Trent and Nat should have both dropped earlier for the first goal.
Before that Vinicius already had 3 dangerous dribblings / situations.
So, if they didn’t knew before the game starter by then they should have known that this player is super fast and will be able to hurt us.
Embarrassing really, where Vinicius starts and how far ahead he is in the end.
The most embarassing stuff about the first goal is how much time Kroos gets to make his long ball for Vinicius. Where was the pressing from midfield? In order to keep control over fast forwards, you cut out the ammunition for them by pressing the players who have the ball in midfield. That’s what Real Madrid did over the whole game in order to keep Jota, Salah and Mané in check.
I disagree. Rio is effectively saying that Phillips should be 5 yards further back literally the instant Kroos gets the ball. That’s a ridiculous expectation for anyone except the Flash.
Fact is, he’s covering Benzema but before Kroos even hits the pass Phillips has already started dropping back and has spotted Vinicius has started his run, over his right shoulder. He gets beaten because a) Vinicius started his run slightly earlier and was up to his top speed quicker, b) the pass is very good c) Phillips isn’t as quick at getting up to his top speed and his top speed itself is slower.
Notice how he anticipates the pass better than Kabak, who hardly moves at all, and better than Trent who actually has Vinicius in his line of vision from the start. [Actually looking at it again Trent does start to move one stride earlier than Phillips]
His only failing in this instance is that he’s just not quick enough.
Completely disagree, there’s a point where the ball is coming in, the Madrid player has practically had to stop, he’s not tall, it’s coming at a reasonable height, if Phillips had read the ball correctly and angled his run right he cuts that ball off and heads it back to Alisson.
I don’t agree, Kabak has dropped 2 yards and importantly his body position is correct he’s shaped to follow the run of Benzema… Phillips is facing forwards, exactly the point Rio makes, if Kroos passes over him he has to turn and then sprint… That’s the error he makes.
Trent btw is covering someone so it’s Phillips man to track.
Not saying it doesn’t look like a complete cluster fuck by everyone though, shit pressing, shit reading of the pass, shit communication, shit all round.
No way Kroos should have had such a long time on the ball but our players were given that several times too. The difference was when we launched balls like that their CBs read them and dealt with them. Ours did not. Kabak dealt with Benzema the (in theory) most dangerous man, under other circumstances we’d be laughing about how he needs to let him out of his pocket. He also helped Robertson in dealing with Asensio, yet again mostly successfully. Pretty much 90% of what worked for Real Madrid was Vinicius pealing off the RB onto the RCB and just using intelligent movement and pace. This was always going to be a blatant achilles heel for us whilst we are having to use Phillips and Kabak. It is what it is.
Kabak hasn’t dropped two yards because Kroos has been given the ball with time to look up though, he’s already two yards further back.
Despite starting closer to goal than Phillips he ends up being more than 5 yards behind him. Had he tracked back perhaps he gets a challenge in when Vinicius cuts across Phillips?
It was sad watching him last night, that’s nowhere near this level.
I’m aware that we couldn’t flip to a Benitez type of pragmatism with two deep banks of 4.
But I’m not surprised that we got a good slap around the corner. In my opinion, it wasn’t a case of “just keep Phillips and Kabak until the end of the season” by default.
Hopefully we get a certain fee for him this summer and we get a proper CB signing in and a few of our own back fit.
Can’t agree with you there mate. He reminded me exactly of what we used to moan about Gomez doing when he played Right Back and specifically like the match against City at Anfield when he misjudged the ball, got caught under it and allowed Sane to get the run and score against Karius on the near post. Philips did almost exactly the same thing and can be seen by his change of direction when Vinicius controls the ball; he has attempted to get there to cut it out but has misjudged the flight and allowed the space behind him.
Of course it’s easier said than done but that is where reading of the game comes in; there is zero pressure on the ball, there is a mass of space behind him and there is a runner coming from a deeper position who Trent has a the greater distance to cover in order to challenge. in that situation he simply has to drop off there knowing he does not have the pace and when the ball is played go straight back towards goal instead of being attracted to the ball on the angle and leave the space open behind him.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OvKcbqANrUE
At about 0.07 in this clip the ball is about to be played and you can see that our positional play is off there; Fabinho is off Modric who is between the lines and unmarked directly in front of Kabak and there is too big a gap between Trent and Phillips where Vinicius can run into. At 0.08 you will see that Modric has gone towards the ball, Vinicius has gone towards goal, Kabak’s body position is to cover the run behind and Phillips rather inexplicably has a half step forward and Trent is on his bike to cover.
It’s all happening in a split second and its not like we could do any better, lets be honest, but its clear, to me at least, that the positioning and decision making was off in that split second unfortunately.
