ACHRAF

✍️ Arsenal averaged 6.6 PPDA against Tottenham.  

It seems that Arsenal's intensity while pressing regenerated itself leading to turnovers and creating opportunities from such situations.   

Let's assess how Arsenal suffocated their rivals Tottenham.  

🧵 [Tactical Thread] 

This is the 2nd minute, Arsenal presses zonal in a 4-4-2 mid-block. A pass from Gray to Drăgușin triggers Havertz to pounce, forcing him to go toward the touchlines. Only options vertically on the same line with Drăgușin are available: Kulusevski.... 

...Lewis-Skelly jumps over from Kulusevski's right side to regain the ball, Arsenal turnovers. Ødegaard, Havertz &amp; Rice attack the right side to vacate the center for MLS to move inside. Gray is forced to shift across to cover Drăgușin space leaving Sterling behind. 

This is where Tottenham's advanced FBs cost the team as Gray is obligated to shuffle across. As a result, the RHS is free for Sterling to exploit. Tottenham are 4v5 as the numerical advantage is in Arsenal's favor. MLS targets Sterling in free space. the 1st chance is missed. 

Here, Kulusevski dispossesses Trossard.

Arsenal maintains a 3+2 rest defense shape.

Gabriel and Timber protect the HS, Saliba covers the central corridor whereas Partey and Rice adjust their positions to support the play, cover the LHS and the center, also to counter-press. 

Rice intends to cover Lewis-Skelly zone (wide channel) &amp; Partey closes off the passing lane on Kulusevski to find Son.

-&gt; Kulusevski is forced to play backward to Pape Sarr, So Tottenham is obligated to go wide to allow Arsenal to arrange. Porro tries to find Kulusevski behind. 

In this example, Arsenal cages the Spurs who just played the throw-in.

Spence can play to Drăgușin but he opts for Bissouma. When receiving,  the latter cannot turn to face the other side of the pitch as Declan Rice jumps over.

Bissouma is forced to feed H. Son. 

Once Timber regained the ball, Arsenal went on transition.

Havertz and Trossard attacked the back post, Rice behind near the spot as the same line as Ødegaard who picked out Sterling who headed toward the byline to play the cross.

But, he failed to deliver a neat pass across. 

You can notice here Gray points to Spence with his hand to play to Drăgușin.

However, once he passes to Bissouma Arsenal players swarm &amp; block off all the passing lanes across and behind, forcing Bissouma into an unfavorable situation ahead. Timber wins the duel vs H. Son. 

Arsenal kept forcing Spurs to go wide or to play long.

Kinsky here feeds Pape Sarr, but Rice jumps onto him from his strong foot side to close off Sarr's right side and keeps running if he plays backward.

Notice how Arsenal blocked off Pape Sarr left options.

Kinsky plays long 

Gabriel steps up sticking to Solanke who drops in

-&gt;Arsenal regains the ball.

Tottenham problem in covering channels quickly after they lose the ball is what hinders their poor OOP. Also, Arsenal fast execution &amp; swift attack after regaining contribute to Spurs' feeble shape. 

Here, Solanke opts for going up to cover the center instead of blocking off the lane on Gabriel.

Son realizes the situation but the distance is too long for him to do the task.

As a result, Gabriel can access Ødegaard. Then, Sterling, Havertz &amp; Rice attack the 3 central lanes. 

This scene happened nearly 3 times between 16 min &amp; 20 min &amp; could result in a GA.

It's where Havertz curves his run to block off the angle on Kinský to find Drăgușin. Ødegaard &amp; Rice stick to Bissouma &amp; Sarr to prevent the bounce pass to Drăgușin.

Kinský stresses out. 

Kinský either launches a long pass, So Gabriel strives in the air, gets shaky until Havertz arrives and cuts the ball off, or plays a miscued pass that can result in a turnover.

Below, Timber (out of shot) jumps over but he gets doubled up by Spence and Bergvall. 

Postecoglou instructed Bergvall to drop (below).

Tottenham could access Drăgușin through Bergvall bouncing the pass off to him. But, Kinsky played toward his right where Sterling went to dispossess him near the touchlines. 

Arsenal's 2nd goal was the cherry on the cake.

You can see Ødegaard telling Sterling to shift his attention toward Spence. He does and Spence is forced to play backward or to Bissouma.

He opts for the 2nd choice. Partey &amp; Ødegaard swarm &amp; regain the ball. 

Pedro Porro advanced position vacated the LHS for Trossard to exploit. 

