Real Madrid 4-0 Tottenham: Spurs fall apart
The theoretical starting line-ups...
The early loss of a goal – and then a player – put Tottenham in a terrible situation they couldn’t recover from.
Jose Mourinho named his expected line-up. Emmanuel Adebayor played in the absence of Karim Benzema, who was injured, and Gonzalo Higuain, who was fit enough only for the bench.
Harry Redknapp named his expected starting line-up initially, but was then force to change his side when Aaron Lennon became ill before the game. Jermaine Jenas replaced him.
Real lined up as they usually do, in a 4-2-3-1, but Spurs used Gareth Bale on the right, with Luka Modric tucked in on the left and Jenas alongside Sandro in the centre. The away side struggled to get hold of the ball early on.
1-0
Spurs were quickly behind when Adebayor nodded in from a corner. There was seemingly some confusion about marking responsibilities - Adebayor was being picked up by Jenas, but this was surely a late switch, as there’s no way Lennon would have been picking up the Togo striker. Either way, it was 1-0.
The game was changed significantly by the dismissal of Crouch, for two silly, unnecessary lunges at Real defenders. Crouch was the man Real particularly feared – see the preview – and this obviously made Spurs’ task much more difficult. Bale moved to the left, with Jenas out to the right and Modric in the middle.
Real pressing
It was expected that Real would sit back and invite pressure, but instead they pressed high up the pitch and denied Spurs time on the ball. This was a particular problem when Real had a man advantage, of course, as Modric and Jenas, in particular, were unable to cope with being put under such sustained pressure. There was one moment where Modric got the ball and was confronted immediately by three Real players, which summed up the home side’s approach.
...and how the sides actually matched up after Crouch's red card
The only attacking route Spurs had was to get the ball to Bale. He did a decent job down the left – he caused Sergio Ramos some problems and shot into the sidenetting after a long diagonal pass, but Real’s advantage at the back meant they were able to double up on him, and Bale generally received the ball a long way from goal.
Tottenham defence
Tottenham actually did well without the ball in the first half. They kept their shape nicely, defended narrow and forced Real wide – and the last-ditch defending, particularly from Michael Dawson, was heroic at times. Real were patient and worked the ball from side to side – Xabi Alonso was the main who imposed this calm, intelligent passing style on the side, alternating passes to the left and the right, forcing Spurs to work harder.
There was a lack of penetration from Real, however. Their best attacking force in the first half was Marcelo, primarily because he was the only player who had space to break into (Ramos was concerned with Bale on the other side, so was more reserved). Mesut Ozil wandered to the flanks to create 2 v 1s, which meant Real didn’t have a central playmaker to create, but meant they sent plenty of crosses in, which Spurs were happy enough to deal with.
Second half
Redknapp chose to bring on Jermain Defoe for the second half. Although in hindsight it barely helped Spurs, this was probably the right move – Rafael van der Vaart had contributed nothing, and with Real playing so high up the pitch, Defoe’s pace was probably the best bet of getting up the pitch and creating chances. Roman Pavlyuchenko would have offered more of a hold-up presence, but with Spurs increasingly tired and not being able to work the ball forward up to a front man accurately anyway, Defoe ‘running the channels’ was a decent move.
Cristiano Ronaldo's shots
Spurs continued to defend well in open play – the second goal they conceded was also an Adebayor header after a (short) corner. The third came after Spurs conceded possession in midfield cheaply, but Real’s pressing caused that, and Angel Di Maria’s shot was unstoppable.
By the final twenty minutes the game had ceased to be a contest. Spurs couldn’t get the ball up the pitch, Real were intent on scoring as many goals as possible but were wasteful in the final third, and really there was little tactical battle to speak of. Cristiano Ronaldo added the final goal with – amazingly – his 14th shot of the evening.
Conclusion
Spurs found it impossible to recover from a terrible opening to the game. The concession of the first two goals from set-pieces is peculiar when they’d defended so well in open play.
Real had a fairly easy task at 1-0 and one man up, but credit should go to their players for their patience in possession.
Chalkboard from TotalFootball iPhone app
Real Madrid 4-0 Tottenham: Spurs fall apart
Stay on your feet!
The best was when he was complimenting Spurs for staying on their feet over a replay of Ronaldo (?) dancing through the penalty area and at least two Spurs players sliding in.
It was quite amusing to say the least! Or how about “Tottenham don’t deserve this, they have defended very well”…..when the score was 4-0
You beat me to it. Great comment I saw on twitter: “Please god make Ray Wilkins make a sexist remark live on TV.”
Someone else said “I wish Jamie Redknapp’s mum had stayed on her feet.”.
Waiting for inter-schalke…
Great match for tactical analyses…
Blimey give me time, I can only watch one match at once :S
Lack of compactness, no proper fullback tracking, Chivu.
There you go.
Willpower, stamina, and relatively good combination-football in Inter’s half did it for Schalke.
Haha! Nikola I can’t believe you just posted this!
Really dissapointing Crouch being sent off I was looking forward to this encounter the most because I wanted to see how Madrid dealt with the big man.
Ozil going wide to double up on the full backs was interesting, would have like to see him create from central areas.
Nice one Crouch. You have successfully put me as your role model.
