Despite Real Madrid problems, Alonso elevated the team defensive solidity. Under him, RMA causes more problems to opponents' buildup compared to what it did under Ancelotti. There is a big leap in this regard. The quality of finishing is lacking in the box + the inability to unlock low blocks.

Real Madrid sits in the 10th place in terms of conversion rate with 8.95%. Real Madrid creates 2.03 xG per game and scores 1.71 goals per game. There is a lot to tell when it comes to finishing for Real Madrid. Bar Mbappé, the players underperform in this regard.

I think there is a misuse of "DNA" in football language. DNA is unchangeable, something you are born with. It's innate and cannot be used to describe football clubs as they keep changing their footballing vision over time.

Rewatching Real Madrid and Manchester City game, it was clear that Real Madrid formed their best low block under Xabi Alonso. The commitment from Rodrygo to lock the RHS, the intelligence of Bellingham & Tchouaméni to cover the LHS, support Carreras, deny runners were on point.

I've been watching Liverpool for a run of games lately. I have to say that I like how Konaté contributes to breaking the opp lines via his passes. Maybe because he has space & time on the ball as Liverpool CBs usually split wide & they have the numerical superiority in the first line in the buildup.

Florian Wirtz defends in the 1v1 situation, wins the duel, initiates the counterattack, develops the counterattack, takes good position in the penalty box, and creates a goal scoring chance. Full package player.

Sebastian hoeneß is definitely one of the best coaches in Europe. Solid first half against Bayern Munich. One of the interesting aspects of the first half is Stuttgart's buildup when they pushed forward, except for the center-backs, who split wide alongside the goalkeeper.

There is too much defensive work for Lamine Yamal, Marcus Rashford, and Vinicius Junior to add to their repertoire.

I'm off work this week but I still found time to write a script about the Chelsea-Arsenal game from yesterday which Reuben delivered excellently. Enjoy!

Did a little viewing of Chelsea last night. Here are a few potential vulnerabilities Arsenal could attack on Sunday. 🧵

Bayern Munich and Arsenal employed intense man-marking approaches, targeting the space behind each other by manipulating their players. Arsenal made use of Merino's off-ball movements, aerial, and link-up abilities to draw markers & exploit the space behind Bayern. 🚨 A Thread

This is a subpar, reckless move (step-out) from Upamecano. Normally, a CB must step out before the player exerts full control over the knockdown. By doing so, the CB gives himself the opportunity for a clearance, a chance to win the second ball, or get tight against the opposition for a duel.

Just finished rewatching the first half of Manchester City - Bournemouth, and it's fair to say that: —Andoni Iraola had no answers/solutions to City's central overload and rotations; —Bournemouth's rest defense was subpar: backline was distant from Adams and Scott to back up the counterpress...

Xabi Alonso, post-Barcelona game, mentioned that Camavinga supported Real Madrid in the progression phase. Not only that, but Camavinga, Arda Guler & Bellingham offer versatility & dynamism, so they were outlets in bypassing Barcelona's high press. 🚨 Thread ⚪️🔴

In today's episode of The Week in Football, we're giving you the skinny ahead of this weekend's Clasico fixture and asking the broader question: have Barca and Real Madrid swapped places over the last few seasons? youtu.be/4Zhsy3cwEEw?...

Risk And Reward In Hansi Flick's Universe A tactical look at how opponents find solutions to Barcelona and Hansi Flick high press and high defensive line. How there is a fine thread between collapse and perfection in such a system. Likes & shares are appreciated. open.substack.com/pub/lamdarhr...

Alexander-Arnold will be so beneficial and so important against your Getafes that rely on highlines and offside traps. Valverde is also good in this regard BTW. Why?

Both Tottenham and Aston Villa find difficulties in progressing the ball down the center. Spurs industrial midfield with Romero sidelined due to injury hamper Thomas Frank team in this phase. Also, Aston Villa mid-block does a good work with Onana & Kamara step-outs.

