Tactical Conclusion:
Spirited PSG Defeat Typical Mourinho
BEFORE THE SOFT RED CARD
Blanc tweaked his system in order not to start both his out-of-form players, van der Wiel and Lavezzi. Marquinos came in as a right wing back to contain Hazard, and ended up being a surprisingly competent option going forward in addition to succeeding in his primary task. Pastore was played on the right side of the attack, knowing that he would ended up drifting inside atop a midfield diamond. In his own flimsy way, Pastore had an outstanding game, creating two chances while being perpetually involved throughout the 118 minutes he was on the field.
Mourinho again took the keys away from Fabregas, slotting him in as a #10 instead of as a deep lying playmaker where he benefits from speed on both sides in front of him and a finisher beyond. Oscar’s only accomplishment out wide was selling injury on Ibrahimovic’s red-carded tackle.
AFTER THE SOFT RED CARD
This game looked like a trademark Mourinho triumph, minus one ingredient: physicality. In high stakes contests, Mourinho’s teams often play with a mix of brutality and theatrics that stunts the rhythm of a football match--the camera often stuck on the referee--slowing the game down into a histrionic circus in which the opponents can’t seem to find their rhythm and his players always seem more ready to get the last laugh.
While Chelsea’s players did do some rolling around on the ground, their physicality was lacking and competency tackling was unimpressive. Two statistics that touch on this are: Chelsea won only fourteen out of thirty-four aerial duels (41%), and they had nineteen tackles to PSG’s thirty. (FourFourTwo)
The crucial decision that Mourinho botched, was not to give the keys back to Fabregas in the locker room at halftime. Bringing Willian on for Oscar instead of Ramires sent a strange message to his team and the home fans given the circumstances. Without the ability to motivate his players to be scrappy, dramatic underdogs, Mourinho’s unflappable pragmatism was suddenly clearly something else: dogmatism.
Blanc, on the other hand, reacted competently and promptly to the events unfolding in front of him. He put Cavani up top after he lost Zlatan, and made no other changes knowing that when you have Matuidi and Verratti on your side, it’s like you’re playing with a man up anyway.
Then when his midfield duo was starting to demonstrate the body language of defeat through pure exhaustion, he had effective changes ready for both of them who were on the field by the time the restart whistle blew after Cahill’s goal. Within a minute Lavezzi had almost scored, and young Rabiot was active and mistake-free in his forty minutes on the pitch.
In addition, Blanc’s calmness was resonant within his squad, who were not disheartened by Ibrahimovic’s soft red card or Cavani’s near miss or Silva’s strange hand ball in the box. They kept coming, their mission in front of them all the same, while tens of millions of spectators were certain, twice, that they were finished.
ENDNOTES:
Spirited PSG Defeat Typical Mourinho
BEFORE THE SOFT RED CARD
Blanc tweaked his system in order not to start both his out-of-form players, van der Wiel and Lavezzi. Marquinos came in as a right wing back to contain Hazard, and ended up being a surprisingly competent option going forward in addition to succeeding in his primary task. Pastore was played on the right side of the attack, knowing that he would ended up drifting inside atop a midfield diamond. In his own flimsy way, Pastore had an outstanding game, creating two chances while being perpetually involved throughout the 118 minutes he was on the field.
Mourinho again took the keys away from Fabregas, slotting him in as a #10 instead of as a deep lying playmaker where he benefits from speed on both sides in front of him and a finisher beyond. Oscar’s only accomplishment out wide was selling injury on Ibrahimovic’s red-carded tackle.
AFTER THE SOFT RED CARD
This game looked like a trademark Mourinho triumph, minus one ingredient: physicality. In high stakes contests, Mourinho’s teams often play with a mix of brutality and theatrics that stunts the rhythm of a football match--the camera often stuck on the referee--slowing the game down into a histrionic circus in which the opponents can’t seem to find their rhythm and his players always seem more ready to get the last laugh.
While Chelsea’s players did do some rolling around on the ground, their physicality was lacking and competency tackling was unimpressive. Two statistics that touch on this are: Chelsea won only fourteen out of thirty-four aerial duels (41%), and they had nineteen tackles to PSG’s thirty. (FourFourTwo)
The crucial decision that Mourinho botched, was not to give the keys back to Fabregas in the locker room at halftime. Bringing Willian on for Oscar instead of Ramires sent a strange message to his team and the home fans given the circumstances. Without the ability to motivate his players to be scrappy, dramatic underdogs, Mourinho’s unflappable pragmatism was suddenly clearly something else: dogmatism.
Blanc, on the other hand, reacted competently and promptly to the events unfolding in front of him. He put Cavani up top after he lost Zlatan, and made no other changes knowing that when you have Matuidi and Verratti on your side, it’s like you’re playing with a man up anyway.
Then when his midfield duo was starting to demonstrate the body language of defeat through pure exhaustion, he had effective changes ready for both of them who were on the field by the time the restart whistle blew after Cahill’s goal. Within a minute Lavezzi had almost scored, and young Rabiot was active and mistake-free in his forty minutes on the pitch.
In addition, Blanc’s calmness was resonant within his squad, who were not disheartened by Ibrahimovic’s soft red card or Cavani’s near miss or Silva’s strange hand ball in the box. They kept coming, their mission in front of them all the same, while tens of millions of spectators were certain, twice, that they were finished.
ENDNOTES:
- The 3-3 final aggregate score was the same as last year.
- Four of the the six goals in this matchup were scored by defenders.
- John Terry was beaten on consecutive corners by Tiago Silva, the first was barely parried away by Courtois, and the second won the matchup.
- UEFA confirmed Zlatan’s red card will not be overturned, meaning he will miss PSG’s first quarterfinal match
- David Luiz promised not to celebrate a potential goal against his old team, and then forgot not to when he did.