My thoughts exactly,
Surely Leonardo can’t be that bad now could he? 2 games in 4 days that too. haha
it made me laugh
KEEP THE BALL!
Losing Lennon and Crouch and a goal within first 15 minutes was a lot to recover from. We did well though until tiredness and further injuries left holes for Madrid. You can see why Harry was keen on buying Aderbayour from City – he was the major difference between the sides when the game was still in the balance.
VDV did little and Defoe even less and Gomes had a bit of a mare with at least one and possibly two of the goals being saveable. Strange night overall. Madrid are good but not great. Barca will stuff them again I expect.
I think at this point Xabi Alonso and Marcelo might be the most important players for this Madrid team in terms of creativity, and Marcelo just opens up so much space for Ronaldo to be a goalscoring threat. Wow was Ronaldo selfish today, the plays almost always ended at his feet, albeit in the second half he was combining alot more and the side looked more fluid. Special praise for Ramos’ performance against Gareth ‘kick and run’ Bale.
There were a couple of decisions that didn’t go Bale’s way that should have done – Ramos should have been booked for his cynical bodycheck at the end of the first half……oh well, Crouch was very stupid and there’s not much else to add beyond that……
Yeah, but what about that obvious handball penalty in the 1st half? The defender raised his arms to block a dimaria shot. Should have been a penalty. Then, minutes later, another penalty shout when the defender simply ran into Adebayor in the box without playing the ball.
My point isn’t that the refs were against Madrid, but rather that it was a fairly called game with a few mistakes to both sides.
Good point ^ also worth noting Marcelo and Alonso are the two players who pas mot frequently to Ronaldo…
Perhaps I was imagining this, but it looked to me as if Ronaldo passed to Kaka more than any other player on the pitch put together, and he was only on for 15 mins
ronaldo had the third most passes of anyone on the pitch and completed an astounding 95% of them, the best ratio of successful passes of anyone on the pitch. This coming from am attacker is quite amazing. Basically the facts don’t mesh with your eyes, but thats easy to understand as people tend to allow preconceived notions cloud their judgement.
definitely agree with what you have said. marcelo was brilliant throughout the whole game.
Oddly enough Ronaldo ranks fourth in total attempted (and completed) passes of all players on the pitch not bad for someone who was very selfish. :p
Yes Ronaldo has great passing stats, but those are sideways super short passes. What I mean by being selfish is that once he got the ball in the first half he would immediately look to get into a shooting position or hold the ball and slow the play down. His second half performance where he was passing and moving and combining in the final third was much better than the first. But then again, Madrid don’t really need him to combine and be a team player, because Di Maria and Ozil combine quite well and are more creative. He is the main goalscoring threat and it works currently for Madrid, so why change it I guess.
spurs barely had any possession, yet Bale ran ramos ragged several times!
You did not mention at all ridiculous referee decision..
Yes, silly from Crouch but what you can say about the ref? It was a CL quarter and he sent off a player in the first minutes for a tackle that ended in a slight touch..
This is to be expected. Every time a team loses their fans come out and blame the refs. What about the penalty or TWO that should have been awarded for Madrid in the first half that were not? It reminds me of Arsenal when they got their butts kicked by Barca without registering even a SHOT. They blamed it on the sending off as well, but at least they had a reason to complain as that sending off was ridiculous. This sending off was 100% warranted and if you don’t see that you’re allowing your anger and emotional bias to get to you.
No, it’s not pal..
It is the CL quarters.. You do not settle a game like this.. it was more than austere..
(of course di maria shot and handball was a penalty, but all this was history after crouch sending off.. No one believed spurs could ever come back from 1-0 down and 10 men..)
No-one ever believed that City would come back from 0-3 down and ten men but they did…
At least with ten men, your team managed to get shoot on target bro. OH sorry! Shoot on goal I mean…
Well, if you do not want a game settled like this, then you better tell the players of your preferred team not to perform mindless sliding tackles (legs stretched, feet forward) into the other team’s players.
I mean, what kind of logic is that: “You do not settle a game like this”?
The referee simply should apply the rules. It does not matter when in a game a bad tackling happens, or what tournament it belongs to, or does it?
Anybody that thinks the referee’s decision was harsh doesn’t know football. That is one of the most ridiculous things I have ever heard on this site. The referee didn’t spoil the game, Peter Crouch did with two terrible and needless tackles.
You’re going to have to explain why it matters that it was a Champions’ League quarter final. Two bookable offences are two bookable offences regardless of circumstance.
please..
we all know bookable is something merely relative
So your point is that Crouch shouldn’t be sent off, for its CL and because it’s only the “highest” point of football, we should not be rigorous in the referreeing?
You’re crazy, full stop. Blame it on Crouch, not on the referee.
Crouch’s tackles were very late. Pepe did a similar challenge on Bale and he was handed a yellow. Ramos also should have been carded for his body check of sorts late in the first half.
I don’t think the referee got those wrong. He certainly didn’t have a perfect game but they were clearly yellow cards.
No, I don’t mention refereeing decisions, it just leads to boring comments and squabbling on the comments section and doesn’t really add anything to the analysis.
But, for the record, i thought they were unquestionably both yellow cards, and the stage the game is played at doesn’t matter.