Seeing Harry Kane dropping in and operating where usually DMs/CMs function, retaining the ball under pressure then taking more than two players out of the equation is mesmerising.

Defensively, Barcelona conceded 7 shots/game (the lowest in La Liga). However, the conversion rate (16.07%) and xG/Shot (0.17) are the highest in La Liga. Also, Barcelona conceded the 4th highest fast breaks against & the highest goals/game from such situations. Data: Opta.

This is something I noticed while watching Barcelona. They started the game really well in terms of pressing high, either from static positions (Goalkicks) or Open play situations. And there is a really fine thread between Barcelona regaining possession & allowing the opponents to exploit...

Rewatching the Barcelona - Real Sociedad game, and I noticed that De Jong attacks the space between the FBs & CBs at a high frequency. And, it's detrimental. De Jong scanning does 50% of the work to find the free areas to attack.

No Sunrise Without Shadows For Xabi Alonso. An 8000+ word piece on Real Madrid games vs Marseille, Levante & Atlético Madrid. How Xabi Alonso is changing RMA playing style. How the players are coping with the new regime. Defensive lapses, Areas of improvement. open.substack.com/pub/lamdarhr...

I was playing around to see how many passes per defensive action La Liga teams have allowed since 2015/16. Real Madrid PPDA in their winning seasons is higher than in the previous one. In other words, RMA allows more passes per defensive action in the season they win La Liga.

Barcelona's diagonal play is simple but very effective. A 4-2-3-1 buildup shape in which Pedri & De Jong drop deeper to bait their markers forward, & the ball-side winger (Rashford) drops & offers width. So, the ST (Ferran Torres) can move into the stretched space BTLs to lay the ball off.

Normally I don't post things like that, but I feel I have to this time. Marcus LIorente has 7 goals in the UCL. 4 of them against Liverpool and at Anfield. Even the best scriptwriters can't come up with a story like that.

Use Gravenberch feints, half turn receiving to break down Burnley lines. I love how Gravenberch faints his marker, adopts a side-on stance, let the ball run across his body, then boom he leaves his marker in his wake.

MyGamePlan launched the MGContribution metric, a version of the Possession Value Model, similar to On-Ball Value (OBV). It measures the value that each on-ball action added to the team. Here is La Liga CBs' MGContribution from passes in the 2025/26 season.

The game against Mallorca was totally different from Osasuna and Real Oviedo. Jagoba Arrasate plateformed Mallorca in a way to exploit Real Madrid's high press. No preseason and not enough time to train the team for Xabi Alonso, and yet he has to deliver results. Thread ⚪

I set a tracker to count La Liga's teams' pressure actions following a possession loss in their opponent's final third. Real Madrid led the table with 1.82 pressure actions per 90 minutes after three games. Now, it's a question of consistency for Xabi Alonso's men.

Some of Arsenal's shapes when they press Liverpool high up the pitch. I think they went m2m only when Gravenberch didn't step back between Konaté & Van Dijk. Mainly, Liverpool found wide avenues to work the ball out.

I think the challenge for Xabi Alonso is to keep the team press with intensity when Real Madrid decide to press high up the pitch. The challenge is to instill INTENSITY as a part of the culture, something natural. The Real Challenge will be vs the mammoths in La Liga & UCL.

I think if we only took a deep look into each *head coach*, *manager* upbringing, cultural context of the country they born in, and their personal experiences as players and pre-first managerial role, we'll be able to decipher to some extent how that manager sees football.

I think Real Oviedo's kick-off routine vs Real Madrid has gone under the radar because it didn't result in a goal. Real Madrid didn't drop back, nor did they instantly jump on to apply pressure.

Gravenberch and Curtis Jones are a lightweight to Guimarăes and Joelinton. How on earth Joelinton could square that pass to the free Livramento while Gravenberch got tight against Gravenberch. Then, Newcastle are 2v1 on the left again Szoboszlai (Liverpool RB).

