Bayern Munich 2-1 Real Madrid: what type of player to use as the number ten?
The starting line-ups
Mario Gomez scored very late to give Bayern a slender advantage going into the second leg.
Jupp Heynckes’ major decision was as expected – Toni Kroos played in the advanced midfield role, with Bastian Schweinsteiger deeper.
Jose Mourinho played Fabio Coentrao at left-back, rather than Marcelo.
Bayern were the better side over the course of the game here – Real started poorly, got better in the second half, and then conceded a late winner when the game seemed to have died.
Line-ups
The two sides set up broadly in a similar fashion. Both systems were 4-2-3-1, or at least a variation upon 4-2-3-1, and both fielded inverted wingers looking to come inside. This allowed the full-backs forward, although Real’s full-backs are always very cautious away from home in Europe, and it was Bayern’s who got forward to greater effect – most obviously Philipp Lahm in the final minute, to set up Gomez’s goal.
Bayern approach
But the real tactical interest came in the centre of midfield. Here, the coaches took the opposite approach. Heynckes reacted to Bayern’s problems in the title decider defeat to Dortmund last week, where Bayern were a broken team. There was a defensive six, and an attacking four – and no-one to link the play. In that game, Heynckes replaced Thomas Muller with Schweinsteiger after an hour, with Kroos moving forward into the attacking midfield role, having started as a holder. Bayern were immediately better, even though they lost.
Here, he started with Kroos in the playmaking role. This was a sign that Bayern wanted to link play more through the centre, wanted to dominate possession, and focus on breaking through Real’s central midfielders. That was a decent approach – despite the fact Bayern usually play down the flanks, Real can be vulnerable to sides breaking through the middle, especially with Xabi Alonso (not the most mobile at the best of times) looking exhausted at the moment.
Real approach
One could have expected Jose Mourinho to make the same decision – to drop Mesut Ozil, a number ten who focuses on attacking, and bring in another central midfielder – Esteban Granero or Nuri Sahin, perhaps. Alternatively, he could have left out Angel Di Maria and pushed Ozil wide. Either way, with Heynckes’ move widely expected, it would be natural for Mourinho to match him in the centre. This could have meant moving to a 4-3-3, as Real have done in Clasicos.
But Ozil started, and played close to Karim Benzema at the start of the game. He had a half-responsibility to get back and pick up Luiz Gustavo, but tended to amble back in his stereotypically slightly disinterested fashion. Bayern could get the ball quickly into the midfield zone and break directly through the middle.
With Ozil out of the way, Bayern simply had a 3 v 2 in the centre of midfield. Alonso and Sami Khedira didn’t know whether to press or stand off – they were either conceding space in behind, with the defence not stepping up, or allowing Bayern time in the ball in midfield. Kroos played his role very well – generally staying relatively high up the pitch when Bayern had the ball (he and Gomez didn’t really press Real’s defence, but instead played close to the holders, which meant Bayern won the ball from Alonso and Khedira quite frequently, with Gomez notably helping out in this respect) but dropping in and creating an overload when Bayern did win the ball, and helping Schweinsteiger forward to make Bayern fluid in that zone. Gustavo stayed holding and kept an eye on Ozil’s lateral movement, though didn’t feel the need to play goalside of him.
Mourinho switches
Mourinho clearly realised this problem, and midway through the first half (on 23 mins), switched Ozil and Di Maria. This was a recognition that Real needed more energy and discipline in the centre – of Real’s attacking band of three, it is clearly Di Maria who is the most attentive defensively. Bayern had already taken the lead, but Real were now competing more in the middle. They kept it fairly solid until half-time.
At half-time Mourinho switched them back again – after that period of caution, he now wanted a goal. Ozil was restored to the centre, which was a very risky move that could have gone dreadfully wrong. Instead, it went well – Ozil was told not to bother dropping back into midfield, and instead get into positions to launch breaks – this worked brilliantly for Real’s goal – finished in a scrappy manner, but owing much to the fact that Real defended a free-kick with only six players, leaving their front four in a position to break. The break featured all four players, getting 4 v 4 against the Bayern defence. That was precisely what the system was meant to do.
Real adjusted the way they closed down in midfield – one of the holders sat deeper on a permanent basis, and if the attacking midfielder, Kroos, found himself free, one of the centre-backs would charge up towards him – though the most obvious time this happened was actually when Muller had come on, and Ramos clattered into the back of him.
Heynckes switch
The Muller change involved Kroos moving deeper into the position Schweinsteiger had played in. It was an attacking move – their number ten was now a forward – but it had been forced by Schweinsteiger’s lack of fitness. This situation, with both Ozil and Muller as the number tens, lasted only eight minutes. Then, Mourinho brought on Marcelo, and Di Maria became the number ten again, helping out more than Ozil in midfield. That lasted a further ten minutes before Granero came on for Di Maria, and now Real truly had three central midfielders, while Bayern had only two, with Muller now playing as a support striker. The situation from the first half had been reversed.
Mourinho’s purpose here was clearly to kill the game. Marcelo, meanwhile, had come on in a strange position that made little sense – first on the left, then drifting about, then over on the right. What he was doing there is unknown, and the fact that the winning goal came from Lahm motoring down the line will make Mourinho wish he’d told Marcelo to stay ahead of Coentrao on the left, the most logical position to use him in if trying to kill the game.
Conclusion
Contested in the centre, won on the flank. Bayern didn’t play particularly well but were certainly the better side – Real lacked structure and organisation during the first half, particularly in midfield.
