The Dissentient

Observations from the Dortmund game, UCL MD 6(first half):

Short 🧵⬇️. 

Will start with Schlotterbeck, whose over aggressiveness was pivotal in our early chances(poorly executed jumps) and consequently why(possibly) we had control for a lot of the first half. Our few early half chances perhaps helped push BVB in a more conservative 442 shape. 

We also had better means to play through Dortmund's press(which wasn't all that intense), either by Pedri moving to wide left to receive, Inigo driving forward at times to find Olmo btl or Raphinha on the left touchline to receive the pass from Balde, etc. 

About our pressing shape, Flick adapted in this game, changed how we usually setup, which involves both wingers pressing the two opposition CB's and Lewa with Olmo picking their two pivots, and our fullbacks pushing onto the opposition fullbacks.
https://x.com/_Dissentient_/status/1866513075039600787

Dortmund built with a single pivot(Nmecha, picked by Olmo) Lewa stayed on Schlotterbeck, Lamine deeper on Bensebaini, Kounde on Gittens, m2m in the midfield and the most interesting bit, the dynamic positioning of Raphinha and Balde most... 

importantly(something we discussed in the pre-game thread, https://x.com/_Dissentient_/status/1866513747176837583) whose marking depended on how Raphinha pressed who either stayed with Ryerson, leaving Can time on the ball or when he pushed up on Can, Balde followed up on Ryerson while Inigo on Duranville.

At about 41', when Dortmund bypassed our press, Reyna was found free in the middle not picked up which led to a 2v1  on Kounde's side, Bensebaini's cross into the box involved the questionable penalty decision on Inigo's tug on Guirassy.

Next time? 45', Can carries the ball to find Guirassy free, Inigo doesn't read the situation and Kounde for some reason is higher which forces Cubarsi to be attentive to Gittens. It's good that Guirassy didn't pick his head up and look for Sabitzer there. 

The best part of the half was that there weren't many Gittens vs Kounde matchups, one that was(part of the previous sequence of play), Gittens outpaces Kounde to find Guirassy in this spot, he misses the chance obviously. 

Will add the stuff from the second half later on, probably tomorrow below this or in another thread.

Barcelona vs Atalanta pre-match 🧵👇 

Atalanta press m2m across the field and have physicality to complement it, to combat this, you have to win your duels, protect the ball in dangerous areas in your own third and use their off the approach against them. 

How you do that?

- Drag their markers to create space elsewhere, 
- Disorient their backline for runners in behind,
- Quick passing combinations to cut through the pressure. 

Using two technical CB's is advisable but it will come to nothing if you don't dominate your duels first, that is why Araujo at CB and Eric ahead of Casado in the midfield, to hold their own while the likes of Lamine, Pedri, Balde.. can work their magic in tight spaces. 

Lewandowski has to play a pivotal role, not as much in his back to goal(though it will be needed at times as the out ball) but to drag his marker and leave Raphinha and Lamine, 1v1 against their markers in space. Whoever plays in goal, Tek/Pena will have ample time... 

otb, but they have to be smart in who they pick and when they do so. Absence of precision -&gt; it's a direct route for Atalanta on goal, and we will hardly get enough time to regroup defensively.

So far, it is about what Barca has to do otb, what about off of it?

Prior to that, as a reminder, under Flick we use one of these ways to progress the ball during the build-up:

- CB's breaking lines via passing,
- Balde's carries from deep,
- Lewandowski as an outlet sometimes, etc, then quick third man combinations to progress thereafter.

Off the ball, it is expected for Flick to ditch his usual pressing shape(used against back 4 sides) and go m2m himself.

This is where Eric's presence in midfield could prove to be an added help. With Lookman out, things should be relatively easier for us. 

However, in the midfield/progression phase Atalanta could cause troubles with their wide rotations dragging markers all over the place and opening spaces that didn't previously exist, especially when our fullbacks have to go around chasing Atalanta's wingbacks. 

It'd be therefore better for us to settle in a block after the initial press is beaten, in a 433 block and wait for Atalanta to play it out wide and then press thereafter using the sideline as an extra man.

Win your duels, drag your markers and play quick with precision. 

That's it from the preview, the game should be a very interesting one barring some unnecessary refereeing intervention or bad giveaways or sending offs.

This will be a nice test for us would show how far we have come, if at all after the Sociedad game on a tactical level.
...

Btw, if you want to read more about how Barca can use Inter's positional rotations to dismantle Atalanta's M2M approach, read this excellent thread:

https://x.com/Ruxiiii4/status/1884194279805071855

Observations from MD 7, Champions League, against Benfica(🧵👇):

- Another world class game from Pedri;
- players looking fatigued from the get go, making unforced errors;
- Benfica targeting our weaknesses: narrow block, fullbacks high, switches, long balls, second balls. 

