- 3 hours ago
As we approach the end of the Club World Cup's group stage, a number of major European teams have already been eliminated, with Dortmund, Chelsea, and Inter all sweating on the outcome of their final game. Even early favourites PSG and Real Madrid have dropped points to supposedly "lesser" opponents.Adam Clery looks at the competition so far, and the tactics employed, to explain why.
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00:00Right then, hello there my pedigree chums, this is the Adam Cleary Football Channel and I am by extension Adam
00:06Cleary
00:07and I don't know if this is going to be seen as a controversial statement, but I actually think the
00:12Club World Cup has been pretty good.
00:16Like yes, okay, the attendances aren't great, the walkouts are very silly and it's obviously way too hot for mammals
00:21to be playing football,
00:22but almost, almost every single time I put a game on, I come away thinking, yeah, that was great.
00:31And not only do I think there is a very interesting reason why we seem to keep having so many
00:36good games,
00:36but I think said reason could well give us a shock winner, so a bit of a different video this
00:44one, pull up a seat.
00:48Right, now obviously, where is it, you, you are not stupid, you will have seen in our other Club World
00:55Cup videos
00:55that we're now sponsorship friends with DAZN who are the official broadcasters of the Club World Cup
01:01and they are sponsoring our coverage of it and would you look at that, man enters into a commercial partnership
01:09over a footballing competition and wants to tell you why said footballing competition is actually really good.
01:17What were the chances of that?
01:19Now normally, yes, you would be absolutely spot on there, it's a very cynical world,
01:24but if you have been watching this competition, you can back me up on this.
01:28The games have been largely absolutely class.
01:30Like yes, there's a load of other stuff to talk about around it and we will across the course of
01:35the tournament,
01:35but the football, in particular, some of the shock results have been brilliant.
01:41And you can watch them all absolutely free on DAZN.
01:45Mmm, refreshing.
01:47Alright, so what do I mean by the games have been really good slash quite shocking?
01:51Well, the European teams, who obviously heavily fancied at the start of this competition,
01:56having almost every single game, except the Bayern 10-0, obviously,
02:01either had some sort of massive scare or genuinely a big upset.
02:05And I am going to pretty much more or less run through every single one of those right now,
02:09so if you haven't been watching, then if now else this will do you as a good catch-up
02:13before we get to the knockouts, you're welcome.
02:16Now Porto, who exited last night, were really lucky to get out of their first game
02:20with a point against Palmeiras, got deservedly beaten against Inter Miami,
02:25and then conceded four last night to Al-Ali.
02:28Including this goal, which when I watched it this morning,
02:31because it was on at 2am last night, I'm not insane,
02:34audibly made me go, woof, ha ha.
02:37One result you will have seen is that Botafogo stunned literal Champions League winners PSG,
02:42and we will have a very small look at how they did that in the course of this video.
02:47But also Benfica needed a late penalty to rescue a point against 10-man Boca,
02:52which was a pretty big shock.
02:53Fluminese held Dortmund, which was an even bigger shock.
02:57Monterey held Inter Milan.
02:59Al-Halal wound up being more than worth a point against Real Madrid,
03:04even though they had to save a last-minute penalty to get it, for Flamengo.
03:07And watch a spawn in the pub on Friday night,
03:10absolutely battered Chelsea, even before
03:13Nicolas Jackson got one of the silliest red cards I think I've ever seen.
03:17And obviously the games where the big European sides have dropped points,
03:21are pretty clear examples that something's going on here,
03:24but even a lot of the games where they've gone and got the results
03:27have not been at all straightforward.
03:31Chelsea could very easily have chucked it away against LAFC.
03:35Like, I was watching that and I lost count of the amount of situations they got into,
03:38where they left just an enormous amount of space in behind.
03:42And LAFC, LAFC, kept punishing them for it,
03:46but just could not convert the chances.
03:48Even Manchester City's opening game against Wydad,
03:52if I had a quid for every time I've said that,
03:55Casablanca, they looked fairly comfortable,
03:57but kept getting themselves into similarly wide-open situations.
04:01Like, how they don't concede an equalising goal in this scenario,
04:05I still do not know.
04:07They were the better team, yes,
04:10but that could so easily have been another big shock.
04:13Bayern then left it incredibly late against Boca.
04:16Inter left it even later against Urawa Red Dragons.
04:19Like, they were literally getting beat in the 78th minute
04:22and have to claw that back.
04:24Pachiccio absolutely battered Real Madrid with the man advantage.
04:28They had like 25, 26 shots to eight or something.
04:31And we will also be looking at what went on in that game,
04:34because I think it's another good example of what's going on here.
04:37And then, on top of all of that,
04:39did you see Mammalodi Sundowns versus Borussia Dortmund?
04:44Because f***ing hell.
