Red Bull CL week one

Salzburg (drew 1-1 at Sevilla)

I already watched most of this, kinda half-assed at times as the stream was cutting out. What I remember from this one was the three penalties for Salzburg, one of which was converted, and the one for Sevilla. After that, the second half was ugly. En-Nesyri dove for a second yellow, Sevilla set up shop, and it ended 1-1. Looking at xG, just over half of Sevilla's value (1.46) was from the pen, and Salzburg basically had 2.4 of their 2.9 xG from spot kicks.

Lineups:

Sevilla- Bono; Navas Kounde Carlos Acuna; Jordan Fernando Rakitic; Suso En-Nesyri Papu

RBS- Kohn; Ulmer Wober Solet Kristensen; Seiwald Camara Sucic; Adeyemi Sesko Aaronson

After watching it back...

First penalty (12') is an idiotic mistake from Diego Carlos, bringing down Adeyemi on the line of the 18 yard box. Adeyemi drags the pen wide.

GOAL. Second pen (21') is another braindead Sevilla mistake, this time Navas shoves Adeyemi for literally no reason as the ball was going out. Sucic scores the spot kick. 0-1.

Third pen (37') - ANOTHER long ball to Adeyemi, Bono clears him out, Sucic hits post.

Sevilla pen - ball into En-Nesyri, Wober fouls him, Rakitic converts. 1-1

2H

Early on (47') , lovely from Adeyemi, feeds Sesko but saved by Bono at near post

50' En-Nesyri second yellow for appalling dive.

Not too much of note after that. A header from Kristensen, a couple chances for Rafa Mir before and after the 70 minute mark, a header from Lamela, and two spurned opportunites for Red Bull to take the three points in extra time (Aaronson and Adamu, both saved by Bono).

As someone who doesn't really watch Salzburg, I found it interesting how direct they were against Sevilla. Long balls over the top were super effective, especially finding Adeyemi. The defensive performance was solid, to my surprise, but that was conditioned by the sending off early in the second half.

In terms of the group, it's got to be seen as a positive day for Salzburg. The other game finished 0-0, and Wolfsburg looked horrible. You got a point in Seville (whose star striker will be out next game), and you prepare for Lille at home in the next round.

Leipzig (lost 6-3 at Man City)

Lineups:

City- Ederson; Zinchenko Ake Dias Cancelo; Bernardo Rodri De Bruyne; Grealish Torres Mahrez

RBL- Gulácsi; Angelino Orban Klostermann Mukiele; Laimer Adams; Forsberg Olmo Nkunku; Silva

Ake from corner 16' - Mukiele and Orban static, pretty much a free header

Mukiele OG 28' - KDB allowed time in right half space, crosses, Mukiele panics, heads it in

GOAL Nkunku 42' - Forsberg cross to Mukiele, flicks on, Nkunku nods home

Mahrez pen 45' - Klostermann hand ball, could question it... VAR intervenes

GOAL Nkunku 51' - Olmo strides forward, lofted cross, Nkunku headed finish #2

Grealish 56' - speculative ball from Dias out wide left, Grealish picks it up, drives past Adams, slots home far post

GOAL Nkunku 73' - Mukiele to Poulsen, slides Nkunku in, fires past Ederson

Cancelo 75' - outside the box, nobody closing down, not amazing keeping tho...

Jesus 86' - scrappy from corner, ball hits Ake, Dias rolls it to Jesus, roofs it

First go around was looking at the goals, so that I know the crucial moments. I might go back and watch more, but I'm pretty sure I can summarize what happened and why. If there's a game that this resembled, it's the 1-1 (I think) City played against Leeds last season. Even in terms of possession, City edge it in terms of shots and chances. I wouldn't even say City were that good. It was more a result of poor defending.

1st goal = zonal issue/players being static when they should be in motion as the ball comes in.

2nd goal = not closing the best playmaker in the team down

3rd goal = questionable, but really shouldn't have arm in that position

4th = sloppy turnover, Adams shouldn't let Grealish cut in so easily

5th goal = again, no closing down, maybe Gulácsi should do better, but great shot

6th goal = team's given up by then, just watching from corner again

As you can see, it's less IMO City being some amazing team and more Leipzig struggling to defend at this level. It's not like they've been great in the league, either, giving up 4 at the weekend to Bayern (and they deserved those goals). xG wise, it wasn't as bad as it looked, I guess, given City amassed only 2.46 (Leipzig 1.26). One's an own goal, however, so you have to account for that, and there's the Cancelo rocket. The Grealish one is also a good finish. The other three, however, are from set pieces (corner, pen, corner).

There seems to be a fundamental issue at the club, not in small part due to the transient nature of it. People view Nagelsmann as a generational coach, and I've no reason to doubt that. When you constantly lose your best players to bigger clubs, and your manager just left and you're now coached by American Red Bull man, you might not be too thrilled. Marsch is trying to shift from the old guard to a new group, as well as return to the "Red Bull" direct pressing style, and the players are struggling with it. Whether that's due to it being a drastic change, or they simply don't want to, that's what will determine how this goes. If they don't buy in, he'll be gone. If it's just a matter of time and getting the balance right, it'll come good at least to some extent and they should finish top four.