Benfica lined up in a 424 press, Luis and Kökçü marking Pedri &amp; Gavi while Aursnes joined Pavlidis in screening the central spaces and jumping on the CB's when they had the ball. To Cubarsi and Araujo's credit, they found Casado quite easily who was left free. 

Barca as usual pressed with their wingers coming narrow which caused a lot of issues on Kounde's side. To Benfica's credit, they switched the ball quick from one flank to another, Balde often could recover but not Kounde, who was found wanting on the first goal. 

Kounde had a patchy Nov-Dec period, he plays all the time and Flick's tactics expose our flanks tremendously, our fullbacks are also tasked to provide width and make over/under lapping runs often. So, when the team is not at 100% intensity and rest defense isn't... 

on point, our defense looks extremely porous and gets outnumbered quite easily on transitions. Now Flick's tactics aren't going to change but at the very least what we can do is rest Balde and Kounde in the not so high profile games. Ofc, both not at the same time.

What is clutch? Scoring last minute goals after being poor across the 90'? Or putting in world class performances after WC performances, game after game, across the 90'. Only fools will measure Pedri's performances via those metrics, he in this current vein of form is... 

the best midfielder in the world, no one comes close. He carries our midfield like no other, connects, creates, controls, defends and dictates, sometimes he also puts up G/A, simply generational. 

On the substitutions, Flick subbed out both of his fullbacks(who weren't having the best of games) as soon as Bruno Lage took out both his wingers(not a wise strategy) adding in more offensive firepower but more importantly allowing Lamine + Raphinha freedom in central spaces.

In fact, both of the subs made at 74', Eric and Ferran contributed in the goals, Eric scoring the fourth and Ferran assisting the fifth.

As much as there are defensive issues that arise from our pressing shape, fatigue, highline and narrow defensive block, what needs to...

improve is Cubarsi in the air and our CB's defending in the box. I felt Araujo had a good game in individual duels yet again but his awareness in this new system is not there yet, was the same at the start of the season for Inigo as well, will it be fixed with time, we will see.

As historic as this comeback was against Benfica, a game for the history books, it also serves as a warning yet again in many ways and a throwback to the Nov-Dec phase, something I've been hammering about all the time. Flick's tactics are not going to work if the players are... 

fatigued, rotation is paramount, as is keeping your best players fit for your most important games. There's enough quality on the bench to win most domestic games if used wisely and if possible the club needs to address attacking and fullback depth this window. 

Finally, Szczęsny's situation, in a small sample size of games he is proven to be better and worse than Pena but the game is of fine margins, you can't be gifting your opponents freebies like he did yesterday. Flick and his staff, yet again have to make a decision. 

If the team learns from the mistakes, improves the systemic issues underneath, then and only then this win will serve as any sort of mentality boost for the side, otherwise it will fizzle out, as we found out during Nov-Dec after beating Madrid and Bayern consecutively. 

This game should be used as a propellant and allow the teams to build but if the same transition dependent game plan persists with persistent and excess usage of the starters, we will continue struggling in the league, it will again show that lessons have not been learnt.

The uptick in Balde's form is largely his own doing, better concentration and better scanning before a cross(runs from the second line or first, cutback or a drive) but our left flank dynamics also have seemingly improved by some degree, there's a greater emphasis on using... 

@markstatsbot the left flank more since the Atleti game, better pass connections and an active attempt for Balde to be an arriving factor with enough passing options on that side. 

This is also perhaps tied to our performances seeing improvement since the turn of the year, with only one... 

@markstatsbot draw and six wins in the past 7 games. The overdependence of the team on the right side, on Lamine's flank made us a bit more predictable, especially for the opponent defensively but there's been a shift for the good. 

@markstatsbot More xAG, more SCA's and eventually more GCA's, Balde's hit his best run of form since the 22/23 season. This doesn't mean there's not room for improvement, there is but with better coaching and subtle tactical changes, we can get more out of our players, we already have. 

Observations from the Dortmund game, UCL MD 6(2nd half):

🧵⬇️. 

You can find the first half thread here: 
https://x.com/_Dissentient_/status/1867249307058921978 

Will start this one by addressing some comments I read yesterday, that Balde struggled against Duranville and Kounde had a great game against Gittens, I felt the opposite as I watched the game, Balde was beaten for pace only once while Kounde, a few times(led to a sitter missed.. 

by Guirassy as well) and was sloppy on the ball. Balde(47/50 passes), who was key in one or two early chances in the first half and Kounde(46/59 passes) was to his credit instrumental in our second goal but didn't have a great game whatsoever. 

Highline + no pressure on the ball, familiar?

