Sevilla 1-0 Real Madrid: Sevilla score after 2 minutes, then protect the lead for 88
The starting line-ups
Sevilla triumphed in a fascinating tactical battle at the Estadio Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan.
Sevilla coach Michel made an interesting selection decision, introducing Hedwiges Maduro into the midfield triangle. This pushed Piotr Trochowski forward to the left, and meant Manu had to settle for a place on the bench.
Jose Mourinho chose a familiar side, with Luka Modric on the bench. Gonzalo Higuain started ahead of Karim Benzema upfront.
There were two major phases to this game – the first half was about how well Sevilla’s initial gameplan worked, the second half was about how Mourinho adapted, and then the two coaches traded blows with substitutions until the end.
Sevilla tactic 1: early pressure
First, though, it must be said that Sevilla had an excellent early spell of pressure, and there was always an attacking intent at 1-0 up, albeit mainly on the counter-attack.
They started the game strongly with a physical, energetic approach across the pitch, which was their first key defensive feature. 34 tackles and 21 fouls tells the story – they closed down quickly, won the ball aggressively and immediately launched direct attacks. Iker Casillas had already been forced into a good save before Trochowski, completely unmarked from a set-piece (a feature of Real’s defending the first half), fired Sevilla into an early lead.
From then, Sevilla’s threat mainly involved Alvaro Negredo working the channels, and flicking the ball onto Jesus Navas, who was a constant danger down the right with his sheer pace. Essentially, this method of attack remained the same throughout the game – or, rather, until Negredo was substituted.
2) Sevilla tactic 2: Rakitic on Alonso
The second key feature of Sevilla’s defensive plan was stopping Real playing through Xabi Alonso. This was particularly important, for two reasons. First, because Alonso has played a particularly crucial role in Real’s attacking so far this season. That was particularly obvious against Valencia, and his pass for Mesut Ozil in the Supercopa against Barcelona was outrageously good. Second, because Alonso would have been the key player in dictating the tempo of the game Real wanted – with Sevilla charging around so energetically, the away side needed a composed central midfielder who could put his foot on the ball, calm things down, and assert Real’s dominance.
Alonso would usually do that, but Michel used Ivan Rakitic as a forward-playing destroyer, a little like Riccardo Montolivo’s role for Italy against Germany at Euro 2012. From there, Rakitic constantly tracked Alonso across the pitch, forcing him to pass the ball quickly and preventing him playing ambitious balls towards the attackers. Rakitic isn’t a natural defensive player, so his tackling was often clumsy and he picked up a booking before the end of the first half, but his role was very effective. He could also sprint past Alonso into the penalty box on the break, and should have been played in by Navas for a second Sevilla goal.
Midway through the first half, Alonso switched with Sami Khedira, possibly to get some space away from Rakitic, but the Croatian continued to mark him, and the two Real midfielders swapped back again.
Sevilla tactic 3: protect the zone in front of the defence
This was more simple – Maduro played as a very deep holding midfielder, almost a centre-back playing in front of the defence. Gary Medel, who can play as a centre-back himself, an the man who is usually Sevilla’s main holder, played more advanced to the right.
They stopped Ozil finding much room in that position, and although the German did play a couple of excellent passes, Mourinho removed him at half-time.
Battle down Sevilla left / Real right
The positioning of Trochowski was also very interesting. He played much narrower than Navas did on the right, and often looked more like an additional central midfielder rather than a winger. This was a deliberate move from Michel – he’d played Trochowski rather than Manu for a reason – and it helped Sevilla pack the centre of the pitch.
With Angel di Maria (who had a dreadful game, and was also removed at half-time) also playing narrow, coming inside and hitting direct crosses with his left foot, the knock-on effect was Alvaro Arbeloa’s freedom to attack down the flank. A few sides did this at Euro 2012, confident that Arbeloa wouldn’t harm them – but his attacking game has improved, and as he showed against France at that tournament, he can cause problems. Here, Real looked more dangerous down the right of the pitch, although Arbeloa’s advanced positioning meant that when Sevilla won the ball, Trochowski could break rapidly past him.
