PositionalPlay
@pstionalplay
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Total football-addict/Total-football addict pstionalplay @gmail .com (football thoughts of @ntolgayardimci )
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🚨New video online!
Alonso's Free Electron
I'm discussing why the special ability Florian Wirtz possesses is the key to Leverkusen's success and the enabler of Xabi Alonso's game model. 👇
🎥
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One of my favorite goals of the season so far, summarizing Xabi Alonso's Leverkusen in a nutshell. Also, Wirtz giving very strong David Silva vibes:
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Spain v Germany offered a level that is very difficult to observe in national team games. So many collective and individual brilliance, tactical tweaks, enthusiasm from players to play a beautiful game. Everything was for us to enjoy football. Let’s start with Spain’s high press.
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Argentina is one of the most anticipated teams of upcoming WC. They are a unique team, not only with the story but with their game model as well. Let’s start with their high press, which can be in different forms depending on the game state and momentum.
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Bayern vs Barca showed us top level individual and collective quality. I don’t think any coaches in Europe, except Xavi, could ask his team to man-mark Bayern in full court, especially in Munich. Barcelona pressed very high and aggressive with their usual 442 structure.
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Inzaghi's Inter are my favorite team when it comes to build-up play.
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Lallana on De Zerbi’s style:
“There is no tiki-taka for the sake of it, it’s not good, it’s not that. There is an angle, and the angle is to create 4v4s, 3v3s in a big space to go and hurt the opponents in a way [dribblers] do what they love doing, create 1v1s.”
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Saliba's press-destroying pass with his left foot to Xhaka before Arsenal's 2nd goal 😍
Every time I watch Arsenal, I get the feeling that they would play the same football even if the players were blindfolded. They have very strong links between each other; you see that when…
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Cruyff saw this years ago and told in his book:
"Everyone at Barcelona talks about everyone else, they’re all so good. But I’ll be interested to see them when Busquets is no longer in the squad. I think everyone will be shocked by the change it’ll bring about."
After 15 years at the elite level…
the way he squeezed out one more league title for them >>> May this troublesome season following his departure act as a further legacy strengthener for the GOAT of his position 🐐
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Nagelsmann outclassed Xavi yesterday. He predicted Xavi’s plan at every subphase and made his strategy accordingly. Having encouraged from the 1st game, Xavi again used an aggressive high press with man-marking, but this time Bayern forwards had clear advantages in matchups.
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Many things have changed in world football since then.
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What De Zerbi is doing at Brighton is very special. He is destroying the myth about positional play, that it can be only played by the most expensive squads of the leagues/tournaments.
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Which one is funnier? 9-man team playing with the highest line you can ever see or 11-man team constantly being caught on offside against that team 🤦♂️
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If Haaland can continue playing this link-up game on a consistent basis, then we have only watched the pre-prime of one of the greatest players in football history.
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Inzaghi created this incredible team; an adaptable, flexible, unpredictable, efficient, and effective machine that is programmed to destroy their opponents. And while doing that they mesmerize everyone enjoying fluid football. They should be considered as the most complete team…
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Scaloni’s strategy, for me, was incredibly risky but worked very well. Knowing France would keep 2 defs from the back 4 over Messi, he forced France to mark Alvarez with Varane. This created a huge conflict for Kounde btw Di Maria, who played surprisingly as LW, and Mac Allister.
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Inter are good at everything. Low/mid-block defense: unbreakable, high press: effective, transitions: always dangerous, build-up play: one of the best in the world, chance creation: efficient, easily set or adapt to the tempo of the game. They are so complete.
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Graham Potter’s opponent-specific microplans are very impressive. Against West Ham and their narrow pressing structure, they used an anti-positional approach for ball progression. They tried dominating wider areas by using double pivot and double 10 on the same line.
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Brighton are the chameleons of PL. They adapt into new shapes regarding to opponent's intentions. This week, against Leeds' aggressive 8v6 high press, they used 433 in possession and punished opponent's risks taken with intermediate pressers by forcing 1v1s through direct balls.
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Just another beautiful Brighton build-up + progression + creation:
You know the story; attracting the 1st line, using the 3rd man, finding the wide player, running to the half space, finding the late runner.
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A moment of brilliance from Pedri. Seeing the upcoming pressing trap on if he passes to his full back, and instead calmly helping the team to switch the play to where Bayern have one man less. Genius.
