step toward the balls trajectory. The ball took a deflection and was now headed to the other side of the goal now to De Gea’s right. De Gea does well to shift his weight going in one direction to collapse low to his right to hold onto the ball. The third save came from another save with his feet in which Rashford strikes the ball at his feet as he stood up at the near post from a very tight angle, again, good coordination.

TER STEGEN: Like De Gea, the German was not very busy in this match and I do not believe he had to make a significant save. As always, Ter Stegen was very good with his feet allowing his side to keep possession (or try) on many occasions throughout the game. As it became apparent to Ter Stegen that his side was struggling to string together passes he did well to push them up-field and play good driven balls to Luis Suarez from goal kicks. On a few occasions he played very good low driven balls to the feet for Luis Suarez slicing through two lines of United defenders. The other notable contribution Ter Stegen made was commanding his area by punching away two Manchester United services into the box. Ter Stegen utilized an open stance to crosses and, on both occasions the cross came from the Manchester United right wing to Ter Stegen’s left. The first was a vital intervention in which his open, 45 degree angle stance allowed him take one shuffle and reach the ball with his right fist. He was under pressure and showed good bravery knowing very well that he could be clattered into. The second was similar to the first, although he had less time to react to the flight of the ball due to its flight and could only punch it straight down into the path of Rashford who couldn’t turn it on goal. He got enough power on the punch to put off the United striker.