04:45Like, just so you know where we are, right,
04:47I am recording this video the morning after Groups A and B have finished.
04:51And Atletico are out,
04:53Botafogo have gone through ahead of them,
04:55and Porto are out as well.
04:57Inter-Miami have gone through instead of them.
04:59And did you have that on your pools coupon?
05:03I mean, do they even still do pools coupons?
05:07Suspected no is the answer to both those questions.
05:10And then tonight, or probably in the past by the time you've watched this video,
05:13if Benfica cannot beat Bayern Munich,
05:16which I would say is highly likely,
05:18then Boca will put them out if they go and smash an Auckland team
05:22who are pretty much at this point just having a lads holiday,
05:26which I would also say is pretty likely.
05:27And after that, Esperanz are in a winner-takes-all playoff for the knockouts,
05:32with Chelsea.
05:33Like, this is real peril.
05:34This is real jeopardy.
05:36And it's real funny.
05:37Because if you remember,
05:39this was all supposed to be, like,
05:41a bit of a walkover for the European teams.
05:44The top 11 favourites for this tournament,
05:46before we kicked off,
05:47were all from Europe.
05:49And by the time you watch this,
05:51we could have lost four of that top 11,
05:54with Chelsea, Inter, and Dortmund
05:56all sweating over their final group game.
06:00There's even what I consider to be a plausible,
06:03if not likely, scenario,
06:05where Real Madrid drop points to Salzburg,
06:08which could happen,
06:09and then Al-Halal go and put them out.
06:12Like, can you imagine?
06:13Like, I know I'm getting into the bit of,
06:15this is a reach territory right now,
06:17but we could get into the knockout stages,
06:19I think quite easily,
06:21with all of these teams
06:24no longer in the competition.
06:26Like, I'll have put the kiss of death on that now,
06:28and they'll all end up qualifying quite comfortably,
06:30but it certainly has not been quite comfortable.
06:34They've all dropped points,
06:36and gone into the last game needing something,
06:39in groups where everybody expected them
06:41to just coast through.
06:43And yes, okay,
06:44at this exact moment in time,
06:45we haven't actually lost any really big clubs,
06:48and, well,
06:50we might not,
06:52or whatever that would be in English.
06:53So am I getting slightly carried away there?
06:55Yes,
06:56but you watch football
06:58for the possibilities,
06:59and right now,
07:00this tournament is having way more possibilities
07:03than I think anybody realistically expected.
07:07And that's nice.
07:08So then,
07:09that begs the question,
07:10what the hell
07:12is actually going on here?
07:13Why do we keep seeing this many shocks and upsets,
07:16and big teams getting big scares,
07:18and stuff like that?
07:19Well,
07:20in one single word,
07:22intensity.
07:23And in several words,
07:25you are basically seeing a real-life case study
07:28of why so many of the very top teams
07:31are now prioritising signing players
07:33who can maintain an unusually high level
07:37of physical intensity,
07:39both on and off the ball.
07:41Like,
07:41athletes are majorly back in fashion.
07:44But whichever way teams are choosing to implement that,
07:47what it basically boils down to is,
07:49are there certain vulnerable areas of the opposition
07:51where we know we will both outrun and outwork them,
07:56and thus,
07:56in the process,
07:57completely destabilise them defensively.
08:00So what we're seeing at the Club World Cup
08:02are teams that are,
08:03A,
08:03nowhere near as tactically or technically inferior
08:06as they were quite patronisingly assumed to be,
08:10but mostly,
08:11B,
08:12physically able to outwork their European opponents
08:16in this heat.
08:17And,
08:18yes,
08:18that's a great point I've just heard you make
08:20from the other side of the screen.
08:21That probably does have something to do with the fact
08:24that PSG went into this competition
08:27having played 60 matches in the last year,
08:30and Botafogo only 35.
08:33Or 59 for Chelsea,
08:35for example,
08:36compared to like 37 for Flamengo.
08:39And it is this disparity in the levels of intensity,
08:42and,
08:42yeah,
08:43okay,
08:43let's be real,
08:44the heat,
08:45it's about a million degrees in some of these stadiums,
08:48and everyone who plays for Chelsea
08:49has to live in London,
08:51so that's probably not helping.
08:53But anyway,
08:53the disparity in intensity,
08:56thought I was going to say that wrong,
08:57is allowing these non-European sides
08:59to implement pretty brave and bold tactical plans
09:04against the European sides.
09:06And I'm going to show you some of them right now.
09:08So to start,
09:09right,
09:09the first big shock of the tournament,
09:11that Botafogo won PSG nil game,
09:14and if you only saw the score,
09:17a number of the stats,
09:18and to be fair,
09:19the goal as well,
09:20you probably thought,
09:21ah yes,
09:22a smash and grab.
09:23But that was not the story.