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Julian Weigl makes 65 touches per game in Bundesliga this season. Among the midfielders in top 5 leagues, he is the only player who hasn't been dispossessed or made an unsuccessful touch yet. Very valuable stats considering he is the pivot of his team and usually under pressure.
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Guardiola started working at a Premier League club in 16/17.
Premier League game style evolution for the past decade
▪ passes from goal-kicks are shorter
▪ crosses are less frequent
▪ pass directness is lower
▪ less shots % from outside of penalty box
▪ more 'high turnovers'
* all metrics are per team per game
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World Cup ended, Germany got eliminated at groups, Luis Enrique was fired after losing at R16, club football is back, but why am I still thinking of this?
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Guardiola’s structure in possession was certainly not overthinking. To overcome 5-3-2, you must create these overloads and City’s structure provided advantages over Inter’s structure on the paper, but implementation was a bit below City’s average.
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City might have used the same structure in possession and the exact same lineup of 1st leg, but with totally different intention; destroying their opponent.
All of us had talked about how cautious Pep was in the 1stleg. We had all looked for that extra man coming from behind…
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The role John Stones is playing might be another milestone in the evolution of football tactics. He is turning into sort of a libero, but of course with modified out-of-possession responsibilities adapted to modern game. In possession, he communicates with his teammates through…
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Some great uses of 3rd-man cocnept by Xabi Alonso’s Leverkusen this season. Once they break the pressure line, they are very good at changing the rhythm and gear up. Can you recognize the patterns in their 3rd-man plays?
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Inter, like Leverkusen, are a team I enjoy watching this season. What ties these two teams together is their shared philosophy in possession play: "Being in the right space at the right time."
Here are some sequences from Inzaghi's Inter:
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Watching Wolves-City again and I am incredibly impressed with Wolves' out-of-possession plan with man-oriented zonal defending at low block. Unlike typical low blocks, they were extremely aggressive and active, especially at inner corridors, and didn't allow City to create space…
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Bayern – City game didn’t cause a lot of surprises but two points should still be noted because Tuchel gave some great tips on how to possibly beat City in future:
1) Build-up and progression against City’s narrow 4-2-4: Firstly, as you probably know, City has been using this…
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Nelsson-Marcao-Taylan-Berkan-Cicaldau, central players were amazing, worked so hard, and dominated the game. A very well-deserved victory for
#Galatasaray
and Terim. This can be Terim's best individual game performance in his 4th era at Cimbom.
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I am a big admirer of De Zerbi. For sure, his ideas in build-up play have evolved the game, and I think we are at a critical point at his managerial career.
He has a very strong plan A, no doubt about it, but there is no single winning formula against all opponents in football…
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As Del Bosque said: "If you watch the game, you don’t see Busquets. But if you watch Busquets, you see the whole game."
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Guardiola has been complaining that City conceding easy goals from simple individual errors. Cancelo was another potential source of error out of possession. That was the main reason why he couldn’t use him in recent games.
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The most prominent reason why Guardiola has been the very top manager for 15 years is because he understands the evolution of football, accepts new ideas, and interprets them to use it in most efficient way. His teams always pressed well, but he accepted new ideas about…
Man City’s build-up against Liverpool was very successful. For sure, Liverpool’s ineffective high press played a role, but here are two important things Man City was significantly better at compared to previous games: 1) Double pivot positioning: Rodri and Stones always tried to…
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Potter was Potter’ed by De Zerbi. This time, it was Potter’s opponent who switched the formation to counter his opponent. 2 key aspects: 1) 3-1 press against 3-2 build-up to keep +1 at the back. 2) Trossard and Lallana at the center to match against the weak link for progression.
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4 out of top 5 teams merged into similar in-possession structures this season: 3-2-2-3/3-◇-3. The intentions in build-up, progression, and creation subphases are quite similar as well.
The most prominent reasons why they use these structures are very different though:
- For Man…
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Every time I feel so amazed when I watch De Zerbi's Brighton triangularizing the center of the pitch to create and use the narrowest pockets, manipulating the tempo during progression, having distances so narrow but so wide at the same time.
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After the game, Guardiola said wout Lewis, they couldn’t have played the way they'd done, and praised his player’s IQ specifically wout ball.
What did Lewis allow though? Yes, he was impressive as an inv FB, but he also allowed City to use a new pressing structure and trigger.
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Few observations on Arsenal–City game, but before going deeper, I should tell I understand the frustration of people not enjoying the game. Tbh although I am obsessed with Guardiola’s Arteta’s brand of football, enjoy following their teams, I also didn’t enjoy the game a lot.