Real change
Real switched to a 4-3-3 for the second half
Mourinho tried to vary things near the end of the first half, allowing his attacking band of three to swap roles, but at half-time he made two big changes. Modric replaced Ozil, Benzema replaced Di Maria. Modric played deeper than Ozil had – with Mourinho possibly accepting that Maduro and Medel were commanding the ‘red zone’ in front of the defence, while Benzema played higher than Di Maria. Real were now more 4-3-3 than the starting 4-2-3-1.
Modric’s introduction was key, and for the first 15 minutes of the second half he was the game’s key player. Real may not have scored a goal, but Modric offered the control Alonso was unable to provide – he skipped past challenges, played simple passes into wide zones, and ensured Real’s dominance of possession. He also came closest to scoring, having a drive from long-range tipped onto the post.
Sevilla respond
With Modric doing a fine job, Alonso was able to drop deeper and found more space to prompt attacks. Rakitic became less effective – tired, on a booking and forced to press higher up the pitch, Michel removed him and introduced Manu in roughly the same role.
Trochowski also played deeper, barely looking to attack in the second half, and crowding Real in the centre.
Real change again
Mourinho’s third change was particularly bold, removing a full-back for an extra attacking player, and moving to a lopsided three at the back. It’s something he’s done before – often with success, but sometimes with negative consequences, like against Getafe earlier this season – and is essentially a gamble.
This move made perfect sense, though – Trochowski was increasingly playing in the middle, and Sevilla didn’t have a true left-winger. Arbeloa was free to attack, but if he had no-one to defend against, why not play a proper winger in his position? Therefore, Jose Callejon replaced him and played higher up the pitch, pushing Benzema into more of a centre-forward position, and Real close to a front four. Khedira moved deeper, covering the right flank.
Sevilla adapt again
Michel wasn’t going to give Callejon the space he afforded Arbeloa, though – and wanted a defensive player to track him. Therefore, Negredo was removed, Manu moved forward, Trochowski moved further inside, and Luna – most comfortable as a left-back – played on the left of midfield, defending against Callejon. Sevilla were now secure down that flank.
Real were poor after Callejon came on, and it’s possible that Khedira’s new role – much deeper than he was playing immediately after Real went 4-3-3 – prevented Real dominating the centre of midfield.
Michel’s final change was a simple defensive move – Trochowski went off, centre-back / central midfielder Geoffrey Kondogbia was brought on to sit in front of the defence, and Sevilla sat back and defended for the final ten minutes.
The key second half change - Callejon replaced Arbeloa, but Michel responded with Luna
Conclusion
Real were undeniably sloppy at the basics tonight, and not all of that can be attributed to Sevilla’s approach. Their simple short passes under no pressure were wayward, while their marking at set-pieces was bizarrely slack for a Mourinho side. It was also interesting how obviously affected they were by Sevilla’s physicality, with both Higuain and Di Maria (probably Real’s worst two players) lashing out.
That shouldn’t take anything away from Sevilla’s display, though: their initial strategy – (a) pressing heavily, (b) marking Alonso and (c) using an extra holding midfielder – meant they stifled Real’s passing throughout the first half, and although Mourinho could call upon three fantastic attacking options from the bench, Michel was able to respond.
Michel set up intelligently and reacted alertly, and deserves a great amount of credit tonight.
Sevilla 1-0 Real Madrid: Sevilla score after 2 minutes, then protect the lead for 88
I rarely write comments, but this article was both outstanding and very insightful. Well done.
“while their marking at set-pieces was bizarrely slack for a Mourinho side” –
– RealMadrid have conceded four goals in La Liga this season and three of them have come from set pieces. Not just this season, they struggled defending set-pieces last season too.
“It was also interesting how obviously affected they were by Sevilla’s physicality, with both Higuain and Di Maria (probably Real’s worst two players) lashing out”
- Interesting to see RM being ruffled by physicality – something they regularly use against Barca themselves. More interesting to see teams coming out to give them a fight unlike most of the last season. Somehow they feel they can win (which was certainly not the sentiment last season – with most of the clubs).
