AM10’s — Footy

I felt Barcelona’s issue was the lack of frequency in playing through the middle. Often, circulation was too stale. There wasn’t enough pace in the switches to find players between the lines. It improved in the 2nd half though. The goals we conceded were very unnecessary.

1/ 

I also felt Lewandowski’s link-up / back to goal game has become a legitimate hindrance — he has the right intentions, the execution is simply poor. It affects our ability to play through the middle in such games against compact blocks. Raphinha - Baldé also lacked synergy.

2/

Benfica kept utilizing long switches—which made it easier for them to play out of our press &amp; those switches were  successful due to how tucked in our FBs are, while defending. The high-line being so high doesn’t add to the efficiency while pressing—flexibility required.

3/

If the line is always so high despite the circumstances, it gives the opponent a legitimate advantage. If situation comes up, and your opponent knows this is exactly what you’ll do &amp; you won’t change no matter what — who does it favour ultimately? It’s unnecessary running.

4/

High intensity, high pressing, and a high line are good and add to Hansi Flick’s dynamic philosophy. But, the excessive height of the high-line being a non-negotiable seems to be the one factor that could hinder the potential of this team under him—esp. long-term.

5/

@RuriBarlow had mentioned how Barcelona’s defensive height was a bit lower against Real Madrid in the Supercopa final—and, that actually made a massive difference when it came to siphoning out transitions and not allowing them to run in-behind with much planning.

6/

The substitutions he made to go for the game are commendable nonetheless, but his rigidity with the high-line is one thing that could self-sabotage his team’s potential success more than anything. I do stand by the fact that the team’s ability to create highly is key here.

7/

There also needs to be an understanding that football is a game of advantages. In games where we’ll be missing a few chances and won’t utilize all the high quality of chances we receive, there’ll be a need to be make small tweaks to our defensive set-up to make it less risky.

8/

There needs to be lesser of a focus on trying to make our OOP risk-proof because that’s not the intent. It’s all about being more dynamic and better up front than the opposition. Create more than we concede—in terms of chances and goals. But, we can do that more sustainably.

9/9