In addition, Pape Sarr didn't shift toward Trossard to cover. So, once the ball was cut off, Havertz dragged Spurs CBs toward the right freeing the left for Trossard.

Trossard finds the back of the net. 

Tottenham seemed to have a solution to Arsenal Press.

Maddison drops off to play a bounce pass to Drăgușin. Spurs recycle back. Arsenal ditches the idea of maintaining +1 in defense so, Timber jumps onto Spence.

Bergvall moves toward the ball side. Pass &amp; Move was was the key. 

Spurs gave some hints to solve Arsenal's press through wide positions interchanges but they surrendered which gave Arsenal the upper hand to suffocate Tottenham in their half.

Arsenal was top in all defensive phases: Rest defense, high press (zonal-&gt;man-to-man), def transitions.

That's a wrap! 

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✍️Tottenham vs Manchester United: Tactical Takeaways

➖Man Utd press takes an ascending curve;
➖Overload to isolate was effective but the last act lacked (crossing quality, inability to act in 1v1,...)
➖Tottenham press generates holes for Man Utd to exploit behind.

[Thread] 

First, Lisandro Martinez doesn't seem to be going through his best days defensively. That's one of the mistakes he committed that could lead Tottenham to a dangerous situation. Here, Porro drives Bruno Fernandes wide to open the for Drăgușin to find options. 

Pape Sarr shifts across and Ugarte follows. At the same time, L. Martinez jumps onto Sarr allowing Kulusevski to indent behind the space vacated behind. Pape Sarr's dummy run deceives both Ugarte and Martinez which saw Kulusevski receiving and finding Madisson. 

Before let's dissect how Madisson is found free in zone 14. Lindelöf was forced to cover behind Lisandro Martinez, Solanke's decoy run dragged Leny Yoro with him. That saw Mazraoui overloaded at the edge of the box by Madisson and Son. So, Kulusevski feeds him alone. 

Fortunately, Mazraoui jumped early onto Madisson before he could slide it to Son who was going to face the goalkeeper in a situation where he would probably score himself.

Amorin traces are concrete over time. Overload to isolate becomes one of the patterns Man Utd relies on to create 1v1 situations on the underloaded side. But before, Man Utd's build-up improved a lot bypassing Tottenham's press and generating the situation for the switch.

Here, H. Son presses L. Yoro without closing off the angle on Mazraoui. Once the Moroccan RWB receives, he moves inside with Eriksen dropping off to take Mazraoui's place. Bissouma ditches the idea of following Eriksen and pointing to his teammates to take care of him. 

No one responded &amp; Mazraoui fed Eriksen. Tottenham LB, Spence advancing high up the pitch with D. Dalot pushing up on the opposite side created a 4v3 in the last line. So, Eriksen played a diagonal long pass into Dalot's feet. 1v1 vs Porro but Dalot didn't deal with it correctly. 

Tottenham pressed in something close to 4-3-3 with Sarr &amp; Maddison occupying Bruno &amp; Ugarte and Bissouma covering between the lines and having an eye on Eriksen who exploited the distance with him and Bissouma to receive, thread, and progress from the middle 3rd to the final

Here, Bissouma shifts toward Bruno leaving Eriksen free to roam. Ugarte's deeper movement drags Madisson, opening the center for Dalot to find Eriksen. Bissouma late on the jump allows Eriksen to thread with Bruno Fernandes who has all the way in front of him to drive forward. 

Manchester United's press targeted to set wide traps to regain the ball in a 5-1-3-1 shape. Hojlund initiated the press with a curved run to close the angle of one of the CBs and jump onto the other, forcing him to play wide. Man Utd players behind were swarming to pounce. 

This is how Man Utd found the free man. 5 Tottenham players press Man Utd 5 players responsible for the buildup (3+2) with no one stepping up to press Mazraoui in the RHS, L. Yoro picks out the Moroccan. The gap BTL is enough for Mazraoui to switch the play to Dalot on the left. 

Maddison and Solanke dropping deep appeared to be the key to bypassing Man Utd press with some of the players from Man Utd side losing concentration or putting more emphasis on controlling Tottenham midfielders by doubling up given their importance in Tottenham's buildup.

Here, Maddison drops deep and Yoro tracks him up. Solanke comes deeper and Lindelof is in pursuit. Man Utd backline is vulnerable given the space behind left in Son's hands against Mazraoui (1v1 situation). Man Utd press was good until Bruno decided to stick to Sarr with Ugarte. 

Bruno Fernandes decision to leave Porro free and stay close to Pape Sarr allowed Maddison to feed Porro BTL. As a result: Large space behind to swim into. Porro set Son with a diagonal pass but fortunately, it was in the goalkeeper's direction. 

