it seemed as if the element of surprise almost backfired (in that #City seemed less prepared for this and def. to Inter's adjustments), although as #Pep admitted (and you can see below), the execution was nowhere near flawless out of the back + the collective #Inter defending !
2. How #Inzaghi surprised him via #Calhanoglu jumping + Inter's other adjustments =
-Lautaro as a wide mid defending
-both he + Dzeko pressing back on #Rodri
-recovery speed/distance closeout of @brozocrypto + #Bastoni
City only managed to "get what they want" perhaps 2x - and the goal is at the end of a chaotic 3 minute sequence with ball in play -
of course there's way more to the story and in my piece I'll explain
-#Onana's role
-#Bastoni, #Acerbi excellence
-how #City's press flummoxed Inter and how they adjusted
-and how William Blake features in the #UCLfinal
You've probably heard about @Guirassy_19's unforgettable season, but I don't think we're talking about this goals/shot on target ratio which is at 0.71 (fbref has him at 0.65 prior to today), so this got me thinking....
#Guirassy #VfBSGE
THREAD
I took a quick look at all the elite big 5 finishers recently via @fbref, their best seasons:
-#Lewandowski 0.59 (41 G)
-#Mbappe 0.47 (33)
-#Benzema 0.47 (24)
-#Schick 0.54 (24)
-#Salah 0.48 (32)
-#Kane 0.55 current 32G season
-#Auba hit 0.5 in Prem and BL
-#Lautaro 0.53 (23G)
-Darwin's 26G Benfica season is at 0.58
-HM Son has 0.48 one
-Gio Simeone hit 0.53 at Hellas V.
-Duvan w 0.47
This now at least the 2nd massively interesting performance by #Bielsa (also vs #Diniz) that we saw vs La Scalonita. 1. Let's take a look what #Uruguay proposed -or how "he set up the chessboard" (by @ReneMaric) vs the ball/OOP in what I saw as a m2m option scheme
to negate the 1v2 #Bielsea's scheme used
-#Darwin's energy in pressing + #Pellistri outside in
w #delaCruz triggering the option: Bielsa wanted to negate the Scalonita's midfield. See the m2m on Alexis (dLCr), Enzo (Valverde) w what you'd expect but #dePaul was identified as a 🔑
instead of the standard approach, Ugarte jumping to him - this would lead to leaving the 5 (South Am) or 6 (European) space open to #Messi/#Alvarez drops so to try avoiding it - #Bielsa played TWO LBs, w #Vina going w #dePaul everywhere when possible
#Inzahgi’s ball near 8 jumps City FB so w City winger pinning WB far side, Pep wants Bastoni to come off #Haaland (Inter obv prefer 2v1) and jump out on Stones. Nice read/switch by #Dimarco to INT the wide pass, leads to a counter
Roger #Schmidt's 4231 w super distances invites Juve to press and then goes on exploiting it w low FBs (Juve WBs cant get there) playing the straight chip ball to the wide mid running down the line vs a side CB
another pattern is to drop the great #Enzo in to the Toni Kroos space to manipulate Juve's 2nd line (see McKennie) w the low WBs and play behind for their wide mids. #Aursnes receives wide here, followed automatically by #Grimaldo rotating into the halfspace
just entirely too easy to switch and play behind Juve here w the great overloading runs of Rafa Silva + Goncalo Ramos to support Joao Mario
some #BVB thoughts:
While I'd agree w Nico #Schlotterbeck re SCF being better until 1:1
I think #Terzic had a really good gameplan vs the 442 of #Streich (w man-orientations) in particular vs SCF 2nd line (Grifo-Doan issues defending space,manipulating double 6's man-orientation)
the caveat ofc is how it was EXECUTED by BVB:
-inaccurate passes, Hazard, Dahoud, Hummels, Malen
-failures to execute immediate switch yielding 2v1s (Bellingham)
- or take some risks w passes
- slow rotations hinder optimal progress (Modeste, Hazard)
-chance for Malen after Reus carry,
-Modeste cant hold the Hazard cross,
-Reus runs at defense
-cumulative xT edge in first 15'