It is extremely rare to see a Mourinho side overrun so obviously in the centre of midfield. He clearly understood the problems, shown by his constant changes in the attacking midfield role. Perhaps that explained his surprisingly dignified manner after the game.
However, a 1-0 second leg win would take Real through, and they remain marginal favourites.
ZM do you expect the same from Bayern in the return leg? It would seem to make sense as they should be much more defensively sound in this shape. With Muller they have 4 players who don’t do a lot tracking back, on top of their limited ability to link play through the center. I’m shocked it took Heynckes this long to go to this set up.
Given the way Bayern played and the fact that should be more rested than RM since they don’t really have to play for the league and RM are facing Barca 4 days before, you’d favor them.
Unfortunately, Bayern is missing their entire back line(Lahm, Bads, Boateng, Alaba) plus Muller and Gustavo for the 2nd leg. That pretty much seals their fate.
Misses their entire backline, what have you been smoking?
Why would Bayern miss their back four? Unless Eurosport is totally wrong, none of the Bayern players are suspended for the next match due to yellows.
Eurosport is misleading. They are not taking into account the new UEFA rules.
These players are one booking off suspension, as are Kroos and Robben. They haven’t been suspended yet…
dat real mad delusion
RM may win if Ronaldo can make it to the game
Muller tracks back when he plays at right for Germany.
Exactly
Mueller is the perfect drone. He is like having two players.
Müller tracks back when he plays at right but as a central player in a
4-2-3-1 he’s more of a second striker and Kroos more of a third midfielder.
He has actually played this way quite a lot this season, when Robben was injured (or left out when he wasn’t fit enough), with Müller on the right. But I agree, it works much better for them, at least against strong opponents.
“surprisingly dignified” haha.
Good write-up. The Marcelo thing did leave me puzzled, I really don’t know what happened. In fact, this whole game was sort of an outlier in how Mourinho teams usually perform (lack of structure being the major surprise).
You could say neither team was great, which is strange given the quality. The return leg should be very interested.
First test (and Bayern isn’t even top-top) in Europe for Madrid and you already see what a regular team this is. So much talent, so much money, but so little football. A shame.
humor me, who would you consider “top-top”?
Let me guess….Barcelona “more than a club”? LOL
Lol bayern munich not a top-top team. Are you kidding ?
Look at the previous champions leagues and look at the club’s history
They’re probally third power in europe right now.
Get your fact right.
bayern not a top club？How long have you watched soccer？Do you know oliver kahn，stefan effenberg，lothar matthaus，michael ballack，elber， mehmet scholl？Although， I’m a barca fan，bayern is my second favorite team and has certainly been one of the best in Europe in the past and the present。
“However, a 1-0 second leg win would take Real through, and they remain marginal favourites.”
Real Madrid will thrash Bayern at home anyway, be prepared.
Yeah, like they thrashed them tonight.
Sense of your statement? Tonight they haven’t played at home.
Funny how all Real fans were saying the same before this game. Good teams always bring Real back to the real world where not everything goes their way. It’s been proven many times before, but you seem to forget.
You wish，I bet bayern will go through。You should take care of barca’s business first。 Clarence（definitely not seedorf）
And surprisingly dignified? Ahum. He attacks the referee, hit out again at last year’s semis, Guardiola, etc. The guy is mentally unstable, if he doesn’t win the CL this season, the shrinks in Madrid will have a busy summer, again.
On a sidenote, Marcelo should have gotten red and Bayern had a few penalty calls, at least one seemed clear. But let’s talk about an off-side goal that only exists in Mourinho’s perverted brain. Even Madrid paper Marca says it’s no off-side (and that Marcelo deserved red).
So Mourinho again benefitted by the referee, but complaining it was the other way. Absurdly insane, rather than surprisingly dignified if you ask us…
No, Marcelo shouldn´t have gotten a red. A yellow card was perfectly appropriate. His shin touched Müller´s shin, it´s not Marcelo´s fault that Müller tried to make it seem like he broke his leg. A few penalty calls? None of them was close to being a penalty. The offside is debatable, I´d say the player is interfering since he´s blocking part of Casillas´ view and also was very close to touching the ball, but really it could´ve gone either way (I watched Swedish TV debate over it for 15 minutes before the former coach of the Swedish national team, Lars Lagerbäck said that if it the player obstructs the goalkeeper´s vision and is in an offside position, then it should probably be called an offside). Also, the ball touched Badstuber´s arm. So, if it wasn´t an offside, then it was a handball either way. And who gives a shit about what Marca says? You think they´d protect a team led by Mourinho who´s in a war with Marca (and AS)?
Marcelo went in, from behind, his leg 2ft in the air, nowhere near the ball (already passed, on the ground) and kicks Müller’s shin. Red card, no doubt. Did he go for the ball? It was an assault on Müller. I am brazilian myself, but Marcelo is an absolute prick. Badstuber’s handball? It’s the definition of unintentional, and it probably hit his shoulder.
If you watched the 15 minutes of debate the you surely also heard mr Lagerbäck say that according to the official guidance, provided by FIFA, he received before the last World Cup these types of situations are not considered offside.
When you consider the shenanigans that occur in these matches, I thought Mr. Webb did an excellent job. Even though I felt Marcelo’s challenge looked intentional (rather than simply reckless) and Ribery should have been booked for –repeated– simulation, I thought the officials improved the quality of the play even with the usual histrionics that accompany this stage of the competition.