And with respect to Di maria and Higuain, this is the 2nd match on the trot, they are getting ruffled big time (Higuain even ended up retaliating against a Peru defender earlier this week)
you know, regarding your first quote, it’s funny you should point that out. every time a mourinho team does something poorly that could be attributed to the coach, ZM almost always phrases it this way. a “rare tactical error” or it’s “bizarrely slack.” i don’t know why ZM always feels the need to mitigate any mourinho mistake, always reluctant to point out deficiencies that would be more severely criticized if it were any other coach.
i guess the ZM chapter of the mourinho fan club can’t bring himself to slag his hero the same way he does other gaffers. i’m sure it’s not intentional, but it’s getting comical how often it happens
Maybe it is simply that in the current RM squad the players/defenders/goalkeeper are not really that good at defending set pieces. At least compared to the famous Chelsea of old.
My impression is that besides Ramos, Pepe, Khedira and Alonso there is nobody in RM who knows how to defend against set pieces. Most of the other players are very small/attack-minded/immature.
that very well could be…but i’m noting ZMs tendency to mitigate a mourninho mistake ANYWHERE on the pitch: not just set pieces. subs, formation, approach, personnel, you name it. almost every mourinho mistake is modified by “rarely” or “bizarre” or some other descriptor, which suggests that any mourinho move is automatically the gold standard of tactical decisions.
like i said, i don’t think ZM is purposefully doing it, but it has gotten funny to see it so often. i guess mourinho’s megalomania has worked subliminally on quite a few media types. maybe any tactical mistakes by mou can be referred to as the “only one” he’s ever made
I’m not necessarily a huge fan of Mourinho – actually I find his attitude infuriating at times – but his record is excellent and it’s rare to see one of his sides get the basics wrong.
Agree ZM is clearly a Mourinho fan. He had Mourinho’s picture up here on the top of the site for many years, just took it off recently. Which I think is very strange for a tactical blog, because tactically Mourinho didn’t add anything to the game. Just boring result football with expensive squads.
Also agreed that journos massively have fallen for Mournho’s (quite cheap) media tactics. Journalists are not the smartest guys in the class anymore, those go for the better paid jobs. It is what it is.
hey hey, come on kevin.
Just Look at Mourinho win record, 74,8% at Real Madrid.
Use your logic, that high percentage is because of his minimum mistakes when choose the tactic and formation.
@sir bow et al,
i’m not disputing mourinho’s success at RM or anywhere else. i’m simply pointing out ZMs tendency to mitigate or justify almost every mistake mourinho has made. that’s it.
but, we could of course complicate things a bit. as has been discussed on here many times, the single data point of final score sometimes obscures the way in which we may view the effectiveness of a single tactical decision or a even a set of tactical decisions. in a game that relies a lot on factors other than tactics (which is why it’s such a beautiful/unpredictable game), we tend to use a single data point (final score) to draw a correlation (which we all know from statistics is not necessarily cuasation) with tactics. it’s to be expected…this is a site to discuss tactics.
the problem is, you can’t have it both ways. you can’t focus only on tactics (which i appreciate about this site. ref decisions etc tend to be left out of the discussion) and purposefully exclude other factors, and then pretend that “success” always depends primarily on the one factor you’ve chosen to analyze.
look, the whole mourninho worship that goes on here doesn’t even really bother me. i expect it and i accept it. i just found it humorous that again a mourinho mistake was linguistically mitigated when that is rarely done for other coaches (even coaches with better win percentages…and a positive win record over mourinho coached sides, sir bowe
). i’m interested in how people use language to shape/reaveal/form biases, and this particular one has struck me for quite some time…so i mentioned it.
now, who is looking forward to the game and post analysis of RM v. man city? i know i am…even if mourinho’s tactics end up being “rarely” incorrect
XD i see, you’re right kev.
kinda miss a point of your first post because i read “jean” Post after that.
ZM need to use your suggestion in the future.
Ahh btw ZM just made a new analysis about RM vs Man city.
Also agree with the set-piece thing: it has been a problem since the second half of last season, didn’t get better this season, so it’s a well-known problem. Strange ZM didn’t notice it earlier. Said that, when following so many games from so many teams from so many countries, it’s normal your knowledge often shows these kind of big holes.
