Week 5: Friday Afternoon Footy

coremiller

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I don't care if all of our coaches hate him, I love N'dombele and he should always play.
 

coremiller

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It's weird to go from getting thoroughly outplayed by Crystal Palace (no offense @candylandriots) to holding their own against the reigning European champions in the space of a week.
 

teddykgb

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Chelsea aren’t the same team without Kante and it looks to me like Nuno has deployed the Xmas tree formation on them. Somebody needs to figure out the weakness of this back 5 looks like Spurs want to send Son behind while having two forwards coming deeper
 

Mighty Joe Young

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Don’t agree at all with this. I’d really want them using the pitch side monitors for incidents like this. Right now it feels like a return to a lot of arbitrary applications of rules that just drives everyone insane
But … when introduced that’s what VAR was supposed to be … clear and obvious … and it was reiterated before the season started.

If the ref tells the VAR official he had a good view and decided against a PEN the only way an on field monitor review is appropriate is if the ref completely screwed up. Otherwise you end up with endless 50/50 calls being reviewed.

From what I can see the pitch side monitor review is only used as a PR stamp to imply the ref is making the decision - it’s invariably overturned.
 

the1andonly3003

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wondering if Rebecca Lowe picked The Lost Symbol live read over the Extreme Rules promo...WWE cross promos haven't happened since Wrestlemania....
 

coremiller

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Chelsea aren’t the same team without Kante and it looks to me like Nuno has deployed the Xmas tree formation on them. Somebody needs to figure out the weakness of this back 5 looks like Spurs want to send Son behind while having two forwards coming deeper
Chelsea do look a lot better having brought Kante on.
 

candylandriots

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Union looks completely gassed after playing on Thursday. It’s going to be tough for them to compete with the likes of Dortmund in the league after playing midweek. Teams like Union don’t have the depth to easily compete in Europe and the league.

And as I start to write this, Kevin Behrens comes in off the bench and immediately draws a penalty (he scored against Slavia Prague shortly after coming on), and Kruse converted to make it 3-1.

I still don’t see a way back for them today though.
 

coremiller

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Maybe it's a fitness thing, but I do not feel good about Nuno pulling off N'dombele and Lo Celso at same time.
 

teddykgb

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I think it’s probably going to have to be a counter attacking side who shows the path against Chelsea. You can’t ply possession against them because the back 5 hardly need to move — you can switch play endlessly without tiring them or making any real space to attack. You almost need to invite them forward and commit their wingbacks to change their shape. They’re happy to sit in that 5-2-x or now with a lead a 5-3-2 as long as they need to in order to frustrate you into a mistake they can use as a platform. I think Nuno had it backwards today in that he seemed to want Son to run behind centrally but surely you need width to run that channel behind the wingbacks and start to drag the CMs or CBs wider. I wonder if Liverpool will expose them better with both Salah and Mane but Liverpool tend to have a lot of the ball and may run into the same brick wall
 

Mighty Joe Young

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I think it’s probably going to have to be a counter attacking side who shows the path against Chelsea. You can’t ply possession against them because the back 5 hardly need to move — you can switch play endlessly without tiring them or making any real space to attack. You almost need to invite them forward and commit their wingbacks to change their shape. They’re happy to sit in that 5-2-x or now with a lead a 5-3-2 as long as they need to in order to frustrate you into a mistake they can use as a platform. I think Nuno had it backwards today in that he seemed to want Son to run behind centrally but surely you need width to run that channel behind the wingbacks and start to drag the CMs or CBs wider. I wonder if Liverpool will expose them better with both Salah and Mane but Liverpool tend to have a lot of the ball and may run into the same brick wall
That’s interesting … against Liverpool I thought Liverpool exposed some weaknesses before the red card changed the game. Right now, Chelsea is near unbeatable with a lead.
 

Jimy Hendrix

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Spurs made a good go of it first half, but their offense versus this Chelsea defense is a stoppable force vs. an immovable object.
 

candylandriots

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After Union makes a game of it by pulling back to 3-2, Haaland just made a ridiculous goal. You should see this thing.
 

teddykgb

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That’s interesting … against Liverpool I thought Liverpool exposed some weaknesses before the red card changed the game. Right now, Chelsea is near unbeatable with a lead.
When City played with Sane left and Sterling right I’m fairly confident City would have the speed to damage Chelsea in wider areas but these days there aren’t a ton of burner wingers in the league and certainly City is playing wingers who cut inside which run right into Chelsea’s central trap. Maybe United still wants to play outside you a bit with speed and with Ronaldo can try to go outside the 5 and head the ball in but it feels like much of the league has transitioned into much more of Peps style with a lot of possession and fewer pacy wingers hitting on the counter so they seem so well setup right now
 

Morgan's Magic Snowplow

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I thought this was a very impressive game by Chelsea. It felt like Spurs basically gave them their best shot - probably their most positive possible starting XI, playing in front of the home fans, and a tactical tweak by Nuno that had Chelsea genuinely a bit confused for a while and struggling to move the ball through midfield - and all it really meant was that the game was roughly stalemated for a half until Tuchel got Kante on, made some tactical adjustments of his own, and then it was just a 45 minute curbstomping. Spurs haven't been good this year in general but are still one of the better teams in the league, especially with a full strength starting lineup.
 

Zososoxfan

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I thought this was a very impressive game by Chelsea. It felt like Spurs basically gave them their best shot - probably their most positive possible starting XI, playing in front of the home fans, and a tactical tweak by Nuno that had Chelsea genuinely a bit confused for a while and struggling to move the ball through midfield - and all it really meant was that the game was roughly stalemated for a half until Tuchel got Kante on, made some tactical adjustments of his own, and then it was just a 45 minute curbstomping. Spurs haven't been good this year in general but are still one of the better teams in the league, especially with a full strength starting lineup.
QFT. A Spurs goal in the first half would've made it more interesting, but that would've been against type for Spurs. Hence, 3-0.
 

