Ronald Koeman

[Rory]

It was an even game.

Barca had more of ball, more chances, hit woodwork twice and could have had a penalty.

Real were scrambling towards the end and not in control that second half bar punting it long to try and expose Barca defence pushing right up park.

Real hit the woodwork and should have scored a couple more. If all chances were taken the game ends about 7-4 to Real. That's with us chasing the game too. If they needed goals in the game how many more would they have created?

 

[Sorin]

For me it's clear, he fucked up the tactics in the first half. As soon as Modric/Kroos got on the ball they released their wingers with ample space in front of them as Dest and Alba were deep in their half. Lenglet is slow as a sloth and Mingueza's positioning was suspect to say the least. Coupled with Vasquez and Mendy being unimpeded going forward the result was clear. The CDM should cover the spaces of course but we have freaking Busi there, he was barely staring to run when they were in our box lol.

Also, 3 at the back with Araujo in the middle was a very poor decision. We often had trouble getting out of our half. For 3 at the back to work you need a distributing CB in the middle and Araujo unfortunately is our worst at this. He's also slow out of the gates, wasn't really in position to help either Lenglet or Mingueza.

As soon as we changed to 4-3-3 there was suddenly Dembele putting some pressure on Mendy, Vinicius had to help more while Mingueza had help dealing with the Brazilian.

Koeman is still getting out coached by everyone worth their salt. He has to do better, has to read the opponent better from the get go.

 

[Birdy]

I am, but don't feel Koeman should be in charge of the project, long-term. Look at him out there, man is trial and error, he doesn't really have a plan and is figuring it out on the fly, while it's happening.

I'd have more faith in Xavi due to him being an all time great payer in a key position on the field.

Trial and Error? How?

He had improved dramatically all the aspects of this team's game from pressing to passing better, positions, creating more.
Since January that's pretty clear.
You name that trial and error? Why? Because he is not dogmatic about formations?

That line of thought is out of reality.
When you reject all the improvement that's in front of your eyer, and you put your faith to someone who is questionable if able to manage that improvement we have seen already.

We are all angry and disappointed, as every Classico loss makes us feel, but that's not a reason enough to react emotionally

 

[Richard.H]

First half was all theirs, everything. They could have scored 3 if it wasnt for terrible blunders by Vini. Everything tactically was wrong for Barca in first half.

Second half Barca looked better. I still don't know why he subbed on S.Roberto though. No need, RM was already tired and playing in 2nd/3rd gear.

 

[JamDav1982]

First half was all theirs, everything. They could have scored 3 if it wasnt for terrible blunders by Vini. Everything tactically was wrong for Barca in first half.

Second half Barca looked better. I still don't know why he subbed on S.Roberto though. No need, RM was already tired and playing in 2nd/3rd gear.

Real were not playing in 2nd/3rd gear in second half at all.

 

[Barcaman]

First half was all theirs, everything. They could have scored 3 if it wasnt for terrible blunders by Vini. Everything tactically was wrong for Barca in first half.

Second half Barca looked better. I still don't know why he subbed on S.Roberto though. No need, RM was already tired and playing in 2nd/3rd gear.

How many shots they had, what about possession
Claiming it was all Real is laughable.

We conceded first due to sheer quality of Benz versus Araujo. We werent ripped apart and actually had 5 men versus 3 Madrid players at the back.
You can't blame that on the coach.

 

[Birdy]

Second half Barca looked better. I still don't know why he subbed on S.Roberto though. No need, RM was already tired and playing in 2nd/3rd gear.

That's the only mistake I would charge Koeman tonight.
He looked terribly off, Mingueza should have stayed at right back.

 

[soul24rage]

The first goal was an extremely poor decision of Alba. Should not have rushed in like that.

 

[fergus90]

In general I'm very satisfied with Koeman as a coach and think he's done very, very well. I will admit though I find his subs baffling and counter productive at times.

 

[JamDav1982]

The first goal was an extremely poor decision of Alba. Should not have rushed in like that.

..and if he does needs to clatter the player on ball.

One of first things taught in football is either ball or man goes past not both.

Cost me a good few red cards that saying but still in this case should have applied.

 

[Bobo32]

For me it's clear, he fucked up the tactics in the first half. As soon as Modric/Kroos got on the ball they released their wingers with ample space in front of them as Dest and Alba were deep in their half. Lenglet is slow as a sloth and Mingueza's positioning was suspect to say the least. Coupled with Vasquez and Mendy being unimpeded going forward the result was clear. The CDM should cover the spaces of course but we have freaking Busi there, he was barely staring to run when they were in our box lol.

