For 70 minutes, I was sure we were going to score. We were playing well, creating tons of chances. Ronaldo didn't have his shooting boots on, but you felt a goal was coming. Then Zidane decided to lose the game all on his own. The Asensio for Isco sub was fine. The next two subs were mind boggling, especially Borja for Modric. Did you see how far Borja and Ronaldo had to drop to get the ball? What's the point of putting on another striker when you have no one to carry the ball to them? This one is all on the coach.
Zero penetration through the middle. This performance was reminiscent of Ancelotti's last couple months in Madrid. Our guys work their asses off to get the ball out to the wingbacks and we just aimlessly hit crosses into the box. Carvajal hit about 5-8 crosses 4 feet in the air, which didn't even make it past the first defender. There needs to be a plan B when crossing isn't working.
This is what I think too after reading the comments here, I was going to post this just before I read your post I didn't watch the whole game so maybe someone can clarify for me , we had numerous chances apparently, was it our midfield creating those chances, if yes then the problem was further up the pitch with our attackers failing to capitalize on those chances, what not sub those players , keep the midfield that is creating the chances and keeping control of the game?, or have I got it completely wrong, as I said I did not get to see any of the game until about the 72nd min when it all looked rather chaotic out there
There's a reason the Morata sale upset me so much. I was worried that the Mbappe trade wouldn't happen and we'd end up in this exact scenario. The Mbappe hype had everyone on cloud 9 and nobody thought this would happen. I was adamant that we force Morata to stay even if he asked to leave. It would've seemed like a jerk move at first, but apparently making him honor his contract was beneath us. We gave up our strength in depth by selling our supersubs when there really was no need to. We were formidable because we had options like James and Morata. They had that "******** you, you're not stopping me from winning" attitude that made us so phenomenal last season. It's a real shame to start the season like this after what we accomplished last season. And much of this could've been avoided.
Hmmmm, wasn't that something we used to see Morata and James do a lot? Try to create some incisions down the middle so they could make things happen? Other than Isco and Modric there's hardly anyone else in our team who tries to dribble or break through the middle. That "cross 50 times a game" used to drive me insane.
Modric and Kroos were great, and they were utilizing Bale and Isco out wide. We were not converting because of poor finishing or just that last touch failing the players. I don't understand what Zidane's logic was there, but at this point, let's move on and put in a stretch to get back into this league.
I was talking on the phone with my father and he was sure we would lose it at the start of the second half. Those games where we throw everything at the opponent and nothing goes in never really work out for us. If you dump 27 shots at the opponent and can't score a single goal, creating opportunities to score isn't the thing to be worried about. Betis had 3 chances in 94 minutes and scored, we created 3 chances in the first 15 minutes alone. If that's the kind of "finishing" and "goal threat" Ronaldo produces (after the team won a difficult away game by scoring 3 at one of the toughest pitches in Spain), then i would fancy a few more strip downs and bans please.
Besides the part were they skied every shot they took bar that one that hit the post. That Modric chance in the beginning was something Benzema would be humiliated for over here. Again, 27 shots don't sggest that "being creative" is not working, it suggest that these guys can't score a goal to save their life. Mayoral worked the one chance he had with that header better than Ronaldo did during the entire match.
It's funny how most of this forum shits on Dybala and "He's a CAM" yet he would give us something that we need so desperately. Penetration through the middle.
Might have made it to 46 chances without scoring a goal if we would have tried it from the middle as well.
Our attack is stale, BBC is getting older and older and they're the worst attack of the top teams. Been playing together for over 4 years(Ronaldo and Benzema over 8 years) and it's really impressive how badly they understand eachother. You'd think that after playing together for so long they'd have some amazing chemistry yet it seems like they've started playing together this season. Our amazing middlefield combined with Ronaldo carried us to these UCLs. Now every other team has gotten stronger while we lost some of our depth and our attack is declining even further. I was hoping we'd break down the BBC next summer but now I'm hoping for some Christmas miracle.