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Pep wants players who completely understand football. He doesn't want a central defender or a winger, he wants total footballers. He builds his squads based on this, develops his players to make them total footballers. He knows his philosophy can be only materialized with these…
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"The mistake that new generation coaches make and giving too much information in the game with the ball and in the position of the players.
... and I think this eliminates creativity a bit.
It's one thing to tell a player how to position himself more or less without the ball,…
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Calhanoglu has been having a stellar season, but the Juve game might just be his pinnacle. Watching him orchestrate Inter's attacks was a pure joy. Whether it was short passes, or long passes with his right foot or left foot, using the inside or outside of his foot, he showcased…
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I believe Madrid’s defensive strategy against Man City had many flaws that City couldn’t exploit. Let’s look at it closely. Defending 5 against 4 at the tip, Kroos on KdB, Valverde on Gundo, FBs on wingers, and two CBs very close on Haaland.
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It was 72% City poss in 1st half but, let's not skip OOP :) The asymmetric structure City using to press at Madrid goal kicks has been essential in limiting Madrid's possession trying to overload left flank. This is benchmark performance in every department.
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Wide center-back to wide center-back goal. Something you can see only from Inter!
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Football is too complex to have a unique solution. There can’t be a single way to play beautiful football but recently we see a convergence towards one solution, and this solution is positional play.
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Ten Hag's initial game plan for out-of-possession phase was really successful and caused problems for Brighton.
- Before triggering the press, they waited Brighton to disconnect from Sanchez, so they made it a 10v10 game instead of 11v10.
- They kept the inner channels closed,…
Ten Hag prefers a bit conservative but not passive approach of-the-ball so far.
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I really liked that Pep praised both Xabi Alonso's Leverkusen and Simone Inzaghi's Inter in his last press conference. His eyes are always on innovations, still hungry to evolve, discover more, and improve further.
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Klopp caught the 3-2-2-3 train as well. Looks like the structure is one of the strongest end products of the football's evolution towards proactive style. Who would've thought Chapman's WM would be used to play short passing combination game?
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So many exciting combinations with Xavi's use of FdJ-Busquets double pivot. Busquets playing more positional while FdJ roams and rotates with interiors. Balde's energy allows to use the 2nd attacking midfielder without losing width in final 3rd.
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Glasner’s 523 has reached to perfection out of possession. First, it is almost impossible for opponents to progress with a structure having 3 players in the first line. The compact pentagon moves with very high coherence and discipline never allows open channels internally.
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Friendly or not, do not miss a Leverkusen game this season!
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Tuchel's plan was clear against Arsenal's high press: Create space for Musiala and let him play 1v1 to break the pressure.
Two pivots were placed asymmetrically during the build-up towards the right side. Dier stayed as wide as possible on the left side, and a huge space opened…
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10 seasons ago, when Villanova’s Barca and Heynckes’ Bayern clashed, the borderlines were very clear; it was Spanish tiki-taka vs German gegenpress. Yesterday once again showed football’s globalization. Now Barca can press like Germans and Bayern can build up like Spaniards.
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Kovacic was not as strong as Rodri in duels and recoveries, sometimes took extra risks in his passes. These were expected problems City could face with him instead of Rodri as the holding midfielder. However, more than these, City actually really missed Rodri’s offensive…
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It was definitely a very high-level game as anticipated between Man City and Bayern, the strongest two teams in the world right now according to FiveThirtyEight. Eventually, the score line was mostly decided by individual mistakes but there were many things to talk about…
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xT and xG are popular terms in football analytics. xG gives us an idea on attacking output while xT tells how frequently our team arrives to threatening zones, how good our progression is. If we combine these two, we can get more insight about offensive and defensive efficiencies
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As I read more about history of football tactics, I'm getting more convinced that football is in saturation regime regarding tactical evolution. What we're seeing are mostly recycled from ideas used in past. What we're discussing were mostly thought of by some greater minds.
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Attract -> Fixate -> Support -> Find the free man.
Then do it again:
Attract -> Fixate -> Support -> Find the free man.
Something I want to see over and over and over again from Xavi's Barca.
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Denmark is one of the teams I am looking forward to in World Cup. They are tactically flexible and always with a strong structure. They are excellent in all phases of the game, but what impresses me the most are their high press and traps in wide areas.