Agree on the first part, but when a sent-off happens so early, it determines the whole game.. Tactics are undermined..
Fine display from Real, but can anyone really judge the game?
So? It was Crouch’s fault for diving in, not the ref’s that he got sent off.
A referee is there to govern the game not to make up for player’s mistakes.
Not necessarily, in last years Inter-Barca match, when Motta was sent off, it forced Mourinho to change his tactics to ultra-defensive park the airplane style and they ended up knocking out a team much better than them. If ‘arry knew a thing or two about tactics, he would have parked the bus at 1-0 and tried to win it in London.
he did that..
But, even though the bus was there, the team could not cope..
But surely Crouch, who probably tunes in to watch the odd La Liga game, or a member of the Spurs’ training staff, must have known that you can’t go to the Bernabeu expecting to get away with Premier League standards of tackling – even if the referee is not Spanish.
Equally, the inverse would be true of a Spanish side visiting England in the Champs League; it would be naive of them to expect Spanish standards of whistle-happy, fussy refereeing as is the norm in La Liga. I recall how in Liverpool vs Real Madrid at Anfield back in 2008, Madrid’s defenders threw a tantrum and demanded a foul be given after Fernando Torres muscled Gaby Heinze off the ball to score Liverpool’s opener in what was a fairly standard Premier League-style display of strength. Madrid’s players simply stopped in their tracks expecting the ref to whistle instead of trying to close Torres down and prevent the goal.
As for tonight’s clash, it was simply brainlessness and awful professionalism on Crouch’s part.
If the Champions’ League Quarter-final is a test of mental, strategic as well as physical strength then he was clearly found wanting on the night.
It was Pepe that Torres “muscled off the ball”. He clearly pushed Pepe down and made him lose his balance, it was a clear free-kick.
Thanks for clarifying that, Unclesam
But my point is that Torres probably would’ve gotten away with that in an EPL game, so even if on balance we can say it was a foul, Madrid must have known that these sort of challenges are par for the course.
You’ve got to alert your players to these differing interpretations being a threat.
And by that I agree, if it was possible for Pepe to stand up, he should’ve chosen to stand up and not lie down because you NEVER know what the ref’s going to do, it’s the same when players stand still when they wave for offside, keep playing, if it’s offside it will be called, if not then it won’t.
But I honestly think that Torres fouled Pepe by making him lose his balance by using his hands but of course I’m not 100% sure, Pepe could dive (he has diven before, so it’s clearly a possibility).
Are that really the roots of to dive: “dive, dove, diven”?
Like in “to drive” then? (Not being a native speaker) I thought of “dive, dived, dived”. You see, that issue kind of affects me…
Without wishing to get into the rights and wrongs of individual refereeing decisions, I think you do raise an interesting point. There needs to be some kind of normalisation of what’s a foul/bookable offence/straight red and what isn’t, because the yardsticks used in different leagues are yards and in some cases miles apart. Just as Spurs last night – or at least Crouch – didn’t seem to get that any studs-up tackle that didn’t cleanly clear the ball would get a card, Javier Mascherano’s very first touch in the Liga got him one.
Conversely, even today, and even despite them having won the World Cup, any combination of the words “Howard” and “Webb” uttered in Spain will invariably be met with headshakes of disbelief at what they see as the man’s leniency bordering on wilful negligence.
The problem lies, of course, with the current laws of the game, peppered with weasel words like “excessive” and “deliberate” that are more open to interpretation than the complete works of Gustav Mahler. Until such time – and don’t hold your breath – as UEFA and FIFA can get all leagues and their refs to fiddle from the same score, the only solution is surely for managers to drill into their players’ heads the words “When in Rome…” – something that Redknapp seems to have forgotten to do yesterday.
That is exactly my point Archie;
until we live in a perfect world where, ideally, a ref will strike a fine balance between the over-protectiveness of La Liga and the licence-for-carnage of the EPL, preparations of players for Champions’ League ties ought to take this ambiguity into account; the tournament is after all a test of footballing intelligence.
Just a wild guess, but can it be the case that Real actually tried to get Crouch booked twice? The way Marcelo cheered on the second yellow, the way some Real defenders made Crouch important beforehand, and having Mourinho as coach (remember both his own double yellow tricks against Ajax?) – it doesn’t take away Crouch’s full responsibility, or perhaps Harry’s for not instructing him well, but I think Mourinho’s name shouldn’t be left out in this discussion.
I would probably agree if the defenders had all game to wind up Crouch but as it was at the start i cant see it personally. I think the Marcelo cheering was more that he now knew Spurs didn’t have an attacking outlet and one of the players they feared was off, rather than it being a game plan.
Anyway, sorry for straying off course and discussing refereeing decisions.
More than any inherent controversy, I was more interested in the psychological aspect of it, the responsibility for which must fall within the remit of the manager when preparing his players for these ties.
The most impressive thing to me was the defending of Madrid. They stole a page out of the Barca handbook and wouldn’t allow the opposition any time on the ball. And what was Crouch thinking? It was an obviuos 2 yellow cards. But why? I believe it was nerves. Trying to do too much and paying the penalty. With more cool/calm, he would never have done that.