Why is everyone so defensive when it's damn obvious. I'm talking about the previous years and if you expect that to work itself this season then I think you're gonna be disappointed. And even when it's a combination of 2 like it has been this season almost any match(Bale+Benz, Ronaldo+Bale etc) it's the same story.
It's practically impossible to win 3 CL trophies in 4 seasons with a disfunctioning attack. You have to assume that all these teams we faced in all those years were practically complete idiots that they let themselves be beaten to a pulp by a team that doesn't work correctly and is "saved by it's midfield". Juventus were a defensive wall last season and they were torn down and blasted with goals until the final minute. I wonder how many goals a properly functioning attack would have scored on them. 8? 12?
They faced the team that has one of the best middlefields of all time combined with a solid defence and a 5 time Ballon d'Or winner as the spearhead of attack. Our attack is disfunctional and it's saved by some moments of individiual brilliance and the strategy of setting up the 5 time Ballon d'Or winner. Last 4 seasons in UCL: Bale- 10 goals, 8 assists - 18 goals participated Benzema- 20 goals, 6 assists - 26 Ronaldo- 55 goals, 16 assists. - 71. So Bale and Benzema participated in 44 goals COMBINED. Ronaldo alone participated in 71. People underestimate our Kroos-Cas-Modrić middlefield(+Isco).
Zidane should have subbed off Ronaldo and or Bale but probably decided the controversy wouldn't be worth it
Bale was playing really well and providing width and an aerial threat inside the box. Ronaldo is your best scorer. That sub wasn't necessary at that point. If you're still looking for a goal around 85th minute, bring in Borja for Bale, and throw everything at the net.
You keep ignoring the fact that we actually lost the game 1-0. If it had been 0-0 with us dominating the game but not scoring the chances, then you can never blame Zidane for that, but Betis scored a goal because Zidane decided to take out our midfield and gave Betis tons of space, despite them demonstrating throughout the match that they know how to string a pass or two together, and wouldn't just hoof it up mindlessly. And that's how they got their goal. See the full play on their goal. They're tiki-takaing the shit out of us, because we've got Mayoral, Bale, and Asensio running around like headless chickens, trying to do a midfielder's job and failing miserably at it. And that wasn't the only time either. Check out the play at the end of the 88th minute. Here's a before picture ... and here's an after picture, 5 seconds later: They could've easily scored another here as well. And they had another such chance in the 80th minute: If the pass goes to the clear guy in the middle, they've got a 2v1 alone with Ramos. This is on Zidane as well and his decision to remove our midfield. Before he did that, our midfield was dominating theirs, and it was just a matter of running them tired and keep going on creating chances. Even if that somehow doesn't work, at least you know as a manager you did the right thing, that this is just insanely bad luck, that at least you didn't lose, and that next time you'll probably get the win. By the 70th minute, we were drawing because of the forwards, but by the 94th minute, we were losing because of Zidane.
Mayoral specifically looked terrible when brought on, and people will hold that against him, but I'm not sure what the expectation of him was when you're asking him to drop so deep and try to spread the ball to the wings or move it upwards. Neither of those are what he can do adequately, let alone influence the game with.
Mayoral played effectively 10 minutes, since Betis spent most of the last 15 minutes on the pitch pretending to be injured.
It's not the first time he's done it. He does risk a lot more than all of the coaches that were in charge before him. Sometimes it works out, sometime it doesn't. @Umar said it in other match threads that it's a move that had we lost, a lot of people would hold against him. If you're still looking for a goal after shooting 27 times at it, you were sh*t at shooting at the goal. Ronaldo looked like he could play 180 minutes and wouldn't score, so considering that he took almost every shot, even throwing himself at headers that the player behind him was better positioned for, the team was doomed.
So then take out Ronaldo and put in Mayoral. Why are you taking out Modric? Keeping Modric in the game isn't because you're expecting him to score a goal, it's because you expect him to be the link to the forward line.