diegomessi
Anxiously waiting for the next match
Beat Arsenal 5-1 over two legs and never really seemed to try 100%... not bad. Poor Arsenal they need to just burn it all down and start over
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Luftstalag14
Culé de Celestial Empire
Arsenal fans ransacking Barcelona Metro
AnnieSureshot
New member
Topolino
Gemusesuppe
serghei
Senior Member
Arsenal goal analysis.
Phase 1. Ter Stegen plays a long ball to Alba.
It was a mistake by Stegen here. He plays a very high risk 50-50% ball to Alba, in a moment when our defence was heavily out of shape. It is something we do a bit too often and it can cause a weakness in our defence. Like it did here. Busquets has Elneny under marking here. But Mathieu is out of the game, too far out to be able to catch either one of Ozil and Sanchez. Note that Ozil is not offside here, and could receive the ball in 1vs1 if a turnover happens.
Phase 2. Alba wins the duel but he passes the ball in a dead zone (red on the image). MSN was too far up, and the gap between midfield and attack allowed Bellerin (?) to attack that ball. Alba should have tried to pass it to Iniesta. Most important to note here is how out of position is Mathieu. He should not be as far away from Alba as he is here. The LCB and LB have to be able to cover one another. When one moves, so does the other. Alexis Sanchez has a lot of space here to go behind Alba.
Phase 3. Ball is won by Arsenal, and Alexis receives in a lot of space. Mathieu reacts slow and can't do anything to even try to contain Alexis. Alexis squares the ball without any opposition whatsoever. Very important, Mathieu's (tardive) move to close down Alexis triggers Busi's move to close down Ozil. Which leaves Elneny wide open at the edge of the box. Alba moves up, Mathieu moves LB, Busi moves CB. Which, obviously, leaves the central midfield area exposed.
Phase 4. Alexis plays a simple pass, Elneny has time to place a well-struck shot and Stegen can't get near it.
So, bottom line: Credit for Arsenal here, very good goal for them. Played offensive, caught Alba in a 2 vs 1 down on our left, exploited Mathieus slowness (both in reaction and in anticipating the danger early) and found the unmarked man for a clean strike.
Phase 1. Ter Stegen plays a long ball to Alba.
It was a mistake by Stegen here. He plays a very high risk 50-50% ball to Alba, in a moment when our defence was heavily out of shape. It is something we do a bit too often and it can cause a weakness in our defence. Like it did here. Busquets has Elneny under marking here. But Mathieu is out of the game, too far out to be able to catch either one of Ozil and Sanchez. Note that Ozil is not offside here, and could receive the ball in 1vs1 if a turnover happens.
Phase 2. Alba wins the duel but he passes the ball in a dead zone (red on the image). MSN was too far up, and the gap between midfield and attack allowed Bellerin (?) to attack that ball. Alba should have tried to pass it to Iniesta. Most important to note here is how out of position is Mathieu. He should not be as far away from Alba as he is here. The LCB and LB have to be able to cover one another. When one moves, so does the other. Alexis Sanchez has a lot of space here to go behind Alba.
Phase 3. Ball is won by Arsenal, and Alexis receives in a lot of space. Mathieu reacts slow and can't do anything to even try to contain Alexis. Alexis squares the ball without any opposition whatsoever. Very important, Mathieu's (tardive) move to close down Alexis triggers Busi's move to close down Ozil. Which leaves Elneny wide open at the edge of the box. Alba moves up, Mathieu moves LB, Busi moves CB. Which, obviously, leaves the central midfield area exposed.
Phase 4. Alexis plays a simple pass, Elneny has time to place a well-struck shot and Stegen can't get near it.
So, bottom line: Credit for Arsenal here, very good goal for them. Played offensive, caught Alba in a 2 vs 1 down on our left, exploited Mathieus slowness (both in reaction and in anticipating the danger early) and found the unmarked man for a clean strike.
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Catalan Fan
New member
He's still young, especially for a GK.Hope he stays.
klc123
Member
I'd say that's a bit unfair on MAtS.
He is young, distributes the ball excellently, and he is also a good shot stopper. He might need to work on his decision making, but you can say that about almost all keepers, even Valdes was susceptible to making mistakes occasionally.
Darko
New member
Alba just had to head it down to Iniesta and Suarez (I think) could have done a lot more to chase down the loose ball once Alba headed it, or at least chase after Bellerin once he got to it first.
Ter Stegen has orders from the manager to find our players, it's their job to control the ball/pass it once they get it, it's the most basic aspect of our game, hard passes into tightly marked players that use their skill to control it.
Our whole style of footbal is high risk, but if Alba lays it off to Iniesta it literally takes 5 Arsenal players out of the game. Iniesta passes it to Rakitic who then plays it to our forwards that are in acres of space against a disorganized Arsenal back four.
Ter Stegen has orders from the manager to find our players, it's their job to control the ball/pass it once they get it, it's the most basic aspect of our game, hard passes into tightly marked players that use their skill to control it.
Our whole style of footbal is high risk, but if Alba lays it off to Iniesta it literally takes 5 Arsenal players out of the game. Iniesta passes it to Rakitic who then plays it to our forwards that are in acres of space against a disorganized Arsenal back four.
B
beautifulgame
Guest
yes Darko however the ideal thing for Alba to do there is to hit the ball right down the line not toward the middle, in the case he does hit it to Iniesta it has be precise and he has to provide iniesta support right after more urgently than if he hits it down the line to player (safer option and optimal tactically).
To be fair to Alba, the pass could have been hit better and people could have helped by marking once the ball was lost -- Alba was caught by his indecisiveness to close down the ball (optimal) or the man behind him. Matheiu did not close down the man down the line and it was already to late really and no one had the goalscorer.
not a big deal given the aggregate score but we have faced similar issues with alba getting caught between two players like atleti's goal and some others.
he should have simply hit the ball down the line, if it goes out its much much better than losing it in middle. Or hit it to Iniesta like you say Darko but it has to be perfect.
To be fair to Alba, the pass could have been hit better and people could have helped by marking once the ball was lost -- Alba was caught by his indecisiveness to close down the ball (optimal) or the man behind him. Matheiu did not close down the man down the line and it was already to late really and no one had the goalscorer.
not a big deal given the aggregate score but we have faced similar issues with alba getting caught between two players like atleti's goal and some others.
he should have simply hit the ball down the line, if it goes out its much much better than losing it in middle. Or hit it to Iniesta like you say Darko but it has to be perfect.
serghei
Senior Member
I agree, but this time the pass to Alba was not indicated. Not when our defence was so out of position. And the pass itself is way too high. Alba didn't have time to control it and it became a standard aerial duel. Heading the ball in a precise manner is not exactly Alba's forte. Pass should have been with less height and at his feet, in order for Alba to be able to control it.
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