Nickyboy wrote:Mase wrote:PrezIke wrote:I think we must be very careful in this tie.
As I wrote earlier, I am actually quite concerned about it.
This could be Monaco all over again.
Who Pep picks as our centre halves will be key (Otamendi was destroyed by Salah last time) so Vinny and Laporte might be my partnership.
Also, what happens with Mendy's comeback and what's the situation with Delph?
Then we have Raz, especially in the first leg at Anfield. Does he start or might Pep rather go with Bernardo?
That’s not true at all mate. Salah was fairly quiet until that 10 minutes spell where Stones and Ed panicked like fuck.
Think he meant in the home game, where he gave Otter a torrid time - until Klopp through in the towel and dragged him off at half time
it was the last game, actually. Away, when we lost 3-4.
Whilst we were losing 1-2 and Mane almost scored a cracker (hit the bar), we are in possession under heavy pressing near the half-way line. Fern passes to Gundogan who splits a pass back between 3 defenders to Otamendi. With Salah pressing coming from wide, and almost right in front of Nico, Otamendi then strikes the ball with his right foot to his left trying to reach Danilo out wide. it goes straight into Salah's chest. Otamendi had a better option to pass with his left foot to Fernandinho who was under less pressure.
Otamendi, probably worrying about Salah's pace, then tries to use positioning and strength to prevent Salah from getting the ball. After he is about to be beaten, he does his classic crap dive to ground to get the ball (he attempted and missed one earlier on Oxlade Chamberlain for his goal). Otamendi does tap it, but not anywhere near enough to lower or remove the danger, and arguably made matters worse, as oncoming were two Liverpool attackers.
In the end that situation led to the next goal (Mane's cracker) that put the game away.
I like Otamendi, and he's had a fantastic season, but this is a hoo doo matchup for him.
Laporte, who doesn't have blistering pace is quicker, has a reputation for knowing how to handle pacey players and make strong recovery tackles (we've seen a few). Vinny is also good at this, and both are also stronger at decision making and dealing with danger.
Laporte is also left footed, and better with the ball. If we swapped Laporte for Nico in that situation I think Laporte would have naturally tapped the ball to his right with his left foot, and that goal would have never happened.
That's also a perfect example to explain further Pep likes his centre halves footed to match their side (the long cross pitch passes to switch play also key).
Danger against our approach is more likely going to come from the wings from teams with pace because we have our fullbacks pushed up so high. So, the natural pass from a central defender, if the opponent is pressing high and using pace on the wings (trying to exploit our weakness), is one back to the middle to Fernandino or some other midfielder tracking back in the middle of the pitch.
MOTD featured Otamendi on other occasions where he gave the ball away, often running with the ball towards the middle of the park. To be fair, Fern also made one key error as well leading to a goal.
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