Analysing every Mathys Tel action vs. Tottenham Hotspur.
- Detailed player analysis, every touch.
- What we can learn.
- What he can improve.
- What he did well.
- Why he perfectly fits Vincent Kompany's philosophy.
MEGATHREAD
His first involvement is an offside.
You can look at this as a half glass full, or half glass empty situation.
The half glass full situation is that not even 20 seconds in, and he already has a very, very good opportunity to isolate a 1v1 with the goalkeeper thanks to his phenomenal movement. He drifts inside, fully acknowledging that Dragusin is very high up, and finds himself in a situation where he is completely unmarked, and able to get a run into the box.
The half glass empty situation is that this is just poor awareness, and that he should have timed his run better, because he had plenty of time and space to. And while I do agree, it is something players develop as they mature. Not the biggest cause for concern (yet).
Dragusin eventually does catch up with him, but I am largely sure that is due to him giving up because he knew he was offside. But in a situation where he did time his run slightly better, it could have been 1-0 20 seconds in.
Build up to his 2nd touch - unmarked by Pedro Porro, and has that right hand side completely free.
Unfortunately, he receives quite an overhit pass by Pavlovic. However, he still finds himself in a situation where he can create something. Not many players would be able to get on the end of that pass - but Tel's sheer pace allows him to keep it in play, whilst also having quite some space and time still.
Sadly, despite this, I feel he takes a bit long to make his action here. Either he should have quickly passed it back to Guerreiro who was in acres of space to cross to the 2 men in the box, or ran at Porro a bit as it was a 1v1, with soon to be 3 bodies in the box.
But at the end of the day, Kompany enjoys intricate build-up, so you cannot fault it too much, especially considering this sequence ended with a very good chance for Gnabry. Without Tel's pace to get on the end of the pass, it would not have occured in the first place.
One thing I always pick up on is Tel's pressing intelligence/discipline. Very intensive, but scans around, to make sure of his surroundings.
Here, he doesn't overcommit to the front press, instead stays relatively stationary whilst he becomes aware of his surroundings. He scans, sees Porro asking for the ball, and takes a few steps back to eliminate that passing lane.
Immediately, the ball is then in possession of Dragusin, and he relentlessly looks to press that Dragusin-Sarr link. This obviously pushes the ball back into Vicario.
And guess what this press leads to? A goal. He completely closes off the left hand side passing lane (Tottenham's right), and forces Dragusin to return to the goalkeeper. The others finish off the job, and see an opportunity to pounce.
I think I also have to give credit to Kompany here. A whopping 4 bodies are in the final 3rd as soon as the ball is forced back, which creates enourmous pressure.
Once again, Pedro Porro with poor positioning leaves Tel and Guerreiro in acres of space. Not the easiest pass to pull off, but Muller manages to find Guerreiro with a bit of a backwards pass.
This makes the situation a bit more unfavourable for Bayern, as now Porro has plenty of time to close him down.
When he finally receives the ball, he has absolutely no other option but to pass back to Guerreiro.
I would not say it was the easiest situation, but with someone like Kimmich instead of Muller playing that ball, it could have led to something, with Tel being able to attack the space.
Anticipating a quick throw following a corner from Tottenham (due to the amount of bodies in the box), Djed Spence charges to the right flank to try quickly nab possession.
However, the throwin takes longer than expected, and Tottenham seem to regroup quickly. Djed Spence looks to find Pape Sarr, but immediately, this hungry, hungry relentless presser closes down Sarr immediately, giving him no room to receive the ball.
The only passing lane available was back to Spence, but Tel's press made this tight. With nowhere to go, Spence expects Sarr to drop back a bit and receive the new pass (in space), but they are not on the same wavelength.
A bit of a tussle between Spence, Videl and Tel eventually sees Tel come victorious with the ball.
Continued from the previous sequence, Tel is immediately proactive with his posession of the ball, and looks to play through Gnabry with a quick flick on.
And proactively, he attacks the space in the central area of the pitch, knowing at least 2 players will be attracted to Gnabry on that right flank.
Gnabry finds Tel very well, in acres of space. But unfortunately, he has to receive this ball on the turn, and that hinders his ability to do anything threatening. The pass was not bad at all, but a tiny bit behind him (I cannot tell if it took a slight deflection off of Gray).