And the first Bayern goal is the sort of goal that deserves a 15 minute discussion. Too bad the officials didn’t have that conversation.
Considering the prats on show (Marcelo, Ribery, CR, Robben, Mourinho, Bayern’s talking heads), I found the officiating crew worth supporting.
Webb was his usual awfull self. Has he ever had a good game? He seems to make a lot of mistakes and yet keeps playing these huge games. Is it because he lets the game flow?
Luis Gustavo was clearly obstructing Casillas’s view so the goal was offside and Marcelo’s tackle was very late and a definite red card in my mind. He actually seems worse than Pepe and Ramos sometimes. While these two you know can be mental, Marcelo always seems to make calculated tackles and dives.
Webb did not so bad, overall. It was a very difficult match to officiate.
Considering the Ribery goal, the point is that Gustavo is offside if he is influencing play, he is not offside if he isn’t. Now about that one can discuss a lot. My point is that he probably was NOT offside, since from the behind-goal camera view it does not look like he is disturbing Casillas in any way. But such decisions are very tight and difficult to get right, so noone could have really complained had Webb called it offside.
Webb was very good at not letting tons of players hord around him to criticise or influence his decisions. He was good to show Higuain yellow for demanding a card for a Bayern player.
He was too soft, though, on the judgement of Marcelo’s foul, and not to hand a second yellow to Coentrao.
I do not think Ribery was diving a lot, maybe once. He was being kicked constantly, and it is a miracle that Arbeloa did not get a yellow.
for me, and i’ve read the law of the game and i’m German, it was off-side.
But the result was okay, and i think it’s better to go with a 2-1 lead to Madrid then with a 0-0. So, Bayern is in a better position before the second leg.
“…but dropping in and creating an overload…”: sorry, what’s “dropping in”?
basically gomez tends to come back to the midfield zone, providing an extra man for bayern in midfield, rather than staying high up the pitch.
You mean Kroos, don’t you? I haven’t seen a purer finisher than Gomez on this side of Pippo Inzaghi.
Then you probably should watch tonights game again.
Both headers he missed were very difficult. The shot which Iker saved was hit very well with Gomez running away from the goal. He only had one bad miss.
Gomez has become surprisingly aware defensively under Heynckes. In fact, he defends more than Kroos most of the time. Unfortunately it is only really an effective tactic against teams who want to actually play Bayern in a reasonably offensive manner.
Real Madrid also seemed to be (tactically?) fouling Bayern players as they released or just after they released passes. Not sure if this was intentional or not, but it conceded loads of free kicks. If it was intentional, I can see trying to make a player have second thoughts about making quick short passes, but if it wasn’t, than they really lost discipline.
Can’t argue with that excellent summary of the game, Michael. I agree, Kroos was fantastic – but It was a shame that Schweinstieger wasn’t back to full fitness and able to keep the system and perhaps more importantly, Kroos up the field. As cautiously pessimistic as I usually am with the sport, and the teams I tend to favour, I do look forward to seeing how Mourinho deals with Robben and Ribery in the second leg. As you said – the key battles where in the middle of the park, but Madrid concede 6 yellow cards whilst trying to deal with the pair( most notably, through aiding a struggling Coentrao and Arbeloa). A spectacle that Jose, nor his squad can afford to repeat in fear of losing half his side to suspension if they do go on to the final. Do you think he may double up on the wings and risk leaving the middle of the park exposed? Will the Burnabeu allow him to shut up shop?
Can you be suspended from the final by yellow cards alone these days? I think that Jose knows exactly what he is doing, unfortunately for honorable football!
Alltel yellow cárdenas aré cancelled after-hours three-dimensional second legal so no platero misses d final game
A few observations:
Özil is already a top player, but he will never become a “top, top player” until he corrects his fitness. Even though he only half-assedly defends, he always looks like Emil Zatopek from the middle of the 2nd half and on. His value is diminished if he always needs to be subbed.
Football has moved away from finishers, but they only need to be at the right place at the right time once a match to spring their fans to feet. I have already started to think about who would be the better replacement for Gomez, Olic with his work rate, or Müller and his movement, and then… Cross, goal, game, set, Bayern.
Marcelo only needed 20 minutes to remind everyone why he doesn’t play beside Pepe: you can’t play two idiots next to each other. His kick (I can’t call it tackle, because the ball was not anywhere near him) was a clear red card, and I think he either pushed or hit Boateng right after. I don’t want to say anything wrong about the referee though, he looked confident, assured and didn’t let the two teams get to his head and influence him.
Ozil’s subsitution was a tactical matter because Jose happy enough with 1-1 and already thinking about the Barca match this mid week. Ozil is just as capable as anyone else to play full 90. If you match Madrid a lot, you’d realize that Jose did put him to play full 90 minutes when it was a decisive game & still on till the last minutes.
I do watch Real Madrid quite a few times, that’s why I was making that note. In 31 league matches, he was subbed in 5 times, subbed out 19 times. In 9 CL matches, he was called off of the pitch 7 times. The average time he spends on the pitch is 71 (Primera División) and 76 minutes (CL). If you think he’s just as capable as anybody to play the full match, then why is it always him who’s substituted?
there are rumors in spain that he is smoking. it is a shame that such a talented player has stamina-problems at such a young age.
Read my post below, he played 90 minutes just fine. It was tactical and the need to give the bench player playing time when the game is already over
The smoking rumours were about Coentrao.