HowBoutDemSox

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I thought this was a very impressive game by Chelsea. It felt like Spurs basically gave them their best shot - probably their most positive possible starting XI, playing in front of the home fans, and a tactical tweak by Nuno that had Chelsea genuinely a bit confused for a while and struggling to move the ball through midfield - and all it really meant was that the game was roughly stalemated for a half until Tuchel got Kante on, made some tactical adjustments of his own, and then it was just a 45 minute curbstomping. Spurs haven't been good this year in general but are still one of the better teams in the league, especially with a full strength starting lineup.
Great article in the Athletic on the tactical battle between the two coaches, including how Nuno’s initial plans gave Chelsea trouble, and how Tuchel changed shape to counter.
Rather than using Harry Kane through the middle against Thiago Silva, Nuno played him in an unusual inside-left role. Spurs attempted to play long balls downfield towards him, probably suspecting he could dominate Andreas Christensen more than Silva. The Brazilian centre-back was instead targeted with Son Heung-min’s pace. The 36-year-old coped well but Son’s movement was dangerous.

Giovani Lo Celso, meanwhile, played on the right, attempting to drag Antonio Rudiger out of position. It was, for a start, a big improvement over the static diamond Nuno deployed last weekend in a 3-0 loss to Crystal Palace, a system that could have been replicated with this weekend’s starting XI.
Pressing energetically in the opening stages is one thing, but causing Chelsea problems in possession is another. Spurs did this effectively, largely because they exploited the space around Chelsea’s two-man midfield. Tuchel usually wants to defend in a 5-2-3 system, which has worked excellently but encountered some problems here.

The first problem was Kane’s movement. Although he remains goalless this season and found himself positioned deep here, this was effective in opening up Chelsea. He would often make this movement, towards the ball from that inside-left position, which dragged Jorginho up the pitch to shut him down, desperate to prevent him from turning.
Tuchel countered his midfielders getting overloaded by pulling Mount back from winger to midfielder, going from their usual 3-4-3 to a 3-5-2, and then replacing Mount with Kante after halftime to get the most out of the new formation:
And when play restarts, Mason Mount has now altered his position — having previously been part of the front three, he’s now part of a midfield trio, with Jorginho in the holding role and Kovacic becoming a No 8. Chelsea have moved from 3-4-3 to 3-5-2 in possession, or 5-2-3 to 5-3-2 out of possession.
Here, Mount indicates that he’s concentrating on tracking Dele, and although Ndombele has time on the ball here, at least the space is in front of Chelsea’s midfield, rather than in behind it.
Now, Chelsea were competing properly in midfield and started to get the upper hand. Here’s a three against three in that zone, with Hojbjerg unable to get up the pitch quickly enough to shut down Jorginho, and Kante sneaking in behind Dele to receive the ball between the lines. This was the attack that ended with Chelsea winning a corner, from which Silva headed home the opener.
And now it was Chelsea finding space on either side of Tottenham’s midfield. For their second goal, Kante, Jorginho and Kovacic worked the ball across the midfield neatly, and the attack ended with Kante finding oceans of space. Dier, highlighted, knows someone has to shut him down — but it’s Dier who ends up deflecting the ball past his own goalkeeper, effectively ending the contest.
Question will be how other teams can build off Nuno’s plan and find other ways to attack Tuchel’s 3-4-3:
Tuchel fixed the problem with a change of system, but with his wealth of attacking options, he’ll be reluctant to be forced into a 5-3-2 every week. Opponents have spent much of 2021 wondering precisely where you find space against Tuchel’s 3-4-3. Tottenham might have found the answer.
Lots more, including great visual breakdowns, in the article.
 

teddykgb

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I dont have the athletic but that mirrors some of what I was posting about during the match regarding Kane’s positioning and what Spurs seemed to want to do. I disagree that Tuchel won’t want to play 5-3-2… he seems content to play as defensive as is necessary and Chelsea were far more effective in attack in the 5-3-2 because they want to turn you over in midfield and spring forward. Devoting an extra midfielder to it does stunt the counter but probably not in a huge way.

It seems obvious that whatever the solution is to his formation it will need to either find a way to create space between the CMs (which Chelsea will counter with a third midfielder) or by finding ways to play behind the wingbacks without hitting long balls for the outside CBs to clean up. I’d love to see a team tinker with taking Nunos approach one step further by truly going narrow — in essence risk that the wingbacks will have the run of their outsides but really focus on outnumbering Chelsea centrally. The shape by default is just too solid I think someone is going to have to force them to risk being outnumbered or change shape to drag them out of that shell
 

allstonite

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Entertaining CONCACAF-y game in Barcelona I had on my second screen while finishing up work. Grenada went up 2 minutes in and Barca threw everything at them from then on and finally scored in the 90th minute with Pique and Araujo both playing center forward. The time wasting was a sight to see and they originally added only 4 minutes and it ended at closer to 6 but the ref completely lost control and was giving out yellow cards right and left (while also taking his time and wasting time for Granada). There were shoving matches, the crowd threw something at the Grenada coach, and an unused sub got a yellow. Ended 1-1. Pretty fun way to spend a Monday afternoon while working.

Dest started at RB but was moved to LB in the first half because of an injury. He had a lot of dangerous crosses but got it taken away when he tried to take a defender on himself