You could see Mourinho's eyes light up

[markbmcfc]

I find it amazing how differently fans see the same thing.

Looked to me like we went 3-5-2 when Kolarov came on, Clichy went more central.

As for Zabba, he got dragged inside for their first goal so Kompany went out wide to pick up Marcelo, who turns inside and shoots in the gap where Vinny should have been. When Marcelo receives the ball Zabba is in the D of our area, probably tracking Tranny, but she should have passed him on and maintained the shape.

Then for the third goal Tranny gets past Zabba far too easily.

The way I saw it, we played 3-5-2 since the 36th minute. When Maicon went off we hadn't conceded, Zabba comes on and we concede three. Not as black and white as that, but that's what happened.

WE didn't play 3-5-2 from the 36th minute. I thought we were going to when I saw Kolorov coming on but we didn't. Kolorov went on the left side of midfield, Clichy stayed at fullback.

WE went 3-5-2 when Zab came on. You could see him signalling to all the players to make the change.

I'll have to watch it again to double check my initial thoughts. I was too busy trying to hide most of the time. From what I remember, Kolarov was very deep to be playing in midfield, Silva wasn't deep enough to be playing right midfield, and Maicon wasn't deep enough to be playing right back. Clichy looked far more central than he did minutes earlier when Nasri was on the pitch. I need to watch it again, I could be wrong.

I saw Zabba signalling, but that can be taken two ways. As an instruction, or others asking him if they were going back to four at the back and he corrected them. There is no real way of us knowing that.

 

[Anonymous]

Actually he was signalling to the three in the middle. He gestured "3" at the midfield trio, then gestured "5" at the defenders. The upshot was the same as Michael Cox points out, we went to the wingback system only after Zaba came on.

 

[Didsbury Dave]

Actually he was signalling to the three in the middle. He gestured "3" at the midfield trio, then gestured "5" at the defenders. The upshot was the same as Michael Cox points out, we went to the wingback system only after Zaba came on.

Course we did. And Zab went charging down the flank like a loon, leaving a huge gap which Real exploited. Which is my point. It was a bad tactical change.

 

[Anonymous]

Actually he was signalling to the three in the middle. He gestured "3" at the midfield trio, then gestured "5" at the defenders. The upshot was the same as Michael Cox points out, we went to the wingback system only after Zaba came on.

Course we did. And Zab went charging down the flank like a loon, leaving a huge gap which Real exploited. Which is my point. It was a bad tactical change.

Our right side was exposed all evening to be honest. Maicon did ok against Ronaldo but overall it was criminal how many shots he got past our defenders to test JH. Comes back to the Kola substitution which to my mind should've been Milner for Nasri.

 

[LongsightM13]

It is easy to over-complicate matters. Leave that to the tactics bloggers.
It all boils down to the fact that we are simply not playing well at the moment. Too many of our key players are not in good form and simply didn't turn up on the night, playing away against a very good team. No formation would have altered that.
We might've got away with it against lesser sides so far, but we need to snap out of this puzzling malaise ASAP

 

[Akira]

Now the only question lies, did Zaba attack and forsaken his flank because the boss told him to? Or he just lacked positional discipline?

And really, I was pretty surprised and shocked how often our right backs let Ronaldo cut inside and did not even once attempted to force him to the left.

And for the last goal, if only Zaba had stood his ground. But then, the defending of the entire team was pretty horrendous.

 

[coulsonblue]

Please. We lost because we conceeded 2 goals due to poor defending in the dying moments.

Zabaleta should not let him past so easily. (irony here is maicon has been given a pasting by media yet he did far better than zab and i thought did v well)

Barry i feel should have just taken out di maria and conceeded a fk and yellow card also. He looked to back out and not foul(presumably not wanting to give ronaldo a free hit), but with hindsight, at that stage of the game just stop them advancing towards goal.

this had very little to do with a system, and alot to do with poor defending/concentration

 

[supercrystal7]

Actually he was signalling to the three in the middle. He gestured "3" at the midfield trio, then gestured "5" at the defenders. The upshot was the same as Michael Cox points out, we went to the wingback system only after Zaba came on.

Course we did. And Zab went charging down the flank like a loon, leaving a huge gap which Real exploited. Which is my point. It was a bad tactical change.

Our right side was exposed all evening to be honest. Maicon did ok against Ronaldo but overall it was criminal how many shots he got past our defenders to test JH. Comes back to the Kola substitution which to my mind should've been Milner for Nasri.

Ronaldo is Ronaldo the (2nd)best player on the planet. The problem is he plays for Madrid. So you cannot afford to have too many men on him, because they have Di Maria etc on the team.

Mancini's tactics were working though you rode your luck. Madrid should have scored more early, but you restricted them to mainly shots outside the area.

Madrid were playing with Di Maria and Ronaldo on opposite flanks to their strongest feet. Now whilst Ronaldo has a brilliant left foot and is very dangerous going on the inside it's better than letting him come in and shoot. Di Maria is a fantastic player, but he has a weak right foot and so forcing him on the outside works well.

By packing the midfield with 3 men it meant that when Di Maria or Ronaldo cut into shoot there should have been enough midfield cover to block the shot.

A clear sign the tactic was working is that Ronaldo and Di Maria actually swapped flanks. Ronaldo went out onto the right and Di Maria on the left, to play as more orthodox wingers.

Ronaldo switched back, becauese he saw the weakness on the right after Maicon went off.

 

[Anonymous]

It is easy to over-complicate matters. Leave that to the tactics bloggers.
It all boils down to the fact that we are simply not playing well at the moment. Too many of our key players are not in good form and simply didn't turn up on the night, playing away against a very good team. No formation would have altered that.
We might've got away with it against lesser sides so far, but we need to snap out of this puzzling malaise ASAP

I think our malaise can be put down to the chopping and changing of our back 4 to be honest. I've always found with this team that they are at their best when the back 4 are dominating their area of the field and then starting attacks. Last night Madrid pressed us high, and our back 4 looked brittle even with Garcia/Barry trying to shield them.

It is puzzling to me that we played with Silva/Nasri when Madrid's biggest strength is in wide areas. Keep saying it but Milner in front of Maicon would've made a big difference to our play in the first half and Kola for Nasri was nonsensical as a substitution because it meant the right side of guaranteed to be exposed leaving Ronaldo the freedom of that flank.

 

[toffee balls]

We can debate tactics till we are all blue in the face but in realiity it is all
about the result.

We were 3 minutes away from being the FIRST English team to win in the
Bernabeu.

Mancini went toe to toe with arguably the best tactical manager the CHAMPIONS league has ever seen and lost to a fantastic team playing as if their lives depended on it by a whisker.

Fantastic match.

Well done Real