Champions League Game Day 2.

[Duchene2MacKinnon]

United won comfortably in Moscow and thanks to Lukaku scoring, I won some money.

Most aren't happy with either outcome.

 

[Loopy0ne]

I need to own that black Hazard jersey asap.

EDIT: This feels more like Sherdog Forums now

 

[Blender]

Chelsea controlled most of that game, so I was thrilled when Bats scored the winner in the 93'. Huge win.

 

[Jussi]

Most aren't happy with either outcome.

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

I'm not claiming it doesn't work based on any quantitative data - so confirmation biased it isn't.

At the moment I'm just asking questions. I would actually love it if I was wrong - nothing would be better than Dortmund being successful playing like this. I highly highly doubt it though.

The problem with the system is that the team doesn't have the players to play it or at least the fit players to play it. I think it'll look better with Bartra back in there, Toljan to RB, Schmelzer or Guerreiro at LB, but everyone is injured, so its a makeshift back line, and it was exposed.

 

[ScottishCanuck]

Whoa new forum.

Anderlecht were shockingly bad. After the first 20 minutes I thought we settled well, but we didn't need to play to our potential to beat them fairly comfortably. Suprising and a huge win for us.

 

[John Pedro]

If PSG can sort out their defensive issues... look out. Ney, Mbappé, and Cavani are simply lethal on counters.

 

[Cassano]

Mbappe's move to freeze Alaba was unreal.

Real gonna regret not buying him.

 

[Deficient Mode]

The first two goals yesterday had nothing to do with a high-line or too risk tactics, that was just bad defending in these situations. I doubt that Dortmund would've got any more from this game if they had sat back (which they aren't used to do anyway). Keeping Madrid from having much possession in their half was good imo.

In the end Real simply is better individually at nearly every position and that showed. If Dortmund wanted to take anything from such a game they would've had to convert their chances, of which they had two excellent ones right before the Madrid goals.

No. The one thing the first two goals had in common with the rest of the game was that Dortmund's weak side wide defenders did a pitiful job marking Real's wide players on long, diagonal ball. In that sense the Bale goal was very much in order with the play before.

The pressing didn't work yesterday. I agree that in general you have to try to press Madrid but Dortmund's version was too predictable, and they weren't ready to defend long balls out of the press.

 

[Virtanen18]

Chelsea were fantastic today for 97% of the game. Way to go, Bats.

 

[Evilo]

Alaba is still trying to understand where the ball is

Anyway, I'm mixed about PSG's win. Clearly the score is great. The play on the pitch wasn't however. Either the plan was to let Bayern keep the ball and play counter, in which case it was wonderfully done, or they sit back after the early goal, which is never a good idea.
One thing though, they clearly decided to let Kimmich and Alaba cross all night and rely on their central D, and that was a great decision. Alaba is a tad dangerous on crosses, but Kimmich can cross all day long without being dangerous.
In the end, Bayern didn't have many good chances either and Thiago Silva's game is the 101 of a CB rule play. Amazing once again.
Mbappe burnt the Bayern D on every counter. Sule must still wonder what the heck is going on when he's one on one with him.
Although Neymar had a goal and assist, Mbappe was the better player of the front 3.

 

[Havre]

The problem with the system is that the team doesn't have the players to play it or at least the fit players to play it. I think it'll look better with Bartra back in there, Toljan to RB, Schmelzer or Guerreiro at LB, but everyone is injured, so its a makeshift back line, and it was exposed.

I agree with all of that. And IMO just strengthens my argument of being a bit more pragmatic. Ideally you have perfect coverage so that injuries don't influence your style, but in reality, especially with multiple injuries, that is not possible.

Now I'm not sure if this new trend with extremely fluid formations and playing styles is the best way to go, but I'm convinced that the "old school" way of playing the same way regardless is also gone. I remember myself playing at a fairly decently level how difficult it was to deal with unpredictable teams. Games tend to find a certain rhythm. Teams that can disrupt that rhythm have a huge advantage compared to the current Dortmund. Bosz might make some adjustments at least when he gets to know the team better. Not sure.

 

[Vipers31]

Alaba is still trying to understand where the ball is

Anyway, I'm mixed about PSG's win. Clearly the score is great. The play on the pitch wasn't however. Either the plan was to let Bayern keep the ball and play counter, in which case it was wonderfully done, or they sit back after the early goal, which is never a good idea.
One thing though, they clearly decided to let Kimmich and Alaba cross all night and rely on their central D, and that was a great decision. Alaba is a tad dangerous on crosses, but Kimmich can cross all day long without being dangerous.
In the end, Bayern didn't have many good chances either and Thiago Silva's game is the 101 of a CB rule play. Amazing once again.
Mbappe burnt the Bayern D on every counter. Sule must still wonder what the heck is going on when he's one on one with him.
Although Neymar had a goal and assist, Mbappe was the better player of the front 3.