However, the important thing to take away from this sequence is this all started from Tel's immense press. As you will see a lot of the time, it's what sets him apart from most forwards. He can create something out of nothing solely through that.
One thing that makes Tel so threatening (and also so valuable for Kompany) is his fluidity, understanding movement - particularly how he is so effortlessly able to drift inside the central channels if it proves effective.
Here, he attempts to get on the end of a free kick, but fails, as Dragusin comes out victorious.
However, Vidovic is able to win the ball, and this central drifting by Tel means he is able to get on the end of the pass, and cleverly play through Guerreiro on the overlap.
Unfortunately, it is offside in the end, but it is a good foresight into how fluidity can open up options like this (Again, this is more on Kompany than Tel - but having someone who is so good at such role always helps).
Tottenham attempt to overcommit press for a throw in, and it fails quite poorly.
Tel, again ACRES of space on that right side, and Porro doesn't even look to track him, but instead looks to continue his run inside? It is not even a tactical instruction to crowd the box, because as soon as Tel receives the ball, he goes back wide.
As a result, he has a lot of time to make his decision. Has the opportunity to play the boring pass to Muller, but this time I love his intent, he creates the illusion of looking to take on Porro (so Porro commits), before catching him off guard by slightly cutting inside and finding a brilliant, brilliant shot on target at Vicario.
Brilliant save, but also shows what Tel can do when he gets the space.
Rebound falls back to Bayern Munich's possession, and Tel again finds himself slightly outside the congested box.
He's found by Pavlovic, and very smartly with his quick decision making acknowledges the overlap by Guerreiro, and provides a tidy pass.
Cross gets blocked by Porro, but this move was something Tel was the centre of.
Tottenham get caught out in possession, meaning that right hand flank is COMPLETELY wide. I am not a fan of Muller here, this was a much more threatening opportunity had he just immediately played Tel through, and looked to crash the box after doing so.
Instead, he runs very slow and sluggishly, causing Tel to have to slow down to stay onside, but also be in a position to receive the pass. Not only does Muller have less space to play the pass, he has less room for error, and Tel has less space to run into.
He eventually gets the pass off, but Tel had virtually no space to run into, and didn't have the space/time he otherwise would have had. He still plays a decent enough ball given the circumstances, but it's cleared away by Son.
This is a rare situation in this game where Tel finds himself very, very wide, with nowhere near as much space as he usually gets. He gets doubled team by Sarr and Porro, and is forced to pass it back.
Not much to analyse for this touch, but he showed composure, however obvious it may sound.
A similar sequence happens with his touch after this, which I will not analyse separetely, only difference is the pass hits a Tottenham player and goes out for a throwin.
Not significant, but again, I just want to highlight is vigilant, intense press. He somehow manages to get a foot to this to knock it out of bounds. And even if it is still Tottenham's possesion, it is impressive that he even got to it.
Once again, Tottenham get caught out in possession, thus all bodies are comitted centrally whilst Tel is very wide.
Kim picks him out with a simple yet beautiful pass, leaving him in a situation anyone would DREAM of. No one around him, not a single soul.
Unfortunately, it is admitedly a poor cross that hits the first man, and he probably should have done better.
The attack does still stay alive, with the cleared ball reaching Gnabry, but it becomes a much more intricate, slow sequence, when more should have came from it.
Funnily enough, the continuation of that sequence sees Tel come in a deeper area to receive a long pass from Neuer. Usually, they are used to him being in the front half of the pitch, drifting inside, but this is a bit different, so he again finds himself in a lot of space.
And he manages to play a very smart, quick pass into Muller, which unfortunately does not come to anything, as possession is later lost trying to generate an attack.
But it shows he can be effective in multiple areas of the pitch. He knows how to create space for himself.
Again, Tel is very clever with his movements. One second he is looking to drift inside, other times he is wide. This time he is quite wide again, albeit in less space than usual.
Lucky for him, Pedro Porro shys away for 2 seconds for some reason, before again, beginning to run towards him again.
Nothing steps for this sequence, however, since there are very limited bodies around the box/looking to attack the box. Tel understands the concept of risk-reward quite well.
Once again, Tel is in ACRES of space. Pedro Porro keeps shying away from him, and isn't even bothering to track him. Though admitedly, this time it probably stems between poor communication between Gray and himself.