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Man Utd's uncommon but effective approach in build-up through pushing Varane high to fixate a player in Barca’s 1st line of pressure was useful to create space and time for players against opponent's high press, and that allowed advantageous progression through direct balls.
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I decided to revive my Medium page and wrote a short article about the recent use of 3-2-2-3 structure in positional play.
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Arsenal’s main problem towards the end of season is that they became too predictable. Like City, Brighton was fully aware of how Arsenal was going to press and, like City, they had a clear and effective plan to take adv of the risks Arsenal were taking with this high press.
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After City scored and started playing a bit lower, Onana was amazing and constantly broke a few pressure lines. This is the future of goalkeeping. We are already witnessing 11v10 in high press scenarios, but soon GK will often join to progress the ball against mid-blocks as well.
The Goalplayer
@AndreyOnana
building vs
@ManCityES
Key points: scan, gain information, game understanding, decision making, execution..
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Xabi Alonso should be thankful to Pep and City to sign Haaland/turning into this 3-2-2-3. The only explanation I have for no team showing interest to sign Frimpong is Guardiola's influence in European football.
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City's positional rotations were wild against Brighton's full-pitch man-to-man press until the last quarter of the game.
We usually saw Alvarez and sometimes even Haaland dropping deep while Bernardo staying high. With also Stones roaming and filling any empty zone on the…
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Guardiola on 'tactics kills the creativity' debate: "Tactics is to put it on the field to help players to express the talent more often than normal. I use tactics to create patterns for everyone to be more comfortable and have more time to express talent as much as possible."
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Brighton always uses 4-2 (+1 GK) build-up when the goalkeeper is involved at the start of the game. For the most aggressive cases, the opponents press with 6 players, and De Zerbi knows how to securely progress with 7v6 at his own half with the inclusion of his goalkeeper and…
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Guardiola on De Bruyne: "The vision, the quality, to see something special in final third, that is no tactics, it is talent."
"With the way we play it was quite similar without him but to win games we need players like Kevin or Erling" 💬
Pep Guardiola praised the impact of Kevin De Bruyne after he played a vital part in Manchester City's win over Newcastle 👇
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Haaland compensates regular link-up requirements asked from center-forwards in associative plays thru different ways. He may not touch the ball to help progression, but his fixation at depth over opposite-side centerback helps his team to progress in very advantageous situations.
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City's press was top-notch against Arsenal yesterday. Except Akanji (on Saka), no player was tasked to mark a specific opponent, but Arsenal could rarely find an inner channel and progress through center. The communication between players and their interpretation to close space…
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Coaches like Ancelotti rightfully/proudly defend their tactical intentions to allow their players to play the most suitable/comfortable role they want to play. What I'm really impressed with Xabi Alonso is that he provides this opportunity to his players but in a positional setup
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Might've accidentally cracked FM23 while trying to implement Xabi Alonso's recent asymmetric structures :)
Enjoying CL qualification from the group of death with City and Barca and 1st place in Bundesliga above Bayern before entering the World Cup break.
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I have been watching EURO 20 these days again, and I just wanted to share this goal by Spain as a result of a switch play through ball-playing GK + width/depth manipulation. So simple, yet so beautiful.
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Motion offense is an attacking scheme used in basketball. It’s a type of offense based on player movements. Lots of pass and cuts, pass and screens, and back screens.
When you watch Inter, you can see the application of motion offense in football. Movement is key in Inter's…
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Morocco have been very successful with their compact 4141 mid-block so far. They keep their def line high and constantly disturb opponent by triggering pressures from 2nd line. They allowed 1.33 shots on target per game (3rd best) and 12.7 touches in PA (7th best) in group stage.
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What a performance from City at a difficult away game. A textbook work against a compact mid-block press, an old enemy of Guardiola teams. This time the mid-block press was in the form of a 5-3-2.
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Zinchenko explains his inv role perfectly, telling his movement puts purely m2m or passive zonal approaches in difficult situation. The best way to deal with these types of positional/dynamic approaches is option-oriented press. Here is a good example:
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This week on ‘Seagulls are the New Chameleons’. Against LEI’s narrow defensive structure, Brighton built up with 3-1, RCB and LCB stayed wide to pass the 1st pressure line, who tried to shadow MacAllister like FUL did. Brighton otoh preferred using wider areas for progression.