Due to Madrid’s defending when they lost the ball, Tottenham were RARELY in positions of threat, even when they had 11 men on the pitch. Does anyone remember a time when SPurs had the ball and were passing it around in Madrid’s half? I admit, i can’t remember more than once. Spurs only threat came from long balls hit to Bale and that nice Ball throwin to VDV. It’s possible that the sending off helped Tottenham in the first half, because after being down to 10 men they parked a MASSIVE bus and held Madrid off the scoresheet. WIth 11 men they gave up 1 goal in 15 minutes of play, with 10 men they gave up 0 goals in 30 minutes of play (in the first half).
In the 2nd half Madrid just put the hammer down. They got chance after chance and Tottenham rarely if ever had an opportunity to get back in the match.
Very impressive performance by Madrid. Even if Tottenham had 11 men I cannot see how the result would have been different. Perhaps not 4, but i could have seen a 3-0 scoreline.
Impressive pressing from Madrid. I think this was due to Tottenham’s initial game plan and then the sending off (hopefully this makes sense to someone else). Spurs initial game plan was always to sit deep, look to counter and play off long balls into Crouch. As a lot of the pre-match analysis suggested Madrid were to keep a high line to negate Crouch’s ability to get in the box and be dangerous (at the far post). Right from the first whistle Madrid knew that Spurs would drop off, deny space in behind, make sure Ozil couldn’t find any space between the lines and play in a sort of 4-4-1-1/4-5-1 (how ever you want to say it) therefore the defenders of Madrid would only have the largely immobile Crouch to contend with and the two very competent Madrid holding midfielders in Khederia and Alonso matched up with VdV (leaving one man free) so ball retention and possession was going to be easy. Madrid knew they were going to have the lions share of possession but had to be sharp watching the break of Spurs.
This plays right into the hands of a team so that they can press. With Spurs sitting so deep in their half, and with front 4 (at least) of Madrid up high against Spurs, if they win the ball back right away nine times out of ten it is going to be awfully close to the Spurs goal in which they then can drive forward and look to score. But to me, pressing is synonymous with possession/ball retention. Think of Barca, when the forwards lose the ball it is easy for them to work hard to get the ball because they know if they get the ball back they are probably going to hold the ball for the next few minutes (often longer) giving them time to rest, get back to their desired position then make a run from there. I think of Pedro’s 70 yard tracking back run last year against Arsenal. Great work rate, but afterward he knew he could just walk back to his position while the rest of the team stroke the ball around. Because of their superior ball retention, pressing is easy for Barca! Madrid today was a similar story. The midfielders in particular could press the ball high, and press hard (sometimes over committing) because the reward of winning it was much higher than the risk of not.
Then with the sending off this just escalated things as Spurs dropped deeper and the threat of Spurs attacking was much less. Madrid were then encouraged to press on further. But this pressing is reliant on ball retention, as if you don’t have ball retention then pressing is too tiring/pointless and leads to scrappy frantic play. And cannot happen. That is why you don’t see teams like Stoke choose to sit in and defend deep because they don’t have the ability to possess the ball well enough to press.
Hope that wasn’t too long winded and made some sense.
Very nice post. I agree with you. Ball retention is quite important, and this is a subtle change in Madrid’s tactics today. I remember against Barca, they were not bothered with possession at all, as soon as they won the ball they would hoof it up the pitch hoping for a quick counter. Unfortunately, the players were out of position, and this would result in just turning the ball over. Today against Spurs, it wasn’t about how fast they could counter or hoofing it up the pitch. Madrid was extremely patient, when they won the ball back, they would pass it around a bit waiting for an opportunity, switch it back from the left ot the right, etc.
This was a counter-attacking side in Madrid today, this was a possession oriented side.
would it not have been smarter to use jenas in a shuttling role on the right/center then use bale on the left
why bale was supposed to be playing on the right ?
Yeah ZM please explain this. This is confusing tactic by Redknapp
Maybe he was being used on the right in an attempt to force back Marcelo who was causing havoc. This was because Jenas was never ever going to push forward beyond Marcelo so he knew he didn’t really have to defend too much. With Bale there and the threat that his pace and countering ability would (in theory) make Marcelo second guess storming forward knowing that Bale was a threat in the space behind him. Maybe…
Marcelo is known for one thing in Madrid, his atrocious defending. Perhaps it is because he gets too forward? I think this just exaggerates his defensive frailties. Even when he is in position, which is rarely, he lunges at the attacker and is beat 9 times out of 10.
That is, until this year when he has made SMALL advancements in the area of defending. Still, against Lyon in France, Mourihno decided to play Arbealoa instead of a healthy Marcelo at LB, Arbeloa, the man who is horrible at any sport in which a spherical ball is used. His tennis i here is as bad as his football. That said, he can defend. And so he was preferred over Marcelo.
That’s why Bale was tried out on the right. If they were smart, they would have left him there. Marcelo could not handle Bale, Ramos is a far better defender and much more physical. Although i’m sure that Marcelo probably got a lot of support help from Alonso/Khedira or the CBs.
I’m sure he was only put on the right when Lennon withdrew just before kick off. It wasn’t a planned move.