The solutions we had in the first half(https://x.com/_Dissentient_/status/1867249686756593848) in the buildup were not present in the second, why? One of the reasons was Dortmund's pressing, more aggressive, with better intent. 

On our first goal, Pedri does what he usually does, sucks in 1/2/3 players to release others in time and space, Schlotterbeck makes another bad jump when Nmecha misses Olmo who then makes a top quality pass to Raphinha to finish off the move. 

Our pressing was all over the place in the second half, players picking wrong BVB players and getting easily played through, the intensity also dropped, perhaps the reason why Flick made those changes at 71', however not much changed in that dept. 

Dortmund's first goal is same thing we have seen over and over again, end to end game, poor decisions on the ball, poor composure and then eventually finding ourselves in a tricky situation where we lose our heads. 

The second goal, Ferran's first(who had a poor game otb aside from the 2 goals), is the usual Kounde run(Gittens doesn't do his job well on that) and Ferran finding a loose ball from Fermin's volley, Schlotterbeck and Gittens keep Ferran onside. 

Dortmund's second goal is sequence of errors, bad clearances, loss of duels, poor closing downs, infinite spaces b/w the backline, runs from deep not tracked, etc. you name it, and these goals have been more frequent as teams are finding ways to deal with our highline. 

On our 3rd goal, Groß taketh and Groß giveth, his error on the pass to Gittens is latched on by every present Pedri(who had a better game off the ball than on it, why?) -&gt; Lamine(excellent pass) -&gt; Ferran(horrible first touch, great finish, had all the time itw thankfully). 

I usually don't do this(talking poor performances in post match threads) but Frenkie's cameo was one to forget(2/7 passes) and no this isn't a question of profiling or whatever tactical mumbo jumbo you can come up with, these are extremely simple things,... 

elementary things that are criminal for a player of his experience.

Missing simple passes that put the team in danger, simple passes that couldn't give continuity to the team's play, positioning, pressing, marking, etc. one of the worst cameos you can find from a Barca player. 

Unfortunately, I don't see him getting a start anytime soon(and we need him to).

BVB dictated + dominated the second half, an issue that's been happening to us a lot recently and will keep happening until there are solutions coming from the bench, players and managers both. 

@FotMob Dortmund could very easily have drawn or even won this game on another day, one can talk about the errors we made and all that but the fact remains.

End of thread.

Observations from MD 15, against Las Palmas(long 🧵⬇️):

- extremely sloppy in possession, too many unforced errors;
- experienced players not dictating the game as much as required;
- poor closing down finally costing us goals;
- opposition teams getting smarter. 

Las Palmas setup defensively in the same way Osasuna did, mid/low block on the edge of the half way line. 442 with the two pivots covering the central spaces man marking Fermin. Sandro and Moleiro jumping on the respective fullbacks when they receive. 

Kirian marks Gavi while Fabio uses curved runs towards the CB to force the play to one side of the field blocking the pass to the other side/CB. However when that's not happening/on, they will just screen the two Barca pivots. The only way to play: OVER the block.

Another thing Las Palmas did well is to suffocate our flanks, once the ball goes wide to our fullback, the wide midfielder jumps, one of the front 2  covers the near side CB and the other picks our deepest midfielder(Gavi), the likes of Fermin, Raph, etc are all taken care of. 

In possession, Las Palmas were direct and long, as expected, often wide, they played a lot more long balls in this game than they do on average(35 vs 58 in this game), often utilizing the space behind the fullbacks as has been the case quite frequently in the past few games. 

If pressed, the counter is rather simple, drop one of the pivots deeper(he will be unmarked if the ball arrives from out to in, as now LP's block is shifted to one side and the LP pivot won't follow him that deep) switch the play quickly and attack within the next 2-3 passes. 

Despite an xG of 2.3(xGOT = 1.25), we didn't have many clear cut chances, the ones we did didn't take either, Fermin's chance at the 6' has to be taken as it sets the tone for the rest of the game. That said, on the balance we should have won this game.
https://x.com/_Dissentient_/status/1863136861759340548

Fermin being switched from LW to AMF in this game was something I didn't understand, he was doing well at LW, meanwhile Torre was playing in an area where his influence was minimized, he can't rid of his marker in that position and can't use his passing optimally either. 

However, most of the good in the attack came in the first half, it was through Fermin, staying at the back of the two pivots, finding nice pockets and quickly carrying/passing from there. It's another thing that we didn't capitalize these dangerous quasi transitions. 

Why is our highline a gamble(and we will come back to the two goals we conceded):
1. possession is lost, Inigo is out of position;
2. Inigo orients himself looking at Cubarsi(who is looking at the ball);
3. The passer has ample time+space to pick the pass, he isn't closed down; 

This offside isn't down to us doing something magical, it's the inability of the Las Palmas' player to keep himself onside b/c if he did, he'd have had a 1v1 like they had in the other two chances they converted, none of our defenders was catching him there. 

