italian pat patriot

who will see this game ?

i will see it this evening on tv

not a strong soccer fan honestly but i will have some guests and we will see the game together

i'm not an Inter fan but i hope they will win

they miss this title since really so many years

Scouse Patriot

Inter are slight favourites for me I think. I'm firmly a neutral though and hoping for a good game. I love the European Cup.

Mike the Brit

I'm a neutral too (though I watched it on German TV ).

Thought there was some excellent play initially (Sneijder in particular) and Robben was outstanding all the way through. Then a simple, clinical goal for Milan and yet they suddenly looked lethargic after half-time. All that possession for Bayern, no goals and then .. bang! ... Milan again. Well, that's football. At least I won't be up till 4 a.m. listening to car horns ...

Interested in your thoughts, Scouser.

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My prized possessions: Our family pictures; my dad and me getting doused by Bruschi in Super Bowl XXXIX [Shalize Manza Young Up Close with ... Bill Belichick]


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They say what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. Well, Pats fans should be invincible by now. [Fitzy, 16 November 2009]

Still here to learn

Scouse Patriot

Hallo Mike..

Bayern had no plan B mate, like you say they had tons of possesion and most of it was geared towards Robben or creating space for him. When that failed they looked lost and I think that defeated them before Inter had the game won. They missed Ribery badly tonight as the other option on the left hand side but in general Bayerns play was lacking the movement, vision, quickness and the ideas needed to break down that Inter side. I personally would have switched Robben to the left for periods to create some fresh ideas and angles of attack. Maybe it's just me but I also saw a little timidness in Van Gaals approach tonight in certain situations and you summed up the reason why, Inters counter attack. I tought Bayern could have used the full backs more but Van Gaal seemed reluctant to push them on.

Not much to say for Inter as they were solid, unspectacular but effective. Mourinho had it on though, he (and the rest of Europe) knew Robben was the main outlet and he knew Robben was going to cut inside all night long. Van Gaal was out-coached and Inter strolled that for me despite it looking like Bayern had the best of the game.

Mike the Brit

Thanks for that -- very good post!

Excellent points about Ribery and using the left. I agree with the idea of getting Robben roaming more. Not sure that Mourinho should get so much credit because Milan did such a great job of controlling him, though. It seemed to me that Robben had the capacity to create chaos every time he had the ball and that Milan didn't dare get tight on him because of his pace. Adding an extra cover man was a bit of an afterthought on Milan's part, but, when you do that (in my amateur opinion) you should have one of them tighter and the other a bit in reserve. With more variation and support from the other forwards it still looked to me as though Robben could have won that game.

But you've also got to defend, of course, and the Bayern centre-backs obviously couldn't do that (this from my 12-year-old daughter, who's a secret Bayern supporter ).

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My prized possessions: Our family pictures; my dad and me getting doused by Bruschi in Super Bowl XXXIX [Shalize Manza Young Up Close with ... Bill Belichick]


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They say what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. Well, Pats fans should be invincible by now. [Fitzy, 16 November 2009]

Still here to learn

Scouse Patriot

If we look back to the start of the game I'd say definately, Robben did get behind them and Inter had to catch up a little but Mourinho adjusted and Robben was far less effective after that. I don't think this was an afterthought as such, I think it was more ok, lets see how we go and if it doesn't work or your struggling, we'll go another way or I'll coach you through the game. Mourinho was always on the touchline, especially talking to Chivu first half. Thats were Van Gaal was out coached IMO, Mourinho made adjustments and when he did Van Gaal didn't respond.

I think Robben always has the ability to cause a few arses to twitch but what Inter done was channel him into areas were your taking away some of that danger. For example Inter would either show him down the line onto his weaker foot or let him come inside but pack the area or just outside with bodies so any shot or pass would be cut out. I think as a coach your ok with that as you know it's going to take something special for him to score or create chances, despite it looking like Robben is running the show. If we go back to the first example of Chivu, and latter on Zanetti showing Robben down the line onto his weaker right foot Bayerns attack often halted, Robben would have to check back and pass it to Lahm for him to cross and the height of Lucio and Samuel dealt with that easily. Other times Robben fell over the ball or simply ran out of play.

Your daughter is spot on Van Buyten was completely done by Milito for the second. Flat footed and allowed himself to get turned, very lazy defending. Militos two goals were top class marksmanship though, deadly.

Mike the Brit

All good points.

As usual ...

Absolutely right -- the kind of finishing I expect from the top Italian sides.

__________________
My prized possessions: Our family pictures; my dad and me getting doused by Bruschi in Super Bowl XXXIX [Shalize Manza Young Up Close with ... Bill Belichick]


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They say what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. Well, Pats fans should be invincible by now. [Fitzy, 16 November 2009]

Still here to learn

Shed83

Thank goodness rafa seems to have got the sack at Inter.

Terrible terrible manager, trying his best to ruin a very good Inter squad.

Forza Inter.