Football - Analysed!

Friday, August 30, 2019

Liverpool vs Arsenal: Klopp's Defensive Masterclass

We always attribute Liverpool as this mighty attacking team which always presses high and fast and goes to goal with speed and precision. Let's look at it from a different perspective. What does Liverpool do when they don't have the ball? What do they do in their defensive moment which makes them an unstoppable attacking threat?

Defensive-Third

Liverpool employs aggressive pressure even in their defensive-third, making the opponent midfield uncomfortable on the ball. Their wing-backs, Alexander-Arnold and Robertson, put pressure higher up the pitch and their centre-backs, Van Dijk and Matip, wait for the long balls and give cover in deep areas. This makes the opponent play long balls forcefully in wide areas and has a greater chance of them losing the ball.

Middle-Third

As soon as Liverpool loses the ball in the midfield, they tend to aggressively pressure the ball and win it as soon as they can. Players who are away from the game-centre try to organise so that the opponent is forced to play back or play long to win the 2nd ball.

Final-Third

Liverpool go all out while pressuring, by blocking passing lines and forcing the opponent to pull offensive players behind to play out from the back or directly play long behind the defensive line. If the opponent tries to play long and win 2nd balls, Liverpool overloads the area and creates numerical advantage to win the ball and attack swiftly.

I hope you enjoyed my analysis and I'm eagerly looking forward to your invaluable feedback, suggestions and ideas. Do like, share and follow the page to show your love!

Football - Analysed!

(Video and Statistics Credits - WyScout.com)

Saturday, August 10, 2019

Premier League Preview! Vol. 4

In this section I will be previewing all 20 Premier League teams and give a different viewpoint as to how the teams are going to use their pre-season experience to come out on top.

In this post we'll take a look at the strongest and weakest moments from Southampton FC, Tottenham Hotspurs, Watford FC, West Ham United and Wolverhampton Wanderers. Let's get right into it:

Southampton FC

Offensive Moment

Defensive Moment

Tottenham Hotspurs

Offensive Moment

Defensive Moment

Watford FC

Offensive Moment

Defensive Moment

West Ham United

Offensive Moment

Defensive Moment

Wolverhampton Wanderers

Offensive Moment

Defensive Moment

Premier League Preview! Vol. 3

In this section I will be previewing all 20 Premier League teams and give a different viewpoint as to how the teams are going to use their pre-season experience to come out on top.

In this post we'll take a look at the strongest and weakest moments from Manchester City, Manchester United, Newcastle United, Norwich City FC and Sheffield United. Let's get right into it:

Manchester City

Offensive Moment

Defensive Moment

Manchester United

Offensive Moment

Defensive Moment

Newcastle United

Offensive Moment

Defensive Moment

Norwich City FC

Offensive Moment

Defensive Moment

Sheffield United

Offensive Moment

Defensive Moment

Friday, August 9, 2019

Premier League Preview! Vol. 2

In this section I will be previewing all 20 Premier League teams and give a different viewpoint as to how the teams are going to use their pre-season experience to come out on top.

In this post we'll take a look at the strongest and weakest moments from Chelsea FC, Crystal Palace FC, Everton FC, Leicester City FC and Liverpoool FC. Let's get right into it:

Chelsea FC

Offensive Moment

Defensive Moment

Crystal Palace FC

Offensive Moment

Defensive Moment

Everton FC

Offensive Moment

Defensive Moment

Leicester City FC

Offensive Moment

Defensive Moment

Liverpool FC

Offensive Moment

Defensive Moment

Premier League Preview! Vol. 1

In this section I will be previewing all 20 Premier League teams and give a different viewpoint as to how the teams are going to use their pre-season experience to come out on top.

In this post we'll take a look at the strongest and weakest moments from AFC Bournemouth, Arsenal FC, Aston Villa FC, Brighton and Hove Albion and Burnley FC. Let's get right into it:

AFC Bournemouth

Offensive Moment

Defensive Moment

Arsenal FC

Offensive Moment

Defensive Moment

Aston Villa FC

Offensive Moment

Defensive Moment

Brighton and Hove Albion

Offensive Moment

Defensive Moment

Burnley FC

Offensive Moment

Defensive Moment

Wednesday, July 17, 2019

Algeria Bossing at the AFCON's!