A pass from Boey to Vidovic, and a brilliant trivela from Vidovic finds Tel in such a strong, strong area. However, Tottenham do defend the box very well, making it hard for anything to truly come from it.
That being said, Tel makes the correct decision, and with some brilliant footwork, manages to fire off a shot that is awfully close.
Almost immediately after, he receives the ball once again, in acres of space. However, I do not know what led to this situation, as it was so soon they were still showing a replay of his earlier shot. I presume Tottenham lost possession.
3 vs. 1 situation. No readily available passing lanes. Forced to run at them, and is able to pull out a brilliant cutback through Dragusin and Maddison.
Very unfortunate for him, no one was there, but it was by far his best option, and was also brilliant execution. I don't think I can emphasise how impressive this was. The accuracy, composure, and also decision making.
Bayern still manage to keep possession. A lot of players that age would have lost composure, and gave up possession trying to mindlessly run at the 3 players.
Again, I have to highlight the brilliant press of Mathys Tel. Vicario passes the ball to Dragusin, and IMMEDIATELY Tel is there to pounce.
Dragusin retains the ball, but Tel doesn't stop, and brilliantly forces Tottenham to lose comfortable posession by causing Dragusin to boot it out of bounds.
Brilliant. Just brilliant. Now they have a throwin in a very dangerous area.
Tottenham, once again, amateurishly lose possession, for the 50th time this game. Tel is yet again in acres of space to receive a pass.
Doesn't have all the time in the world, but has enough bodies in the box to fire in a cross, which he does. Decent enough delivery, but is cleared away by Djed Spence. However, more importantly - you have to applaud his decision making (again).
Tel manages to gain possession of the ball after a free kick, and resists any pressure to knock it for a simple backpass.
What's more impressive is his movement after this pass, rather than staying on his favoured left side or centrally, he begins to drift to the right side where he sees the space.
Results in a backpass, but highlights his intelligent movement, and his ability to provide the passing lanes to ease pressure from his teammates.
Good play down the left hand side by Vidovic and Guerreiro leads to this great, great chance from Tel who is still on the right hand side he drifted into.
A slightly heavy touch means that Tottenham players get to exert more pressure and put him off the top, but more importantly allows Vicario to make himself bigger in time.
I acknowledge he played 20 minutes or so in the 2nd half, but in all honesty, I do not have time to analyse that as well.
But key takeaways:
- Press intensity/intelligence. Just Wow. This is why he is such a brilliant Kompany player.
- Movement. Ability to be effective in the central areas, deeper, or out wide either flank. He knows how to find the most space for himself.
- Decision making. Nine times out of 10, finds the right decision. Sometimes there are cases where he needs to utilise the space has better though, perhaps a bit more urgency.
- Has to become slightly, slightly more decisive. It's not overly bad, and a lot of the time his movement/trickery creates for himself, so you can't fault him too much. But there are times he can put in a better cross/finish.
Analysing every Mathys Tel action vs. Tottenham Hotspur.
- Detailed player analysis, every touch.
- What we can learn.
- What he can improve.
- What he did well.
- Why he perfectly fits Vincent Kompany's philosophy.
MEGATHREADHis first involvement is an offside.
You can look at this as a half glass full, or half glass empty situation.
The half glass full situation is that not even 20 seconds in, and he already has a very, very good opportunity to isolate a 1v1 with the goalkeeper thanks to his phenomenal movement. He drifts inside, fully acknowledging that Dragusin is very high up, and finds himself in a situation where he is completely unmarked, and able to get a run into the box.
The half glass empty situation is that this is just poor awareness, and that he should have timed his run better, because he had plenty of time and space to. And while I do agree, it is something players develop as they mature. Not the biggest cause for concern (yet).
Dragusin eventually does catch up with him, but I am largely sure that is due to him giving up because he knew he was offside. But in a situation where he did time his run slightly better, it could have been 1-0 20 seconds in.Build up to his 2nd touch - unmarked by Pedro Porro, and has that right hand side completely free.
Unfortunately, he receives quite an overhit pass by Pavlovic. However, he still finds himself in a situation where he can create something. Not many players would be able to get on the end of that pass - but Tel's sheer pace allows him to keep it in play, whilst also having quite some space and time still.
