CL match day II

It's now Thursday, so I decided to sit down and write a bit regarding what I witnessed in Europe's elite club competition over the past two days.

Tuesday:

The hyped up game was PSG-City, which I haven't watched yet. Apparently City dominated but PSG scored the goals, much like the Sheriff win over Madrid. Those happen, so I don't think it's worth analyzing much in either one of those. Instead, I'll address the situations of the Milan clubs. Inter are doing what they usually do, which is play down to the opposition. In the game against Shakhtar, they had 1/3 of the possession and were outperformed on xG. The first game was the opposite, though they lost 1-0 to Madrid after spurning chance after chance in the earlier stages. Basically, my issue with Inter is quite similar to what's currently faulting Chelsea. The coach is acting like a small time coach when in reality he's at a Super club. By this I mean playing a back 5 with 3 CB's and traditional fullbacks acting as wing backs. It was glaringly obvious seeing Dimarco and Dumfries fail time and time again when they'd approach the Shakhtar box. Perisic especially, as well as Hakimi, is an attacker being played out wide. The entire point of playing wing backs in games against inferior teams (or even those at your level) is to get guys forward in wide areas. Look at Atalanta. Gosens is constantly hitting the back post and looking to link with the other wing back. Look at how Hakimi played, linking with Barella and Lukaku down the right. That's completely nonexistent now with Darmian or Dumfries on the right, and it's not much better on the left. I said this as well, that they'd regret not signing a Kostic type player (or Borna Sosa/Cucurella) to whip balls in to Dzeko. Dumfries as well was a strange signing in my opinion. He's one of those physical guys who has zero football IQ and questionable technique (Mukiele, Pavard, etc.), better off as an RCB in a 3 or a normal RB in a 4. Azpilicueta and James are like that as well. That's also why Hakimi was rumored to be going to Chelsea. Point is, Barella is probably the most creative threat in either team's midfield, and even he's more of a workhorse type. This is why when you have two strikers, or a striker and two 10's, the attack is blunt. Wing backs who aren't skilled/fast enough to beat a man, limited numbers getting forward, easy for teams to just park the bus.

Wednesday:

The main game I paid attention to was Atalanta, as would be expected. However, I didn't take too much from that one, as it resembled what I see the majority of Serie A game. That is, the opponent sits back, plays compact, doesn't try to score really, and it's either a tight win or a draw. This time Atalanta grinded Young Boys down to the point that one moment from Zapata was enough. Granted, Pessina had another great chance, there was an offside situation that led to an own goal, and I'm sure one or two other chances came up. Young Boys were terrible, though I've come to expect that from David Wagner at this point.

The other game I watched was Benfica's 3-0 win over Barcelona. Now, I have to say that Benfica weren't particularly good. Without the penalty, Barcelona would've been ahead on xG. Frenkie and Luuk both probably should've scored, plus there were 3 blocked shots. Benfica, on the other hand, had the pen, the Rafa Silva goal, and the Joao Mario miss as "big chances". Possession was 60-40 to the visitors, as one might expect. Point is, it wasn't necessarily a result that reflected the action. The other point here is just to highlight the issues Barcelona have. I was thinking about this yesterday. To me, they've gone to the other extreme with La Masia players. Whereas before, they'd buy players not suited to the style or who lacked mentality, ignoring youth players, now I feel they're grasping at straws hyping these guys. I'm talking young and old, actually. I've said that Busquets is finished for like 3 years now. Pique is slow and not fit for the modern game. Alba is fine, I guess, but getting old. Even Messi, prior to leaving, was showing clear signs of decline for 2-3 seasons yet they didn't want to admit it. Roberto has that privilege of being nowhere good enough but is from the area and homegrown. Think Florenzi at Roma, Nacho and Vazquez at Madrid, various guys at Arsenal and Spurs over the years... Puig also fits in this category. I also reckon Mingueza will end up in this group, as he's not popping off the page at any point that I've seen him. Fati and Pedri are the real deal, but then again Pedri is from Las Palmas. Gavi and Nico are next to be overhyped, as well as Balde when he's not injured. It's great to trust the youth, but do it because they're ready, not because your other options are crap. I think the club needs to sign players who make sense and aren't there just to earn a wage. I've mentioned Boubacar Kamara multiple times as a Busquets replacement, and his contract is up next summer. Lastly, the manager. I don't know the "right" guy for the job, but it's not Koeman, and it's not Martinez. Xavi is an unknown entity in Europe. I'd look at Gallardo or ten Hag, if possible.