Re: Can Arbeloa Play Left Back? He has, but rarely. Most effectively against a left-footed winger coming from the right e.g. Messi and Robben.
Re: Can Arbeloa Play Left Back? I would like to see him play at LB, I dont know why but he should be given a chance at it (Just one game) and then see what he can do. At least he is alot more solid when it comes to defending.... hmmm... Rather than marcelo.
Re: Can Arbeloa Play Left Back? Razington answered the question, but I was just gonna say I knew a Mirza from London. You're not in Mile End, are you?
Re: Can Arbeloa Play Left Back? Playing a right footed player at LB works against left footed wingers like Messi, who cut in field (e.g. Bosingwa against Messi). He will have more problems dealing with a traditional right footed winger like Navas, who would simply take the ball down the line on his weaker side.
Re: Can Arbeloa Play Left Back? I know Uxbridge, an old friend of mine went to University in Brunel. Nice place. I guess you're not related to the other guy I was thinking of. Anyways, back to the topic at hand ...
since the 4-2-2-2 pellegrini plays isn't really working on the short term i think we could try something new. maybe a 4-2-3-1 like this: ------------------------Casillas----------- ---Ramos---------Pepe--------Albiol---------Marcelo- ----------------------------------------------- -------------------Lass---------Alonso------ -------------------------Kaka---------------- ---Granero/Higuain--------------------------Ronaldo ------------------------Benzema
I just realized how blunt "define that" came by as, wasn't meant to be that way (usually isn't even though I'm known for that). Credit to you for not taking offense and having a go at me. Anyways, we have certain time periods where we move the ball amazing and build something great, even in the Sevilla game we did (very short though). However, I agree with you when you say not there yet by any means. I honestly was expecting a draw or a loss (nobody stone me) just because it was a game set up for us to drop points. - Sevilla played Tues, against weak CL competition. - We played Weds, against a stronger CL foe, needing more attention. - We were battered and bruised, missing two key players, one being the current WGOTY. - It was an away game, we didn't seem that confident and their players have been discussing beating us for two weeks prior. - Game before a two week break which can always be tricky. It's not even the fact we lost. Like I said some where, I wasn't surprised we lost just how we did. As soon as Xabi gets some form, Lass gets back into form and Pellegrini figures out he has to drop either Benzema or Raul because they don't work well together, then we'll be okay. If you look at the silver lining, we don't have our system down, don't have our style down so we can't impose it, yet lost by just one goal after playing poorly (a lot thankfully to Casillas) to the 3rd best team in Spain and a team who can no doubt put a long CL run in. Not THAT bad. The play however was bad and must improve greatly.
I agree with all of this, and I know your style by now, so I don't take anything too harshly from you.
This covers what I thought about the game. I couldn't watch it live, caught it later without looking at the game thread here. Even though there were plenty of disappointing moments, in general I like what I see this season with our ball movement and intent. I can't even remember a sequence where we casually passed the ball around the backline, we pretty much always are looking forward, moving forward. Passing is crisp, first touches are usually sweet and there are seldom mindless longballs played, the ball is staying on the ground as much as possible. Sevilla always has a good defence, especially in the box so I'm not surprised that we didn't get too many easy chances there. I honestly like this team and the direction we are going, it's a huge improvement and is still coming along.
http://www.larazon.es/noticia/marcelo-se-es-injusto-con-pellegrini Marcelo mentions the defensive scheme for covering attacking fullbacks: . –Esas coberturas las trabajamos más que nunca. Con Pellegrini tenemos muy claros los movimientos, sólo nos falta acompasarlos. Como que si Sergio sube, no puedo hacerlo yo; cuando un lateral sube, uno de los del doble pivote cubre su plaza y si un balón va a mi lado el central se desplaza a esa posición... So, a DM is to cover Ramos when he attacks, and a CB to cover Marcelo. When Ramos advances, we should see a backline of DM-CB-CB-LB, when Marcelo advances, it's a 3 man backline of RB-CB-CB. I assume the difference is because of Ramos ability to play CB. At Villarreal under Pellegrini, when a fullback advanced the CB slid over and Senna dropped to the center of defense, regardless of which side attacked, giving them a four man backline at all times.
Not to mention Lass' ability to play RB if he's in. Seems almost implausible that we would have cover planned for Ramos but not his counterpart, Marcelo. Particularly when Marcelo needs more help defending than Ramos.
I would assume that Xabi drops in as CB when the CB covers for Marcelo. We still have 11 players on the pitch when Marcelo attacks, it's not as if they are all told to stop covering just because its Marcelo who is attacking and not Ramos. So long as the fullbacks take turns attacking, and the pivots know what is expected of them, I don't have a problem.
The problem is not with the back 6. it is with the front 4 and their unwillingness/disability to track back and help defend or pressure high up the pitch. How many times have we seen our defense being outnumbered during a counter? And not only that but even when any of the front 4 comes back, you can see there is no urgency. In the Sevilla match for example, there was a moment in the first half where our right side was outnumbered in defense. Guti was on the right side of the midfield and basically just a few meter away from Ramos who was struggling against two Sevilla players. What was Guti doing? Just standing and watching FFS.
We've definitely got some work to do on our defending as a team, and I'm hoping we'll see an improvement. I also hope now that Pellegrini's plan for covering the fullbacks is out in plain view that comments about our fullbacks "getting caught out of position!" will slow down. As I've always said, if the fullbacks advance into the attack, somebody has to cover for them. If that space gets attacked on a counter when a fullback is advancing and a goal is the consequence, it's not the fullback's fault. There was a plan to cover them. Of course, if they do something stupid like both of them advancing at the same time, we should bash their heads together.