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Here the only things I can see are the extremely passive Utd blocks. 2 duels in 100 secs, maybe 5-6 pressures. It's GW5, you can't just forfeit at 20th min when you concede a goal, especially at home. Utd's performance yesterday was much more than structural mistakes or injuries.
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The most striking stats of Spain is press related; PPDA, high turnovers etc. Tbh they don’t have the most structured, physical high press. They regain possession with a very effective and efficient counter-press, thanks to the things they do in possession.
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Taking the advantage of the international break, I wanted to take another look at high press structures Man City recently used against different build-up structures.
Starting with one of the latest games, vs RBL, at which they used two different high …
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This was the moment of the game for me. 1-1, Galatasaray looking for a goal, Gomis was in available position, Akturkoglu could’ve passed, but preferred to shoot. A ST, who didn't receive the pass would’ve yelled at his teammate, but Gomis applauded Kerem and supported him instead
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Jon was bang on with this back in Comm Shield game! There can be weaknesses during transition between different subphases of out-of-possession phase.
Before Tottenham's 1st goal, we saw a similar story. Arsenal was between their m2m high press and 442 mid-block, and it was…
But there is a between phase - the moment at which you are caught between the high p4p phase and the lower zonal phase. It's my conjecture that this season, we're going to see teams try to manipulate these between moments to cause problems.
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Maybe not on the scoreboard but in every phase of the game City overplayed Liverpool.
Here are some notes I took for Man City vs Liverpool:
Firstly, Liverpool had structural problems against City’s build-ups. With 4-1-4-1, MacAllister was forced to be the intermediate player…
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Ferguson's ceiling is so high. He is physically already ready, he has a silky touch, high composure in front of goal, really good link-up play. Tactically very mature as well. Understands different roles De Zerbi requires from the striker. Can be the tip of 2341, or as in today's…
That is sublime.
Rising star,
@Evan_Ferguson9
, showcases his talent once again ⭐️
#EmiratesFACup
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⚫️🔵 A deep dive into Inzaghi's Inter.
The secrets behind their solid defense with variable height and fluid positional play with versatile verticality.
Discover how they've become Europe's most complete team with their adaptable style of play.
🎥
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Potter's 3-diamond-3 demonstrates what he meant when he answered Thomas Frank's question before the Brentford game: "Formation is not an end goal but a tool to help you trap/defend your opponent."
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Inter shared the fate of Spaletti's Napoli. Atleti played a very big game. 2nd leg at Metropolitan is one of the toughest challenges a team can take in Europe. Minute by minute you feel the pressure increasing on you with the supporters and Simeone's game plan.
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Man City’s build-up against Liverpool was very successful. For sure, Liverpool’s ineffective high press played a role, but here are two important things Man City was significantly better at compared to previous games: 1) Double pivot positioning: Rodri and Stones always tried to…
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It is incredible that Busquets has been providing the same quality for 15 years. When Barca plays a Barca system, he pulls the team to a different level. Betis game yesterday was another masterclass, he directed all phases in his subtle elegant way. All-time best supporting actor
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It is important to remember Atalanta is the 2nd team after Inter regarding the number of big chances created in Serie A and they came to this game with a very good form. Inter kept them at 0.3 xG is as insane as Inter's unique combinations during build-ups against Atalanta's high…
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Really an entertaining game between Chelsea and Man City. Both coaches made so many changes throughout the game, that were all positive and gave their team an edge to have the upper hand. With the high tempo of the game, some of these might be missed. Therefore I am going to try…
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Watching City's tactical variations is even more fun as you read Perarnau's latest book, La Evolucion Tactica del Futbol. From V-attacks with 'el falso 9' to WM with 'el delantero toro'. Thanks to Pep, we are sort of traveling within football tactics history with high speed.
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In last two weeks, I tried pointing out a few interesting tactical intentions, possible strengths/weaknesses about 7 national teams (NED, ENG, DEN, GER, SPA, BRA, ARG). I am rt'ing all those threads under this tweet:
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Xabi has a really special personality. This is a very unique type of leadership and charisma. What he is doing with this decision is something very rare nowadays, not only in football, but in every part of our lives.
🗣️ "I feel this is the right place for me"
Xabi Alonso has announced that he will remain at Bayer Leverkusen, despite interest from Liverpool and Bayern Munich ⬇️
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Conte's teams are unique in finding solutions at build-ups. Against one of the best high pressing teams, they could impress again w build-ups. They used a 4-2 build-up, and specifically tried moving Robertson to wider areas to create space for Kulusevski. It worked quite well.
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