This is a complete gamble, it relies on the opponent's mistake that another day they will not, LP unfortunately didn't need another day. Ofc, sometimes we do pull our line higher to put opponents offside, that is an OFFSIDE TRAP, this is NOT, here we are basically doing prayers. 

How bad can a failed press may be? Lets see:
- Sandro spins behind Inigo who was late, before whom Balde was late, before that Pablo torre was... you can see it already. A well executed press is not as easy as it sounds, it requires proper timing and a lot of intensity. 

Now looking at the goals:

LP's first goal is very interesting, observe how their fullbacks are extremely deep, on purpose, our pressing shape means our fullbacks attack their fullbacks, now Kounde is rather reserved but Gerard Martin has gone to Mars to mark absolutely no one. 

You could call out Martin's inability to sense that he shouldn't be that high or our pressing structure getting exposed but leaving Sandro isolated with Inigo is asking for trouble. The whole sequence is like a house of cards.
https://x.com/_Dissentient_/status/1862864351545466957

Now here is where your Araujo solves the trouble(as he has done so many times in the past) or maybe a space eater in the midfield who just, just might recover back on time to help the defensive structure not getting so badly overrun. Maybe we did need a #6 after all or Araujo?

You could also question why Pena keeps backpedalling instead of sensing the danger and closing down the angles for Sandro but then those will never be answered, by now we know what Pena is going to save and what he is not. 

Momentum is a crazy thing in sport, when it is on your side you feel invincible, when not, you feel 50 yrs old, legs heavy and things that used to connect simply aren't connecting anymore. But that sort of analysis is..., while obviously mental fatigue is a thing...

this is not the case with this squad, physical fatigue however... clear example being Kounde who simply needs a whole game on the bench to clear his head. These run of games are simply a result of teams starting to figure us out better, our strengths and weaknesses. 

On our goal, Pedri finds Rapha in a pocket of space who takes a great strike to beat Cillessen. The little drag back to suck the two Las Palmas' players in has already been talked about from Pedri and deservedly so.
I'd talk about another thing here, this nonsense about Pedri... 

not controlling games or not being a player for adverse game states is a total blasphemy, these people don't watch the games, simply put or hate the #8. There's no player on the field who demands the ball as much and recovers as much as him when the game becomes challenging.

It is often said, right after you score/concede, make sure to control the ball/game state for the next few minutes, ofc we did the opposite. Got too sloppy in possession and then punished. I don't understand how people who re-watch our games say that our highline is a tactic...

when most of the time we are out of shape with no pressure on the passer. On Las Palmas' second goal, the easiest thing is to blame Fort until you watch the whose 6-7 minutes from our goal to theirs. The goal itself starts from a poor control in LP's penalty area,... 

then a missed Martin tackle(what is he doing?).
The backline in the 2nd image is still recovering, Munoz is not closed down well enough but no one is expecting his pass, not even Fabio Silva who picks it late, and the inertia of our backline means they don't recover. 

The likes of Kounde(again, who needs rest), Gavi(partly expected), Fermin, Pablo torre, Lewa, etc. didn't have great games, were exceedingly sloppy in possession even when not pressed and the offensive combinations were for the most part shambolic, partly to be expected for...

reasons I've talked about before.

Just on Gavi, I think he struggled in terms of understanding the requirements of the role from a defensive pov and didn't contribute much on the ball(smth I'm not worried about). Off the ball stuff will take time. He had a good game on balance.

On the most important bit, are teams getting smarter at exploiting our offside line? YES. Put that in bold if possible. Look at this for instance, our press hasn't been great throughout the season btw, especially closing downs. However, this is smart, two players... 

two players offside(can cause confusion) and angled runs made from deep. The offside line is  fine but the run coming from deep is neither tracked nor carries the possibility of being off.

Teams are doing that more and more, runs from the midfield/second line or fullbacks.

Would also add that if Balde had not been injured, we'd have won the game, he was looking really good in and out of possession, giving Viti(LP's RB) trouble before he eventually had to leave the field. Sandro not even getting a YC is something that can only happen in La Liga. 

It is the only league in the top 5 where off the ball you will get away with kicking, punching, strangling, etc. as an opposition(unless ofc you do it against the royal white) and the referee and VAR wouldn't even bother. It's a complete joke but well it's nothing new.

Finally, what needs urgent attention is the general sloppiness in our play. Opposition teams are already looking for a transitional game state, we make it even more to their liking by TOO MANY UNFORCED ERRORS IP. Look what it does to our manager.

End of 🧵. 

I will also post this thread on bluesky after a while, for those who have migrated. ⬇️ is where to find the account.

https://bsky.app/profile/dissentient.bsky.social