JazzG Also interesting that their full backs pushed up meaning it was a lot harder to press their defence. The gaps were too large so we couldn't press them. They had every dirty trick up their sleeve but they were also a very well coached side, they knew exactly what they were doing and tactically very disciplined.
Yeah, but that's on us and the handbrake we played with. If their fullbacks are pushing us back and forcing Saka to stay back, then we have to look at ourselves and why we couldn't push Saka and White forward to force them back. We did that quite well against them in the first leg, despite being unable to score, but in the second leg we were noticably nervous, clearing the ball constantly and being unable to hold onto it for more than a few seconds. We are a much better team than we showed, but there was a fear of conceding and getting knocked out which influenced our inexperienced players.
Porto's press was extremely good and high, and we struggled to really pin them back, whereas we tried pressing but I think that fear of conceding prevented us from really going for it because the worry is they will bypass us and score on the break. As such we were semi pressing and hunting the ball in smaller packs rather than our coordinated full pitch team press. Porto were able to take advantage of this and were good enough on a technical level to play out of our press and play for fouls and throw ins to kill time.
We are a really good team, but until we get one of the big trophies over the line, the worry wil be games like these where we feel the pressure of the moment and get all jittery and panicky.
