When de Jong was mentioned, everyone thought of full of energy, talent, and blonde hair that would not scatter even if it was blown by the wind and rain. But with Messi's departure last summer, De Jong, who looked at La Porta with strange eyes, became a little different in the new season. More and more eye defense, one after another 100 data answers, dembele contributed 6 steals in the national derby against Real Madrid, and de Jong, who was replaced after scoring 14 0 statistics at halftime, has become the "bad De Jong" on the front page of the daily sports newspaper.
01. Defense is the simplest thing: just run
Harvey is a coach who attaches great importance to offense, and when the team has the ball, the overall team is under a lot of pressure. Then, when the attack and defense are converted, the team members will also be required to return to the defensive position at high speed, or to carry out a strong high-level pressing. However, not every player can execute the coach's tactical intentions, so facing Real Madrid's Super Cup semi-final, Xavi even changed 2 people at half-time.
This wave of offensive and defensive conversions, first of all, was due to the error of Alves's forward and backward cross-pass. When Modric was in possession, De Jong should have been the first to grab back, but he was clearly not strong enough.
It should be noted that Alba was the first to return to the defense at that time, and he fully demonstrated the responsibility of a defender, even if his forward insertion on the offensive end was very strong.
Barca's defensive success in this wave should be praised by name. He was from the position of the offensive line, directly to the role of the last man in the defensive line, ruining Real Madrid's potential one-handed opportunities.
You can pay attention to the positions of De Jong, Busquets and Dembele when Alba landed.
Real Madrid quickly got a second chance to attack, and when Benzema picked up the ball on the flank, real Madrid right-back Carvajal was already in front of him at the far post.
The Barca players who then retreated, in addition to the four defenders, were back Bosquets and left winger Dembele. In the last shot, they were still behind De Jong, and as a result, Dembele retreated from the winger position in order to follow Carvajal.
Defensively is a lot of times useless, but if you don't come back, this may be the hardest hit area, and Dembele explained this this time. In contrast, would you be surprised that De Jong, who refused to do useless work, was replaced by Harvey in advance?
02. Watching Dembele defend: Will you be ashamed of De Jong?
If Alba has a good enough sense of responsibility as a defender, it is also a job duty. Then Dembele, as the object of criticism by Barca fans, this time facing Real Madrid, not only 7 times of success, 17 one-on-one confrontations won 16 times, but also 6 times of steals on the defensive end.
Let's take a look at this wave of offensive and defensive conversions, after araujo's front top defense, Barca's back Busquets changed the back of his teammates for the first time, but at this moment Barca need someone to supplement Busquets' back position.
De Jong, as a midfielder, deserves to do this well. As a result, he actually stopped after observing Dembele's speed back defense. De Jong seems to have a strong ability to observe the game, but does not seem to put his ball quotient on the right track.
Dembele returned in time to interfere with Modric, leaving him without continuing to dribble or attempting to shoot directly from distance. As a result, this foot split the ball to find the side, and was completed by the extremely alert Alba.
In the subsequent defensive movement, seeing that the defensive crisis had been lifted, De Jong returned to his position, looking a little late. In the game, Barca need more players who can "take the initiative to defend" and are willing to face the crisis, rather than waiting until the "world is too peaceful" to let themselves appear.
03. The matter of making up for the position is based on a sense of responsibility
After playing 45 minutes, he was directly replaced by Xavi, and perhaps the Barca manager has already made up his mind to make a substitution after watching De Jong's three passive defenses in 20 minutes. At half-time, he handed over a 14-0 answer sheet, 0 goals, 0 assists, 0 shots, 0 passes, 0 clearances, 0 interceptions, and even 0 fouls and 0 fouls. All the valid data on both ends of the offensive and defensive ends added together, and De Jong only had one successful steal. If this performance continues, perhaps with Pedri, Garvey and Nico at any time, Xavi will have less and less patience with De Jong.
In the world of football, one of the basic principles of defense is not to defend the air. At any time, allow yourself to find an object. Whether it's point-to-point intimidation or going back to the area where your opponent is bound to attack, you must choose one of the two.
De Jong's biggest problem is that he waits too much on the defensive end to watch his teammates work hard. This time Busquets first fell to the ground to tackle the ball to intercept, and then after being knocked down by the other side in the confrontation, De Jong still did not make up for it in time.
When the opponent fired a calm shot in front of the Barca penalty area, De Jong's mistake first occurred when he raised his hand to signal the opponent to foul Busquets, but did not follow the Real Madrid players in front of him in time to retreat. The other side completed the shot under his gaze.
De Jong has good physical condition, as a center forward fast, good technology, but also has a high ball quotient. However, the high ball quotient is not necessarily a good thing, and some players will also play too selfishly in the game.
Conclusion:
Once when De Jong was able to show his talent in other areas, his persistent problems on the defensive end may be forgiven. But with younger midfield talents like Pedri, Garvey and Nico showing more potential and better moments on the offensive end, the pressure came on De Jong. Would he consider playing more solidly and more civilianly? At least in the current Barca team, it is not enough to rely on the coach.