Sadly, despite this, I feel he takes a bit long to make his action here. Either he should have quickly passed it back to Guerreiro who was in acres of space to cross to the 2 men in the box, or ran at Porro a bit as it was a 1v1, with soon to be 3 bodies in the box.
But at the end of the day, Kompany enjoys intricate build-up, so you cannot fault it too much, especially considering this sequence ended with a very good chance for Gnabry. Without Tel's pace to get on the end of the pass, it would not have occured in the first place.One thing I always pick up on is Tel's pressing intelligence/discipline. Very intensive, but scans around, to make sure of his surroundings.
Here, he doesn't overcommit to the front press, instead stays relatively stationary whilst he becomes aware of his surroundings. He scans, sees Porro asking for the ball, and takes a few steps back to eliminate that passing lane.
Immediately, the ball is then in possession of Dragusin, and he relentlessly looks to press that Dragusin-Sarr link. This obviously pushes the ball back into Vicario.
And guess what this press leads to? A goal. He completely closes off the left hand side passing lane (Tottenham's right), and forces Dragusin to return to the goalkeeper. The others finish off the job, and see an opportunity to pounce.
I think I also have to give credit to Kompany here. A whopping 4 bodies are in the final 3rd as soon as the ball is forced back, which creates enourmous pressure.Once again, Pedro Porro with poor positioning leaves Tel and Guerreiro in acres of space. Not the easiest pass to pull off, but Muller manages to find Guerreiro with a bit of a backwards pass.
This makes the situation a bit more unfavourable for Bayern, as now Porro has plenty of time to close him down.
When he finally receives the ball, he has absolutely no other option but to pass back to Guerreiro.
I would not say it was the easiest situation, but with someone like Kimmich instead of Muller playing that ball, it could have led to something, with Tel being able to attack the space.Anticipating a quick throw following a corner from Tottenham (due to the amount of bodies in the box), Djed Spence charges to the right flank to try quickly nab possession.
However, the throwin takes longer than expected, and Tottenham seem to regroup quickly. Djed Spence looks to find Pape Sarr, but immediately, this hungry, hungry relentless presser closes down Sarr immediately, giving him no room to receive the ball.
The only passing lane available was back to Spence, but Tel's press made this tight. With nowhere to go, Spence expects Sarr to drop back a bit and receive the new pass (in space), but they are not on the same wavelength.
A bit of a tussle between Spence, Videl and Tel eventually sees Tel come victorious with the ball.Continued from the previous sequence, Tel is immediately proactive with his posession of the ball, and looks to play through Gnabry with a quick flick on.
And proactively, he attacks the space in the central area of the pitch, knowing at least 2 players will be attracted to Gnabry on that right flank.
Gnabry finds Tel very well, in acres of space. But unfortunately, he has to receive this ball on the turn, and that hinders his ability to do anything threatening. The pass was not bad at all, but a tiny bit behind him (I cannot tell if it took a slight deflection off of Gray).
However, the important thing to take away from this sequence is this all started from Tel's immense press. As you will see a lot of the time, it's what sets him apart from most forwards. He can create something out of nothing solely through that.One thing that makes Tel so threatening (and also so valuable for Kompany) is his fluidity, understanding movement - particularly how he is so effortlessly able to drift inside the central channels if it proves effective.
Here, he attempts to get on the end of a free kick, but fails, as Dragusin comes out victorious.
However, Vidovic is able to win the ball, and this central drifting by Tel means he is able to get on the end of the pass, and cleverly play through Guerreiro on the overlap.
Unfortunately, it is offside in the end, but it is a good foresight into how fluidity can open up options like this (Again, this is more on Kompany than Tel - but having someone who is so good at such role always helps).Tottenham attempt to overcommit press for a throw in, and it fails quite poorly.
Tel, again ACRES of space on that right side, and Porro doesn't even look to track him, but instead looks to continue his run inside? It is not even a tactical instruction to crowd the box, because as soon as Tel receives the ball, he goes back wide.
As a result, he has a lot of time to make his decision. Has the opportunity to play the boring pass to Muller, but this time I love his intent, he creates the illusion of looking to take on Porro (so Porro commits), before catching him off guard by slightly cutting inside and finding a brilliant, brilliant shot on target at Vicario.
Brilliant save, but also shows what Tel can do when he gets the space.Rebound falls back to Bayern Munich's possession, and Tel again finds himself slightly outside the congested box.
