The Dissentient

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_/st...

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_/st...

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/disse...