But because without Lennon they had no driving force down the right. With Lennon and Bale both playing they had the potential to pin back both Madrid fullbacks, or at least discourage them from attacking as much. Without Lennon, and with Marcelo’s impressive opening to the game, i think Harry wanted his most direct/pacey player to try to pin Marcelo back. So yes he was only put there after Lennon withdrew, but feel it was part of a previous plan that Lennon disrupted.
haha what an idiot.
I have to commend the unsung Khedira, as he instigated the Madrid press and did a great job of smothering Modric. Spurs had no time to spring counterattacks from the center, and that was largely due to Khedira’s work. While he’s not a true destroyer, he did a great job setting Madrid’s defensive tempo, while Alonso did a similarly excellent job setting the offensive tempo. A strong advertisement for Mourinho’s unconventional double pivot.
It’s always like that. I, too, noticed how underrated and unappreciated Khedira is. That’s the sad reality of these non-flash players who do pull all the strings in midfield. People remember the goals, the assists, the free kicks, the off-the-line clearances – the cinematic moments, Khedira hardly had any. The sad thing is that if Madrid get bored of this generation of players, Khedira would be one of the first to go in the garage sale.
You can be sure Mourinho and coaches in general value players like him very high.
agreed, if you know anything about football you value these players, general fans maybe not.
What about Jermaine Jenas? He seemed to be disappeared…
This game was hyped up to be a semi-final or a final, yet it’s clear there are three things that disrupted Tottenham tonight during the game:
1. The last minute replacement of Jenas instead of Lennon. He was even left out of the team sheet altogether because it was so late in the evening. The psychological impact of his omission from the team affected the on-field chemistry and Spurs looked entirely shaky from the off.
2. Adebayor’s opening goal on 4′ from a free header in the box was a damaging blow. It would have been ridiculous to ask either the 5′11″ Jenas or the 5′5″ Lennon to properly mark the 6′4″ Adebayor as neither one of those Spurs players are efficient in the air. Miscue from the marking responsibilities and it’s 1-0 down away early.
3. What was Crouch thinking? Two reckless and unnecessary challenges and he’s sent off just under a quarter of an hour. Absurd. Hats off to Redknapp for not making an immediate change and allowing his team to adjust and cope and they defended miraculously until the half whistle.
VDV was useless after the sending off, Bale relied on the long ball but was tracked by Ramos, and Khedira stuffed and pressed Modric relentlessly.
If it had been 11 v 11 for the whole match, I would have like to see the tactical battle between the two managers. Alas, it wasn’t to be. Though, I’d very much like to see two more Classicos added to the schedule. Would make for an interesting semi-final.
Shaktar?
Good analysis.
Do you think that playing Crouch was a bit of a double-edged sword? Playing Crouch meant that RM were always going to play a high line and thus meant constant pressing and Spurs conceding possession to a technically and individually better Madrid team.
P.S Bring back Andy Gray.
A commentator who notices Bale is playing on the right before 10 minutes are gone would be a start.
playing a high line would still be dangerous as bale broke the offside trap a couple of times with his pace and thats with spurs virtually having 0 possession
I just want to say that anyone who keeps thinking that Madrid needs a replacement at left-back for Marcelo is absolutely lost (*cough* Tommy Smyth *cough*). The only way you can discount Marcelo’s importance to this team is if you hear about this style of play (Brazilian full-back who likes to get forward) and immediately come to the conclusion that he’s useless defensively, or that he lacks interest on defense, or whatever other things get thrown out at most Brazilian defenders who like to move forward and help the attack.
Not only is the little man the reason that our attack is so successful (by pushing Ronaldo into the middle, and creating a crossing opportunity every team he’s on the wing occupying Ronaldo’s spot), he also shows a lot of heart (not to sound too cliche, but it’s true), and is definitely not lazy, even though many people like to assume that he is.
Dare I say it, but he really does have a lot of Roberto Carlos in him.
It’s not that they need a replacement for Marcelo, but a lot of people thought that for a team of Galacticos, they need THE replacement, Ashley Cole himself. A better defender, and a different kind of player altogether. Mourinho broke the rules to get Cole for Chelsea – I don’t see him breaking a sweat to get Marcelo. Marcelo has improved from the beginning of the season, but he’s more of a wingback than fullback.
Madrid doesn’t a need a player that replaces Marcelo, they only need a left-back to cover for him when he’s gone which, if you watched the game against Sportin Gijón, is now usually Arbeloa, who’s right-fotted. The sheer amount of damage Marcelo does on his own is tremendous and we (I’m a Madridista) need a player that can cover for him adequately and make sure we don’t miss his attacking thrust for even a game. He’s impossible to replace since he’s probably the best full-back if you only think about his attacking game (passes, dribbling, shooting, technique, he has it all) but if we had a player that could attack at a level of 50% of Marcelo’s level that would still be a good back-up left back.
Taiwo comes to mind, Cissokho as well.
How about Gael Clichy? Madrid almost bought him last summer and there’s a strong feeling among Arsenal fans that he’ll be leaving this summer ; he’s just with drawn from contract talks.
It is true that Ashley Cole is a more complete full-back, perhaps the maximum exponent of a modern left-back, but Madrid have already found a pattern of movements and adjustments to compensate for Marcelo’s defensive deficiencies; it helps that Ramos is a more defensive full-back-almost-centre-back who can tuck in and help the back line shift across to form a bank of three plus Khedira screening in front.