Don’t only look at the number. Look at the situation where he’s subbed out and not subbed out. Mostly it’s only when the game is done and dusted, so Mou want to give playing time to Kaka/ Granero/ whoever is on the bench. But when the win isn’t guaranteed yet such as hard win againts Mallorca, Bilbao, etc, Ozil stayed 90 minutes. So was the match againts Barca in semifinal CDR second leg when Madrid need the win to progress, Ozil stayed 90 as well.
Ronaldo is the only attacking player who got priviledge to stay on the pitch to boost his stats. The rest of attacking players mostly got subbed out quite oftem just look at how many times player like Benzema, di Maria, Kaka, and Higuain being subbed out.
thx zm, for linking to http://www.thefootballramble.com/blog/entry/alonso-tires-madrid-fade, where i found a link to http://www.whoscored.com/. so interesting statistic-site
gn8
Marcelo is a thug, how is he still allowed to play football? Such a shame he didnt got a red card for what truly was another ridicilous challenge.
Ramos was lucky aswell, tackling from behing like that on the half way line, why??? This Real Madrid team has great potential but they really have to get their discipline under control because if they continue like this they will only win the CL if referees are too scared to send their players off
it was no offside, cause the munich-player was not in vision of the keeper… the keeper is standing left to the ball and the player right to the ball, so he cant be in the way between ball and keeper…
Interesting detail was how Bayern shifted over to Ramos side when Real’s centerbacks had the ball and forced Madrid to pass over to free Pepe for the build up play. And he showed he is not the best man to do this job. They did this frequently so I guess it was a tactical element.
I didn’t notice that, but that’s an interesting observation.
Pepe is not bad at this, but clearly, Ramos is the better ball-playing defender. Pepe, for all his infamous bouts of brainlessness, is among the most talented, athletic CBs when it comes to snuffing out danger.
These two really should be among the best, if not the absolute top central defensive pairing in football, but somehow it doesn’t appear that way in actual matches.
As a football fan, and not a football coach, I’m not gonna bother explaining why.
I noticed this tactic as well and I think it is brilliant. Pepe occasionally makes a decent long-range pass but more often than not his long balls go too far or out of bounds. Every team should let him have the ball more often.
A terrific football match, I thought. Bayern’s width was causing Madrid all sorts of problems and width from a team of comparable ability is something they rarely, if ever, see. Another interesting bit is how uneasy Pepe and Ramos (particularly Ramos) looked. Gomez’s strength seemed to cause problems and in the second half he began winning header after header.
i think that bayern may have some joy in wide areas in the away leg at Madrid since, as is pointed out in this (once again, excellent article Michael Cox) piece, Madrid’s full-backs keep their forward runs for their home games, and with Ribery/Robben bayern have 2 world-class wide players (who seem to me auxiliary (inside) forwards more than anything else), and the Madrid team’s attacking players dont defend (or didn’t, tonight) with enough intensity.
They like to play as inverted wingers but why not play them on their natural sides (Ribery right, Robben left) for the Bernabeu match? With all the battles in the middle, it seemed to me watching that when Ribery or Robben was on the ball they were quite often one-on-one with Madrid fullbacks – imagine the case when these fullbacks are trying to get forward with more intensity. Lots of crosses into Gomez on their natural feet
I don’t think this Madrid back line can handle Drogba!
Even Carroll ?!?
I am sorry but Mourinho style does not fit with the team he has. DiMaria work hards but you need a playmaker at that position. Placing him where Oezuil plays a mistake. He does CR7 a disservice by not playin Marcelo than taking away his linking partner. You cant play inverted wingers with LB and RB that dont give you width. Madrid should play like they are bigger offensive team not like they are trying to hold for a draw. They do not have the players to be Inter. So frustating to watch. CR7 gets crap but unlike Pep who builds tactical plan to maximize Messi, Jose sacrafices CR7.
coentrao is a fantastic offensive player and if he was restrained in his forward runs i would suspect it was due to tactical instructions from mourinho. as per zm, “Real’s full-backs are always very cautious away from home in Europe.” Coentrao can overlap with the best of them – see:
http://www.zonalmarking.net/2010/11/03/benfica-4-3-lyon-tactics/
http://www.zonalmarking.net/2010/04/15/benfica-2-0-sporting-the-side-who-actually-tried-to-score-eventually-did/ (“Most of the home side’s attacks came from the flanks, with both Coentrao and Amorim getting forward well”)
http://www.zonalmarking.net/2011/04/09/benfica-4-1-psv-overlapping-full-backs-crucial/ (see the web address, plus “Fabio Coentrao on the left had plenty of space to break into, with Gaitan cutting inside, so he tended to storm forward on solo runs, or with off-the-ball runs… It was down the left that the two first half goals came – both after Coentrao was involved. First, he moved high up the touchline, pulling Stanislav Manolev out of position – the space was exploited by Salvio, who crossed for Aimar. Then, Coentrao got forward to provide the assist himself, for Salvio.”
Is ’surprisingly dignified manner’ sarcasm?
ZM is a Mourinho fan (and God knows why because tactically, Mourinho didn’t add anything to the game in the decade he’s around), so he’s always trying to find some excuse for his constant mistakes in attitude or tactics. Might hire another writer for Real Madrid games, would improve the quality of the reviews.
I’d beg to disagree. I actually find it refreshing that ZM doesn’t waste his time commenting on the shenanigans around the matches. If that’s what you want, you only need to go to the comments section of any article on the match.