Fantastic game. I thought Sevilla defended their flanks well and forced madrid to play narrow where Maduro and Medel were winning every ball . I’m interested to see what Michel does against Barcelona who concentrate all their attacks down the middle and are much better than Madrid at that aspect of the game. An extra holding player might not be enough. Loved this article.
nice farticle
Great write up. As much as I do not like Mourinho he is clearly a solid tactician. However, he will lose his team, if he has not already, by berating them and embarrassing them. He is psychologically and emotionally wearing them down and they will not respond well.
fascinating
I think Madrid will find it a lot tougher this season,because they are now champions teams are respecting/fearing them more like they have done Barcelona the last few years and are now defending deep and counter attacking Madrid,Madrid will find it harder than Barcelona breaking down these teams as they are not as technical as Barca nor have as intelligent movement.Also playing like this will stop Madrid using their main weapon which is Counter attacking at speed.
It also has to be said that even last season when they were playing great against naive teams they wouldn’t have finished with close to 100 points(at least 6 or 7 less) if the referees hadn’t kept on giving them favorable decisions,they benefited from numerous decisions away from home,Refs would not giving blatant penalty’s against them often when Pepe or Ramos would assault someone in the box.Also the the linesmen continuously give them very strange decisions in almost every match by calling opposition players offside who were blatantly yards onside and sometimes inside their own half of the pitch at the same time,this often happened when they were through 1 vs 1 with Casillas.This has carried on into this season as well when Soldado scored what should have been a winner in the Bernabeu.
Not only that but last season Barcelona were denied numerous textbook penalty’s at crucial times in crucial matches.
Tonight it must have been another coincidence that Di Maria or Higuin didn’t get sent off,Higuin for assaulting a player off the ball by blatantly kicking him in front of the linesman and the most farcical decision was when Di Maria didn’t even get a second yellow,never mind a straight red for narrowly missing an attempt at punching a Sevilla player full force in the face a few yards in front of the referee.
So very apt to name yourself Anonymous Coward for discussing conspiracy on a post dedicated to tactics.
I pointed it out because it is getting very hard to ignore.I watched nearly every Madrid and Barca game last season like I do most seasons so I know what I am talking about.
I don’t even support Barca,I prefer them to win because they play better football and are less cynical than this Madrid team.
Also I forgot to say I am not exactly the only person saying this,I read the Guardians football section online and in the comments of the La Liga articles lots of people are saying what I am saying,check this seasons comments sections for Barca and Madrid games if you don’t believe me.Same for last season too.
In the Spanish newspaper El Pais, Diego Torres published some interesting facts: last season Real had to come back from 0-1 in ten games, and they received 8 penalties and in all 7 players of the opposing sides were sent off. That does smells pretty fishy, doesn’t it?
“El año pasado el Madrid debió remontar 10 partidos en Liga. Perdió uno y acabó imponiéndose en nueve. Pero, salvo contra el Zaragoza en el Bernabéu (3-1), las ocho remontadas restantes se agilizaron gracias a decisiones arbitrales polémicas: ocho penaltis a favor del Madrid y siete expulsiones de rivales por una sola expulsión madridista (Di María) fueron el saldo de aquellos combates. En Mallorca, además, el árbitro anuló un gol legal de Víctor que se habría convertido en el 2-0. Y, cuando acabó el partido contra el Betis (2-3), los jugadores entraron al vestuario riéndose porque el juez había ignorado sendas manos de Ramos y Alonso en el área de Casillas.”
Although your statements may sound quite bold to the naive/uninformed reader, I think you are mostly right with them. I as well watched most Real and Barca matches last season, and I often enough found the favour Real were getting at situations you described very strong. Not only goals/offsides/penalties, but in particular the way Pepe and especially Ramos were allowed to kick and foul their way through the season without getting significant punishment was appalling.
For the record, I also do not cheer for any of the teams, and I seem to recall that the favourism was just the other way round the season before…
Everyone in Spain knows Madrid are benefitted by the Spanish referees, and their media just set up a propaganda campaign to make it look like Barcelona are also benefitted. Spaniards don’t like Catalans, Barcelona (symbol of Catalonia) winning trophies is free “advertising” for Catalonia, in Madrid they do all they can to avoid that. As Stoichkov said: Madrid start every year with a referee bonus of 10-15 points, so Barcelona have to be twice as good to win a league.
Great write up Michael. Enjoyed the tactical observations immensely. Would like to point out though that Mourinho’s move in sending out Callejon was desperate, and I doubt Benzema and Callejon have played like that, i.e. on the same flank, even in training.