This adjustment is worth it in terms of the benefits Marcelo’s attacking presence brings to the team
Marcelo played predominantly as a central midfielder in the second half. It wasn’t even, as some people have lazily suggested, that he took the left wing slot so that Ronaldo could drift inside. That’s wrong.
Mourinho noticed that with Jenas playing significantly more narrowly than Lennon would have done and far more deeply (exacerbated, surely, by the sending off), there was no threat on his left back position. Time after time he cut inside. Indeed for the first 15 minutes of the second half they didn’t play with enough width.
Then the cameras cut to Mourinho shouting at his players to stretch the play and it was Adebayor, Ronaldo, Di Maria, Kaka… providing the overlaps down the left. They provided the real with, not Marcelo. Marcelo played as an AM level with or just behind Ozil, allbeit returning to leftback when they occasionally lost the ball.
If you go to soccernet.com and check out the Gamecast from the game, they provide you with the average position that each player played in. Marcelo’s was on the left-wing … his average position was a bit higher up the field than Di Maria’s!
Please man, there has to be some rule against comparing msrcelo to roberto. Football blasphemy.
Here’s a tip for Harry Redknapp.
Focus on your team and their attitude and behaviour before moaning about Rooney’s foul mouth.
The rest of the world can’t wait for ‘Arry to take up the England job and make a fool of himself and his country. Along with ‘Big Joe’ as his assistant.
4-4-2 and tally – ho …
Oh and really pathetic by the British commentators about asking for a card every time a RM player made a challenge. Can you people make yourself look any more stupid?
You won’t hear anyone defending the commentary last night. To be honest it’s always sickeningly one-sided when an English side is playing in Europe, but Wilkins managed to take it to another level entirely last night.
“Go Gareth go” being the pinnacle. Someone clearly had a word with him at half-time, because he toned it down in the second half.
More than that, it was really irritating to listen to the commentator advising what Spurs should be doing, only Spurs. Looked like they were paid by EPL
Ronaldo is by faaaaar the most selfish player eveeeeer!!!!
In the history of football we’ve always seen young talented promises that, at a very young age are always trying to score the best goal of their lives or to start and end the plays by themselves in every match that they play..
BUT that’s normal for a rookie, for a young talent who is living his first days on a top club!
What strikes me is that Ronaldo keeps playing like that rookie im talking about!
I mean, ok! he’s still very young but cmon! He should be a thousand times better by now, having all that talent, he should be creating plays, opening spaces… i might be wrong.. but he should be aiming to do what ronaldinho achieved, what messi is achieving… to name a few..
It seems to me that Mourinho, instead of changing Ronaldo’s play to be a team player, has taken a few players to revolve around him… look at Marcelo and Xavi.. AAAAlways playing for Ronaldo to score… but dont get me wrong.. it has worked beautifully many times!!..
but does anybody feel that Ronaldo needs to change his mercenary style once and for all?!
An interesting thought, and yes I do believe Ronaldo has the ability to improve his game even further (Intelligent movement between the lines, splitting “Riquelme-esque” through balls, defensive work rate, etc.), but, to be the devils advocate, why would he!? He is the most expensive player in the world (earning half a million a week), FIFPro world XI since 2005, Balon D’Or, FIFPro World player of the year, Euro Golden boot, to name a few. These individual trophies he has won from playing the way does now.
The world has huge appreciation for team players like Xavi, Xabi Alonso, Mikel, Buschquets, etc. But we also need the C.Ronaldo, Robben, Ribery, Nani, type players.
What makes Messi (and Ronaldinho at his prime) so phenominal is he can be the attack start point, the creator and the finisher.
I am not saying C. Ronaldo shouldn’t strive to also be able to do this, all I am saying is, does he really need to?
I disagree. 33 goals in 35 games last season, and 38 goals in 43 games this season as of writing; that’s 71 goals in 78 games. It’s obvious he’s very good at scoring, so why not abuse it? If it’s not broken, don’t fix it, I always say.
Messi can actually be pretty selfish sometimes too, and I know you appreciate players that link up more with their team-mates, but there are different type of players, and different ways to play football. Just because Messi and Ronaldinho does it, doesn’t mean every attacker has to do the same.
I would agree with this mostly. 14 shots and one goal..
Ronaldo would not improve until he also be generous to his team mates. Didnt Madrid look like a better team in the last few la liga matches, without Ronaldo. That says it. Whatever individual quality one may have, Football at the end is a team game.
This is why most people still beleive Messi will keep on improving. Which other player,I dont remember any, had 45 goals and 20+ assists even before the end of the season.
I really felt yesterday, Ronaldo is wasting lot of balls, just shooting out.
Yeah we looked so much better in the last few La Liga matches … we just lost to Gijon at the Bernabeu! What are you talking about?
This notion that Ronaldo is somehow more of a ballhhog than Messi, or than Ronaldinho used to be, is absolutely absurd. Yes, last night he took way too many shots, but PLEASE let’s not judge him based on 1 performance.