I'd agree with most of this. Kimmich can be very dangerous, though, he just wasn't last night. In general, when our only idea is to go for crosses, we're not that hard to defend against. I was surprised to see PSG play that deep, but Bayern didn't create more than a few mid-to-low level scoring chances, and weren't able to capitalize, so I can't blame PSG, either, obviously.

Given our form, the result isn't coming as much of a surprise. It has been a while since a 0-3 wasn't at least somewhat shocking. Not sure what to make of it, either - I certainly have already soured on Ancelotti, and his squad selection for last night was certainly questionable again, and the team doesn't seem to have any coherent approach to neither attacking nor defending. That said, the game wasn't as bad, and being burnt by counter-attacking Mbappe/Neymar after going down on individual mistakes can happen to the best of them, and our ability to convert isn't on him, either. We're just kind of continuously in-between, and ultimately, that isn't good enough.

 

[Theokritos]

I only saw the first half, but you rarely see a team lose 0-3 when playing as well as Bayern generally did.

 

[cgf]

Does Ancelotti survive to the holidays?

 

[Evilo]

I only saw the first half, but you rarely see a team lose 0-3 when playing as well as Bayern generally did.

Yet they only had two chances. The Martinez shot (saved by Areola) and the corner header saved by Thiago Silva.
As Vipers put it, they had the ball but didn't make much of it.

 

[Vipers31]

Yet they only had two chances. The Martinez shot (saved by Areola) and the corner header saved by Thiago Silva.
As Vipers put it, they had the ball but didn't make much of it.

I'd add the Müller shot that went (well) wide on the sort side relatively early on, IIRC. It was in a great position and he's capable of doing better there, but it was a difficult one to take, so I'd only consider it a mid-level scoring chance, as well. The point definitely stands. It never felt like it was about time when we'd score.

 

[Evilo]

Yes he had great position.

 

[East Coast Bias]

Martial was magic last night.

After a spell of mediocrity, he’s playing the best I’ve seen him at United.

 

[maclean]

Mbappe's move to freeze Alaba was unreal.

Real gonna regret not buying him.

The commentators were talking about a large part of Real finally not pushing for him was that it would mess up the wage structure they've worked to put in place. Having an 18-year-old come in and suddenly be your second-best paid player would upset the balance. Which I can see

Although Neymar had a goal and assist, Mbappe was the better player of the front 3.

Neymar's goal was all Mbappe and really he was the one creating everything all night

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

Does Ancelotti survive to the holidays?

Better question is does Ulreich. Fruchtl better start getting warmed up.

 

[Vipers31]

Better question is does Ulreich. Fruchtl better start getting warmed up.

Yeah, that's bothering me, as well. Früchtl is supposed to be a high-end prospect. Ulreich doesn't really do anything well. I'm sure Früchtl has plenty to learn in regards to being commanding in his box and on crosses, but it's hard to imagine him not being an upgrade as a pure shotstopper already.

 

[Savi]

Whoa new forum.

Anderlecht were shockingly bad. After the first 20 minutes I thought we settled well, but we didn't need to play to our potential to beat them fairly comfortably. Suprising and a huge win for us.

Anderlecht are a huge mess right now, I don't even know where to begin. They fired their coach 2 weeks ago, mostly because their results have been poor but also because he was too defensive minded (in Belgium, Anderlecht are a bit like Real Madrid - they not only have to win, their fans demand they do with beautiful football and an attacking style of play). In the end it became a fight between the fans and the coach - and the fans won.

They have an interim coach at the moment, Nicolas Frutos from Argentina, who used to be their striker a decade ago. He was the coach of the youth team at Anderlecht and immensely popular among the fans. He is also a self proclaimed Bielsa adept and has been highly ambitious about wanting the T1 job at Anderlecht. So the board said, okay we'll give him a chance for about 4-5 games before we appoint a new manager. He's coached them for 3 games so far, highlighted by weird decisions, benching regulars, changing tactics and formation for each game and generally looking like he doesn't have a clue what he's doing. Cleary last night's game was a perfect example of that. How you manage to play a Scottish team at home and only have 30% possession I'll never know.

They will probably appoint Hein Vanhaezebrouck pretty soon. He left AA Gent yesterday after 3 highly succesful years in which he gave the club their first ever championship, and have them playing some of the best football we've seen in recent history in Belgium. Anderlecht have been pretty vocal about wanting him at some point in the future so now is their chance.

 

[Vipers31]

Does Ancelotti survive to the holidays?

Looks like he isn't surviving the afternoon.

 

[Bon Esprit]

Carlo just got sacked. Good for him and Bayern. Now he's free for China.

Willy Sagnol takes over for now.