Analyzing Everton's goal - How it went completely berserk

[Reddish-Blue 2,354]

I strongly disagree. Ivanovic was perfectly positioned to mark his respective player while Terry was covering an area zonally. Ivanovic was forced to press on Naismith (who was to be marked by Luiz) cause Luiz just wandered away towards the ball without looking at the defensive line. This kept Jelavic open. The story goes on as Ivanovic panics and rushes towards Jelavic when the ball is played in and a clear Naismith heads the ball in. There is no way they can head the ball away when the ball is being played into an area where they cannot encroach because they're either already marking someone or covering an area. The marking or covering was perfect in the sense that they were doing their duties, they were marking the players they were supposed to mark and covering the area's they were supposed to. Later on Coleman goes into the area where Terry is. So even if he goes on to mark Naismith, Coleman has a clear shot on goal. One can never find a fault with that. It isn't their fault if they fail to mark someone else's player, that is the other player's fault.

Even with Terry it was never 2 on 2, because Terry isn't supposed to mark.You could blame several players for this goal, but Ivanovic and Terry can never be. They're more like victims, at-least in my opinion.

So basically you're saying the goal conceded was completely Luiz's fault.

At the end of the day, defensive mistakes aren't the biggest concern. The fact that none of our players look capable of putting the ball into the net is very concerning.

[JDY 1,290]

Don't like how the analysis is making Luiz the biggest culprit. Completely disagree with the "ball watching" comment on Luiz.

THIS is why Luiz left his position - because there was a gaping gap that Everton could've exploited and none of our midfielders seemed to be aware of such - so if Mikel or Ramires had simply filled that gap, Luiz doesn't go up to try and fill it. He wasn't ball watching, but was actually trying to fill a huge gap our midfielders left. Yeah, it proved to be a mistake, but the mistake was followed by a series of mistakes Cech, Mikel and Ramires initiated, which Luiz tried to fix.

It was a mistake from many players, and Luiz wasn't the biggest culprit at all in my opinion - yeah he was a bit rash but it was just a bad defending overall, a lot of people were out of position and made mistakes. It wasn't his adrenaline, it wasn't him ball watching - he was rather unsuccessfully trying to fill a huge gap that no one in the team seemed to have picked up.

So there, I've solved your Luiz conundrum.

This.

The only one ball watching here was Mikel, and then Cole when the ball was recycled back down the right. There is absolutely no need for THREE of our players closing down one of their players, Mikel should've been aware of the players behind him, simple.

I have no problem with Luiz coming out in this instance. Only him and Schuerrle spotted the danger and both tried to prevent it. If the ball was played to no.11 and he burst into the box unchallenged people would be complaining at how much space he was afforded.

Jamie Redknapp had very similar comments about Luiz, which I think is extremely harsh. It was a well worked goal by Everton in the end, but they only played off our mistakes as a whole.

[Barbara 15,149]

I strongly disagree. Ivanovic was perfectly positioned to mark his respective player while Terry was covering an area zonally. Ivanovic was forced to press on Naismith (who was to be marked by Luiz) cause Luiz just wandered away towards the ball without looking at the defensive line. This kept Jelavic open. The story goes on as Ivanovic panics and rushes towards Jelavic when the ball is played in and a clear Naismith heads the ball in. There is no way they can head the ball away when the ball is being played into an area where they cannot encroach because they're either already marking someone or covering an area. The marking or covering was perfect in the sense that they were doing their duties, they were marking the players they were supposed to mark and covering the area's they were supposed to. Later on Coleman goes into the area where Terry is. So even if he goes on to mark Naismith, Coleman has a clear shot on goal. One can never find a fault with that. It isn't their fault if they fail to mark someone else's player, that is the other player's fault.

Even with Terry it was never 2 on 2, because Terry isn't supposed to mark.You could blame several players for this goal, but Ivanovic and Terry can never be. They're more like victims, at-least in my opinion.

Why on earth Terry isn't supposed to mark? There are two opponents - Naismith and Jelavic and two of our defending players in the box, please tell me why can't Ivan mark one and Terry the other? I completely fail to understand the concept you're trying to sell me. And how come a back that allows the guy he's marking to head the ball is making his job alright? That's what I meant, either Ivan or Terry should have been closer to the men they were marking so they could have a better chance of clearing the ball with a header... a play we see in all football matches too many times to count... How come can Terry and Ivanovic be victims? It's a collective fail, absolutely, but the men allowing the opponents to head when they could do a better job marking them fail the most imo.

so we disagree because I could never understand the reasoning that one of our defenders is supposed to mark while others aren't. Football isn't as static and perfectly designed as you're making it out to be. Those are people there, not robots or fictional players in a video-game that fulfill functions perfect to a T. There's something called coverage. If one player leaves position, the other can go there and cover him. I read this post of yours numerous times and still it makes no sense whatsoever in my head. No sense at all. Let's agree to disagree. The way you seem to see football is something I've never head of... there's no dynamism whatsoever, just static, cemented functions that you gave to players. Really, the more I read it the less sense it makes. I must be too slow to comprehend it - I'm not being sarcastic at all. I'm feeling very much dumb now because I have no idea of what you're trying to imply here. No idea at all.