He's found by Pavlovic, and very smartly with his quick decision making acknowledges the overlap by Guerreiro, and provides a tidy pass.
Cross gets blocked by Porro, but this move was something Tel was the centre of.Tottenham get caught out in possession, meaning that right hand flank is COMPLETELY wide. I am not a fan of Muller here, this was a much more threatening opportunity had he just immediately played Tel through, and looked to crash the box after doing so.
Instead, he runs very slow and sluggishly, causing Tel to have to slow down to stay onside, but also be in a position to receive the pass. Not only does Muller have less space to play the pass, he has less room for error, and Tel has less space to run into.
He eventually gets the pass off, but Tel had virtually no space to run into, and didn't have the space/time he otherwise would have had. He still plays a decent enough ball given the circumstances, but it's cleared away by Son.This is a rare situation in this game where Tel finds himself very, very wide, with nowhere near as much space as he usually gets. He gets doubled team by Sarr and Porro, and is forced to pass it back.
Not much to analyse for this touch, but he showed composure, however obvious it may sound.
A similar sequence happens with his touch after this, which I will not analyse separetely, only difference is the pass hits a Tottenham player and goes out for a throwin.Not significant, but again, I just want to highlight is vigilant, intense press. He somehow manages to get a foot to this to knock it out of bounds. And even if it is still Tottenham's possesion, it is impressive that he even got to it.Once again, Tottenham get caught out in possession, thus all bodies are comitted centrally whilst Tel is very wide.
Kim picks him out with a simple yet beautiful pass, leaving him in a situation anyone would DREAM of. No one around him, not a single soul.
Unfortunately, it is admitedly a poor cross that hits the first man, and he probably should have done better.
The attack does still stay alive, with the cleared ball reaching Gnabry, but it becomes a much more intricate, slow sequence, when more should have came from it.Funnily enough, the continuation of that sequence sees Tel come in a deeper area to receive a long pass from Neuer. Usually, they are used to him being in the front half of the pitch, drifting inside, but this is a bit different, so he again finds himself in a lot of space.
And he manages to play a very smart, quick pass into Muller, which unfortunately does not come to anything, as possession is later lost trying to generate an attack.
But it shows he can be effective in multiple areas of the pitch. He knows how to create space for himself.Again, Tel is very clever with his movements. One second he is looking to drift inside, other times he is wide. This time he is quite wide again, albeit in less space than usual.
Lucky for him, Pedro Porro shys away for 2 seconds for some reason, before again, beginning to run towards him again.
Nothing steps for this sequence, however, since there are very limited bodies around the box/looking to attack the box. Tel understands the concept of risk-reward quite well.Once again, Tel is in ACRES of space. Pedro Porro keeps shying away from him, and isn't even bothering to track him. Though admitedly, this time it probably stems between poor communication between Gray and himself.
A pass from Boey to Vidovic, and a brilliant trivela from Vidovic finds Tel in such a strong, strong area. However, Tottenham do defend the box very well, making it hard for anything to truly come from it.
That being said, Tel makes the correct decision, and with some brilliant footwork, manages to fire off a shot that is awfully close.Almost immediately after, he receives the ball once again, in acres of space. However, I do not know what led to this situation, as it was so soon they were still showing a replay of his earlier shot. I presume Tottenham lost possession.
3 vs. 1 situation. No readily available passing lanes. Forced to run at them, and is able to pull out a brilliant cutback through Dragusin and Maddison.
Very unfortunate for him, no one was there, but it was by far his best option, and was also brilliant execution. I don't think I can emphasise how impressive this was. The accuracy, composure, and also decision making.
Bayern still manage to keep possession. A lot of players that age would have lost composure, and gave up possession trying to mindlessly run at the 3 players.Again, I have to highlight the brilliant press of Mathys Tel. Vicario passes the ball to Dragusin, and IMMEDIATELY Tel is there to pounce.
Dragusin retains the ball, but Tel doesn't stop, and brilliantly forces Tottenham to lose comfortable posession by causing Dragusin to boot it out of bounds.
Brilliant. Just brilliant. Now they have a throwin in a very dangerous area.Tottenham, once again, amateurishly lose possession, for the 50th time this game. Tel is yet again in acres of space to receive a pass.
