Real Madrid (A) | CL | Post Match Thread

I just don’t understand why Pep has to change the things that have been working so far this season.

O’Reilly in midfield has given us the legs and physicality required and we have had some big results with him in that position.

We went back to the suicidal tactics of last season….very high line and asking the full backs to move inside meaning we are vulnerable to the ball over the top….its not rocket science !

We lost that game in the midfield where we were hopelessly outnumbered and consistently bypassed and allowed their midfield to run at our defence.

The best defenders in the world would not have been able to cope with the constant onslaught our formation and tactics provided for Madrid.

The other thing that never fails to amaze me is the space we afford the opponents in midfield and attack….yet when our forwards attack they are surrounded by two or three players……probably due to our slow slow build up play.

The only time we really look to have any kind of control is when Cherki is on the field.

Hate to say it and his goal tally might say something different but Pep and Haaland are not a good combination…..we don’t play quickly enough or get the ball in the box often enough for Haaland.

For a Pep system to really work we need three forwards that can all interchange to give us the fluidity and movement.
I’m not sure a combination from Doku, Semenyo, Marmoush and Savinho are good enough to give us that.
 
ArniArason said:
Can we open the home leg pre-match thread early? We need to just put this thread to bed now. Last night was truly awful and we played abysmal, we all agree on that. However, Real played the game of their season and a player not known for his goal scoring prowess had the game of his life doing just that.

It's highly unlikely that Real will play as good or we will play as bad at our place. If the atmosphere is there from the off, we go at them and get an early goal, who knows what could happen.

It's in these sorts of circumstances that big teams show they are big teams, so the negativity has been done, now we have to be positive minded.
Click to expand...
No, they will play even better in the 2nd leg because a lot of their injured players will be back, including Mbappe. We played the weakest Madrid team in years and lost 3-0. Pep turned it into a colossal stinker.
 
I think the biggest mistake tonight was thinking that. Vini Jrn would be the only threat. I would have liked to have seen Nunes play right back because Vini Jrn is never going to help out in defence and Nunes would have been dangerous going forward. and play Khus at centre back. We should also have packed the midfield. I know it is hindsight and I think we all believed that Madrid were there for the taking and so, maybe, did Pep. Instead they attacked our young, inexperienced, at this level, fullback with a world class player. I don't think we can expect to pull this back we just have to give a good account of ourselves and so do the fans. A red hot stadium is needed.
 
Brightwell Bros. said:
I think he puts Khus in to deal with Vini, so needs two proper wingers to create width, but I still don't know why he doesn't just put an extra body in midfield. I guess he thinks the game isn't going to be played there and hope we can grab an early goal. But just play conservatively, I don't care if
Click to expand...

Fine if that was the plan at the outset but it was clearly not working so why didn’t he react decisively with substitutions and shape change? Stubbornness I guess.
 
Palerider said:
Other teams have adapted, we have not. Last night we started well, Doku was putting in dangerous crosses and then they doubled up on him and that was it. Comfortable evening. Did anyone have the room to shoot from outside the box, did we have any breakaways? We are so intent on ball retention that we do not take any risks and that is very, very predictable. Pep needs to innovate and react in game much quicker.
Click to expand...
Hard to understand how, when teams double up on a player, they still look like they’ve got an extra man on the pitch because we don’t seem capable of exploiting any defensive gaps that should occur as a result of them doubling up.
 
Haaland needs to be dropped for now. And Pep's treatment of Nico G. is just so wrong. One of our best/ most important players earlier this season, let him play ffs.
Imagine being Nunes and hearing that you're being dropped for this game after the season you're having and getting two assists on Saturday.
But at least Pep didn't think that was a bad performance...
 
B\connellblue said:
Last night????
It's been years.
Fucking laughing stock at them. How the set piece coach isn't ran is laughable.
Click to expand...
I call it the 'brains trust'. We have three players standing over the ball deciding which one of them is going to kick it into the goalies hands. Semenyo can take a long throw but seemingly not for us. Here's a tactic off the top of my head, Semenyo long throw to find the head of 6ft 4in Haaland who then backheads it on. Not pure football but chaos creation.
 
last night was a reality check, we’ll have good days like Saturday and many more like last night. No consistency which is expected with a team still in transition. No game winners who can grab the game by the scruff of the neck in the current squad like previous city sides (yaya, KDB, Sergio etc.)
 