The “surprisingly dignified” comment, as far as I have seen, is as much as he’s said about Mourinho that’s not specifically about the gameplay.
I disagree. The comment felt like it was in comparison to every other time Madrid failed to win this season (spain too). He was always very vocal about blaiming everyone else but himself, this time he was very mild in comparison.
you might also notice that every time mourinho gets his tactics wrong or the team doesn’t perform well, it’s always a “rare mistake.” I wonder how many times it takes before it ceases to be a “rare mistake” and merely shows mourinho to be an above average tactician and not the god that ZM seems to think he is…
Huh?
http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=site%3Azonalmarking.net+%22rare+mistake%22
Ribbery and Robben did a relatively strong job tracking back deep to defend when needed. This enhanced Bayern’s shape out of possession and also made them more compact then they often are. This was a strong adjustment by Heynckes and in significant contrast to Madrid’s relative disorganization.
One of the interesting aspects of this match up is how both sides are somewhat prone to turning into broken formations. More recently this has been a problem that Bayern have had to deal with head on compared to Madrid. As ZM points out Bayern have had this issue arise when playing sides such as Dortmund.
Mueller playing as a 10 functions as a shadow striker of sorts and plays fairly high up. Orchestration and rhythm aren’t major features of his game. In turn Bayern can have some difficulty exerting control on matches. At the least it puts a great deal of pressure on Schweinsteiger to participate in those efforts.
But by playing Kroos deeper in midfield and getting Ribbery and Robben to track the Madrid wide players Heynckes gave his side coherence and prevented their formation from breaking.
This was in contrast to Madrid. Because their attacking four were so high up the pitch the Madrid transition defense suffered. When Bayern dispossessed the ball they had direct routes from midfield out to the flanks. Ribbery and Robben repeatedly were left 1 vs. 1 against the Madrid full backs in open space.
This was particularly odd and damaging because arguably the most dangerous match up in the contest was Arbeloa marking Ribbery. And Ribbery was outstanding in attack. Rather than always cutting in onto his left foot he varied his attacking thrusts in interesting ways. His intelligent off the ball movement to draw Granero into a central position was what allowed Lahm to drag Coentrao 1 vs. 1 wide in space.
Much of this touches on Ozil’s role in this match. In certain dimensions, Ozil is just so elegant and sublimely gifted. The pass he played to an on rushing Benzema after C.Ronaldo took that poor shot on goal on the break was just brilliant.
But Ozil at the same time has such concrete limitations. Few players in the world create the dramatic trade offs in quality that Ozil does. Playmakers have often involved these trade offs but Ozil’s are very different than say Riquelme’s.
Finally-ZM enjoy the new graphical look of the site!
Disagree
Bayern were awful once Kroos went to the deep role.
Mueller needed to come on for Robben.
I wasn’t speaking to the substitutions. In fact, we really don’t disagree on the points you just made.
Agree that Bayern took a step back once Schweisteiger was removed for Muller. As I wrote above Bayern’s formation can become stretched when Mueller plays centrally and they themselves are prone to having their formation break.
Unfortunately it seems that Schweinsteiger is simply still not match fit so he needed to be removed. Heynckes options were limited at that point.
Mueller in general would do a better job defensively at RW than Robben. Yesterday Robben was simply better than he usually is in assuming defensive responsibilities.
The average positional diagrams from the match show how deep Robben (and Ribbery) played and tracked back.
I agree, for the most part, with your assessment of key tactical battles in the game. However, I feel that your assessment of Ozil is a bit misguided. Ozil’s game is dependent on passing, movement, and link-up play; he needs the team just as much as the team needs him. Unfortunately, Madrid as a whole doesn’t embody this style of game, therefore Ozil stands out from the rest.
In your comment above, you made a point to state that Ozil has concrete limitations, but failed to explain your reasoning behind such a strong statement. If I’m correct, it seems that you’re saying he has so much to offer offensively, yet very little defensively. Once again, I believe it’s more of direct result of how Madrid play, as opposed to his defensive capabilities. Certainly, I’ll agree that he’s not the best defender, but I fail to see how Iniesta, David Silva, Xavi, or Kagawa are better defensively. It could be argued that all of the players I just mentioned are products of their particular system, both offensively and defensively.
I agree with you that Madrid’s system is at best unorganized, and at its worst, broken. This, in turn, affects, Ozil more than anyone else on Madrid. He embodies, in a lot of ways, Barcelona’s philosophy: pass, move, pass, move, pass, move and keep moving. When the team loses the ball, he presses, but does not commit to the harsh tackle like so many of his teammates. It’s my belief that he would thrive on a team that emphasizes possession on offense, and continual team pressing on defense. Unfortunately, Real Madrid is erratic when pressing on defense, and when they when the ball back, there’s no fluid rhythm about their game.
All this to say, I don’t think Ozil has any ‘concrete limitions.’ He’s currently part of a system that doesn’t bring out his best qualities. Without his teammates, he’s unable to effectively make his mark in a game. Without the ball, he’s nothing.
Pep Guardiola often says that Barcelona are nothing without the ball, and I think it’s safe to say Ozil’s game falls within that very framework.
Kagawa is a little terrier without the ball- he’s a true modern attacking midfielder while Ozil’s more of an old fashioned no.10. True, he’s not nearly as old fashioned as someone like Riquelme but he’s still not much use without the ball. Kagawa, on the other hand, is brilliant in his dynamism and ability to press. Great player.