When Man Utd kept close distances from Tottenham players with a good distribution of the personnel &amp; effective press initiation by the strikers, Sprus CBs or GK were forced to play the ball wide, especially to Kulusevski. Then, Bruno, Dalot &amp; Ugarte swarmed to regain the ball. 

Space &amp; time are crucial to determine the quality of the press. Being late due to the distance the player has to cover before he arrives at his man means cracks in the defensive system. That was the issue in Tottenham and Man Utd press when one of them bypassed the other press.

Take a look at the distance Kulusevski has to cover to prevent Martinez from passing: Mission impossible. That leads to Bruno traveling to Porro's place vacated due to Dalot's wide position. Bruno receives, combines with Zirkzee, &amp; cuts the ball back. A domino effect takes place. 

Tottenham's late in the press &amp; the distances they have to cover lead to the same scene (below) but it happens in Man Utd's def third. Kulusevski distant from L. Martinez, Porro tracking Dalot saw Garnacho swim in space (Sarr has to cover) receiving Martinez's progressive pass. 

Despite Porro sticking to Garnacho without jumping onto the wide Dalot, Lisandro Martinez could pick out free options due to the same problem of Kulusevski and distance. As a result, Dalot has space to carry the ball and look for alternatives inside. 

Manchester United sustained the possession, patiently circulating the ball in search of a gap in Tottenham's block. Control while having the ball seems to be the new face of Man Utd under Ruben Amorim.

Man Utd's press was good at setting wide traps, especially on the right.

Both teams suffered when their press lacked coordination (big distances to cover, misreading of the situation, numerical superiority in the buildup).
Man Utd looked versatile with more tools to progress: overload to isolate, progressive passes, and long balls from Martinez,...

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Barcelona 1st GA vs Atalanta:

—Nothing could beat a heavy m2m marking other than mvt &amp; counter-mvt to free space coz you manipulate opponents.

-&gt; They only have their actions as information to react to it.

—Bellanova vertical jump onto Balde opens the diagonal passing lane. 

—A diagonal pass requires a specific body orientation &amp;supplies the receiver with at least 3 directions to pass the ball.

—Raphinha dummies his deeper run knowing Lewandowski's subsequent actions &amp; attacks the space behind Djimsiti.

-&gt;Barcelona goes in a self-made transition.

A small mistake in the press could cost Manchester United.

—A. Diallo didn't curve his run properly to press Alisson and screen Robertson behind.
— The system of 3 men pressing has its cons, as here, Alisson could play over Diallo even if he curved his run well. 

—Luis Diaz drops to receive Robertson's pass with De Light late on the jump.

—Mac Allister stops his running with Ugarte isn't aware of Mac Allister's movement, Ugarte's eyes are on the ball.

—C. Jones Free BTLs with neither Bruno returning nor one of the CBs stepping up. 

—Ugarte pushed himself back further from Mac Allister who moved wide.

—Curtis Jones is free in midfield and Arnold is also alone on the right side.

Liverpool easily progressed through simple patterns and Manchester United misread the situation. 

✍️ Manchester City - Manchester United: Amorin's 2nd win vs Guardiola in a month, Tactical Analysis

➖Man Utd wide combinations to progress;
➖Man Utd found the spare using "overload to isolate";
➖5-2-3 setup was good but with some defensive lapses City could exploit.

[Thread] 

Firstly, Man City aimed to progress by offering Matheus Nunes the space needed to push the Man United block backward. To do so, Gvardiol joined Gündoğan in the pivot forcing Amad Diallo to follow and M. Nunes dropped deep in the left to receive and carry the ball forward. 

In addition, Gündoğan occupying Fernandes in midfield supplied Nunes with time to carry the ball as Fernandes needed time to travel. That time was what Nunes had in hand to progress and feed Doku on the left in 1v1 against Mazraoui Or recycle again in the Man Utd Half. 

Man Utd insisted on revealing Man City's defensive lapses in transition. In this example, Man City lost the ball and looked to rearrange their lines preparing to press. So, Man City players jumped onto all the possible options near De Light &amp; around him... 

Man Utd exploited the transitional moment that took Man City to rearrange between two states: In possession and off-ball. As a result, Man City lost compactness while transitioning between the 2 modes and left passing lanes available for De Light to pick out options (Mount BTL). 