Oh so soon do we forget how great of a passer Ronaldo is:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3E4hxsd7rB0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bvtQwzu0NQ4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WraFT3Q9S3k
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGl9ap6W_YU
Fully agree. In fact I’ve written about Ronaldo’s extreme selfishness a few times in a Madrid’s blog but most often get dismissed with arguments like Elwood’s up here. Yes, many goals, but one has to look at the teams that allow almost all of those goals and the consequences that Ronaldo’s playing style has for Madrid’s offensive and defensive football. Of course it is very important to add up points in La Liga against lower half sides or against weaker teams in CL’s first round, but when meeting better opposition in high-stake matches Ronaldo’s production and influence tend to drop almost dramatically. Mourinho’s attitude towards Ronaldo can be further illustrated with the unconditional license given to the Madeirense to take every single free kick and continue to do so even when he, regardless of how good could have been years ago, is nowadays performing quite poorly at that. Last time I check the statistics was at the beginning of February when Ronaldo had converted 2 goals in 39 free kicks, one of the goals being a ludicrous thing that got its way in God knows how. With this I do not want to sound negative about Ronaldo, he is a very, very good player. I just miss a more commanding coach’s hand on him.
I’m not dismissing anyone’s opinion, I understand that the ideal way of playing football is subjective, and will never be unanimously agreed on.
The notion that Ronaldo only finish is completely false, he’s in the top 3 assistors of the team, behind only di Maria and Oezil, as well as the notion that Ronaldo only produce against weaker teams, a hat-trick in the 4-2 win against Villarreal, a brace in the 2-0 win against Valencia,scored and assisted in the 2-0 win against Milan, and he was the only player who scored against Lyon when the team was knocked out of CL last season. Granted, he didn’t perform against Barcelona, but the team as a whole was awful.
Look, I’m not denying that he’s a selfish player, but that’s his style, and it works. Mourinho and Ferguson are one of the, if not THE, best managers in the game, and they built their side (scoring-wise, at least) around Ronaldo, there has got to be a reason. 14 shots is an awful lot, I agree, but you should look at him as a forward, not a midfielder.
I agree about the free-kicks bit as well, but this Real Madrid team don’t seem to be blessed with really talented free-kickers, Alonso is the next best that comes to mind, but who else?
Shot in the blue that Oezil’s free kicks have about the same if not better goal-to-attempt ratio than Ronaldo’s and Alsonso’s. The current, I mean (I can remember at least one goal, if not two.
But neither him is really outstanding in this category…
I know this is a tactics site, but I feel the standard of commentating has to be mentioned. I know it’s not easy to replace an Andy gray but whoever the commentator giving analysis was ( ignorant American here….maybe he’s more well known in the uk?) was just atrocious. To me he seemed American football’s version of John madden….saying the same two or three things over and over again, only with more emphasis eah time, and with obvious biases towards certain players. One of the things that has always attracted me to European and specifically English football, was a level of commentary that I found insightful, educational, and above the mindless drivel heard from commentators in other sports. Tonight, however, was just terrible
Totally agree. The number of times I heard “That should be a yellow card. I don’t understand how it is not a yellow card” every time a RM player touched a spurs player.
Atrocious. Martin Tyler’s the only commentator in Britain with more than half an inch of brain space.
Martin Tyler? Really? aka Roger Irrelevant
The pressing ZM mentions reminded me of the preliminary match where Young Boys pressing devastated Spurs for a good 30 minutes or so, but they lacked the ability to finish the job.
The pressing reminded me of Inter last year–I can’t help but wonder if Mourinho is drilling his side to play Barca.
It was like Inter, but even more selective and positional, focusing on the creative players seen as the greatest threats. So, every time Bale or Modric got the ball their options were immediately closed down by two or even three players, while others were given more time and space.
Failing unforeseen weirdness tonight, Mourinho looks set to be facing Barça four times in the next four weeks. I’m sure you’re right about him field-testing a few things beforehand (not least by fast-tracking the recovery of Kaka – whose assist for the fourth goal last night was arguably the most productive thing he’s done since he left Milan – and Higuain).
Bit harsh on Kaka’ he was arguably Madrid’s best player in the first classico of 09/10, but I agree about Mourinho preparing his team to face Barcelona. Perhaps their approach was simply a result of circumstance but they played very differently last night compared to other matches.
‘Arry for England!
Good joke! So overrated!!!! and has poor tactical skills – still playing a 4-4-2 with a big man/little man combo
Please, someone has to keep the comedy going once Capello steps down.
A very frustrating game for Spurs fans in many ways:
- Pre-game knocks meaning key players were not 100% fit.
- Lennon’s illness.
- Redknapp’s decision to use Jenas central, with Modric nominally left and Bale right (which never works).
- Crouch’s stupiity.
- Ramos not being booked for two cynical challenges.
- The decision to bring on Defoe, who is in the most woeful form.
- Sill mistakes – Jenas marking Adebayor/Gallas not challenging Adebayor for the second/Gomes letting the fourth slip through him.
But also a handful of positives:
- Corluka showed what a good defender he is, even when up against quick, nimble players.
- Dawson put in a “heroic” performance – your word, and a well chosen one.
- Decent shape for 50 minutes or so.
- Bale starting to look somewhere near his pre-injury self.
What a shame that Crouch had a total blackout and Lennon wasn’t available. I was looking forward to this match so much, but a brilliant performance from Madrid nonetheless!