Also, 3 at the back with Araujo in the middle was a very poor decision. We often had trouble getting out of our half. For 3 at the back to work you need a distributing CB in the middle and Araujo unfortunately is our worst at this. He's also slow out of the gates, wasn't really in position to help either Lenglet or Mingueza.

As soon as we changed to 4-3-3 there was suddenly Dembele putting some pressure on Mendy, Vinicius had to help more while Mingueza had help dealing with the Brazilian.

Koeman is still getting out coached by everyone worth their salt. He has to do better, has to read the opponent better from the get go.

Am I understanding you correctly that you think the CDM should cover behind the wing backs in a 3-5-2?
If so, Busquets isn't really the right one, but having another central defender should in theory make his role even more static and suit Busquets perfectly.

Mingueza-Dest and Lenglet-Alba didn't really have the right connection, and Araujo added little from the centre. I rarely see the right connections between players overall this season, it all looks a bit chaotic and sloppy to me to be honest, the movements aren't synchronized. Despite Koeman playing the same players almost everytime, he messes about so much that I think it confuses the players.

 

[JamDav1982]

Real hit the woodwork and should have scored a couple more. If all chances were taken the game ends about 7-4 to Real. That's with us chasing the game too. If they needed goals in the game how many more would they have created?

They were not cruising and waiting to go up gears and score at will.

 

[serghei]

For me it's clear, he fucked up the tactics in the first half. As soon as Modric/Kroos got on the ball they released their wingers with ample space in front of them as Dest and Alba were deep in their half. Lenglet is slow as a sloth and Mingueza's positioning was suspect to say the least. Coupled with Vasquez and Mendy being unimpeded going forward the result was clear. The CDM should cover the spaces of course but we have freaking Busi there, he was barely staring to run when they were in our box lol.

Also, 3 at the back with Araujo in the middle was a very poor decision. We often had trouble getting out of our half. For 3 at the back to work you need a distributing CB in the middle and Araujo unfortunately is our worst at this. He's also slow out of the gates, wasn't really in position to help either Lenglet or Mingueza.

As soon as we changed to 4-3-3 there was suddenly Dembele putting some pressure on Mendy, Vinicius had to help more while Mingueza had help dealing with the Brazilian.

Koeman is still getting out coached by everyone worth their salt. He has to do better, has to read the opponent better from the get go.

Absolutely for me.

This is the problem with 3-4-3 and 3-5-2 imo. With a 4-3-3, the wings are done by pairs. RW/LW + RB/LB. So in this sense, fullbacks go really high up in a controlled manner, usually when the winger makes an inside run and leaves space open for an outside overlap. In moments where you have control.

But with systems where width is ensured on both ends by the fullbacks because everybody else plays narrow, everything on the wings is hugely, HUGELY dependent on the engine and the performance of the fullbacks. Fucking, hell, not even in the age of peak Alves the 3 at the back didn't work, under fucking Guardiola.

Tremendous tactical fuck-up. Here, this is before the goal.

It's simple really. Alba goes up because without fullbacks very high, you have no width in attack, Benzema goes wide to exploit the space available wide, you see Valverde picking up and pinning a defender (Lenglet), and then the Madrid fullback pushes up in space, with absolutely no-one to block him. Because well, your only wide players are caught up. Notice how huge the distance between Alba and Vazquez is.

It's naive by Koeman. 3 at the back doesn't work against team with the ability to switch the play on the wings quickly. They will find a motherload of space whenever they win a 1 vs 1 or whenever they switch the play fast.

 

[Sorin]

Am I understanding you correctly that you think the CDM should cover behind the wing backs in a 3-5-2?
If so, Busquets isn't really the right one, but having another central defender should in theory make his role even more static and suit Busquets perfectly.

Mingueza-Dest and Lenglet-Alba didn't really have the right connection, and Araujo added little from the centre. I rarely see the right connections between players overall this season, it all looks a bit chaotic and sloppy to me to be honest, the movements aren't synchronized. Despite Koeman playing the same players almost everytime, he messes about so much that I think it confuses the players.

Yeah, the CDM should not let the opposition wingers get 1 on 1 with our CBs while Alba and Dest are caught up the pitch or overrun. Busi should close down the half spaces on either side, while the middle CB(Araujo) secures the center of the box with the other CB.

 

[serghei]

I fail to understand what Koeman's reasoning was really. I'd be fascinated to hear his arguments for why he thought this would work against Madrid. I bloody hope he had better arguments than just "it worked vs Sevilla away, so why not".