Credit to De Light for his thoughts of playing a line-breaking passe taking 6 players out of the equation. That helped Mount find Dalot who had been preparing for the counter by operating in a higher position that put him after in a 1v1 vs Walker. Dalot crosses lacked accuracy.

Man Utd Press prevented Man City from progressing through and forced them into playing long balls to Nunes or De Bruyne who came deep down the wide channels. By doing that, Mazraoui, Dalot (or Lisandro Martinez) jumped over closing the angles toward the inside of the pitch.

In deep buildup, Man City's front players stayed close to Ugarte &amp; Maguire when he stepped up. So, the bounce pass to switch to the free CB or WB wasn't an option in the beginning. However, Amorin used one of the WBs to switch the play to the free options on the opp side. 

Also, Man City shape OOP allowed Man Utd to generate the free man on the opposite side of the play as Doku had to mark Maguire, and De Light so Mazraoui was the free option on the right. By the time Man City shifted across, Diallo already combined with Mazraoui &amp; took Nunes on. 

Man Utd kept generating the spare through numerical superiority in wide channels by making one of the DPs shift across, overload one side of the pitch &amp; isolate the WB on the other side to be in 1v1 against the FB, or combine with the attacking midfielder next to him. 

Man Utd combinations (well-drilled) on one of the pitch sides were eased also by Man City's laziness in the press. Here, Mainoo drags Doku to the right wide channel allowing Ugarte to shift across and provide Mazaroui as a passing option (Also De Bruyne doesn't stick with Ugarte) 

Mazraoui to Ugarte then to Mainoo behind Doku's back to set Diallo behind the backline but he was offside. KDB letting Ugarte move toward the ball side and Mainoo behind Doku who has no awareness of the position of his man makes Utd's combination look smooth for progression. 

Man Utd sitting in a 5-3-2/5-2-3 mid-block means the numerical superiority is on Man City's side. And when Gündoğan advanced BTL, the central combination possibility was unlocked. Here, Foden's movement catches Ugarte's attention a bit, so he distances himself from Gündoğan. 

So, Walker feeds Gündoğan to access De Bryune who drops short without being tracked. A domino effect occurs: Ugarte shifts toward Gündoğan-&gt;L. Martinez jumps onto De Bryune-&gt;Foden travels behind Martinez-&gt;Maguire has to cover behind as a result Haaland is free to assist Foden. 

Man City press was unable to stop Man Utd's wide combinations. Here, Haaland keeps an eye on Maguire in case De Light feeds him. Therefore, Man Utd setup generates a 3v2 on the right flank with Gündoğan covering nothing behind. De Light has Mainoo as a spare man to pick out. 

Another wide combination with numerical superiority (4v3) down the right put Diallo in a situation where he could move inside and switch the play to L. Martinez. Man Utd progressed by finding the spare man, switching the play &amp; combining (Dalot, Fernandes then to Diallo (header)) 

When Man Utd was in a numerical match Hojlund's (spare man between the lines) deeper movements were a key component in progression as he came short (below) to receive and release A. Diallo in 1v1 (vs Nunes) which led him to play the ball toward the back post for D. Dalot. 

Before the game, it looked like Man City would have the numerical adv due to Man Utd's setup OOP unless one of the back 3 stuck to Man City players BTL to prevent him from being a target. When De Bruyne went out, Gündoğan took his place up front while Kovačić was in the pivot.

Here, Martinez is late in the following. So, Ederson finds Gündoğan as the free man. Then, Haaland comes to the middle of the park to link between Foden &amp; Gündoğan who runs behind. Gündoğan dropping deep created +1 in mid and a free man behind who could exploit the space behind. 

Playing over and behind Man City block was the cherry on the cake and a reward for A. Diallo's superb performance. L. Martinez spotted Diallo's in-depth run with J. Zirkzee pinning Ruben Dias enabling Diallo to find space in the center to crash and put the game to bed. 

✍️ Real Madrid Press from dynamic situations is Primitive. 

Players aren't aware of follow-up sequences and are distant from their men which allows the opposition space and time to act.

Let's assess How Real Mallorca easily bypassed "Real Madrid High-Press"

🧵 [Short Thread] 

This scene is from the 1st minute and is a domino effect. 

Rodrygo vacates his position and jumps onto Mallorca DM, Mascarell. The diagonal distance is too long for him so he arrived late. Mascarell has time and space to access the CB that J. Bellingham covered by his shadow. 

Rodrygo's jump on the DM must be followed by Valverde taking responsibility for Mallorca LB. Rodrygo &amp; Valverde have to swap their men as Rodrygo is the closest to Mascarell in this scenario. It wasn't the case.