Excellent work here. You helped answer a lot of questions that had unsettled me.
I think Marcelo was asked to play on the right because Ribery was looking dangerous all-night long, at least more than Robben. Of course with the benefit of hindsight it was a mistake but I can at least understand the reasoning behind that move.
Madrid’s attack will be sharper in the next leg no doubt but I do not see them not conceding as much as 2 goals against a Gomez prodding Bayern Munich. He looks to me like a genetically engineered Paolo Rossi who does not require form to score goals. Other player’s head would have dropped with the many missed chances but he kept on going like the ghost of Pippo Inzaghi. Against Bayern Munich at the Bernabeu, Madrid must not be profligate and maintain good discipline when things dont go their way initially. Also, Jose Mourinho choked on his tactics last night because at 1-1; Madrid with Di Maria and Benzema seems to be poised for a late ’smash and grab’ like they normally do in difficult games this season. But putting Marcelo and Granero in their place was an action that showed he wanted the 1-1 more. On the balance of probabilities I think Bayern might just nick it on away goals…
“the ghost of Pippo Inzaghi”
rofl
Hahah don’t kill inzaghi,he is still alive and kicking.
I don’t agree with Zonamarking analysis.
Bayern for me are the clear favourites now:
1) All the yellow cards will be in the heads of the Madrid-players who don’t want to miss the final, very dangerous situation against the likes of Robben/ribery on the flanks.
2) Bayern will rest their players in the league, whilst Madrid will suffer against a resurgent Barca who will smell blood now.
3) Bayern will score at the Bernabeu, so Madrid will have to score 3 goals, very difficult indeed.
4) Real Madrid have peaked to early, so many draws and a loss in their last 5 games. If it wasn’t for CR7, who saved them time and again, they would be 2nd in th eleague by now.
5) lack of experience: Real have never been tested against other European top clubs with Mourinio. The Marcello tackle just proves how unexperienced they are.
Last but not least, there is nothing dignified about Mous manners, 2 clear penalties and a red card were not called against his side, that explaines his “manners”.
for your last comment, seriously which match were you watching? a red card and 2 penalties
are you kidding me???
One red card for sure.
And one penalty too – against Gomez in the second half.
Yesterday’s Bayern- RM, I guess.
There was no direct red card foul in the entire match if we go by UEFA/FIFA football rules… if at all anyone was to be given red card it was ribery for simulation so many times the entire match..
No penalty on gomez… clear outstanding tackle from ramos… coentrao took out gomez when he was already going down… so no penalty…
Get a grip on reality, tbone. Marcelo’s kick at Mueller was nothing but a mean and hateful act of violence. It was not a tackle, since the ball was not even close, it was just an utter of frustration, thugness, etc. paired with the desire to hurt the other player. It was a performed from behind, mind. If that is not a red card to you than maybe Marcelo should kick you like that for once and say ’sorry’?
Ramos’ from-behind tackle at Mueller earlier also was dodgy, and many refs would have given a red there. Combined with his overall performance this night, Ramos more than deserved two yellows.
There were two events when Gomez was brought down in the box in the second half. At the first one with Coentrao one might see a legal tackle by Ramos, but at the second one, Pepe is simply running/stomping into Gomez from the side, before Casillas sliding in. Easily a penalty. In the first half Ramos brought down Ribery in the box in a way that justifies a penalty.
Finally, at the occasion where Gomez scores, Pepe is more than illegely running/pushing (hand against throat) down Robben. Again, yellow card and penalty, although of course it does not matter as the goal is scored.
Thatshould be 1 red and 1 penalty.
Madrid are better than you think. If Bayern make it in the final they will be favourites to win it at home even against Barcelona.
So much space for Lahm, why wasn’t anyone marking him?
Because Ronaldo wasn’t tracking back.
And why is that?Because Marcelo should have started from the beginning instead of Coentrao.
Ronaldo role is to attack,he barely defends.
Mourunho got this match wrong,even that he got a good result.
So if Marcelo started, and marked Lahm, who would be responsible for Robben in that case? No full-back is capable of holding his ground versus 2 opponents at this level.
seemed like Ronaldo eventually switched to the right maybe so there would be more help coming back on defense on the left
Marcelo plays high,so Lahm would have more work at back.
Ronaldo and Marcelo on the left would have been a disaster for Madrid. They would have been ripped apart by Lahm and Robben defensively.
For sure Coentralo did nothing,so Marcelo would be more effective.
Surprising, no one seem to have mentioned about the lack of quality in the Bayern crosses. They managed to use the width very well, but for most part of the game the crosses were very poor. Until Lahm himself took that duty and send in some nice ones towards the end of the match, one of which was converted. For all their quality in passing, their crosses were really poor. If they can get 5/6 good crosses in the second leg, Gomez will manage to score in Bernabeu.
It is quite perplexing how Marcelo didnt get a red card. That was an intentional kick from behind as the ball was nowhere near. Plus he pushed a player immediately.
The ref was good mostly, but it was interesting how he gave warnings only to RM players and gave straight cards to Bayern players.
The second half penalty also was quite obvious.
Cant really see any dignified manner in Mourinho.
Bringing in Granero clearly showed that he was happy with a draw.
The lack of quality in Bayern’s crosses, or the lack of crosses as such? They have Gomez in the box (and mostly also Mueller), two wingers who can beat a back and can cross – but they never play it that way. Too easy, perhaps. And, in the league it’s not really necessary to play for maximum efficiency.
