Yeah Milan were certainly more comfortable than the Irish and British clubs. I think they challenged them more in midfield, like the marking on Iniesta, but they certainly benefited from an out of sorts performance from Barça.
Surely what Barca are doing without the ball is as much to blame for their insipid display last night.
Their high intensity pressing in the opponentâs half under Guardiola allowed them to win the ball back high up the pitch and enabled them to play the game almost exclusively in the opposition half.
They havenât quite abandoned that but theyâre nowhere near as cohesive and aggressive in doing it under Vilanova.
Itâs allowing teams to get at their defence more easily as well as reducing their own efforts on target and touches in the opposition box.
Granted their passing and movement was below par last night but this other side also has a large impact.
Could somebody bump my post in the La Liga thread from last autumn where I first noticed this and said it would be their undoing later in the season?
no sign of Gola or carryharry today - no âgreatest team in the history of sportâ posts today
[quote=âBandage, post: 739705, member: 9â]Surely what Barca are doing without the ball is as much to blame for their insipid display last night.
Their high intensity pressing in the opponentâs half under Guardiola allowed them to win the ball back high up the pitch and enabled them to play the game almost exclusively in the opposition half.
They havenât quite abandoned that but theyâre nowhere near as cohesive and aggressive in doing it under Vilanova.
Itâs allowing teams to get at their defence more easily as well as reducing their own efforts on target and touches in the opposition box.
Granted their passing and movement was below par last night but this other side also has a large impact.
Could somebody bump my post in the La Liga thread from last autumn where I first noticed this and said it would be their undoing later in the season?[/quote]
I think you posted that on a weekday because it was directly after I mentioned it to you at lunch.
The intensity is certainly gone from their pressing. They belatedly and individually went after the ball very late on last night but itâs not the trademark of their game that it once was.
[quote=âRocko, post: 739707, member: 1â]I think you posted that on a weekday because it was directly after I mentioned it to you at lunch.
The intensity is certainly gone from their pressing. They belatedly and individually went after the ball very late on last night but itâs not the trademark of their game that it once was.[/quote]
Thatâs a blatant lie.
There has been some rubbish posted on here. It was nothing to do with Barcelona having an off day, it was everything to do with Milan being a better team, Barcelona âin their pompâ would not have beaten Milan last night as they way they lined out and with the discipline and shape they kept made it impossible, people can cry about movement as much as they want but it was the shape Milan kept which nullified Barcelona. I canât believe some of the rationale being bandied about here, Barcelona are one of the most boring teams to play football, they are filled with a ball hogs like Busquets and Xavi who look to just bore the opposition into submission before passing to their drugged-up star player. Iniesta is the only player in that side who looks to be creative on the ball. Milan have a long history of being trained by some of the greatest tacticians in the game. Zaccheroni, Capello and Sacchi were all wonderful tacticians and its obvious the traits have been left behind with the coaches at Milanello. Thereâs a well known story that when Sacchi first arrived at Milan he made them play five a side games with an imaginary football so it would improve their anticipation, movement, positioning and cohesive shape - that was the base to their victory last night.
On the points of some of the Milan performances last night - Iâve documented Montolivo and Ambrosini well but one player who I think didnât get any of the plaudits was Pazzini. He led the line superbly and bullied Puyol and Pique, donât know how Puyol didnât even get booked when he took Pazzini out with his head when he was going through on goal. I also canât agree with Mickee on El Shaarawy, the last thing I would call him is headless - he is the most composed young footballer I have seen since Totti broke onto the scene. Iâm very happy for Max Allegri who is a superb manager and he deserves this for the wonderful job he has done, some of you posters on The Huddleboard may recall that I have been a big fan of his for many years. I was putting forward his name for the Celtic job after Strachan left and Allegri was still with Cagliari. Constant has been a huge success at left back but Muntari is a weak link and he can be very erratic - hopefully Milan will have Flamini back for the return leg.
Rocko continues to make a fool out of himself.
This weekâs fixtures:
Tuesday -
Borussia Dortmund (2) v Shakhtar Donetsk (2)
Manchester United (1) v Real Madrid (1)
Wednesday -
Juventus (3) v Celtic (0)
Paris Saint Germain (2) v Valencia (1)
mickee will be filing his preview early this afternoon.
[quote=âIl Bomber Destro, post: 740609, member: 1052â]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=imE3o12SsNs
Best midfielder in the world right now.[/quote]
sensational stuff from the man that has taken DDRs mantle
[quote=âBandage, post: 743892, member: 9â]This weekâs fixtures:
Tuesday -
Borussia Dortmund (2) v Shakhtar Donetsk (2)
Manchester United (1) v Real Madrid (1)
Wednesday -
Juventus (3) v Celtic (0)
Paris Saint Germain (2) v Valencia (1)
mickee will be filing his preview early this afternoon.[/quote]
cheers pal, hopefully Rocko wont ban me just from the CL threads like he did last october during the original exposure of Effie Ambrose and the FenwayPark episolde.
may not get to it for a while tho as ive a bit of work to, have to finish an article on the Beitar / Maccabi Netanya game that i attended last night, have training at 8-30 ( GMT +2 Jerusalem . Istanbul, Ammann) and also have to put up a shelf in the house but i promise i will get something together
cheers for the reminder and apologies at not being attentive to the deadline
myoofc have been dealt a blow of Darren Fletcher proportions with the news that Englandâs Brave Phil Jones has been ruled out of the Real Madrid tie.