Notice that Vinicius Jr vacates his space &amp; runs toward Mascarell. 

Rodrygo leaving his space and Valverde not jumping onto the free man allowed Mojica to be free. Even Rodrygo returning to his position didn't prevent Mallorca from progressing around. Lucas Vazquez denied Darder and Larin from combining. 

This Ex highlights Real Madrid's shoddiness in transitioning from a mid-block to a high press.

Bellingham presses CB Raillo without closing off the passing angle to prevent him from finding the DM. Camavinga and Vini Jr are too distant from DM &amp; CB (Gap between 2 lines of press) 

So, Raillo finds Mascarell, who passes to Valjent. Camavinga leaves Mascarell and goes to cover the space behind Mendy because the RB Maffeo drops off to receive from the CB. Neither Valverde nor Bellingham shifts across to man-mark the DM Mascarell. Also, Mbappé didn't retreat. 

Valverde retreats to mark Sergi Darder, Bellingham doesn't shift &amp; Mbappé doesn't jump (he's too close) to prevent Mascarell from receiving freely: an available player.

Maffeo had the option to pass behind Mendy to Rodriguez but he opted for Mascarell and Mallorca recycled back. 

Here, Valverde and Camavinga force Mascarell to play backward. The crack appeared when F. Mendy (out of shot) didn't jump on Dani Rodriguez. So, Valverde is tied (the goalkeeper could play over) and couldn't jump onto Morlanes. As a result, the GK feeds Morlanes (free option) 

Morlanes picked out Maffeo near the touchlines. The 2nd crack resided in: Bellingham didn't close off inside of the pitch and the front part of the ground to prevent Maffeo from finding free options ahead. Also, Rodriguez moved toward the right dragging Mendy with him vacated... 

the middle of the park for Vedat Muriqi to drop off, receive, and set Dani Rodriguez in space (3rd man-combination) as Mendy was attracted by Muriqi's deeper movement. So, Mendy lost parts of a second to Rodriguez to create separation and drive forward to play the cross to Larin. 

Real Mallorca was able to walk around Real Madrid Press but they fell short of continuing progress to the final 3rd and creating chances. Also, they didn't take some risky passes to free options ahead and they opted to recycle back. It'll surely not be the case vs elite quality. 

That's a wrap! 

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Real Madrid front players had clear instructions to use dribbles to bypass Barcelona's offside trap, highline. But, the problem: it was arbitrary. Barcelona came with answer to that: pounce on the ball holder in numbers. That why restrained freedom is valuable.

A system must be designed to maximise players individual abilities. Relying just on individuals will result in 2 inevitable outcomes: either you'll display a supreme performance or you'll hit rock bottom like Real Madrid vs Big teams in recent occasions.

There is no level in between which brings sustainability matters to the surface. Real Madrid under Ancelotti has been always fluctuating between 2 extreme levels: low and high. That's where &amp; why systems emerge necessary to maximise players potential and decrease questions...

... and problems that might pop up in the players minds the day of the game. Systems tend to provide answers to complex situations that might lead to chaos and disastrous results.

System yields Organisation, "absolute Freedom" produces Chaos and Mayhem.

—Liverpool's sideways rotations and the CMs late runs threatened Manchester United and generated space in their defense.

—Luis Diaz wide or central attracted De Light's attention.

—Jones and Mac Allister shifting wide generated central free space. 

—Jones &amp; Diaz wide pulled Ugarte &amp; Mainoo, Diallo with Mac Allister, and Robertson advancing high and moving De Light across.

—Bruno is a bit high because of Arnold's position and Gravenberch is on the same height as Hojlund. That stretched Manchester United between the lines. 

—Gravenberch sneaks behind Hojlund's back into space to receive Diaz's pass.

—Gakpo as a false nine penetrated the box between Maguire and Lisandro Martinez. &amp; with De Light attracted by Robertson, he was late to prevent Gravenberch's pass. 

—Here again, Dalot jumps onto Arnold &amp; Lisandro Martinez dashes across toward Salah. So, the rest of the backline has to shift to cover.

—Again, Manchester United's Between the Lines is stretched, so Jones and Mac Allister could exploit the box through late runs from behind. 

—Konaté with a diagonal ball feeds Salah on the wing. Bruno is close to Arnold's narrowed position.

—Jones runs toward Maguire, Luis Diaz against De Light-&gt; the space is freed for Mac Allister to run into with Mainoo &amp; Ugarte late on the follow. 

Link of the analysis, below:
https://x.com/LamdarhriAchraf/status/1876207096565207417