This is how Man Utd's high press looked at the start. Amad and Diallo push on to engage with Fulham FBs. Casemiro advances next to Cunha to mark the DPs. Bruno against the King (#10), whereas the rest occupy Fulham’s front three.

Manchester United's OOP approach holds too many question marks. If Sander Berge sneaks behind Matheus Cunha immediately, Fulham have a +1 in the middle of the park. The solution is simple IMO. A compact 4-4-2 with aggressive "step-outs".

Despite my limited time on this platform, 100+ accounts followed me. So, Thank you so much. More yet to come. Love ❤, Achraf;

Manchester United — Arsenal: tactical analysis; How Ruben Amorim set the team up to build through, around, and over Arsenal's high press. What did change in Man Utd's buildup dynamics. 🧵Thread🔴⚪️

I think Thomas Frank with Tottenham will try to maximise everything to close the gap with the other big teams (setpieces, throw-ins, and especially the out of possession play) Arteta succeeded in doing so. Thomas Frank may be the next one. I can be wrong.

Adam Wharton, Ismaila Sarr, Eberechi Eze, Philippe Mateta, Marc Guehi, Daniel Munõz are top quality and it's only matter of time that some of them will take a step forward. Adam Wharton cutting off passes and immediately sliding a pass behind to a runner, amazing.

Watching some Juventus games from the 2024/25 season, some questions are crossing my mind: —What exactly was Thiago Motta sacked for? —Why can't people see what Manuel Locatelli could do off-ball? —Andrea Cambiaso: What a freak of a player!

Xabi Alonso's football: —Width provided by RWB Frimpong and Aleix Garcia (Out of shot) and depth secured by ST Boniface; —LWB drops and drags RCM with him while the LCM is occupied by RCB Mukiele; —DM Sissoko was following Adli before. As a result, Bayer Leverkusen generates a 2v1 in midfield;

Welcome Xabi Alonso, part II. Real Madrid with Xabi Alonso in the Club World Cup. An analytical look at Real Madrid's out-of-possession against Al Hilal, Pachuca, RB Salzburg, Juventus, and Paris Saint-Germain. open.substack.com/pub/lamdarhr...

Dortmund reluctance to give up +1 at the back facilitated Real Madrid buildup & progression. I think this started vs Pachuca but the red card made Tchouaméni play as CB. So, Real Madrid shape in the build-up was 4-2-1-2. Vs Dortmund, it was 4-2-2-2. Valverde was a free man.

Welcome Xabi Alonso. Real Madrid in the Club World Cup. An analytical look at Real Madrid's in possession dynamics against Al Hilal, Pachuca, RB Salzburg, and Juventus. open.substack.com/pub/lamdarhr...

IMHO, Raul Asencio's red card was the cause of bad press. Don't get me wrong, he acted recklessly & it wasn't the first time when he turned his brain off in such a situation. But let's assess Real Madrid press that led to Pachuca ST finding joy behind.

I only have to recall Henry Wadsworth quote to describe Gonzalo Garcia: "In character, in manner, in style, in all things, the supreme excellence is simplicity" His simple passes, simple decisions, simple movements, simple reading of the game, simple layoffs do wonders.

Scouting Dean Huijsen: The Spanish Chill Center-Back. The long-awaited article is up. An in-depth, big scouting report for an adept fullback. Taking a nuanced look at Real Madrid's new signing, his play style, analytics, passing, value, and a lot more. Enjoy♥️ Link: bit.ly/3HCDkED

𝗗𝗲𝗳𝗲𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗴𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗣𝗮𝘀𝘀𝗲𝘀 𝘃𝘀 𝗗𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗽𝗲𝗿 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗴𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗣𝗮𝘀𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘁𝗼𝗽 𝟱 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗴𝘂𝗲𝘀: —Iñigo Martínez, Nico Schlotterbeck, Delay Blind, & Alexander-Arnold are on another level (Elite progressors) —There are a few defenders who can break lines like Luis Dunk & Van Hecke.