Benzema clearly looked out of sorts once Callejon came on, which wasn’t the case initially. If Mourinho had intended for Callejon to do the Arbeloa role, then it blasted right in his face since Benzema wasn’t sure of his place anymore leaving Callejon having to secure the flank on his own. There was a moment when I saw Higuain & Benzema waiting outside the box, in the center, side by side, for the ball to come to their feet while the rest of the side passed the ball around. Clearly, they didn’t have any clue about their roles (or rather Benzema didn’t).
I guess that was expected when you put in too many attackers with no creators. Callejon, Benzema, Higuain & Ronaldo are all strikers / support strikers after a fashion / inside forwards and Modric was the only real creator out there. No wonder they lost.
well, this was quite a matcht. This match saw quite a bit of evil genius from michel. Constraining alonso is not an unknown tactic but it is revealing how successful it can be in curtailing real’s potency. Modric addition is a very good move by madrid. Match contained lots of pointers to defeating RM. Press RM up the pitch (which barca have never done in their last 5-6 matches, look at the highlights and u shall see the space and time pepe and ramos have to play the ball from defence), shackling alsonso, focus more on real’s left wing where most of real’s attacking comes from.
Am i alone in thinking that set piece proficiency is a bit over rated. yes, teams like stoke seem to have mastered it but it seems any team, however well drilled they are can be thwarted by a set piece. There was some nice piece i read but dont recall on Allardyce find some spaces / area where 60-70% of corners were hit and deploying a man to head those balls away. if somebody has more, please enighten.
And needless to say. A brilliant thinking report. ZM is surely a top class website. the only thing that detracts from some match reports is the lack of tactical innovation / surprises by coaches themselves.
This article about how Barcelona zonal mark might interest you mate,this was from over a year ago when their defensive record on corners/freekicks was phenomenal especially considering the average height of the team:
http://defensiveminded.wordpress.com/2011/08/07/barcelonas-zonal-marking-at-corners/
Allardyce analysed corner kicks and identified the area into which most clearances ended up. Accordingly, when his team have a corner he positions someone there to regain possession and to prevent being caught on the counter.
Off the top of my head, I believe it was The Secret Footballer who revealed this.
Great write up zm, especially the late substitutions and their effects!
I thought Seville won this game in midfield, a great feat considering Madrids talent in that zone. Maduro was very disciplined in his position but was also key in getting the ball forward from the back with good passing. Medel set the tempo of pressing and was excellent at getting round the pitch and breaking up Madrids build up play while rakitic did a similar good job on alonso as zm stated. Then in the wide positions they offered pace and a direct threat with negredo a key player in holding up the ball and allowing the two wingers to get into dangerous positions.
Real Madrid were exposed defensively, with marcelo caught out of position regularly, Ramos unable to cover against the pacy navas and pepe targeted by negredo in the air. In midfield they were outfought and this meant they couldn’t get the ball forward into dangerous positions for there forwards. They looked better when Modric came on, but the tactic of bringing on a winger for arbeloa destabilised the team in the end. The performance showed the weakness of not having a great attacking rb in the team, as Seville were able to leave him unmarked knowing he wouldn’t harm them and concentrate on midfield, much like united vs chelsea a couple of seasons back. To be fair if Madrids forwards were on form they might have snatched something from this game, but they weren’t and Madrid really needed to have played a good game to get a result in this match.
I wrote an article on Spanish football, have a read if you have time http://economicinterest.wordpress.com/2012/09/13/no-tenemos-dinero-beneath-the-glamour-spanish-football-is-going-broke-just-football/ and follow me if you like @econinterests
A couple of points, not just regarding this game but Real’s season so far:
-While Higuain has been scoring regularly, I think that Benzema is a better option up front as his link-up play is far better. Against Sevilla, Real were often found launching long-balls towards Higuain a la Stoke, which didn’t exactly work out.
-Arbeloa is a solid RB, but Real would benefit from a more adventurous, technical player IMO. He was found in acres of space yesterday due to Di Maria coming inside but was not able to take advantage of this enough.
-Ozil really needs to assert his presence during games more. Either he’s unfit or it’s some kind of attitude problem. Perhaps Modric should now be considered ahead of him in the pecking order.