Doesn't have all the time in the world, but has enough bodies in the box to fire in a cross, which he does. Decent enough delivery, but is cleared away by Djed Spence. However, more importantly - you have to applaud his decision making (again).Tel manages to gain possession of the ball after a free kick, and resists any pressure to knock it for a simple backpass.
What's more impressive is his movement after this pass, rather than staying on his favoured left side or centrally, he begins to drift to the right side where he sees the space.
Results in a backpass, but highlights his intelligent movement, and his ability to provide the passing lanes to ease pressure from his teammates.Good play down the left hand side by Vidovic and Guerreiro leads to this great, great chance from Tel who is still on the right hand side he drifted into.
A slightly heavy touch means that Tottenham players get to exert more pressure and put him off the top, but more importantly allows Vicario to make himself bigger in time.I acknowledge he played 20 minutes or so in the 2nd half, but in all honesty, I do not have time to analyse that as well.
But key takeaways:
- Press intensity/intelligence. Just Wow. This is why he is such a brilliant Kompany player.
- Movement. Ability to be effective in the central areas, deeper, or out wide either flank. He knows how to find the most space for himself.
- Decision making. Nine times out of 10, finds the right decision. Sometimes there are cases where he needs to utilise the space has better though, perhaps a bit more urgency.
- Has to become slightly, slightly more decisive. It's not overly bad, and a lot of the time his movement/trickery creates for himself, so you can't fault him too much. But there are times he can put in a better cross/finish.
yes
Analysing every Mathys Tel action vs. Tottenham Hotspur.
- Detailed player analysis, every touch.
- What we can learn.
- What he can improve.
- What he did well.
- Why he perfectly fits Vincent Kompany's philosophy.
MEGATHREAD ... His first involvement is an offside.
You can look at this as a half glass full, or half glass empty situation.
The half glass full situation is that not even 20 seconds in, and he already has a very, very good opportunity to isolate a 1v1 with the goalkeeper thanks to his phenomenal movement. He drifts inside, fully acknowledging that Dragusin is very high up, and finds himself in a situation where he is completely unmarked, and able to get a run into the box.
The half glass empty situation is that this is just poor awareness, and that he should have timed his run better, because he had plenty of time and space to. And while I do agree, it is something players develop as they mature. Not the biggest cause for concern (yet).
Dragusin eventually does catch up with him, but I am largely sure that is due to him giving up because he knew he was offside. But in a situation where he did time his run slightly better, it could have been 1-0 20 seconds in. ... Build up to his 2nd touch - unmarked by Pedro Porro, and has that right hand side completely free.
Unfortunately, he receives quite an overhit pass by Pavlovic. However, he still finds himself in a situation where he can create something. Not many players would be able to get on the end of that pass - but Tel's sheer pace allows him to keep it in play, whilst also having quite some space and time still.
Sadly, despite this, I feel he takes a bit long to make his action here. Either he should have quickly passed it back to Guerreiro who was in acres of space to cross to the 2 men in the box, or ran at Porro a bit as it was a 1v1, with soon to be 3 bodies in the box.
But at the end of the day, Kompany enjoys intricate build-up, so you cannot fault it too much, especially considering this sequence ended with a very good chance for Gnabry. Without Tel's pace to get on the end of the pass, it would not have occured in the first place. ... One thing I always pick up on is Tel's pressing intelligence/discipline. Very intensive, but scans around, to make sure of his surroundings.
Here, he doesn't overcommit to the front press, instead stays relatively stationary whilst he becomes aware of his surroundings. He scans, sees Porro asking for the ball, and takes a few steps back to eliminate that passing lane.
Immediately, the ball is then in possession of Dragusin, and he relentlessly looks to press that Dragusin-Sarr link. This obviously pushes the ball back into Vicario.
And guess what this press leads to? A goal. He completely closes off the left hand side passing lane (Tottenham's right), and forces Dragusin to return to the goalkeeper. The others finish off the job, and see an opportunity to pounce.
I think I also have to give credit to Kompany here. A whopping 4 bodies are in the final 3rd as soon as the ball is forced back, which creates enourmous pressure. ... Once again, Pedro Porro with poor positioning leaves Tel and Guerreiro in acres of space. Not the easiest pass to pull off, but Muller manages to find Guerreiro with a bit of a backwards pass.
This makes the situation a bit more unfavourable for Bayern, as now Porro has plenty of time to close him down.
