Subs and Adan

defence

mids

Attackers

Some interesting findings:

1. Alonso and Sahin were like one man armies. They don't have a fixed position like RDM or LDM or RCM and LCM. They just move around all over the central midfield from sideline to sideline. Alonso was subbed off otherwise, he'd have stats like Sahin who covered 11,6km ground in his first debut game

2. Benz entertained mainly the left side, Higgy the right. Funny enough, Callejon and Ozil's heatmaps are very similar with the only difference that Ozil stretches the play even more towards final 3rd. You could also see that Callejon behaved like CR7. He is in shooting positions in the box from all directions

3. Lass did a very good job at right back, tactically and physically He should play more there, covered 10km of ground

4. Fun part about Varane, he doesn't allow anyone into the box from his side. Look at his funny heat map

I remember seeing Callejon all over the place so im not surprised

Sahin and Alonso cover a lot of ground, impressive.

Varane has a ridiculous presence on the pitch imo, he is responsible for Zagreb 1st goal but i dont think Mou will stick it to him too much, he needs to stay focus for 90min. He was great tho, made some strong tackles, and he is hard to beat in the air.

St_Nick09_of_Goal wrote:I remember seeing Callejon all over the place so im not surprised

Sahin and Alonso cover a lot of ground, impressive.

Varane has a ridiculous presence on the pitch imo, he is responsible for Zagreb 1st goal but i dont think Mou will stick it to him too much, he needs to stay focus for 90min. He was great tho, made some strong tackles, and he is hard to beat in the air.

You mentioned the first two phrases ( very halfhearted) just to comment on Varane later

Some more, it seems like we didn't play with a designated CF or a poacher at all in that game It was more like a 4-2-4 where Ozil and Callejon were involved deeper as well In other words, between Benz and Higgy, whoever could get into goal scoring position does that regardless of their 'roles' on paper
It did help that all four of them could play in each others positions without problems

babun1024 wrote:

St_Nick09_of_Goal wrote:I remember seeing Callejon all over the place so im not surprised

Sahin and Alonso cover a lot of ground, impressive.

Varane has a ridiculous presence on the pitch imo, he is responsible for Zagreb 1st goal but i dont think Mou will stick it to him too much, he needs to stay focus for 90min. He was great tho, made some strong tackles, and he is hard to beat in the air.

You mentioned the first two phrases ( very halfhearted) just to comment on Varane later

Some more, it seems like we didn't play with a designated CF or a poacher at all in that game It was more like a 4-2-4 where Ozil and Callejon were involved deeper as well In other words, between Benz and Higgy, whoever could get into goal scoring position goes that regardless of their 'roles' on paper

Yeah. That was the beauty of Benz and Higgy. Benz can play wing, cf and #10. Higgy can play wing and CF. So they switched almost at will. Benz is also completely two footed, so you really have no limitation on him. Higgy also showed that he can make good creative passes with someone who knows how to play with him...

babun1024 wrote:

St_Nick09_of_Goal wrote:I remember seeing Callejon all over the place so im not surprised

Sahin and Alonso cover a lot of ground, impressive.

Varane has a ridiculous presence on the pitch imo, he is responsible for Zagreb 1st goal but i dont think Mou will stick it to him too much, he needs to stay focus for 90min. He was great tho, made some strong tackles, and he is hard to beat in the air.

You mentioned the first two phrases ( very halfhearted) just to comment on Varane later

Some more, it seems like we didn't play with a designated CF or a poacher at all in that game It was more like a 4-2-4 where Ozil and Callejon were involved deeper as well In other words, between Benz and Higgy, whoever could get into goal scoring position goes that regardless of their 'roles' on paper

It's not my fault if his heat map makes squared turns to avoid the box

I dont think we did, i read somewhere 4222 so it's close enough, with players roaming all over the place. Callejon scored from the left and from the right. It was good for Ozil as well since he had a lot of freedom to roam and playmake.

Meh..... how was Varane at fault for the first goal ? I love the perimiter he sets up around the box........

Ozil - that is why he is one of the best.He can run the attack from anywhere on the pitch.It would be interesting if you could bring up the heat map from one of his weaker games this season....and compare it with this one.I'm almost sure that his movement would be more restricted.....

ragbirjosh wrote:Meh..... how was Varane at fault for the first goal ? I love the perimiter he sets up around the box........

Ozil - that is why he is one of the best.He can run the attack from anywhere on the pitch.It would be interesting if you could bring up the heat map from one of his weaker games this season....and compare it with this one.I'm almost sure that his movement would be more restricted.....

mistimed jump to head the ball, as he was in front of the CF and missed the ball by a hair.

That wasn't albiol ? Wow the power of suggestion.

sportsczy wrote:

babun1024 wrote:

St_Nick09_of_Goal wrote:I remember seeing Callejon all over the place so im not surprised

Sahin and Alonso cover a lot of ground, impressive.

Varane has a ridiculous presence on the pitch imo, he is responsible for Zagreb 1st goal but i dont think Mou will stick it to him too much, he needs to stay focus for 90min. He was great tho, made some strong tackles, and he is hard to beat in the air.

You mentioned the first two phrases ( very halfhearted) just to comment on Varane later

Some more, it seems like we didn't play with a designated CF or a poacher at all in that game It was more like a 4-2-4 where Ozil and Callejon were involved deeper as well In other words, between Benz and Higgy, whoever could get into goal scoring position does that regardless of their 'roles' on paper

Yeah. That was the beauty of Benz and Higgy. Benz can play wing, cf and #10. Higgy can play wing and CF. So they switched almost at will. Benz is also completely two footed, so you really have no limitation on him. Higgy also showed that he can make good creative passes with someone who knows how to play with him...

