Nah man, you can look it up. Even years ago people predicted Ronaldo would be an Inzaghi/ rvn type striker because of his off the ball movement.
, let's be fair, they both together do half of Muller's defensive work). Everyone is important, that's why 1 red card for any team is so crucial.
That's the problem. Pressing is done as a team to impede lethal situations from happening. The optics where you allow the other team to create attacks to stop them near your box is not what this team should be about.
Vidal was on the other side. He was left midfielder in 4-4-2. The action is carried mostly on our right, on Messi, Roberto, and Semedo.
On that action the midfield is Vidal (LM), De Jong , Busi, Roberto (RM). I'm sorry, but when Thiago looks to get on the ball near Messi, Messi can't just walk carelessly and allow Thiago to pick up the ball and go past him that easily. And break in midfield in space. Before you know it, like in the images posted, he's sitting in the middle of the pitch dictating the game.
Here, what's Messi's excuse here? Thiago in space to pick whatever pass he wants. Look at Suarez, the left forward. Messi as a right forward should be roughly in the same line with him, where Thiago is pulling the strings from. It's blatantly obvious that Messi is a huge defensive liability. He's not even in the fucking frame. Drifting miles away from the action walking at slow pace.
Here it's absolutely essential to press Thiago, since he can have multiple options to put his teammates in great positions. Only one that could have done it was Messi. If you had a player with decent defensive contribution, Thiago will not even have been a possible pass here.
This is exactly what happens when you do not press. Thiago just moves uo with the ball in space, and picks up passes with ease to multiple running targets.
If you watch the CL final, PSG attackers didn't allow Thiago to get on the ball and dictate the game like ours did time and time again. So Bayern used long balls much more than against us, hence why they created fewer chances in 90 mins vs PSG than they did against us in 10 mins.
Here is more in depth analysis of that moment when Thiago starts to dominate the play.
Our 4-4-2 position can be seen clearly, and is pretty decent and compact, except for one player. Who is the player in that image that is not where he needs to be in order to defend this action well? The one that doesn't contribute at all. At this point, everyone is where he should be (or at least somewhat acceptable) except Messi. Even Suarez is keeping the shape compact. But not Messi, Messi is out, allowing Thiago to make the play happen.
Also, further developing on Semedo's position. In my opinion, he does not make a mistake here, because we can see Pique keeping Perisic in check. Semedo presses Alphonso into a safety pass, and at the same time blocks the direct pass to Perisic with his cover shadow. If Messi does his job here, in this moment, we are well placed. The pass to Perisic is neutralized both by Semedo through blocking the path, and by Pique by direct marking.
After Messi's error, there is another error at the exchange of positions by Pique - Roberto. Pique goes back to his center position as the ball is played back to an open Thiago. But his movement is not picked up by Roberto, who should, as a free player having no one next to him, drift wider and cover for Perisic. Because Perisic is the only threat by Bayern in this area.
The biggest defensive mistakes for me are on Messi and Roberto. Messi because he doesn't respect any defensive shape and doesn't perform any role defending, and Roberto because he doesn't move in synchronization with his teammates, especially Pique. Pique and Roberto are both well positioned to block Perisic, but after 3 seconds both lose him.