When he finally receives the ball, he has absolutely no other option but to pass back to Guerreiro.
I would not say it was the easiest situation, but with someone like Kimmich instead of Muller playing that ball, it could have led to something, with Tel being able to attack the space. ... Anticipating a quick throw following a corner from Tottenham (due to the amount of bodies in the box), Djed Spence charges to the right flank to try quickly nab possession.
However, the throwin takes longer than expected, and Tottenham seem to regroup quickly. Djed Spence looks to find Pape Sarr, but immediately, this hungry, hungry relentless presser closes down Sarr immediately, giving him no room to receive the ball.
The only passing lane available was back to Spence, but Tel's press made this tight. With nowhere to go, Spence expects Sarr to drop back a bit and receive the new pass (in space), but they are not on the same wavelength.
A bit of a tussle between Spence, Videl and Tel eventually sees Tel come victorious with the ball. ... Continued from the previous sequence, Tel is immediately proactive with his posession of the ball, and looks to play through Gnabry with a quick flick on.
And proactively, he attacks the space in the central area of the pitch, knowing at least 2 players will be attracted to Gnabry on that right flank.
Gnabry finds Tel very well, in acres of space. But unfortunately, he has to receive this ball on the turn, and that hinders his ability to do anything threatening. The pass was not bad at all, but a tiny bit behind him (I cannot tell if it took a slight deflection off of Gray).
However, the important thing to take away from this sequence is this all started from Tel's immense press. As you will see a lot of the time, it's what sets him apart from most forwards. He can create something out of nothing solely through that. ... One thing that makes Tel so threatening (and also so valuable for Kompany) is his fluidity, understanding movement - particularly how he is so effortlessly able to drift inside the central channels if it proves effective.
Here, he attempts to get on the end of a free kick, but fails, as Dragusin comes out victorious.
However, Vidovic is able to win the ball, and this central drifting by Tel means he is able to get on the end of the pass, and cleverly play through Guerreiro on the overlap.
Unfortunately, it is offside in the end, but it is a good foresight into how fluidity can open up options like this (Again, this is more on Kompany than Tel - but having someone who is so good at such role always helps). ... Tottenham attempt to overcommit press for a throw in, and it fails quite poorly.
Tel, again ACRES of space on that right side, and Porro doesn't even look to track him, but instead looks to continue his run inside? It is not even a tactical instruction to crowd the box, because as soon as Tel receives the ball, he goes back wide.
As a result, he has a lot of time to make his decision. Has the opportunity to play the boring pass to Muller, but this time I love his intent, he creates the illusion of looking to take on Porro (so Porro commits), before catching him off guard by slightly cutting inside and finding a brilliant, brilliant shot on target at Vicario.
Brilliant save, but also shows what Tel can do when he gets the space. ... Rebound falls back to Bayern Munich's possession, and Tel again finds himself slightly outside the congested box.
He's found by Pavlovic, and very smartly with his quick decision making acknowledges the overlap by Guerreiro, and provides a tidy pass.
Cross gets blocked by Porro, but this move was something Tel was the centre of. ... Tottenham get caught out in possession, meaning that right hand flank is COMPLETELY wide. I am not a fan of Muller here, this was a much more threatening opportunity had he just immediately played Tel through, and looked to crash the box after doing so.
Instead, he runs very slow and sluggishly, causing Tel to have to slow down to stay onside, but also be in a position to receive the pass. Not only does Muller have less space to play the pass, he has less room for error, and Tel has less space to run into.
He eventually gets the pass off, but Tel had virtually no space to run into, and didn't have the space/time he otherwise would have had. He still plays a decent enough ball given the circumstances, but it's cleared away by Son. ... This is a rare situation in this game where Tel finds himself very, very wide, with nowhere near as much space as he usually gets. He gets doubled team by Sarr and Porro, and is forced to pass it back.
Not much to analyse for this touch, but he showed composure, however obvious it may sound.
A similar sequence happens with his touch after this, which I will not analyse separetely, only difference is the pass hits a Tottenham player and goes out for a throwin. ... Not significant, but again, I just want to highlight is vigilant, intense press. He somehow manages to get a foot to this to knock it out of bounds. And even if it is still Tottenham's possesion, it is impressive that he even got to it. ... Once again, Tottenham get caught out in possession, thus all bodies are comitted centrally whilst Tel is very wide.