Master-Lotus said:
1. It was played at Assna's home ground, UCL final is a neutral venue.
2. Last season, Assna beat PSG 2-0 in a group stage too but once they've faced in the knock-out stage, they got smacked by PSG.
Click to expand...
They didn’t really get smacked they really put it on them in the 2nd leg. Anyway, Arsenal had the physicality over Bayern so it’s a worry. Everything is perfectly set for Arsenal unfortunately
 
Palerider said:
I call it the 'brains trust'. We have three players standing over the ball deciding which one of them is going to kick it into the goalies hands. Semenyo can take a long throw but seemingly not for us. Here's a tactic off the top of my head, Semenyo long throw to find the head of 6ft 4in Haaland who then backheads it on. Not pure football but chaos creation.
Click to expand...
Come on ffs no use trying something that might lead to a goal..
 
Craig said:
They didn’t really get smacked they really put it on them in the 2nd leg. Anyway, Arsenal had the physicality over Bayern so it’s a worry. Everything is perfectly set for Arsenal unfortunately
Click to expand...

Bayern ran 123 km at Atalanta despite deciding the tie in the 1st half and have practically won the Bundesliga. Arsenal wouldn't be as fresh as them or PSG.

Plus, lots of surprises happen. Before the game last night the chance for Real to win 3:0 with a hat-trick by Valverde was probably 1 in 1000. I doubt anyone put money on that as it was extremely unlikely.
 
Bozzie said:
When you start with three wingers and have to sub two of them because you’re three nil down at half time it’s probably fair to say that, in hindsight, you’ve picked the wrong team. I won’t say “we’ve been found out” but there’s definitely a default method of playing against us which offers the best chance of success and teams from Forest to Madrid are using it. They don’t work harder than us necessarily but they work far more efficiently. They drop deep, our midfield and back four push high up the pitch and immediately we’re exposed to the counter attack. It appeared last night that Pep thought there was an opportunity to almost put the tie to bed , unfortunately there was, just not the way we hoped for.
Click to expand...
They didn't need to work very hard to create chances against us - a long ball and pace was enough. As it has been for about 2-3 years now. We had a spell this year where we seemed more pragmatic but the incident which led to their penalty was shambolic. No-one in our half and an easy through ball
 
Last edited:
Metal Biker said:
2023 Manchester City would also have thrashed this 2026 Manchester City 4-0. Because by that point they were a team that had gelled, with seasons of campaigns behind them.

We have a team where for a lot of players it's their first season with us (some, not even 4 months) and others their first season in the Premier League. A league in which clubs have adapted their tactics to avoid being beaten by us.

WE have become the standard teams set their stalls out to beat, yet surprisingly the one team that didn't adapt, was us ourselves. The nucleus is there, but it's going to take some time and some fans need to stop expecting so much so early.

Semenyo and Haaland doesn't work. Semenyo and Marmoush, does. Gonzalez is a far better prospect than Reijnders, Guehi will be a beast of a defender once he has a few seasons with us under his belt. Last night was not the night. It was a test to see how much work is still needed to be done. Quite a lot, as it turns out.
Click to expand...
Not sure it helps putting out such a bizarre and suicidal lineup. I personally think we would have beat that Madrid team or at least be still in the tie if Pep didn’t have his now customary CL brain fart.

I think we have the formation and the players to win all competitions this season, but it’s not going to happen as Pep will just piss around too much with the team and also keep playing players who are clearly out of form.

Expectations well and truly lowered for me now.
 
Master-Lotus said:
No, they will play even better in the 2nd leg because a lot of their injured players will be back, including Mbappe. We played the weakest Madrid team in years and lost 3-0. Pep turned it into a colossal stinker.
Click to expand...
Are you Prophet of Doom or Guadino Motors in disguise?
 
Cellarite said:
I wouldn't blame Haaland but there was more than one cross screwed across the 6 yard box. Lineker, Shearer, Andy Cole, Kane would've been breaking their necks to get a touch on them but Haaland doesn't seem to have that killer instinct at the moment.
Click to expand...
agree with that but that was in the first 10/15 minutes after that i might as well been up front such was the lack of any type of service
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Unread Posts

Don't have an account? Register now and see fewer ads!

SIGN UP
Back
Top