09:25The Brazilians completely limited PSG
09:27to absolutely nothing,
09:29in the way of a good chance.
09:32If it may be permitted
09:33to drop a morsel of XG into all of this,
09:35PSG had like what,
09:3720,
09:3730 chances or something ridiculous,
09:39and came out with 0.8.
09:40So none of them,
09:42none of them were any good.
09:43They were not opened up once.
09:45Instead,
09:45Botafogo pressed them really intensely,
09:48and very high.
09:50PSG had rested Mendes for this game,
09:52so they targeted Hernandez,
09:54because he's nowhere near as comfortable
09:55playing out with a ball at his feet.
09:57He was replacing the best left back
09:59in the world of doing that,
10:00so they forced the ball into those areas
10:02and tried to take it off them.
10:03They kept trying to take the ball off PSG,
10:05down this left side,
10:06and the reason they had the confidence
10:08to do that was,
10:09well,
10:09if they slip the net
10:10or we lose the ball,
10:11we will run back,
10:13and we will work really hard
10:14to get into defensive positions.
10:15And if you know you can outwork
10:17the opposition,
10:18they become a lot less scarier technically.
10:20And then there was the Madrid-Petucha game,
10:22which they won 3-1 in the end,
10:24and you could be mistaken for thinking,
10:25oh,
10:25that was comfortable,
10:26but they went down to 10 men,
10:28because they could not live
10:30with playing a high line
10:32against a team
10:32that was working that hard.
10:34Like,
10:35the Asensio red card
10:36was early in the game,
10:37but it wasn't even the first time
10:38they'd been caught out
10:39in this exact situation.
10:41Like,
10:41the Mexicans defended really deep,
10:44harried them in very particular areas,
10:45and then were exploding
10:47up the other end of the pitch,
10:48completely outworking
10:49and outrunning Real Madrid
10:51as soon as they got the ball back.
10:53In fact,
10:53I would go so far as to say
10:54that the red card
10:56massively helped Real Madrid,
10:58because it forced them
10:59to sit a lot deeper.
11:01Like,
11:01Tushimeni dropped into the back line.
11:03If you look at their average positions
11:04from the game,
11:05that is so much deeper
11:06than a Real Madrid team
11:07would ever normally play
11:09with 11 men,
11:10but the red card
11:11forced them to sit back
11:12and hit on the counter-attack themselves,
11:14and that's when
11:15their quality began to tell.
11:16But just to go back
11:17to the numbers,
11:18Petruccia dominated Real Madrid
11:20in this game
11:20and had more than enough chances
11:22to go and win it.
11:23Just a combination
11:24of the superior quality
11:25and Madrid being forced
11:27to play tactics
11:28that were actually
11:29really beneficial to them
11:31swung it that way.
11:32But then you go look
11:32at their draw
11:33against Al-Halal,
11:34and these are the,
11:35I don't know what the term is
11:36for a graph like this,
11:36the areas of domination
11:39of attack,
11:40this is basically
11:40where Al-Halal
11:41were trying to get
11:42at Madrid,
11:43right,
11:43and these are their
11:44average positions as well.
11:46Look how fond
11:47of this right-hand side
11:49they are.
11:50Almost like a defensively
11:51suspect right-back
11:52was making his debut.
11:54The disallowed goal,
11:55which I did not think
11:56was going to be disallowed
11:57when I saw it in real time,
11:59they march into that area,
12:01and because Madrid
12:01won't actually bother
12:03tracking back,
12:03Rodrigo's not going to sit
12:04in front of his full-back.
12:06Alexander-Arnold
12:07gets drawn to the ball,
12:08and they pass it
12:09into the area
12:09he's just supposed
12:11to be standing in.
12:12Very marginal offside,
12:14that is them
12:15correctly identifying
12:16a flaw
12:17in one of the best teams
12:18in the entire world,
12:19and just
12:20going at it.
12:21Going for a dick-swinging
12:23contest
12:23with Real Madrid.
12:25Al-Halal.
12:26They should have
12:26beat them.
12:27But then,
12:28and I've been dying
12:29to talk about this
12:29for a number of days,
12:30you've got
12:31Manalodi Sundowns
12:32versus Dortmund.
12:34Nobody gets tight
12:34to this midfielder here,
12:36just can't be arsed.
12:36And then the forwards
12:38steamrollers
12:39through the middle
12:40of the pitch,
12:40and they end up
12:41with a three
12:42versus none.
12:44Have you ever seen
12:45a three versus none
12:46before?
12:47Because I've been thinking,
12:48and I don't think
12:49I have.
12:50Like,
12:51maybe it's Sunday League.
12:52Maybe,
12:53but that's it.