Also Real haven’t really practised to play as a team. The front four is more than capable of winning most matches in the league, so why bother trying something else than go for the counter attack in the big matches?
Two teams that can play better football, but aren’t challanged enough to do so. Too bad.
I’m not the type to lecture anyone, but really, think before you write something like that. “Too easy” and “not necessarily to play for maximum efficiency”… So you think they’d intentionally throw away the home CL final and the Bundesliga (mind you, for the 2nd consecutive year) just to play how they want rather than how they’d win? Really, no comment.
It’s just that I wonder why they never play their wingers outside-out. Is coming inside really the only option?
And besides, I got a bit boring last night about those 4-2-3-1 systems being a 6-4. Let the for guys up front sort it out against the six defenders, and let’s hope our 4 vs 6 is better than theirs.
1, Bayern usually has more possession than their opponents
2, Because of that (and to further monopolise possession), the fullbacks get forward
3, Nowadays, the physical development of players is so high that you don’t need 2 players to cover the wing from the defensive line to byline, so you can have one of them to get inside for an additional goal threat
4, If you have to chose between the fullback and the winger (especially Bayern’s case), usually the latter is the better shooter, so you want him closer to the goal.
Robben is the one who almost always cuts inside in front of the defence, Ribéry is more than willing to beat his defender to the outside.
Ribery is not much of an inverted winger. He’s one of the most two footed players playing (left handed, right foot dominant may have something to do with it) and goes down the line as much as he comes inside. In the Bundesliga, it is often more often the traditional wing play. Bayern’s opener two weeks ago I think in the BL was a Ribery cross with his left foot to Gomez.
Robben is more inverted, but his right foot is functional. Also, in the last two to three months Bayern have used a lot more switching flanks and Ribery overloads. The Ramos penalty incident in the first half and the goal both resulted from Ribery taking the liberty to make it Ribery, Robben, and Lahm against Coentrao, an unwinnable matchup.
@ZM, why do say Real started poorly? I thgt thy played very well during opening 15 mins, bayern scored against run play so to say. I thgt Real played played very badly in the last 15 mins when they were defensive and Mou also got his substitutions wrong.
To more effectively kill the game, Mourinho should have reverted to 4-4-2 as he did vs Apoel, introducing Marcelo+Kakà on the left. To avoid being exposed by the two Brazilians Lahm’d have reduced his frequent runs in the final minutes, which were the key behind Gomez three goal scoring opportunities and his late goal.
Bayern Munich – Their CB’s pushed Benzema into non-dangerous positions and their mobility was key in stopping a fluent Madrid side. Badstuber was also excellent on the ball and helped his side dominate possession. The fullbacks were brave and pushed forward to great effect, giving the attack the width it needed. Lahm was especially good going forward, getting into dangerous positions and providing some accurate crosses (with the assist for the goal fantastic).
In midfield, Gustavo provided decent defensive cover, helping Lahm deal with Ronaldo and making sure Bayern weren’t too open. Schweinstager wasn’t at his best however, sloppy in possession at times and clearly unfit. Khedira pressed him well to be fair, and it was clearly a plan by real madrid to stop him dominating the game. The decision to start with Kroos instead of Mueller paid off as ZM noted. He was one of the best players on the pitch; tidy in possession, easily able to charge past alonso when breaking and he put in a good shift in pressing Alonso (though he had a better game than Schweinstager).
In attack, Madrid managed to keep Robben relatively quiet (he was rather predictable) but Ribery had a good game, isolating Arbeloa and getting the better of him. The difference was he was able to mix his game up, going outwide and moving inside and causing the defence problems. Gomez offered nothing in build up play, but was always a threat when the ball entered the penalty area. This game summed him up, he hardly touched the ball, but was incredibly effective in making sure the pressure Bayern built up wasn’t in vain.
Overall they were excellent defensively, had a good link between midfield and attack and were able to threaten through Ribery and Gomez.
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The second leg should be highly entertaining:
Real will try to go for goals and Bayern will try to break like hell. I smell a spectacular game since both teams are good in those roles.
Marcelo should have started from the beginning instead of Coentrao.
Ronaldo role is to attack,he barely defends,so you can’t excepct from Ronaldo to help you with Roben.
Mourunho got this match wrong,even that he got a good result.
Overall for Real these 2 weeks are crucial for them.They have 3 important matches that will “decide” if their season is success or a failure.
So, your solution to the fact that Ronaldo “barely defends” is to put behind him a player who similarly shuns defending? That’s a disaster waiting to happen.
Mourinho’s subs lost them this game. It was obvious that Coentrao was struggling (on a booking with 30 minutes left to play,tiring, and up against Robben and Lahm, who were consistently beating him) and yet he was kept on until the end. Marcelo should have replaced him. Bringing Marcelo on to provide cover would have made sense for Coentrao, but putting him on the right was completely bizarre. It wasn’t clear what RM’s strategy was for the final half hour and Bayern took the initative as a result.
Still think RM will go through though.
It was not all Coentraos fault as some people say. Every Fullback looks poor if he is up alone against 2 players coming with speed at one. In fact I thought Coentrao played a medicore game but is not the only player to blame for this defeat as there should have been a player on the left wing tracking back and helping out.
It wasn’t completely his fault he had a bad game, but Mourinho should either have given him more cover or taken him off. If Ronaldo was staying on the pitch and Mourinho wanted to tighten up then he should really have put him up front.