Algeria has been phenomenal at the African Cup of Nations this summer, reaching the finals and out performing all the other countries in almost every aspect. Having an Expected Goals (xG) rate of 8.3 but still scoring 12 goals is no easy feat. On the other hand, they've conceded just 2 goals till now in the competition, even though their Expected Goals Against (xGA) rate was a staggering 5.3! It clearly shows their dominance in the tournament, BOSSING everyone by being a constant threat at the opponent goal while maintaining stability in the defensive third. Here's my analysis on Algeria at the AFCON's.

Offensive Organisation

Making optimum utilization of the new rule, Algerian players come inside the box to receive the ball from their goalkeeper during goalkicks. The 4 midfield players constantly keep switching, in-sync, to unsettle the opponent and create as many passing lines as possible to split the opponent and break their organisation. As soon as that is established, they initiate their attack with passes/crosses to teammates with open space, advantage of time and numerical parity/superiority in the outside corridors. The cross/pass comes in the box at a moment when the opponent's body orientation is opposite to goal, which makes it difficult for them to defend.

Defensive Transition

Player closest to the ball puts pressure on the ball carrier, irrespective of his positioning. In that moment, other players close down passing options so that there's not much choice for the opponent and the ball carrier can be trapped. In this case, the pressure is from behind the opponent, while the other players get closer to supporting opponents. In the defensive third, Algeria still maintains close proximity to their opponents so as so not give many options to the opponent. This makes them mentally overworked emotionally aggressive to try and dribble or shoot from distance.

Defensive Organisation

Algeria has a tendency to not put pressure on the opponent defensive line, so as to give them options to get in the middle third where they have more players, less space and greater chance to win the ball. The midfielders will try to be in a man-marking position, which might prove to be fatal for them at some point just like in the analysis, but it has worked for them most of the time. They always try to maintain parity or superiority in the game-center and overload in the middle, infront of the goal.

Offensive Transition

Their most favoured option is to cover as much space, as quickly as possible. It can be with a pass or with driving the ball. This way they gain spatial advantage over the opponent quickly and put players in attacking positions to support the ball carrier. Supporting players get close to the opponent to release 1-2 own-team players in free spaces to gain advantage in numbers as well as space.

I hope you enjoyed my analysis and I'm eagerly looking forward to your invaluable feedback, suggestions and ideas. Do like, share and follow the page to show your love!

Football - Analysed!

(Video and Statistics Credits - WyScout.com)

Saturday, July 6, 2019

De-constructing LA Galaxy's Dominating Performance Against Toronto FC!

LA Galaxy has been one of the top teams in the MLS this season, comfortably sitting in 2nd position in the Western Conference and also having star player, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, as the 2nd highest top scorer in the league currently! Their game last night against Toronto FC ended with the scoreline of 2-0 in their favour and today I'll try to give you an idea of how LA Galaxy played in all 4 moments of the game and dominated proceedings.

Offensive Organisation

When playing out from the back, they try to organise on the pitch to always have numerical parity or superiority in proximity to the ball. Attracting opponents towards the game-centre in the middle corridor and opening up spaces on the outsides for gaining numerical parity and spatial advantage.

In the middle third, after a long ball, their main concern is to win the 2nd ball successfully. This helps them gain space near the opposing goal and they can start creation of chances.

In the final third, using Zlatan as target man and the outside corridors for superiority, crossing and finishing is their strongest suit.

Defensive Transition

As soon as the ball is lost, in a local perspective, the closest player pressurises the ball carrier in the direction away from goal. Glocally, closest team-mates give cover by isolating the player with the ball, giving him no option but to dribble or move away from the area of pressure. Once that is established, the team in a global perspective, gives defensive unity and try to get in shape quickly.

Defensive Organisation

First line of pressure, the striker, directs the ball carrier inside, where there more chance of winning the ball and quickly getting into an offensive phase.

The second line, midfielders, maintain a zonal system where each player is responsible for blocking a passing lane going forward.

The defensive midfielder stabilizes the midfield line by closing down runs of opponent striker/s coming down to receive the ball.

The defensive line maintains shape and organises to apply pressure, cover and balance at all times.

Offensive Transition

First and direct option for LA Galaxy is to go as close to opponent goal, as soon as possible. It can be with a dribble or a pass or a long ball, but the priority is to get the ball up the pitch.

Other players support the ball carrier to create situations of numerical superiority in side corridors.

With number and time in their control, they tend to make late but calculated runs behind the opponent defensive line for gaining opportunities to score.