12:54And Dortmund got out here
12:55with a 4-3 win
12:56because Sundowns
12:57just did not
12:58want to show them
12:58any respect whatsoever,
13:00kept committing
13:01in numbers,
13:01kept playing out
13:02from the back,
13:02and getting caught
13:03against a team
13:04who are very good
13:06at punishing you
13:06for that.
13:07But even at 4-1 down
13:08to a supposed
13:09European giant,
13:11what did Sundowns do?
13:12Did they take
13:13their foot off the gas?
13:14Did they stop caring?
13:14No,
13:15they kept
13:15doing their thing
13:17and going at Dortmund,
13:18and if they got
13:19that third goal
13:20a little bit earlier,
13:22they probably
13:23pulled that back.
13:24Like,
13:24Dortmund did not run
13:25the champions
13:26of South Africa
13:27ragged by any stretch
13:28of the imagination here.
13:29If anything,
13:30it was quite the opposite.
13:31Sundowns dominated
13:32possession,
13:33they had twice as many
13:33chances,
13:34and they kept
13:34outworking them.
13:36Until the very,
13:37very last minute
13:38of that game.
13:39And then,
13:39there was Chelsea,
13:40because we already
13:41covered their game
13:41at this tournament
13:42against LAFC,
13:43because it felt like
13:43a really good time
13:44to talk about
13:45Liam de Lapp,
13:45but even,
13:46as I said before,
13:47there were numerous
13:48moments where you
13:49thought,
13:50wow,
13:50they're getting split
13:51open by LAFC here,
13:53and that should have
13:54been a major red flag
13:55for what Flamengo
13:56were ultimately
13:57going to do to them.
13:58It'll get remembered
13:58for Jackson's red card,
14:00obviously,
14:00but what you saw
14:01in this game
14:02was Chelsea
14:04exploding
14:04out of the traps,
14:06matching,
14:06if not bettering
14:07the intensity
14:08of their opponents,
14:09and getting a goal
14:10through exactly that,
14:12which is precisely
14:12what you would expect
14:13for a Premier League
14:14side taking on
14:15someone from like
14:16the seventh or eighth
14:17best league in the world.
14:18But whether you want
14:19to blame the number
14:20of games,
14:21the heat,
14:21the attitude of the players,
14:22whatever it is,
14:23they could not maintain
14:24that intensity
14:25past 15 or 20 minutes,
14:28and once the balance
14:29flipped,
14:30they never looked like
14:30getting that back.
14:31The goals themselves
14:32aren't great examples
14:33of running or intensity
14:34or breaking into space,
14:36but these chances
14:36almost always start
14:38with a Chelsea player
14:39losing a marker
14:40or getting ran past
14:42or somebody
14:43doing something explosive.
14:45And by the time
14:46that red card
14:46came later on,
14:47they were already losing
14:49and did not look
14:50in any danger
14:50of salvaging the game.
14:53So yeah,
14:53that should more or less
14:54bring you up to date
14:55with what's been going on
14:56at the Club World Cup
14:57and specifically
14:57why that is going on
14:59at the Club World Cup
15:00because I am low-key,
15:02low-key quite fascinated
15:04about this tournament.
15:05I do think
15:06so long as Man City
15:08or Bayern
15:08don't just march
15:10to just the most
15:11efficient,
15:11boring trophy
15:12when you've ever seen,
15:13we could get
15:14a pretty major shock here.
15:16I'd like that.
15:17And obviously,
15:17we will be getting
15:18into way more detail
15:19about the individual matches
15:20once we get into
15:21the knockout stages
15:21and they're not coming
15:22two, three, four
15:24every single evening
15:25and I can actually
15:25keep up.
15:26So please do consider
15:27subscribing to us here
15:28at ACFC
15:29if you have not
15:29done that already
15:30and hey,
15:31if you'd like to watch
15:32the games for yourselves,
15:33as mentioned,
15:34we are commercial friends
15:36is what I'm calling it
15:37with DAZN
15:38for the duration
15:39of the Club World Cup
15:40while we are covering
15:41the Club World Cup
15:43and you can watch
15:43every single game
15:44for free
15:45on the DAZN app
15:47which the link
15:48for which will be
15:49in the description.
15:50I've been doing that.
15:52It's made life
15:52very easy
15:53and as ever,
15:54you can get me across
15:55all the social medias,
15:57every single one of them
15:57at Adam Cleary,
15:58C-L-E-R-Y
16:00which I dearly hope
16:01I've put on the correct
16:02side of the screen
16:02otherwise the YouTube
16:03end card
16:04will be covering it.
16:07So, yeah,
16:08that would be bad.
16:09Goodbye.
16:10Goodbye.
16:11Goodbye.
16:11See you soon.
16:12See you in the knockout.
16:14Bang.
16:17Immediately regret that.
16:18It's over.
16:19It's over.
16:19It's over.
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