Review of the One Question Preview
For Leipzig-Schalke my question was can anyone move the ball into the danger zone? Both teams have ferocious defenses that keep opponents from getting the ball deep at a level almost unseen elsewhere across Europe. The answer, was pretty much no. This game had 15 deep completions, 12th percentile for all Bundesliga games this year, zero goals and just 2 shots on target. The pass map these two defenses allowed all season showed up again on Sunday
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Schalke did as expected and did not play Konoplyanka in a game they basically had zero chance of holding the ball (as you might see on their pass map) and just played totally defensively. I wondered how Schalke would even move the ball from Zone 6 forward and basically they didn't: 14.8% of their passes from that zone progressed the ball to a forward zone which is the second-lowest number of the entire Bundesliga season.
There of course was no consistent link-up, it was totally scattershot: Stambouli here, Sane there, Caligiuri many places, but they weren't able or really trying to do anything to move it forward. I said I expect them to attack through Caligiuri bombing forward and hitting long, hopeful crosses because basically nothing else is available. This was his pass map
Weston McKinnie and Suat Serdar started in midfield and combined to complete 12/38 passes. That's how little Schalke actually played. Serdar did help in defense to stop Leipzig down the right side that I highlighted with Nordi Mukiele, who was not involved in attacks at all like he normally was. Schalke's all-defense game plan is pretty much all they have at this point and it worked enough to slow down Leipzig to where a draw wasn't massively unlikely. The gap in class is massively apparent though, Schalke need total renovation to be able to compete with Leipzig over an entire season.
My big question was how will Barcelona create without one of their two elite creators who plays those Barcelona short, middle of pitch, attacking passes they are known for. One option I figured was to stick Dembele in and not go for total control but instead go for chance creation and accept some ball loss which could possibly also help the midfield from getting too high and letting Real Madrid counter. They played ball recycler Rafinha, who basically added very little to attack, and went for control.
Did Suarez drop deeper and pass more along with the midfield, especially Rakitic and Arthur push a bit higher to replace Messi as a group? Arthur played 30% of his passes in the attacking third again (same as Inter), which was twice as high as the Inter/Sevilla games so I'll rule a yes on that one. Rakitic was at 22%, a bit lower than Inter so a sort of. Suarez didn't drop deeper into midfield almost at all. The "control" strategy was not exactly a clear success. Through 74 minutes, Barcelona had 6 in-box shots one a penalty, Real Madrid had 9, and Barcelona led by that penalty. When Dembele came on and Sergi Roberto was moved up front, Barcelona took over. Those 2 created 4 magnificent chances that led to 3 goals in the final 20 minutes to decimate Real Madrid and seal Lopetegui's fate. Now they led late in a game so I'm not going to read too much into it, but the evidence from the Real Madrid game pushes me a little closer to the Dembele>Rafinha in the lineup, at least against solid opponents. And Sergi Roberto, well it's one of the most impressive RB-to-striker in-game moves I've seen in a while. That versatility and passing ability is quite special.
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The One Question was a bit broad for the Barcelona game, but was so on-the-money for the Leipzig-Schalke game I am overall pleased with how it went. I hope to get a little more specific next time instead of just saying "Who will create". Hope you enjoy and let me know if you have specific games this weekend you want to see, I'm not going to do Huesca-Getafe, no matter how hard you plead so just stop now.
Hopefully later this week I can get a post up about a few of the young talents in the Bundesliga I am excited about, focusing on Arne Maier as I've written enough about Hakimi and Mukiele for now I think.