But one thing should be said, though (again). What a beast of a man manager Jose is! I mean, who is THAT Adebayor? At the time he departed with Mancini he wasn’t actually regarded as a hard working, clinical finisher. Reminds of his early Arsenal days, but he is actually working for his team now and makes amazingly better desicions on the ball than in the past. Obviously there are other factors than Mourinho too, but I can’t help but marvel at the way he gets the best out of his players.
PS. Top stuff again ZM!
What a wonderful game last night. To be honest I am not such big fan of Real Madrid but I must say that guys played fantastic. Atmosphere on stadium was also fantastic. I believe that this quarterfinal match-up is already finished, and that we will watch Real in Semifinals.
http://www.worldofbasketball.org
Wilkins was just untrue lolzzz
The commentary (Sky Sports) was just dire – completely biased. I accept that its from an english point of view but they were just being so blatantly in favour of Spurs, sounding almost disappointed cameras revealed Dawson’s horribly obvious handball.
Great game though and as ever good analysis
That wasn’t actually a handball, though. The ball careened off his ribs onto his arm (look at the replay and you’ll see that). In other words, he didn’t move his hand towards the ball. It wasn’t intentional handling and thus not a penalty.
That was as clear of a handball as you’ll see in football. Hands up, inside the box, away from home — I have no idea how he got away with that.
With absolutely no bearing to the actual rules of the game.
I hardly think that hands covering your face could possible be called “an unnatural position at the point of contact”.
Hands covering face? Thats so far off the mark I’m thinking we are talking about different events. Eden the most biased commentator in the history of football admitted that it was a clear penalty. Dawson raised his hands in order to block the shot, it was intentional. Its not possible to have a clearer penalty.
In the preview you said:
“Two former Premier League defenders have spoken to the Guardian’s Sid Lowe about the threat of Crouch, and playing a high line is clearly on the agenda.”
But then here you said: “It was expected that Real would sit back and invite pressure, but instead they pressed high up the pitch and denied Spurs time on the ball.”
Isn’t that a bit contradictory? Or did you mean MOST people would’ve expected them to sit back? But why would they do this if they were at home, and as you said, facing a striker with no pace but good aerial ability?
Yeah fair point – I meant that despite a high line, people expected Real to counter, rather than to press all over.
No one else thought that Carvalho was brilliant in defense?
His acting is always good.
Ray Wilkins comical commentary aside, the game was basically over as soon as Crouch got sent off. I’m not saying Spurs would have won the game had he stayed on, but surely it would have been a different and closer game. No Crouch meant no out ball, no real dilemna for Pepe and ‘Ricky’, and also a less effective VDV who regularly looks to feed off of Crouch. As for the sending off itself, of course they are two bookable offences, but I actually thought it was harsh. Surely a final warning should have been given for the second tackle, as it was only his second tackle all game? He was just a bit late, he did go to play the ball, but then again, stupid from Crouch, no need to make the tackles.
As for Madrid, even against 10, they still impressed me. The defence was rarely under pressure, however I actually thought Ramos dealt reasonably well with Bale. He was beaten once/twice, but for the entire second half, Bale did nothing, and Ramos was beating him to basically everything, and Marcelo impressed me on the other side, got forward very well, and pressed well as well.
The midfield was good, Alonso did what he always does, dictated play, and made some good tackles also, Khedera worked hard, made some good runs, and Di Maria pressed very well, as well as giving BAE alot of problems. And one last thing, I’ve always rated Adebayor, how Mancini can go out and spend £27 million on Edin Dzeko, who from what I have seen is poor, when he has a better player in Adebayor. Very smart move from Jose to get Ade in on loan.
I’ve had some good predictions this week, I predicted a comfortable Madrid win, and also predicted a United win, and I’ll make a bold prediction now, I think Madrid can beat Barcelona in the inevitable Semi-Final. Mourinho is a tactical genius, he will NEVER let what happened in the last game happen again, he knows he got it wrong, and I fully expect ever since that game he’s been planning to play them again, and we will see a completely different Madrid team. He’s done it with an inferior Inter team up against Barca, I have a gut feeling he’s gonna do it again…
I agree with most of what you said, except the part where Inter is inferior to current Madrid. Just think of the starting 11 on each team and you’ll see
Even mou admitted to last years team being inferior to this years madrid, and this was before the season. Talent wise it is a no grainger, this madrid team is far superior. Inter getting destroyed by shalke should show you that much.
Last year’s team would never have lost 5-2 to Schalke. Are we comparing like with like? Inter last year were a better team than Real Madrid are this year. Real Madrid have talented individuals and great potential.
In any event a best of would contain Julio Cesar, Maicon, Lucio, Samuel, Cambiasso, Sneijder, Milito. Even if you think Iker has done enough in goal to warrant the place Inter still have the advantage.
Inter last year were great and won everything. Do not compare them to a team that has not won a thing in 3 years, and a squad that has yet to deliver.
The big question is now will Moaninho play as he did in the 5-0 thrasing at the bernabeau or will he revert to type and give his team a slim chance of Beating barca in the semi??
I think by letting his team get mullered in the last game he can justify to his chairmen the need for a Inter approach to the semi.
Clever man