-For some reason, one of Real’s main attacking fulcrums of recent seasons, the link-up play between Marcelo and Ronaldo, has been diminished. Perhaps the rumors of rifts behind the scenes are correct.
-Mourinho tried lambasting his players in his press conference the last time they lost. Clearly it didn’t work, yet here he is doing it again. Is this the right way to motivate his side?
I agree with most of what you’ve said.
I think it might worthwhile to slide Ozil into Di Maria’s spot and bring on Modric. Even in the last match I would’ve liked to see Modric + Ozil, but Mourinho took Ozil off (and based on his performance, it was a justifiable move).
You are spot on about Arbeloa being useless going forward. Even the Spanish national team players rarely pass to him even though he would be in acres of free space in advanced positions.
Great article
I loved Mou. But i start to hate him. He is such unforgiving. Its seems like he manipulate his players to such extent , it hurts them. Chelsea took years to recover from his treatment it was that bad.
I know what is hard training, i also know what is support when you train hard, but man, when your coach is the only crazy around you need to somehow cope with that and that is to believe in him because you see that he is just the best.
Mou says he is supportive but what he really need is to open his mouth this time not for team, but for Ronaldo and fight for him against FIFA and UEFA.
That is what Ronaldo thought will happen after Mous instances with referees but now he is disapointed. I think i will write Mou to do that instead i go crazy……….
Brilliant stuff, I thank you from the bottom of my heart for making such a high class piece of analysis available to us keyboard monkeys. Somehow I think TALKsport doesn’t quite compare…
Blueprint alert
I think Real is lacking a proper wingers, and this was obvious in yesterday’s game against such narrow side as Sevilla. If they have Navas in their own side, the game might went on different way.
I think you’re right. Real Madrid have a glaring formational problem: they play a 4-2-3-1 with players who basically “assume” they are playing a 4-3-3. The knock-on effect isn’t just defensively, but that Ronaldo and di Maria rarely take up deeper positions that would advantage similar pacier players on the counter-attack. I thought the potential purchase of Nani or a similar pacier player on the right would alleviate this or provide an effective plan B…but that window has passed.
I think real can count themselves unlucky last night. I was surprised to see mourinho’s comments after the game “we definitely deserves to lose”. This clearly wasnt the case from my point of view the create numerous chances and you cant account for Ramos missing open goals from 3 yards out. I think they deserved a draw atleast. However it was also good to see Sevilla stepping up and giving them a proper game not just rolling over like they would of last season so credit to Sevilla for this. I think it will be hard for them to regain there title now dropping 8 points with 34 games remaining is just to much and i think Barca will get close to their 100point record. Also why wasn’t Di maria sent off, i find it very ironic how there always complaining about Barcelona getting all the decisions when they get the benefit of decisions aswell.
Mourinho is tactically so incredibly poor, you almost can’t believe it. When his team has to attack, it becomes so clear. He just throws in attackers like a 7-year old would do. There’s no plan at all. Astonishing. The counter-attack game, 10 at the back and coming out, everyone can play that.
Do you know what you’re saying? You’re talking about one of the most successful managers of all time, a man who has won the Portuguese league twice, the Portuguese cup once, the Uefa cup once, the Champions league twice, the premier league twice, the community shield once, the fa cup once, the carling cup twice, serie a twice, the italian cup once, the italian supercup once, la liga once, the copa del rey once and the spanish supercup once. This is a man who is known for his tactical nous and his ability to change systems mid-match. I wouldn’t go around saying he is “tactically so incredibly poor,” because that’s just rubbish.
Am I the only one that thinks Ronaldo’s lack of back tracking was exposed tonight? Michael spoke of the battle on Sevilla’s left but for me Ronaldo’s lack of tracking back allowed tons of space for Navas and Cicinho, on numerous occasions them 2 got into good positions and I remember one occasion where I think Ramos had to come down and aid Marcelo because he was being doubled up on
I agree completely and im glad someone pointed this out. Surely more teams will attempt this tactic in the future because it worked very well. Marcelo was at times dealing with 2v1 and this should of led to the 2nd sevilla goal had Navas squared it to rakitic instead of shooting. If Ronaldo persists not to track back this is an area where you can hurt Madrid. Maybe Mourinho keeps him high up because of the chances of counter attacking. Worse combinations of Right backs and right wingers might lose the ball in dangerous areas thus springing a counter with ronaldo in lots of space, but when you get a opposition with a RB and RW with good combination play and technical ability this becomes to risky for Madrid. Maybe Real’s coaching staff underestimated the quality of cicinho.
