Champions League: First leg lessons

Half Time Test:

There was a real thought from me, at half time, that I’d decide my thoughts based on reaction in the second half. Not just the team, but Pep Guardiola’s reaction also. For me, I would have substituted Bernardo for Jesus and Zinchenko for Otamendi at the half.

Not least because he’d got a card, Otamendi needed to get the hook and we needed someone to give us something on that left side. Jesus was ineffective up front and if Bernardo went to the right it would allow Ilkay to crowd the middle, which is what he was doing anyway.

A rotating false number nine could have given the reds defense something to think about and another ball playing midfielder might have made the difference.

As it was Pep made no change at the half. Maybe it was a case of ‘you got us in, you get us out’, but the reaction early on in play at lease was better. That said, I wasn’t impressed with Pep’s reaction, making that single substitution a little under fifteen minutes in.