In the plan that Marcelo outlined, he's covered by a CB when he attacks. We saw that Albiol was doing just that against Sevilla. I'd say we have cover planned since our back line is essentially 3 CBs if Marcelo is advancing, whether the RB is Ramos or Arbeloa playing as the "third CB" in that case.
I meant that according to the description there was a backline of 3 to cover when Marcelo attacked and 4 when Ramos attacked. But maybe they meant a DM covers at CB and Albiol slides over when Marcelo attacks, keeping 4 in the backline still.
Just watched some highlights of our last game. The amount of times we were short of defensive cover at the far post when a cross came in from our right flank (Ramos's side) was ridiculous. I counted two occassions when a cross came in from Marcelo's flank in the first half. On both occassions we had at least one extra man defending (one at 8 minutes, the defending was bad but we got away with it, another at about 16 minutes, Pepe cleared it with a header). Meanwhile, on crosses from the other flank... There was one from the corner after Pepe's clearance on 16 minutes, we were outnumbered 2 v 1 on the far post. There was a particularly dangerous one at 41 minutes when again Marcelo's flank was left 2 v 1 at his far post. It reminded me of the Milan third goal, where we had no-one covering the far post. I don't know how much this is to do with our tactics, or how much it has to do with a lack thereof. I am thinking perhaps that coaches are pushing their right fullback up against Marcelo to exploit this 2v1 situation, to increase pressure on Marcelo in the knowledge that we dont have much pace on the left wing in Ronnie's absence. I feel that this will stop happening once Ronaldo returns to the left flank. Thoughts?
In the modern game, you need at least 4 defenders to cover the width of the pitch, so when a FB joins the attack, one of the DM needs to stay back with the defence in our half of the field. Pushing the CB wide and dropping the DM into the middle (as opposed to the DM dropping diagonally) is often preferred as it is smoother and the distance moved by each player is smaller making for a faster adjustment, with less exposure as the ball can be kept in view. Given that Alonso is the deep playmaker, the drop back/cover should be carried out by the other DM (Diarra or Lass, aerial ability and strength will give preference to M. Diarra). We cannot expect Alonso to fulfill both functions effectively, and while he is good ball winner, he is less suited to the pure DM role. Unfortunately, we often see Alonso, Lass, Marcelo, and Ramos, all advancing up the field, and left scrambling back when the opponent break. This is just poor defence and MP needs to get it right. We cannot afford to play either Diarras as a box to box midfielder, or even in parallel with Alonso.They need to be behind him for the most part. Also, we need to have at least 10 players behind the ball when the opposition is attacking. At least 3 of the front 4 need to track back and help put pressure on the opposition backline and midfield, else they would have too much time on the ball to make passes (as was the case with Zokora in the Sevilla game). Until MP puts the right system in place, we will be dependent on individual brilliance.
I think Alonso is actually the "third centreback", a little like the Pirlo position of old. He distributes from deep and usually plays behind the other DM. He did this at Liverpool too, when he actually played behind Mascherano most of the time, and Mascherano did most of the harrying infront . I think because he lacks pace, he prefers to position himself close to the CB's to make the defensive unit more compact. The thing I don't like about this team defensively is the lack of compactness. Very often you will see four or five of our attackers in a line near the opposition team's box, with no covering midfielders spacing themselves to give another option. I also see quite often a line of four or five of our defenders, with no-one positioned to cover the second wave of runners from midfield. One problem might be the leadership on the field. Raul is at one end of the pitch and unable to organise due to his position, Guti is off the pitch and Casillas is at the other end. Perhaps someone from the midfield or defence needs to step up and accept responsibility, if not as a formal captain (due to our "captaincy by length of service" rule) then as a sort of enforcer to tell everyone what they need to be covering defensively. (I was thinking Xabi could do this?) This is not a criticism of Raul or the rest of the captains, meerely a suggestion that their position on the pitch might not be the best one to influence the game from.
As far as the Liverpool matches I have seen, Alonso played ahead of Mascherano, as is expected in a dual pivot with CM ahead of the DM. Other examples: Liverpool - Lucas plays ahead of Mascherano Brazil - Melo plays ahead of Gilberto Barca - Xavi plays ahead of Toure Man City - Barry plays ahead of De Jong The Pirlo example does not apply, as Milan play a diamond midfield, and not a dual pivot. Gattuso/Ambrosini and Seedorf tuck in to provide cover alongside Pirlo, forming a 3-man wall ahead of the defence. The fact that Xabi is often the closest midfielder to the defence is flaw IMO. He cannot be a playmaker if he has to drop in to defence to cover the overlapping fullback. MP has to get the system right.
Alonso when he played for us,Liverpool, pretty much always sat deep and only rarely came in to the final 3rd when we were desperate to score. His strength for us was getting the ball down the wings to Kuyt/Arbeloa and Aurellio/Riera and slowing the tempo of the game down. From what ive saw from him at Madrid(having only seen a few games this season) he's not having the same options on the wings as your players are drifting in to the middle. The reason why Alonso isnt impressing a lot of the madrid fans right now is becasue Xabi is having to adjust to a new system playing to Ronaldo's strengths rather than his. But having bought Kaka, Alonso and Ronaldo one of them at least was going to suffer as all 3 had come from teams built around their strenghts.
If you look at Xabi, he is almost always playing deeper than Lass. E.g look at all his touches in the Valladolid match, which was the first Madrid match i came across when i searched Xabi at Youtube: [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FsY1KW_pGlY"]YouTube - Real Madrid - Real Valladolid Xabi Alonso highlights[/ame]