Kim picks him out with a simple yet beautiful pass, leaving him in a situation anyone would DREAM of. No one around him, not a single soul.
Unfortunately, it is admitedly a poor cross that hits the first man, and he probably should have done better.
The attack does still stay alive, with the cleared ball reaching Gnabry, but it becomes a much more intricate, slow sequence, when more should have came from it. ... Funnily enough, the continuation of that sequence sees Tel come in a deeper area to receive a long pass from Neuer. Usually, they are used to him being in the front half of the pitch, drifting inside, but this is a bit different, so he again finds himself in a lot of space.
And he manages to play a very smart, quick pass into Muller, which unfortunately does not come to anything, as possession is later lost trying to generate an attack.
But it shows he can be effective in multiple areas of the pitch. He knows how to create space for himself. ... Again, Tel is very clever with his movements. One second he is looking to drift inside, other times he is wide. This time he is quite wide again, albeit in less space than usual.
Lucky for him, Pedro Porro shys away for 2 seconds for some reason, before again, beginning to run towards him again.
Nothing steps for this sequence, however, since there are very limited bodies around the box/looking to attack the box. Tel understands the concept of risk-reward quite well. ... Once again, Tel is in ACRES of space. Pedro Porro keeps shying away from him, and isn't even bothering to track him. Though admitedly, this time it probably stems between poor communication between Gray and himself.
A pass from Boey to Vidovic, and a brilliant trivela from Vidovic finds Tel in such a strong, strong area. However, Tottenham do defend the box very well, making it hard for anything to truly come from it.
That being said, Tel makes the correct decision, and with some brilliant footwork, manages to fire off a shot that is awfully close. ... Almost immediately after, he receives the ball once again, in acres of space. However, I do not know what led to this situation, as it was so soon they were still showing a replay of his earlier shot. I presume Tottenham lost possession.
3 vs. 1 situation. No readily available passing lanes. Forced to run at them, and is able to pull out a brilliant cutback through Dragusin and Maddison.
Very unfortunate for him, no one was there, but it was by far his best option, and was also brilliant execution. I don't think I can emphasise how impressive this was. The accuracy, composure, and also decision making.
Bayern still manage to keep possession. A lot of players that age would have lost composure, and gave up possession trying to mindlessly run at the 3 players. ... Again, I have to highlight the brilliant press of Mathys Tel. Vicario passes the ball to Dragusin, and IMMEDIATELY Tel is there to pounce.
Dragusin retains the ball, but Tel doesn't stop, and brilliantly forces Tottenham to lose comfortable posession by causing Dragusin to boot it out of bounds.
Brilliant. Just brilliant. Now they have a throwin in a very dangerous area. ... Tottenham, once again, amateurishly lose possession, for the 50th time this game. Tel is yet again in acres of space to receive a pass.
Doesn't have all the time in the world, but has enough bodies in the box to fire in a cross, which he does. Decent enough delivery, but is cleared away by Djed Spence. However, more importantly - you have to applaud his decision making (again). ... Tel manages to gain possession of the ball after a free kick, and resists any pressure to knock it for a simple backpass.
What's more impressive is his movement after this pass, rather than staying on his favoured left side or centrally, he begins to drift to the right side where he sees the space.
Results in a backpass, but highlights his intelligent movement, and his ability to provide the passing lanes to ease pressure from his teammates. ... Good play down the left hand side by Vidovic and Guerreiro leads to this great, great chance from Tel who is still on the right hand side he drifted into.
A slightly heavy touch means that Tottenham players get to exert more pressure and put him off the top, but more importantly allows Vicario to make himself bigger in time. ... I acknowledge he played 20 minutes or so in the 2nd half, but in all honesty, I do not have time to analyse that as well.
But key takeaways:
- Press intensity/intelligence. Just Wow. This is why he is such a brilliant Kompany player.
- Movement. Ability to be effective in the central areas, deeper, or out wide either flank. He knows how to find the most space for himself.
- Decision making. Nine times out of 10, finds the right decision. Sometimes there are cases where he needs to utilise the space has better though, perhaps a bit more urgency.
- Has to become slightly, slightly more decisive. It's not overly bad, and a lot of the time his movement/trickery creates for himself, so you can't fault him too much. But there are times he can put in a better cross/finish.
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