This.

The only one ball watching here was Mikel, and then Cole when the ball was recycled back down the right. There is absolutely no need for THREE of our players closing down one of their players, Mikel should've been aware of the players behind him, simple.

I have no problem with Luiz coming out in this instance. Only him and Schuerrle spotted the danger and both tried to prevent it. If the ball was played to no.11 and he burst into the box unchallenged people would be complaining at how much space he was afforded.

Jamie Redknapp had very similar comments about Luiz, which I think is extremely harsh. It was a well worked goal by Everton in the end, but they only played off our mistakes as a whole.

which is why in my analysis two days ago of his positioning I have no problem with him occupying that specific zone, not when he's filling a gap, not when he's trying to anticipate, be pro-active, intercept the ball and give us a counter-attack chance. I'm all for it.

[Barbara 15,149]

I had to re-watch the goal because it really bothered me I couldn't have a clue of what Sherry said in his last post.

What I see is John Terry running from one side to the other inside the box, blindly and marking no one. I see Ivanovic divided between marking Jelavic and Naismith because there are two of them and only one of him. The same way Luiz should have stayed inside the box marking them, so should have Terry. Terry looks more lost imo because you see Luiz looking inside the box and seeing who he's going to mark while Terry is moving forward, then backward not knowing where to go. You see Terry approaching Naismith when Schürrle presses Barkley (I guess), then Terry completely abandons him and starts running to the left and then backwards.

so let me do my own analysis, and please Sherry, sweetie, don't be offended. Football is a very subjective thing, people will have different interpretations of it all the time. We just happen to disagree about this instance.

1) I see Luiz leaving the box to cover the gap JDY and The Skipper mentioned, and while he does that Terry approaches Naismith - which is the right thing to do.

2) then for no apparent reason at all, Terry abandons the man that had only him marking. We see Ivanovic behind Naismith, but Jelavic is behind Ivan, so Terry can't assume Ivan can mark both by himself. Also there are two Everton players where he's moving now surrounded by three Chelsea players, which makes even more pointless for him to move to the left, in the meanwhile Luiz quickly looks inside the box and approaches the player closer to him. Mikel is at fault too because he shouldn't go with Ramires and Cole to the edge of the box to press the guy who's going to cross, he should run towards the guy entering the box just by his side. the basic rule of marking players is, you cover the one closest to you, I cover the one closest to me. Mikel should have covered the guy between him and Luiz as Luiz is clearly running to mark the guy ahead of him. All while Terry continues to move forward - to the left.

3) Then we finish with Terry having a guy on his back, a guy that Luiz is running to mark and it's easier to mark when you're seeing the opponent rather than when he's on your back. Mikel is still clueless and not marking the guy ahead of him at all. And then I agree with you Ivanovic becomes a victim because he's left between both Jelavic and Naismith and sort of deciding for Naismith, he doesn't have enough time to reach the ball crossed on his back. If the guy had crossed the ball to the man just behind Terry the same would have happened because he wouldn't have time enough to step back and clear the ball with his head. So Luiz is running late, Terry is running to a place that makes no sense, and Ivanovic poor thing is trying to multiply himself and mark two men that are 3 meters apart.

Also Schurrle sort of gives up after he presses Barkley (the vid quality is really bad as you can see and I can't see properly who are the players. so I'm assuming is Barkley) and watches as the ball moves, instead of trying to have a bit of awareness from what's going on around him and trying to help.

Also this happened at the 45' mark and while it's no excuse for the players to lose focus, I guess they were already thinking of a shower, listening to Mou, getting a massage from Eva or whatever they do during half time.

