Time after time, it is said that managers earn their stripes and the buck falls on their table for their ability or inability to make those critical tactical decisions, substitutions etc. In the game last night between Real Madrid and Galatasaray; both managers showed how intellectually and tactically sound they were. Faiti Terim is a renowned old war house, with experience spanning across mainstream europe and Turkey; he set his team up to push up against Real's with Drogba acting as a battling ram, not only did he do that he pushed up Sneidjer to form part of a somewhat front three, which worked a treat and as Gala had seized the initiative he brought on Elmander to join the attack with Drogba. This was intended to stretch the Real defence with Sneidjer and Amrabat expanding the attack and creativity coming from the captain of the side. Real responded positively at first to going behind 3-1 by bringing on Benzema for Higuan; but later brought in Raul Albiol as the Galatasaray threat grew; with Albiol's introduction and the renewed pace Real possessed upfront; Mourinho's side were able to see out the game from a great Ronaldo finish in added time. Time and time again, Jose Mourinho has shown his ability to master his substitutions and tactical changes to actually mirror happenings on the pitch in a precise fashion. He has been called the Special One, the Only One; I now christen him the Timely One.
Jurgen Klopp has to be the manager after everyone's heart; the clash with Malaga could be tagged as an audition for the Chelsea Job as Mauricio Pellegrini and Jurgen Klopp are rumoured to be on Chelsea's radar for the summer. To the game itself, Dortmund for me started quite nervous and the pressure of having to be careful not to concede at home seem to tell on the young side as they defended quite poorly in the game (especially as they were missing Mat Hummels) and allowed Malaga neutralize their pressing game. Dortmund were unusually wasteful over the two legs with Gotze, the most guilty of all and were not the usual incisive passing side we know them to be, giving the ball away on numerous occasions. Dortmund were somewhat lucky in this tie; Martin Schmelzer lucky to stay on the pitch after almost perfecting a WWE type move on Jesus Gamez without any of the officials spotting it. This begs the question on what actually these oficials do especially the so called assistants behind the goal post; meanwhile I understand UEFA do not intend to implement Goal line technology as they expect it would cost about $65million to implement. I then ask, do UEFA not know that they can save money from paying travel allowances and hotel bills for the additional officials? Food for thought?
What about the atmosphere at the Signal Iduna Park, My Lord what an atmosphere especially with the unveiling of a massive banner by the Dortmund fans, it simply has to be one of the most eye catching banners I have seen.
To tonight's games; two factors will be important, the first would be if Lionel Messi would play any part in the second leg encounter against PSG, he trained with the squad yesterday, but I believe its touch and go really and how PSG approach the game. Tito Villanova is back now,so some level of authority has returned to the Barca bench, the team will be buoyed by the return of Eric Abidal (not sure if his level of match fitness would hold up for a tie of this magnitude) as well as the weekend result against lowly Mallorca without the services of Messi.
PSG would look to approach the game with an aggressive stance and alot of pace from the get go as they did in the second half of the first leg as it seems to have become clear that a carefully thought out counter attacking plan is the best way to deal with Barca's possession Football, more so with the uncertainties in the Barca defense; chances will be created and Zlatan is expected to scare the living day light out of the Barca Centre Back pairing. All in all; my gut feeling tells me PSG may just nick it for two reasons; they have more balance and the absense or unfitness of Lionel Messi.
For the Juventus v Bayern tie; something tells me Antonio Conte will change from his rather invectious 3-5-2 to play a back four as the team clearly struggled with the 2v2 situations Bayern had when attacking from the wide areas. Vidal will be missed in midfield, but then Paul Pogba has developed his game and settle in with little or no problems anytime he is called into the Juve Midfield. Conte may decide to match Bayern's 4-2-3-1; but i feel he'd go more 4-3-1-2 with the plan to distrupt Bayern's build up play by the returning Martinez and Schweinsteiger with Pogba giving the responsibility of handling Mueller or whoever plays in the hole for Bayern and also providing Pirlo with the much need protection to create and orchestrate things for Juve. An intriguing prospect awaits us, but Bayern will only go ahead if they approach the game with the same intensity they approached the first leg. Juve also need the same kind of start Bayern had in the first leg with a very early goal; Bayern to go through to the semi final, tie may go to extra time though.
All in all we are poised for a Spain v Germany semi final or final, we may also have an all Spainish or German final.
Adeyemi Adesanya
@yemimanutd
Jurgen Klopp has to be the manager after everyone's heart; the clash with Malaga could be tagged as an audition for the Chelsea Job as Mauricio Pellegrini and Jurgen Klopp are rumoured to be on Chelsea's radar for the summer. To the game itself, Dortmund for me started quite nervous and the pressure of having to be careful not to concede at home seem to tell on the young side as they defended quite poorly in the game (especially as they were missing Mat Hummels) and allowed Malaga neutralize their pressing game. Dortmund were unusually wasteful over the two legs with Gotze, the most guilty of all and were not the usual incisive passing side we know them to be, giving the ball away on numerous occasions. Dortmund were somewhat lucky in this tie; Martin Schmelzer lucky to stay on the pitch after almost perfecting a WWE type move on Jesus Gamez without any of the officials spotting it. This begs the question on what actually these oficials do especially the so called assistants behind the goal post; meanwhile I understand UEFA do not intend to implement Goal line technology as they expect it would cost about $65million to implement. I then ask, do UEFA not know that they can save money from paying travel allowances and hotel bills for the additional officials? Food for thought?
What about the atmosphere at the Signal Iduna Park, My Lord what an atmosphere especially with the unveiling of a massive banner by the Dortmund fans, it simply has to be one of the most eye catching banners I have seen.
To tonight's games; two factors will be important, the first would be if Lionel Messi would play any part in the second leg encounter against PSG, he trained with the squad yesterday, but I believe its touch and go really and how PSG approach the game. Tito Villanova is back now,so some level of authority has returned to the Barca bench, the team will be buoyed by the return of Eric Abidal (not sure if his level of match fitness would hold up for a tie of this magnitude) as well as the weekend result against lowly Mallorca without the services of Messi.
PSG would look to approach the game with an aggressive stance and alot of pace from the get go as they did in the second half of the first leg as it seems to have become clear that a carefully thought out counter attacking plan is the best way to deal with Barca's possession Football, more so with the uncertainties in the Barca defense; chances will be created and Zlatan is expected to scare the living day light out of the Barca Centre Back pairing. All in all; my gut feeling tells me PSG may just nick it for two reasons; they have more balance and the absense or unfitness of Lionel Messi.
For the Juventus v Bayern tie; something tells me Antonio Conte will change from his rather invectious 3-5-2 to play a back four as the team clearly struggled with the 2v2 situations Bayern had when attacking from the wide areas. Vidal will be missed in midfield, but then Paul Pogba has developed his game and settle in with little or no problems anytime he is called into the Juve Midfield. Conte may decide to match Bayern's 4-2-3-1; but i feel he'd go more 4-3-1-2 with the plan to distrupt Bayern's build up play by the returning Martinez and Schweinsteiger with Pogba giving the responsibility of handling Mueller or whoever plays in the hole for Bayern and also providing Pirlo with the much need protection to create and orchestrate things for Juve. An intriguing prospect awaits us, but Bayern will only go ahead if they approach the game with the same intensity they approached the first leg. Juve also need the same kind of start Bayern had in the first leg with a very early goal; Bayern to go through to the semi final, tie may go to extra time though.
All in all we are poised for a Spain v Germany semi final or final, we may also have an all Spainish or German final.
Adeyemi Adesanya
@yemimanutd
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