Morning.
I watched some more Champions League last night, the 3-2 win for Barcelona against PSG. I think both of these teams are quite flawed in their own ways, but what is obvious when you watch them it just how technically accomplished most of the players are at this level. Then you see Ousmane Dembele score the kind of goal he did, and you realise that even though that was just his second goal of the season, these teams have players who are capable of extraordinary moments.
Former Arsenal target Raphina was on target twice for Barcelona, his second goal a sweet finish after a superb pass from Pedri found his clever run. Time between pass and goal, 2 seconds. That’s all it takes. You think you’re all right, then someone does something brilliant which allows someone else to do something and you’ve been punished.
Which isn’t to say I think what Bayern did to us on Tuesday night was the same as those examples, but both goals were a demonstration of how you have to understand the quality of the opposition when you get to this stage of the Champions League. A slight mix-up between David Raya and Gabriel, coupled with a pass that was 6 inches away from finding its target was enough for us to be punished.
For the second, we have to be more cynical and stop Leroy Sane before he can reach maximum speed. Mostly that was on Jakub Kiwior who got turned too easily, but if you let a guy like that run at speed into your box, chances are something bad is going to happen. These are things I’m sure these players understand already, but experiencing them in a game like Tuesday’s is how those lessons really get baked in.
It doesn’t look like much, but the Raphina goal above comes about when Gianluigi Donnarumma plays an imprecise ball into midfield. That’s all it takes. That’s all opposition of this calibre need. It’s why I think we can all understand Mikel Arteta’s obsession with control, because very often the most dangerous moments in football come when…
Source link : https://arseblog.com/2024/04/champions-league-learning-reminder-saka-is-special/
Author : arseblog
Publish date : 2024-04-11 07:14:20
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