So yeah, there are awareness issues with Luiz, then Terry, then Schürrle and Ivanovic is sacrificed. Mikel doesn't help and Ramires and Cole are the ones trying to intercept a cross, but not even the two of them can stop the guy from crossing. There are so many mistakes there that we should just assume our players were lost. And the worst part is that it didn't happen only this time. It happened another 2-3 times during the first half, that I remember vividly. They lacked communication, opponent's movement awareness and efficient marking. I do admit I was harsh on Ivanovic. The way I remembered the goal Terry was closer to Naismith, but in reality he wasn't. He was marking no one, moving to a place that made no sense, while Luiz was running late, Mikel was being useless and Schürrle was watching it all happening, while Ivan was being sacrificed - poor thing.

[hjperdeath 2,226]

So basically you're saying the goal conceded was completely Luiz's fault.

At the end of the day, defensive mistakes aren't the biggest concern. The fact that none of our players look capable of putting the ball into the net is very concerning.

oh god. I've never said that. I've said that it is barely any fault of Terry or Ivanovic. The blame falls on Luiz, Cole, Ramires and then Mikel. In that order. And I've already agreed to that part. We need to score. Simple as that.

Why on earth Terry isn't supposed to mark? There are two opponents - Naismith and Jelavic and two of our defending players in the box, please tell me why can't Ivan mark one and Terry the other? I completely fail to understand the concept you're trying to sell me. And how come a back that allows the guy he's marking to head the ball is making his job alright? That's what I meant, either Ivan or Terry should have been closer to the men they were marking so they could have a better chance of clearing the ball with a header... a play we see in all football matches too many times to count... How come can Terry and Ivanovic be victims? It's a collective fail, absolutely, but the men allowing the opponents to head when they could do a better job marking them fail the most imo.

so we disagree because I could never understand the reasoning that one of our defenders is supposed to mark while others aren't. Football isn't as static and perfectly designed as you're making it out to be. Those are people there, not robots or fictional players in a video-game that fulfill functions perfect to a T. There's something called coverage. If one player leaves position, the other can go there and cover him. I read this post of yours numerous times and still it makes no sense whatsoever in my head. No sense at all. Let's agree to disagree. The way you seem to see football is something I've never head of... there's no dynamism whatsoever, just static, cemented functions that you gave to players. Really, the more I read it the less sense it makes. I must be too slow to comprehend it - I'm not being sarcastic at all. I'm feeling very much dumb now because I have no idea of what you're trying to imply here. No idea at all.

which is why in my analysis two days ago of his positioning I have no problem with him occupying that specific zone, not when he's filling a gap, not when he's trying to anticipate, be pro-active, intercept the ball and give us a counter-attack chance. I'm all for it.

Modern football is a combination of zonal marking and man-marking. I can't explain that concept so yeah, we'll agree to disagree.

I'm at school, so I'll go through your other explanation when I come back home.

This.

The only one ball watching here was Mikel, and then Cole when the ball was recycled back down the right. There is absolutely no need for THREE of our players closing down one of their players, Mikel should've been aware of the players behind him, simple.

I have no problem with Luiz coming out in this instance. Only him and Schuerrle spotted the danger and both tried to prevent it. If the ball was played to no.11 and he burst into the box unchallenged people would be complaining at how much space he was afforded.

Jamie Redknapp had very similar comments about Luiz, which I think is extremely harsh. It was a well worked goal by Everton in the end, but they only played off our mistakes as a whole.

I have given my explanation to Skipper in the previous page.

[Barbara 15,149]

Modern football is a combination of zonal marking and man-marking. I can't explain that concept so yeah, we'll agree to disagree.

I'm at school, so I'll go through your other explanation when I come back home.

Both of which I'm completely familiar with, but I really don't see how that's the case... yeah you could argue that Terry was zonal marking instead of man marking, but once Luiz leaves his position someone has to cover him. It isn't so frozen that Luiz can't leave because Terry for some reason is the man responsible for zonal marking. A football match is an alive system where you have to adapt, improvise, and react all the time... zonal marking is about distributing players, Terry and Luiz as CBs are both responsible for the box - mainly - but still only one takes the 'blame' for not being effective in the zone he was supposed to cover. At least now I have a clue of what you're talking about though, so thanks for answering.

[CHOULO19 24,332]

Have to give credit to Everton, it was a scything, well rehearsed counter attack.

That is a very good point that has been over-looked. It was a beautifully worked goal by Everton.

1) I see Luiz leaving the box to cover the gap JDY and The Skipper mentioned, and while he does that Terry approaches Naismith - which is the right thing to do.

Sorry I disagree there. Once the ball is moved to Osman, the immediate danger is no longer Naismith for terry, but the guy at the near post (can't make out who that is). If you are two defenders marking three attackers on a cross, you always leave the one on the far post open because, theoretically, he should be the hardest one to find with the cross and the ball would have to travel the most distance to get to him which would give you the best chance to have time to recover if the cross is aimed at him.