Despite his protuding jaw and weather-beaten head which makes him look 25 years older than he actually is, I think this is a big blow to Manchester United. Heâs impressed playing in a destructive role in midfield using his athleticism and strength and heâs been pretty good tactically with his positioning to snuff out danger too.
Steve Kean deserves a lot of credit for developing that side of his game
Michael Cox (Zonal Marking) has a preview of the United v Real game on the Guardian:
[article=http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2013/mar/04/manchester-united-real-madrid-tactics]Manchester United v Real Madrid: a tactical preview
There was a curious moment midway through the first half of Real Madridâs 2-1 victory over Barcelona on Saturday that showed how even Realâs most frequent opponents struggle to comprehend the scale of their counterattacking threat.
Pepe went down injured, so Real knocked the ball out of play near the halfway line to allow the defender to receive treatment. When the match restarted, Barcelona returned the ball to Real in the most cynical way possible â thumping it downfield to give JosĂ© Mourinhoâs side a throw-in close to the corner flag, then pushing forward to press, boxing Real into the corner.
It was highly unsporting, clearly, but it was also extremely foolish. Real absolutely thrive in those scenarios â dead ball situations close to their own goal, forcing the opposition to concede space behind their defence. Eight Barcelona players were now committed into Realâs half and within five seconds KakĂĄ and Karim Benzema were breaking against Barcelonaâs two centre-backs, the move coming to a premature conclusion with Kakaâs miscontrol.
At Porto, Chelsea and Internazionale, Mourinhoâs sides were always dangerous on the break, but his Real side are even better. The number of opposition corners Real convert into goalscoring chances is extraordinary and, worryingly for Manchester United, Realâs âbig-game strategyâ seems to work better away from the BernabĂ©u. Last weekâs 3-1 victory at Camp Nou was a fine demonstration of that, as was Januaryâs 5-0 win at Valencia, where Real completed the scoring before half-time.
Their five league defeats this season have come away against sides who did not attack persistently â Getafe, Sevilla, Betis, MĂĄlaga and Granada. Granada did not even manage a shot on target, scoring instead through an early Cristiano Ronaldo own goal, and managed just 28% of possession. But they did not need to attack, so they did not concede.
To stop Realâs counterattacks, opponents have realised that they cannot attack with great numbers themselves. Push the full-backs forward and it leaves space for Ronaldo and Angel Di MarĂa. Leave gaps in midfield and Mesut Ozil will punish you. Xabi Alonso can switch the play to the required zone with his long diagonals, while Sami Khedira can charge forward into spaces created by Ozil. Only upfront are Real anything short of top-class, where Gonzalo HiguaĂn has become Mourinhoâs first-choice centre-forward despite an underwhelming campaign. His movement is clever, though â he makes runs from left to right, dragging the centre-backs out of position to leave Ronaldo running one-on-one at the opposition right-back.
The interesting thing about Sir Alex Fergusonâs first-leg strategy was how he mixed an attack-minded starting XI with a very defensive approach. When Robin van Persie, Wayne Rooney, Shinji Kagawa and Danny Welbeck were all named on the teamsheet many expected an end-to-end thriller. Instead, Ferguson had decided Welbeck and Rooney were best suited to the defensive jobs in wide roles, rather than the out-of-form Nani and Antonio Valencia. Kagawa was utilised in the central, counter-attack-prompting role he played brilliantly at Borussia Dortmund, and his hat-trick against Norwich at the weekend might see him given another start.
On paper something similar to the first-leg strategy makes sense: United must defend solidly, yet offer a counter-attacking threat to keep Real from piling forward. A clean sheet would ensure Unitedâs progression â but the calibre of Realâs attackers suggests theyâll probably need to score.
Ferguson will be aware that many of Realâs defeats this season have been because of poor set-piece defending, which is unusual for a side managed by Mourinho. Welbeckâs opener at the BernabĂ©u was another example of this weakness, and United have scored 19 league goals from set-pieces this season, more than any other side in Europeâs major divisions. Defenders like Patrice Evra and Jonny Evans have been surprisingly prolific, so thereâs an obvious temptation to throw men forward at corners.
Realâs speed on the break, however, means that if they defend the set-piece successfully, United are immediately at risk of conceding.[/article]
Have done so well without him all year.
As Jose put it earlier its the match the world will stop to see. I just hope the match lives up the occasion.
Utd and Dortmund to go through tomorrow for meâŠ
Stam should really have closed him down a bit better there when he got to the byline.
Vamos el principe de Madrid - Fernando RedondoâŠ
think it will be 2-2 or 3-2 to madrid toniteâŠbenzema to get amngst the goalsâŠ
I take Real Madrid to win on the night but I wonât make any predictions about whoâll emerge victorious from the tie as a whole.