A bit surprised at the different views on how the final went. I actually thought Real was the better team in the second half but thought maybe match ratings could help us get to a consensus.
Real Madrid
Ancelotti - 10- Tactics were perfect , narrow all the way, allowed liverpool to play on the flanks and hope. Even Klopp conceded that maybe he should have changed it a bit and tried to go down the middle. Given the difference in quality of both teams a Masterclass. Thought he delayed his subs but what do I know.
Thibaut Courtois = 9 - Goes without saying. Even though he only really made 2 difficult saves but his handling and positioning was so impeccable at times.
Dani Carvajal = 9 - Ruined Luis Diaz. Killed a key component of liverpools game and by doing that also limited Robertson who had no space to run into.
Éder Militão and David Alaba - 8 - Both CBs had solid games. Alaba passing it out and Eder winning everything in the air and making impressive blocks.
Cassemiro,Modric,Kroos - 7 - I enjoyed their little triangles and passing in the 2nd half. No real intention to progress the ball but held onto it beautifully whereas Liverpool had a fragmented midfield performance.
Benzema, Valverde & Vini Jr. - 7- Invisible in the first half but the hold up play by Benzo was really good to watch in the 2nd half. Thought Vini Jr. worked hard and has a real engine on him. Took his goal well.Valverde worked hard and ran off Robertson a lot. Impressive player.
Mendy - 6 - Was okayish or average at best.
Liverpool
Klopp - 5 - Given the path Real have taken you would have thought he would mix it up a bit. Fair dues he hauled of Dias early but it wasnt personal, just thought he could have made subtle changes to the tactics. To be honest Im not sure what he could have done with the subs, most of the players have looked jaded in May.
Mane & Salah - 8 - Thought both were the best attackers in the final. Mane faded out a bit but was better first half whereas Salah stepped it up in the second half. Both couldnt finish their dinner so will get criticism. Think Mane is off and Salah probably wont sign the new contract so a difficult last 12 months.
I Konate - 7 - Thought he did well under pressure, stood up well to the Vini and Benzema challenge.
Fabinho - 7 - was decent especially considering he came back from injury. Had control of the midfield particularly in the first half.
Alisson - 6- Didn't have much to do. Didnt look great for the offside non - goal.
Trent - 6- Thought he battled well despite some poor long balls and passes. Got merked by Vini Jr but dont think he was defesively bad at all. Vini has embarassed him before and I thought he handled him well for the most part.
van Dijk - 6 - Good outlet passing it from the back but if you are getting exposed by Valverde then you know his level has dropped a bit.
Henderson & Thiago - 5 - Nothing performance from both. reports Thiago wasnt fit but despite some neat tidy stuff in the first half struggled t exert their influence on the game.
Robertson - 5 - Hasnt looked anywhere near his best this season. Maybe Klopp could have thrown the greek fella as a surprise element.
Diaz - 4- Got found out a bit. will get better.
Thoughts?
CL Final Key Match Ratings
posted on 29/5/22
comment by merrysupersteve (monitoring the situation) (U1132)
posted 17 minutes ago
Didn't watch the game yesterday but I think Robertson has been pretty consistent this season. He's had as many assists as TAA, hasn't he? In spite of taking less set pieces. And he's reliable defensively too
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Definitely steady but because so much of their creativity comes from the flanks he hasnt been at his best.
posted on 29/5/22
It wasn't Carvajal that shackled Diaz it was 5 at the back Jose stylee. boring as fck.
posted on 29/5/22
Thought Salahs decision making was poor, could've squared it to mane for tap in but chose to shoot.
posted on 29/5/22
comment by B10 - Boss (U22536)
posted 29 minutes ago
comment by merrysupersteve (monitoring the situation) (U1132)
posted 17 minutes ago
Didn't watch the game yesterday but I think Robertson has been pretty consistent this season. He's had as many assists as TAA, hasn't he? In spite of taking less set pieces. And he's reliable defensively too
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Definitely steady but because so much of their creativity comes from the flanks he hasnt been at his best.
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He’s a lot better than the Greek bloke they have
posted on 29/5/22
comment by Silver (U6112)
posted 1 hour, 5 minutes ago
It wasn't Carvajal that shackled Diaz it was 5 at the back Jose stylee. boring as fck.
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All 5 weren’t marking him
posted on 29/5/22
I think I agree mostly with your assessment, although I don't think Courtois can be scored anything other than a 10, while Carlo might have edged the managers' battle by a point or two, but never 5.
The battle in and through the middle was all Liverpool for a very long spell early on, but ended up being a bit of a stalemate. Thiago was allowed the freedom of the city for the opening half hour, and Sané was super lively and involved, but I think part of Madrid's game plan was always going to be to preserve as much energy as they could early doors so as to make for a more even physical fight later on. Hendo and Fabinho did nothing much wrong, but Madrid's decision to force Liverpool to play the game on the flanks meant they didn't have a huge impact either way. I do think they -or Klopp- missed a trick by not having them step up a few yards to mop up on the edge of Madrid's box, where no amount of loose balls were bagging for a midfielder to run onto and put his laces through it.
