Things are not looking great for Granada. Whenever they try to play the ball, Eibar presses and neutralizes the threat. Granada mainly relies on Andreas to resist their press, but after they conceding the first goal, Eibar reacts quickly enough and handled the situation well.
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Granada passes the ball horizontally. Right back to the center back. Center back to left back.
Well, they are keeping possession, but they are not doing anything meaningful with that possession.
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In the Eibar dugout, Jose is nodding his head after seeing the players are fulfilling his tactical setup. Although they concede a goal earlier, now that they are blocking the middle, Granda couldn't push the ball forward.
Andreas could sense the tactical shift in Eibar. They are mid-blocking. The best way to unlock this kind of play is to go to the wing and use a 1-on-1 opportunity to cut inside and make a threat. But the problem lies in Eibar's press method. They are not pressing every moment. They are pressing only at selective times. Whenever Uche receives the ball, one midfielder immediately presses, and Uche is not confident under pressure, so he passes back to the CB or Full back.
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Then another midfielder always cuts the passing line so they can't pass to him. And on the wing, Boga and Atzili couldn't pose threats. They are always losing the ball, creating this passive situation.
Andreas, looking at the dugout, sees the coach standing with furrowed brows; he knows the coach doesn't have any solution for this tactical outclass.
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Andreas does have a plan in his mind.
He winked at Boga.
Boga, hugging the touchline, immediately understood his signal. This signal meant to switch their position
Andreas moved to the left wing. The opponent's right back was further back; Andreas was closer to the center line.
'Franck."
Left-back Franck heard the shout. He passed the ball to Andreas, who was now on the left wing.
The opponent midfielder, whose job is cutting the pass line, is now rushing to Andreas. And the winger Pedro is also running back at him.
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Adopting a side-on stance, he receives the ball with his left foot. With his first touch, he escapes the midfielder's press because the opponent's full back is sitting deep; he accelerates into the open space, hugging the line.
Both the midfielder and the winger keep rushing towards him. And Boga placed himself in a pocket space.
Andreas can clearly feel the pressure behind him. Scanning ahead, he saw Boga place him in a pocket space, and the full back is still deep.
He passes the ball back to Boga. Then he continues his run forward. But instead of hugging the line, he cut inside towards the full back. Boga also exploded with his speed.He dribbles in the left half space, moving forward.
Jota, the opponent Cam, closes on him and pulls his shirt.
"Beep. The referee signals it for a free kick.
Eibar defend was very compact.
And Boga was a speedy player. He is not a player who can dribble in tight space.
When Andreas passed the ball to Boga, Jota rushed ahead of time to intercept.
In this play, the best choice was to dribble along the sideline and then try one-on-one to beat the defender.
"Sigh." He clearly realized that this was his fault.
His idea was good, but his execution was bad.
39" Granada's possession is as high as 80%. And Eibar is comfortable in defending.
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"Man, this is becoming boring."
"Yeah, though we are leading."
"But we almost conceded a minute ago...And they are intentionally giving us the ball the moment we make a mistake; they will hit us on a counter."
Two fans of Granada are analysing their team play in the stands.
"And don't forget we get a lead because of him, not because of our team tactics."
"Looking at Andreas on the field," the fan said.
Every time he touches the ball, they get a glimmer of hope that he can do something.
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At the 45th minute, Eibar counterattacked after taking the ball from the right.
After Atzili loses the ball on the wing, the Eibar full-back passes it to the winger. Because Granda's was overcommitting in the attack, their right full-back was also in the attacking third of the opponent.
Along the sideline, he dribbles forward. With quick acceleration, he is already crossing the center line.
Granada, two CBs who were positioning near the centre line, rushed back. Forward Kike also sprint towards the goal, positioning himself between the two CBs.
Winger Pedro cut in, creating a situation of 2 vs 2. Now one CB was committing towards him, giving the space to the forward.
Kike, indicating his hand forward, sprinted between the two defenders; where is now much space.
Pedro gives him a simple through pass.
Ball arrives, man arrives.
This situation now creates a 1 vs 1 with the GK. Ochoa rushes towards him. With composer He kick the ball to the far corner. Ochoa dives to his left . But the ball was out of his reach.
"GOAL.... Eibar equalizes with one quick counter-attack."
"Yes, where Granada is passing sideways, Eibar captures one moment and attacks vertically. And now we see the result of it."
Both of the commentators are saying.
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The stands are full of people staring at the group of players celebrating.
"Boo, boo"
Nobody knows if they are booing the opponent or their team.