Christian Pulisic at AC Milan

Yep. Our boy is reppin' Hersey, PA in the Bernabeu . Out-freaking-standing.

 

His passing has been quite crisp this 1st half...twice he did great at getting the ball out of BVBs own half, one of which lead to a 4 v 3 counter via a give and goal along the RW with Dembele.

 

I hope the superclubs don't dismember this Borussia.

What a pleasure to watch. Today, Tuchel out-coached Zidane, too.

 

I thought Pulisic and Dembele dominated the first 15min of the second half. A shame that he came off before the game opened up, but hopefully that just indicates he'll get some time this weekend.

 

Something for those of you who plan a re-watch of the game: notice how little having a fixed "formation" and spotted "position" matter to Tuchel. Pulisic changed sides often, at times marking Modric, at times marking Ronaldo.

Also, note that while Pulisic was covering the breadth of the field, Schurrle covered the full length. From pressing Ramos to covering James.

Those two were used in a masterful way to cover the transitions in the Spanish club. When Ronaldo has two guys on him, CP is often one of them. When James got dispossessed, it was Schurrle getting the ball.

 

Madrid was up 2-0 before Dortmund staged their comeback. Pulisic was on the field but not involved when Dortmund scored their first goal, subbing out a minute later. But he also was marking James, who in the 53’ crossed in to Benzema for Madrid’s second. Pulisic probably was close enough to do something about it, but he didn’t get a good read on the play and was slow to react. Overal, he wasn’t bad from what I saw and was faced up against some of Madrid’s best defenders, including Marcello. Dortmund’s center mid in this match, Dembele made a real mess of things most of the time.

 

That is my thought.

 

Here are the possible opponents for Dortmund in the next round:

PSG
Benfica
Man City
Madrid
Porto
Sevilla


Who do y'all think the best and worst possible opponents are?

 

Not Madrid, they were in the same group.

Best: Benfica.

Toughest: ManCity.

 

I don't think you can play the 2nd place team from your own group....

 

I have to disagree. I really do admire that Tuchel plays attacking soccer, always wanting to dominate, but today, he simply choose the wrong strategy. Dortmund have such great players for the counterattack, Auba, Pulisic, Schürrle, Dembele, really all of them, quick as the wind. Instead, Madrid, needing the win to place first in the group, at home, were the ones allowed to play on the counter. Every time Madrid were dangerous in the first half was when they were counterattacking, it must be rare for Ronaldo or Benzema to have that much space at home.

Dortmund got the draw in the end, so it just about worked out, they deserved as much, but let us not forget that they were also lucky not to concede five or six goals.

Edit: And I nearly forgot: why did he bring on Rode? If he plays him from the start, a purely defensive midfielder at the Bernabeu, ok, but when chasing the game? I don't get it.

 

I don't think it was luck. For each chance Madrid wasted, Dortmund also wasted one.

And player by player Real Madrid is supposedly the better team. As the leaders in the strongest league in Europe, they're favorites to win the Champions.

Yet today Tuchel's team out-possessed (53%), out-ran (114 km to 108.7), out-passed (514/607 to Madrid's 425/526) and matched their recoveries (48 to 47). Not even Bayern at their peak managed those numbers at the Bernabeu.

http://www.uefa.com/uefachampionsle...d=2000783/match=2019372/statistics/index.html

 

Madrid isn't possible, but anyway from best case to worst case it looks like this:

Porto, Benfica, PSG, Sevilla, Man City

There's an argument that you'd rather face Man City than Sevilla or PSG but that's how I'd rank it.

Porto and Benfica are capable sides, but they would still be underdogs to BVB. I think PSG and Sevilla are about a push, and Man City would be slight favorites.

There would be parity either way, though.

 

Sevilla should have topped their group, but got jobbed when hosting Juve.

 

Pretty sure that BVB were robbed on a clear peno. Rode did the job he was brought on to do. BVB did not go to the Bern to try and smash and grab with a counter. They came out with attacking intent and it worked, not sure how you can question the tactics when they work.

TT really wanted to unveil his 3-1-2-4 and he got as close to it as he dared at this juncture. His philosophy is the best defense is a goal scoring offense.

 

i would love to see tuchel manage the USMNT...this game was very "USMNT reminiscent" to me circa 2009 with davies donovan etc on the counter.....and bvb escaping and scrambling on defense...in the end "they punched over their wieght" and got the result.

 

I do agree that I think the 3-5-2 wasn't a very good choice for BVB to start off with.

First, Barta is a terrible CB and he definitely can't play the RCB in a 3-5-2. On the first goal, Schmelzer got caught up field (it's gonna happen eventually) and Barta was unbelievably slow recovering and got caught in no mans land.

Secondly, I really don't think you want Pulisic as the RWB in a 3-5-2. In the Mexico game, I believe the one thing he got right in that formation was placing Pulisic underneath Jozy in the AMF role, centrally. When he got on the ball (which was rarely), he was brilliant. In Tuchel's 3-5-2, Dembele played there, which I think was a terrible decision. Dembele is prone to turnovers and it takes his best skill away from him - cutting in from the outside and linking up. I think he would have been better off putting Pulisic there, or Reus if he was completely healthy, or even Gotze (who wasn't healthy)

In the 3-5-2, both wingbacks were wasted for defensive purposes. Pulisic is young and multi-talented and was able to do it, and was able to get forward a ton. In the case of LWB Schmelzer, it was a complete waste. He simplygot caught up field too much and he did not link well at all with Schurrle. In fact, Schurrle was back covering him a ton. (I'm not a huge fan of him but he was decent defensively) You would have been better off with a Durm or a Guerreiro or a Passlack.

Finally, they really need to find somebody to play with Weigl. Too often in these games he gets crowded out in the midfield. Castro is meant to be his partner but he loves to play in an advanced role. This would work if he wasn't truly terrible in the final 3rd. He killed 5-6 attacks alone. I think Sahin is perfect here but he's always hurt.

4-1-3-2 with Sahin or Guerreiro in the midfield provides much better cover for Weigl and improves the team shape.

 

Good analysis. Or terrible because I had these thoughts as well, and I don't even self-identify as an expert tactician.

I did, however, try Schmeltzer on my FUT Bundesliga team. For two games. Then I went back Guerreiro and Bernat. So maybe I am a soccer genius. At least in the video game world.

 

No soccer tactician at all. Started watching footy around 2010 in all the big leagues. Before that just watched World cups. Sometimes I listen to a guy like Stewart Robson (who I love) and say, where did he come up with those kind of tactics?

Hence why I love BS. You got some great tactical minds. I'll watch a match, come on here, and they look at it a totally different way tactics wise. A way to learn, for sure.

 

But that is the crux of their system. Weigl is the key player, because he allows for the other CM to add himself to the attack.

If you put a reinforcement for Weigl, you have to take someone out of the front, and it wouldn't be the system Tuchel wants to play any more.

Risky, yes, but that's what the coach wants --and so far is working fine, until someone unravels his system.

 

Agreed. Did I forget an injury to Guerreiro? In the times I watched, I thought he was a solid choice to push on from midfield. Rode is one that kills things for them to me.

 

i'm still waiting to wake up from this dream of 2016 and see Pulisic lining up for Croatia

 

We're the better team though. It's been almost 20 years since Croatia survived a World Cup group.

CP chose wisely.