For those who missed the game:
1st half
http://www.ran.de/de/videos/champions-league/bayern-real-halbzeit-komplett-299886.html
and
2nd half
http://www.ran.de/de/videos/champions-league/bayern-real-halbzeit-komplett-300106.html
Hopefully the streams work in your countries.
for me the 1:0 wasn’t offside. there were so many players infront of cassillas from real madrid too that could have produced a deflection and that blocked his view too and if someone blocked his view it was the one on gustavos left from cassillas point of view. gustavo was way too much to the right to block his view. also given the time cassillas had to react i don’t think there would have been much of a difference if there was a slight deflection cause he was struggling to show a reflex on that rocket itself.
if the ball would have hit gustavo it’s offside yes but not like this.
What happened to the old logo btw?
ZM probably replaced it after finally realizing that Mourinho is no longer a good coach
Real Madrid – I thought the two CB’s found it hard to deal with a player like Gomez. They are better against strikers that drop deep and get involved because their mobility allows them to play high up the pitch. But against Gomez you have to stay concentrated the whole game on marking him and that is probably the weakness of both Ramos and Pepe. Bayern Munich did well to pin back the Madrid fullbacks, especially Coentrao, meaning Madrid couldn’t overload Lahm at RB.
In midfield, Alonso bettered his Bayern Munich counterpart in the battle of the deep lying playmakers, despite being on the losing side. He managed to keep possession well in deep positions and was useful when Madrid needed to break quickly. Khedira did a good defensive job on Schweinstager, pressing him on the ball and stopping him from getting a grip on the game.
The front four was very fluid, with Benzema dropping deep and Ronaldo and Ozil making runs into space. But the Bayern back four defended well against this approach with the fullbacks pushing the wingers into deeper positions which worked well against Di Maria and the CB’s mobile and good enough on the ball to move out of defence and track runners. Badstuber in particular did this excellently.
Overall, Real Madrid played the game on the break, using Alonso to get the ball forward quickly to a fluid front four that tried to move the defenders out of position. But they weren’t good enough in attack and didn’t defend well against Gomez and Ribery.
Jonathan Wilson has also written a tactical analysis of the game, focusing more on the fullbacks vs the wingers: http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2012/apr/18/bayern-munich-real-madrid-champions-league
So Madrid are terrible and Mourinho is a phony… wow!
I thought that Real brought on Marcelo to help deal with the Lahm/Robben duo on the right, particularly Robben at a point in the game where they thought that the most important thing was not conceding a goal. This relaxed the pressure on Ronaldo to track back as Granero was playing deeper at that point than Ozil in the #10. Marcelo, I thought was given instructions to stay on the same side as Robben, so he switched to the Bayern left at the end of the game as Robben did. The key was that Real did not see that the problem was Lahm + winger, not Robben and the lack of cover on the right side led to the goal.
Also, I thought that over the first 60 minutes Ribery was the best player on the pitch. I’m usually not a fan of his but he was excellent tracking back and winning the ball as well as more tidy than usual in possession. His burst of pace and strength makes him an excellent winger, but also a ball winner when he is interested. I thought he was the key to Bayern’s advantage from the 15 minute mark onward in that he allowed them to win the ball back quickly and neutralized a few breaks.
Good one, Ribéry surprised me too. He defended fairly well, his movement was varied, his dribbling was excellent. Man of the Match for me!
yes..I think they are more worry about Robben on the right…Ribery was moving around and pressing more on the right so there is a lot of space left open to Lahm, you can see Ronaldo was playing on the left but not very effective in the last 15 min of the game, Lahm don’t have to worry about Ronaldo
It was the way Bayern press as they don’t give up and needed that goal , Muller substitution and Real substitution change the game in last 30 min…. Bayern seen more unpredictable in attack once Muller was introduce.
2nd leg will be not about defending , both team going to outscore each other to make it the final…. …hopefully Real don’t give up Bayern away goal early in the game otherwise they going to bomber with Bayern’s counter attack.
Can’t think of a winger, who can provide so many different things for your team, like Ribery does. Probably the best winger in the game right now.
Yes, he’s got it all- pace, dribbling, shooting, great workrate, two footed. The only thing he’s not great at is heading the ball(which, tbh isnt that important considering he’s more a winger or wide-midfielder than wing-forward).
And a great passer as well. Leads the Bundesliga in assist by far with 18. Second are Arango and Thomas Müller with 12.
The graph doesn’t reflect the constant circulating of Di Maria, Benzema and Ozil. They kept going round ‘n round, and moving from right to left and right again, like a top.
Many of the missed passes were because of that: the three never seemed to know exactly where the other two were.
It’s as if Mou is trying to emulate Barca’s fast switching, but one up: not just changing the positions of the players relative to each other, but also moving the whole triangle all over the field.
The result is that lack of coordination we saw. Unlike Barca, where they got Xavi to put order, but they have to pass to him to do so, Mou wants to implement a system where they all share that responsibility.
It’s not working that well yet, but if he gets it working eventually, it may be beautiful.
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Instead of putting Marcelo on I was surprised Mourinho didn’t use Callejon. This would have kept Ronaldo at LW which would have pushed Lahm back. If Madrid broke on a counter attack they would have had a better chance of scoring aswell. It just became too defensive. I know by keeping Ronaldo at LW and with his non tracking-back it would leave Coentrao exposed but with a triple pivot of Granero/Alonso/Khedira one of them could have easily help protect Coentrao.
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