Someone is hating on CR7 again

St_Nick09_of_Goal wrote:

babun1024 wrote:

St_Nick09_of_Goal wrote:I remember seeing Callejon all over the place so im not surprised

Sahin and Alonso cover a lot of ground, impressive.

Varane has a ridiculous presence on the pitch imo, he is responsible for Zagreb 1st goal but i dont think Mou will stick it to him too much, he needs to stay focus for 90min. He was great tho, made some strong tackles, and he is hard to beat in the air.

You mentioned the first two phrases ( very halfhearted) just to comment on Varane later

Some more, it seems like we didn't play with a designated CF or a poacher at all in that game It was more like a 4-2-4 where Ozil and Callejon were involved deeper as well In other words, between Benz and Higgy, whoever could get into goal scoring position does that regardless of their 'roles' on paper

It's not my fault if his heat map makes squared turns to avoid the box

I dont think we did, i read somewhere 4222 so it's close enough, with players roaming all over the place. Callejon scored from the left and from the right. It was good for Ozil as well since he had a lot of freedom to roam and playmake.

4-2-4 in defence and 4-2-2-2 in attack Mind you, the positions for the last 4 players weren't fixed = a nightmare to defend against Where did you get the info? Your source is accurate

babun1024 wrote:

sportsczy wrote:

babun1024 wrote:

St_Nick09_of_Goal wrote:I remember seeing Callejon all over the place so im not surprised

Sahin and Alonso cover a lot of ground, impressive.

Varane has a ridiculous presence on the pitch imo, he is responsible for Zagreb 1st goal but i dont think Mou will stick it to him too much, he needs to stay focus for 90min. He was great tho, made some strong tackles, and he is hard to beat in the air.

You mentioned the first two phrases ( very halfhearted) just to comment on Varane later

Some more, it seems like we didn't play with a designated CF or a poacher at all in that game It was more like a 4-2-4 where Ozil and Callejon were involved deeper as well In other words, between Benz and Higgy, whoever could get into goal scoring position does that regardless of their 'roles' on paper

Yeah. That was the beauty of Benz and Higgy. Benz can play wing, cf and #10. Higgy can play wing and CF. So they switched almost at will. Benz is also completely two footed, so you really have no limitation on him. Higgy also showed that he can make good creative passes with someone who knows how to play with him...

Someone is hating on CR7 again

Not really. Higuain is not a creative CF by nature... so he's not going to do a lot of link up work and passing unless he has people around him who push him to do it. Benz and Higuain have that understanding between them. Since both are CFs, they know what runs the other is going to make and where to look on the pitch to find each other. CR7 does not have the natural instincts of a CF... and that's understandable. He's also a dribble first player as opposed to a pass first player that Benz is. Of course, Higgy is going to look to make immediate runs and play with Benz because he knows he will get the ball if open. More of a pitch personality thing... not hating on CR7.

ragbirjosh wrote:That wasn't albiol ? Wow the power of suggestion.

I went to double check to be sure, it was indeed Varane

Lass was completely fault at first goal as he allowed a cross into box with his terrible positioning,Varane could have positioned better but he positoned little bit right to cover for Lass if winger dribble him as neither of midfielders was helping lass.

second one was pure albilol,out of position and touching the ball back ward for genk player to cross.Lass's marker scored the goal though.

Adit wrote:Lass was completely fault at first goal as he allowed a cross into box with his terrible positioning,Varane could have positioned better but he positoned little bit right to cover for Lass if winger dribble him as neither of midfielders was helping lass.

second one was pure albilol,out of position and touching the ball back ward for genk player to cross.Lass's marker scored the goal though.

Lass hating dude... both were clearly not his fault. Varane shaded a bit IF the player were to make a move to get past Lass. But Lass stayed at home and the Zagreb player centered = Varane being very, very slightly out of position. If that wasn't an absolutely perfect centering ball, it wouldn't have worked for Zagreb. You have to give the opponent credit sometimes. That was too good.

Come on sportzy,i found that first goal as a very easy goal.Lass was supposed to block a cross into the box but he positioned horizontally.Excellent cross? yes could be blocked from the beginning ?yes.If it was arbeloa that cross wouldnt even take place to begin with.

Can you really blame Lass for the first goal? he was aligned with the defense when the pass went wide, moved to mark the winger, did not get beat but the cross went in early because he could completely close him down. I dont think he is at fault, at least not as much as Varane on the goal.

That winger had no shot at going past Lass, so he unleashed the cross as soon as he got the pass. Varane was actually following/covering the CF from the beginning of the action, never strayed right to cover Lass. The CF went in his back but Varane missed the interception.

look from 4:43

^ Disagree completely. Second one was Sahin's faut.................

Lass should've covered.......but Honestly it looked like Varane shoul'dve cleared that with his 6'5 self.

Anyway I don't really care about both goals......I would've expected them actually....none of the defenders had chemistry.........all goals could be put down to a breakdown of communication

I also hate our defensive technique on wings.

Our wing backs are always one on one with oppo winger,none of mids helps out Fbs.

It is due to our formation but still leaving Fbs against skilled wingers with lot of space to run into box isnt exaclty a great defensive technique.

That was an excellent cross,like di maria's against barca in del rey where Alves was in fault for allowing that cross,CBs cant do enough on that situations.Better way is to avoid crosses into box from the beginning.

The only reason Zagreb scored two was because we were up by 6. If the game was still at 1-0 or 2-0 we would have got a clean sheet, I'm confident of that.

Zealous wrote:The only reason Zagreb scored two was because we were up by 6. If the game was still at 1-0 or 2-0 we would have got a clean sheet, I'm confident of that.

yeah of course, concentration dropped, and the werent trying that hard since there was no need to over stress their bodies.