Another point is that Real Madrid’s forwards don’t track their opponents into the box on corners – hence the first goal. I think I’ve seen that happen a few times. More and more teams will use that tactic.
Excellent analysis as usual. One explanation for the poor start to the season is that, so far, RM hasn’t received any penalties or had any opponents sent off (indeed, two RM players should have had an early shower in this game), Further, Mourinho is attacking his own players rather than the referees. In other words, he’s stopped playing to his strength.
Zonal marking could be a great coach.
I always follow, but this is my first ever comment.
And it has to be with what somebody already said. Zonal marking is falling into Mourinho’s ‘charms’, as his mistakes are always mitigated by him, just like most pundits who really don’t know what they are about. Mourinho wins and oh what a clever coach. He loses and its a rare mistake. But for other coaches its their mistake and ineptitude.
Zonal should speak without any fear, for now its as if he has to please Mourinho or his fans.
Zonalmarking is an excellent tactician, but coaching is a lot more than just tactics.
Very nice analysis Sir.
I thought, it is the pressing and the fearless physicality of Sevilla which toom Real by surprise and affected their play. While teams like Athletic (before Bielsa, Espanyol, Osasuna, Sevilla and Real use this always against Barca, I never saw any team getting physical against Real. Last season only Atletico Madrid tried it and they were almost successful when their player was send off by the referee, giving Real a respite.
It was a great game. I think more liga teams will be inspired by this win.
I agree Rajesh that the ‘physicality’ and rough play was the key. Real Madrid overwhelmed league opponents last year because of their physicality. Big fast tall players at every position, plus a lot of skill, and opponents couldn’t cope. Real were designed by Mourinho to beat small skilled teams – and not only Barcelona but most Spanish teams are in that category.
I think some teams like Sevilla have figured out that the way to beat them is to give them a bit of their own medicine. It’s a role reversal that I think Real cannot cope with. It’s easy to be the physical aggressor when you’re the underdog and expectations are low and you’re playing for a ‘result’, as is the case with Real vs Barcelona. But against other teams, Real is expected to win, so their players are more psychologically affected by rough tactics.
I haven’t seen, and I don’t think we’ll see teams take the same rough approach against Barca, precisely because Barca is so well experienced at dealing with physical teams, and not being a physical team themselves, will get their opponents sent off more easily than Real Madrid.
LOL, I guess there is a bright side to Barca getting kicked around by Real for 2 years.
To bad Mourinho decided this time to stick around for more than 2 years, his mojo apparently ends after this time
An excellent article.
The intensity of Sevilla’s play seemed to cause Madrid all sorts of problems allied to the physical, direct approach that the hosts adopted. There were 14 fouls in the first 30mins of the game and the constant disruption suited Sevilla preventing Madrid finding any fluency.
I don’t think either Di Maria or Ozil were particularly sharp and both looked fatigued but it was clear that neither fancied a physical scrap which is surprising that Madrid were prepared to let such a game develop.
Sevilla cleverly committed fouls high up the pitch (Ronaldo, Ozil and Higuain were all fouled at the halfway line from aerial challenges in the first 30minutes) and the cautions for Luna and Rakitic were both in Madrid’s half of the pitch.
Should Mourinho have rotated the time after the international break?
Perhaps more importantly, given the manner in which Madrid have started the season, should they have embarked on a pre-season tour to the USA following the Euro’s?
My views on the game are at :-
http://chalkontheboots.wordpress.com/2012/09/17/sevilla-vs-real-madrid-tactical-analysis/
Well I actually predicted in an article I wrote on my blog that Real Madrid will struggle this season and will loose the title to Barcelona. I wrote that a combination of things like fatigue, lack of fitness, lack of enthusiasm and the winner syndrome they are going to struggle through to December when I expect them to get back on track fully, though I suspect its going to be too late for them at that time.
It’s a nice post.