UEFA Champions League Analysis

If At First You Don't Succeed...

Malaga Get Behind Porto With Effort And Savvy

One of Malaga's forwards demonstrates smart, hard working running as they break against Porto in a taut and chippy first leg tie.  It's nothing complex, but the work required is clearly considerable.  The notion of running into a defender to "get open" may seem counter-intuitive, but it is precisely this attracting of attention HERE which creates open space THERE...and there is much closer to goal.  The timing of this is harder to see than in the EPL pics I post, as the Champs League broadcast doesn't have a clock onscreen at all times. But suffice it to say, the forward in this instance covers a solid 20 plus yards with two changes of direction in the time it took his teammate to take two touches, slip to the outside of the first defender, and pass the ball off...even if that took four seconds, the forward is working incredibly hard.  And he'd be expected to do this on every change of possession in their half, for the full 90 minutes.

Pics after the jump:

The ball is played to a wide player...
the forward (dashed green arrow)
 takes off to offer a target upfield...

...On the wide player's first touch, the
forward is engaging the left back
(offscreen) on that side, keeping him home,
and preventing him from covering the
defender on the ball...

           

...After keeping the left back honest,
the forward checks back to the player
with the ball to offer a forward option...

...the first defender is taking that option away,
but the left back has engaged, and over-pursued
(look at the player's bodies; the green is leaning
to the right of the picture, the blue to the left...
wrong way, Porto boy)
so the forward makes a great plan "B" run...

...Having caught the defender's attention, the forward got him
to step forward, thereby leaving space in behind.  When the first
option is cut off by good defending by the first defender (the man
on the ball) it's a simple matter (though not without risk) for the ball carrier
to hit a ball down the touch line into the space behind the Porto left back.