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Real Madrid pod is out and unsurprisingly there is detailed look at our pressing using our unique data. The narrative that "we didn't press" is wrong. We pressed Real 167 times and the Leipzing first leg was 172. The issue was where and how we pressed. THREAD
One of the biggest stories is that Jota playing the centre forward role did not press Kroos once during the entire match. In fact neither Jota or Mane pressed Kroos during the match. Jota and Mane pressed the same people in the same locations (Vasquez, Militao, Modric)
We talked quite a bit about the roles of Mane and Jota when both play and how they interchange from the left. Is it a tactical decision or is Jota still learning the pressing patterns?
The primary issue was that we were unable to press in packs or waves, mostly this was a function of Real's tactics. the only zones where we able to press as a team were on the left and right either side of halfway. Nothing in the final 3rd or across the Real defence
Contrast this with the Leipzig match. Against Real Salah and Jota mostly pressed the back 4 but the Real back line was generally quite deep when they did so. Combined with our own centre backs dropping off, the distance from front to back was far too great to press systemically
Jota/Salah pressed high on their own and were isolated. It was easy for Real to get the ball into midfield where they would play a short pass into the fullbacks to draw our players in before switching play once, sometimes twice to finally find a free man with time on the ball
You can see the isolated circles around the Real box here, this is nearly all Salah and Jota.
The end result was that Real didn't give us a direct possession win from pressing within 40 metres of their goal!
The end result was that Real didn't give us a direct possession win from pressing within 40 metres of their goal!
If we did press them and there was a risk of losing it, Real simply went long and gave it back to us on halfway and we had to start again.
In summary, we created a problem for ourselves with Jota's positioning off ball, but the rest was Real brilliance.
In summary, we created a problem for ourselves with Jota's positioning off ball, but the rest was Real brilliance.