I don't think either Terry or Iva can be blamed, because the damage was already done when they were left 2 on 3.

[communicate 2,703]

Don't think so. JT backed off right then. The camera angle makes it look like there is no one, if the ball is played in anywhere in that area, and Everton go on to score, the mistake falls on Schurrle. He has the pace and ability to get there in time. Luiz should never have left off from his position , in doing so the defensive line was embarrassingly open. The picture is taken at 45:20I, Luiz makes the run at 45:22 when Ramires and Mikel have already come back to cover that area. I'm not blaming it all on him. There were loads of mistakes, but he probably made the biggest one. You can add Cole to that.

I think you misunderstood the Luiz conundrum. It wasn't in any way an insult, just saying that he was too pumped up and went for the ball. I would disagree with the fact that he wasn't ballwatching. His duty is to hold his line well and he failed to do so by going after the ball and not looking at the fact that Coleman could easily make the run and turn things around. There wasn't any need to cover that area.

From one of the image, it is kinda difficult to know whether luiz knew that shurlle was there or not, imo what he saw was two everton players with tons of space in front of them. If Schurlle was not there and luiz did not close down then barkley would have free shot on goal.

[hjperdeath 2,226]

From one of the image, it is kinda difficult to know whether luiz knew that shurlle was there or not, imo what he saw was two everton players with tons of space in front of them. If Schurlle was not there and luiz did not close down then barkley would have free shot on goal.

This I'll partly agree with. There is a little element of doubt involved in whether Luiz was sure or not about Schurrle's positioning and intentions, the latter which can be predicted only by a psychic.

but the bottom line is, he shouldn't have moved. In a situation such as that, it is very hard to decide what to do, unfortunately Luiz took the wrong one because in that split second he couldn't jog back his memory to when Jose was discussing defensive lines, set piece positioning's etc. Trust me, I've been there.

For me he's a terrific defender, and I have a feeling people think I dislike him. He's one of the most technically gifted center-backs in the world and I'm 110% behind him. But he made a mistake as did others and they will be pointed out. This in no way should be something demeaning to them, but more like a reminder that they have to learn.

[bluesman2610 1,348]

To be fair to Luiz that should not have been his movement if anyone should have stepped into that gap if all went well should have been Terry off the strength that it is a shorter distance for him to cover than all the ground Luiz had to cover to get there and get back.. All in all it was 3 or 4 mistakes that cause that goal but to put blame solely on Luiz like some are doing are just falling in line with the english media agenda to paint him out to be a "poor defender" " not a defender Mourinho will like" and coming from our own fans who watch him weekly that is very poor IMHO

[hjperdeath 2,226]

To be fair to Luiz that should not have been his movement if anyone should have stepped into that gap if all went well should have been Terry off the strength that it is a shorter distance for him to cover than all the ground Luiz had to cover to get there and get back.. All in all it was 3 or 4 mistakes that cause that goal but to put blame solely on Luiz like some are doing are just falling in line with the english media agenda to paint him out to be a "poor defender" " not a defender Mourinho will like" and coming from our own fans who watch him weekly that is very poor IMHO

I really hope that the member is not me, cause I've said quite a few times that it is collective mistakes that led to the goal.

[bluesman2610 1,348]

I really hope that the member is not me, cause I've said quite a few times that it is collective mistakes that led to the goal.

No not you im just speaking in general that is why I did not quote anyone.. But I find in his thread and even in this one there has been a lean to blame him for the goal we conceeded when he was the only one switched on to the danger when the ball was at the top right of our box.. Maybe its the central defender in me that noticed how the goal went down but the slack he gets for trying to do the right thing is unreal..

[hjperdeath 2,226]

No not you im just speaking in general that is why I did not quote anyone.. But I find in his thread and even in this one there has been a lean to blame him for the goal we conceeded when he was the only one switched on to the danger when the ball was at the top right of our box.. Maybe its the central defender in me that noticed how the goal went down but the slack he gets for trying to do the right thing is unreal..

the bolded part, is debatable. not everyone would agree, and depends on everyone's own opinion on how they view defensive football..

[Barbara 15,149]

That is a very good point that has been over-looked. It was a beautifully worked goal by Everton.

Sorry I disagree there. Once the ball is moved to Osman, the immediate danger is no longer Naismith for terry, but the guy at the near post (can't make out who that is). If you are two defenders marking three attackers on a cross, you always leave the one on the far post open because, theoretically, he should be the hardest one to find with the cross and the ball would have to travel the most distance to get to him which would give you the best chance to have time to recover if the cross is aimed at him.