He runs straight back he can head the ball before it even gets to the player, his run is all over the place.
a) no pressure on Kroos. That’s inexcusable.
b) No one picking up Vinicius or at least in a position to cover any move he makes.
c) Clearly not enough communication between Kabak, Phillips and TAA. It effectively left Phillips picking up the wrong player.
d) Phillips clearly see’s it but is simply done for pace after that.
To my mind that whole back 3 are at fault here, along with the front 3 (Jota and Mane) who basically gave Kroos half an hour to have a picnic before pinging a wonderful pass.
Completely disagree. Phillips is aware of the runner peeling off RB onto RCB at that point its all on him. Its a good but simple ball. It’s easy to cut out and doesn’t require much pace. Phillips ends up changing direction on his run twice and in the end is on the far side and further forward than him. He doesn’t have the pace to do whatever it was he was trying to do but he had enough pace to run straight back in a straight line and head the ball before it gets to Vinicius. Either straight back to Alisson or turn it towards Kabak. It was easy to cut out it wasn’t a challenging ball he just read it completely wrong.
He doesn’t though. Every single movement of Phillips from 0:05 onwards is back towards his own goal.
I actually didn’t give him enough credit. He starts moving back towards his own goal before Vinicius even starts his run.
Vinicius pushes off to begin his run at the early frames of 0:08 and by the later frames of 0:08 is now into his second stride.
Before the timer hits 0:09 Phillips has turned and is also pushing off to try and cover the run from Vinicius. Vinicius then hits his third stride just as Phillips is about to hit his second (but first meaningful sprinting stride).
Before the timer hits 0:10 Vinicius is less than 2 yards down on Phillips (having started at least 5 yards down on him) and is reaching his top speed. Phillips is still closer to goal but is now struggling for pace.
Before the timer hits 0:11 the two players are almost level.
At 0:11 the players are level and the ball drops over Phillips and onto the chest of Vinicius. Trent is the wrong side of him and Kabak is 5 yards further back marking only space.
Before the timer hits 0:12 Vinicius has controlled the ball into his path and has got goalside of Phillips. He’s now bearing down on goal going across Phillips towards where a LCB might otherwise be but Kabak is approximately 8 yards behind the play now.
At 0:13 Vinicius strikes the ball on the edge of the area (slightly to the left hand side) and Phillips is now putting in a desperate slide to block the shot. Kabak’s a spectator still more than 5 yards away.
This is all about Phillips’ lack of pace and I can’t see how he could have compensated better when also being asked to play a high line. There is an argument that the line he’s holding is too high in that its 1-2 yards further advanced than Kabak (who’s the defender closest to our goal) so this may be his mistake and may have given him that small advantage needed to deal with the danger. But I don’t agree with the other criticisms.
Nope. You’re analysis is after the fact. Already too late by that point. Rewind slightly earlier, before Kroos actually plays the ball and look at everyone’s starting position. Then tell me what’s wrong with it.
What I’ve said is that Phillip’s starting positon is wrong because he’s picking up the wrong player. He should be closer to TAA. Everything after that point is too late. Combine that with giving Kroos all the time in the world then its a collective balls up.
I can even make a case that TAA should be calling Phillips over. He sees the whole pitch and is aware of Vinicius, the player outside him and can see Kroos.
That was some ball from Kroos though.
And Vinicius took it incredibly well. With one touch off his chest he put it perfectly in front of him so that he could cut across the front of Phillips. His next touch was his shot.
How can anyone argue that first goal as anything other than a 100% fuck up by Phillips? Player has moved off RB onto RCB who is fully aware of it and in a good position to deal. LCB is dealing with other threats (they have more players than just the one who ends up scoring). RCB does some daft stuff and messes up a simple clearance opportunity. Ball never needs to get to their player. His pace doesn’t help but was good enough to get to the flight of the ball if he travelled in a straight line.
is it Phillips fault that Kroos gets half an hour to pick a pass?
As I’ve said his starting position is wrong but I believe that’s because three of the back 4 weren’t talking to each other.
Yes, Phillips could/should perhaps be taking up a position in line with Kabak (two yards further towards his own goal) but then Phillips, Robertson and Trent are all in a line, it’s Kabak that’s the outlier being out of line with the rest of his backline. Kabak’s position may have been the correct one but in which case Trent, Robbo and Phillips are all holding the wrong line.
I’d go further and say that perhaps Kabak needs to be taking Benzema leaving Phillips to position himself closer to TAA.
Alternatively TAA pulls in closer and I think its Salah has to cover the player on the far wing.
Basically my thinking is the gap between Phillips and TAA is far too large.