Madrid on their part barely tried to progress the ball through the middle at all, other than trying to pivot through Benzema and Modric always with an eye to getting it out wide asap, so I think that rather than view the CBs and CMs for their role as part of their natural central pairings or threes, it almost makes more sense to group them with the wide players in their corresponding left or right hand sectors.
The more the game wore on, the more Madrid bossed the left side with Carvajal and Valverde, with Militāo and sometimes Modric or Casemiro on hand to plug the gaps. They rarely broke, but when they did it was with full purpose. Robertson was reduced to chasing the game, and Díaz's inexperience at this level showed. I don't think even the most optimistic Madrid fan thought Carvajal had this game in him. VVD was seldom tested, but when he was, he didn't come off too well. Jota really added very little to the game.
Over on the other flank was where most people expected the game to be won or lost, and even though the winner was created on the right side of Madrid's attack, the left was indeed where most of the action took place. Mendy had a pretty poor game up against Salah, whose influence and foothold grew as it wore on.
Kroos and Alaba were late to almost every ball, and Madrid only survived on that side thanks to Vini chipping in admirably with the defensive work and to Casemiro covering the role of three players (another whose performance far exceeded his season's average). And because on the multiple occasions it was penetrated, Courtois stopped everything that came his way. He could've stopped a meteor last night, he was that good.
I know Trent's got pelters for his brainfart, but I genuinely think he was Liverpool's best and most consistent performer over the 90. He put plenty of good balls into the box, al sorts too: into the feet, onto the head, driven balls across the front, near post, far post...several of them were just whiskers away from being converted, and he also managed to play the odd one-two, and get off a shot or two, albeit none too dangerous that I remember right now.
He also managed to toe-poke a couple of decisive balls away from Benzema and Vinicius that may well have put more Madrid goals on the board. Along with Konate, I think they held their own far better than Liverpool's left considering the size of the threat they were up against.
If Liverpool didn't want him, I'd have him at Madrid in a heartbeat.
Salah showed his poor form of recent months for 60 minutes, but slowly grew into the game and completely sprang into life after Madrid's goal. He was the one Liverpool player who truly looked and played like he actually believed they'd get the equaliser. In all honesty, I think he badly needed a real knife-edge gas been a poor back half of the season. If the league were to continue from here, I think he'd be back scoring freely again in no time.
Konate was fine. I think Alisson's panic and VVD's indecisiveness put the jitters into him a bit, but even though I know little about his ball-playing skills, defensively he looked like a very complete package. Great find for you guys.
Finally, one thing did surprise me quite a bit, and it was how poor you were at attacking set-pieces. It might just be that Madrid were excellent, but I don't remember any corner or free kick creating serious trouble. That, along with the loose balls on the edge of the box are two aspects of the game I am surprised Liverpool didn't exploit, but it could be that that's where the difference in time that each side had to prepare the game actually showed most.
posted on 29/5/22
Finally, one thing did surprise me quite a bit, and it was how poor you were at attacking set-pieces. It might just be that Madrid were excellent, but I don't remember any corner or free kick creating serious trouble. That, along with the loose balls on the edge of the box are two aspects of the game I am surprised Liverpool didn't exploit, but it could be that that's where the difference in time that each side had to prepare the game actually showed most.
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Funny thing to say considering most members of this group have at least 1 CL medal but I thought the majority of them froze after the goal. Reminiscent of the City players after Chelsea scored last season.
The pressure of the CL Final is something else
posted on 29/5/22
comment by Sky-blue (U22529)
posted 1 minute ago
Finally, one thing did surprise me quite a bit, and it was how poor you were at attacking set-pieces. It might just be that Madrid were excellent, but I don't remember any corner or free kick creating serious trouble. That, along with the loose balls on the edge of the box are two aspects of the game I am surprised Liverpool didn't exploit, but it could be that that's where the difference in time that each side had to prepare the game actually showed most.
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Funny thing to say considering most members of this group have at least 1 CL medal but I thought the majority of them froze after the goal. Reminiscent of the City players after Chelsea scored last season.
The pressure of the CL Final is something else
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Didn't see the game but that would be even more surprising, given how often Liverpool have come back from behind to win in recent weeks. But as you say, the occasion yesterday was incomparable to any of those games. Also went behind a lot later
posted on 30/5/22
comment by Sky-blue (U22529)
posted 3 hours, 12 minutes ago
Funny thing to say considering most members of this group have at least 1 CL medal but I thought the majority of them froze after the goal. Reminiscent of the City players after Chelsea scored last season.
The pressure of the CL Final is something else
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I was more positively impressed by Salah stepping up after that moment. You could tell how much he wanted it, showed real character even if it didn't work out for him.
posted on 30/5/22
I think those ratings are pretty much based on one thing only … RM winning the game. Obviously that’s all important, but Liverpool bossed every stat in the game, bar the final score. Sometimes your name is just on the Cup, this year more so than any other I can recall … with the winners having been outplayed in all 4 of the knockout rounds. Has that every happened before?
Hats off to Ancelotti though. He got his tactics right, albeit having to rely on a fair chunk of good fortune (again) to get over the line.