I don't think either Terry or Iva can be blamed, because the damage was already done when they were left 2 on 3.

sweetie I was going frame by frame, at the moment the ball wasn't about to be crossed. he approached the guy closer to him and then he abandons this guy is runs to nowhere productive imo. But we can disagree *hugs*

[CHOULO19 24,332]

sweetie I was going frame by frame, at the moment the ball wasn't about to be crossed. he approached the guy closer to him and then he abandons this guy is runs to nowhere productive imo. But we can disagree *hugs*

I can take the disagreeing part, but not the hug!

[CMS 382]

Ok I had another analysis on a different site. I just finally saw this this today,. I disagree that David was the culprit here. there's enough blame to go around. But I didn't have the advantage of using screen captures to visually support my analysis.

There is enough blame to go around. If I were to pass the blame around, I would firstly fault Petr for trying to restart the play after catching the ball with less than 30 seconds or so left in the game. With as much experience as he has, I would have expected him to hold the play for all the players to advance up field. Instead He tried to counter attack with a roll out to Sammy Eto'O, who was clearly not match fit and was not able to catch up to the distributed ball. Sammy lost possession and Ramirez got a rebound first touch that got away from him. The lost ball got to Naismith, who then passed to Barkely and the build up the play, after a series of ball exchanges between the Everton players from the right side of the field for Everton attack.

Of the two CDs, JT was at fault. He was noncommittal to marking Naismith and played zone in a critical situation. This was the reason Luis stepped up to mark (pick up) Barkley (#20) who was atop the box with an open shot on goal. The pressure made Barkley change his mind. However, Schurrle ran across the 18 to mark Barkely, leaving Mairales open and cutting off David in the process. Schurrle screwed up the whole defensive marking tactic for that moment.

Barkely side stepped Schurrle to advance into the box while Schurrle stupidly froze, and decided to ball watch, instead of keeping up with the ball. This single move placed David into a no man's land. Ramirez now tried to pick up Barkely, while both David and Ashley Cole balanced the defensive set up. However, Barkely flicked a right footed pass to Osman on his right side, and Osman subsequently slid-crossed the ball into the six yard box. Instantaneously, Ivanovic found himself marking both Naismith and Jovetic, while also watching Shurrle's man (Mairales), atop the box.

Meanwhile JT was still marking no one to the left of the Pk. spot and still playing zone. Everton (#23) Coleman, Ashley Cole's man who was the wide-man on the right for Everton, Recognized JT's non committal and decided to draw JT's attention by making an inside run. JT in his infinite wisdom decided to leave Naismith for the third time to mark Coleman, who was without the ball and clearly offside. JT's decision to drop further into the box placed both Jovetic and Coleman onside. Both were clearly offside before the pass.

JT's decision to leave the zonal marking, left Ivanovic stuck between Jovetic on the outside, Naismith on the inside with Coleman too, who was on the inside of JT. Mairales was also lucking to the left of the PK spot. Hence the one against four and your subsequent confusion.

Chelsea could have still bailed out if JT had stepped up. But he remained in a zone marking absolutely no one in the six yard box. This placed both Everton players onside, with JT in a no man's land. Osman crossed the ball over to Jovetic on the left, who placed the ball back into the center of goal for Naismith to head home.

In hind sight Ashley Cole could have tracked Coleman as both Ramirez,and Mikel were covering the left side of the box, while Schurrle was stuck out of the box ball watching. Mata watching all these action on the right of Chelsea defense and offering no assistance to Ivanovic.

[CMS 382]

To borrow from the visual display in the front page, JT put every one onside. Just look at his positioning and the position of the rest of the Chelsea defense.

This was the moment before the ball was crossed by Osman.

[CMS 382]

JT playing zone by himself and still stuck on glue and placing everyone still onside. JT was the closest defender to Barkely, but like I've said above because he was non committal, and was the closest defender, Luis made a decision to pick up Barkely or deter his open shot attempt from the edge of the box.

But the confusion arose when Schurlee left his mark, Everton #11 and jumped in front of Barkley, but then stopped suddenly after Barkely side stepped him, leaving Barkely to make a run into the box, before sending a side-footed pass to Osman when eventually crossed the ball to Jovetic.

JT's final position. Ended up not marking anyone in particular. Moved a total of approximately 5 yards without purpose or direction. Even Ivanovic who was trying to mark four guys ran further and faster than JT, who ended up marking no one in particular. Mind you Juan Mata was on the right from where Schurrle came from and was not involved in any defensive activities.