Latest news with #counterattack
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Sport
- Yahoo
Allegri: ‘Leao is extraordinary' as a centre-forward for Milan
Max Allegri was full of praise for Rafael Leao after a goal and assist in the 4-2 friendly win over Liverpool. 'He has extraordinary qualities and is only getting stronger' as a centre-forward. The Rossoneri had lost 1-0 to Arsenal in their previous pre-season test, then winning a penalty shoot-out, but looked far more impressive today in Hong Kong against the reigning Premier League title holders. It was a very Allegri-style performance, clinical focus on the counter-attack using the characteristics of his strikers, who all have a lot of pace and like running at opponents. Allegri experimenting with new Leao role HONG KONG, CHINA – JULY 26: Rafael Leao of AC Milan (C) and Virgil van Dijk of Liverpool (R) fight for the ball during the Liverpool FC v AC Milan Pre-Season Friendly match at Kai Tak Stadium on July 26, 2025 in Hong Kong, China. (Photo by Yu Chun Christopher Wong/Eurasia) Once again, Portuguese winger Leao was used as a centre-forward and it might not just be for pre-season. 'Leao did very well as a centre-forward, just as the whole team is working well this summer,' said Allegri in a press conference. 'The best and most important thing I am happy to see is that in these first 20 days of work the team has a positive attitude. They really raised the level of being able to suffer and this means that when we have the ball, we try to play it, but when we don't then everyone defends together as a team very well.' HONG KONG, CHINA – JULY 26: Rafael Leao of AC Milan (L4, #10) celebrates after scoring his goal with teammates during the Liverpool FC v AC Milan Pre-Season Friendly match at Kai Tak Stadium on July 26, 2025 in Hong Kong, China. (Photo by Yu Chun Christopher Wong/Eurasia) While Milan are in search of a new striker on the market, above all linked with Juventus outcast Dusan Vlahovic, Leao seems to be flourishing under the new coach. 'Leao is a great player, he has extraordinary qualities, and is only getting stronger. I think he is of the right age to mature and have an important season,' concluded Allegri. Although he scored twice today, Noah Okafor is still on the transfer market for Milan and expected to leave this summer. Ruben Loftus-Cheek was the other player on the scoresheet.
New York Times
24-07-2025
- Sport
- New York Times
Man City kept losing the same way – how will Pep Guardiola solve the counterattacking problem?
After Manchester City's extra-time defeat to Al Hilal in the round of 16 at the Club World Cup, Bernardo Silva provided a damning diagnosis of his team's failings. The reason they conceded four goals and lost all control of the game from half-time onwards was nothing new, the Portugal midfielder explained. Advertisement Instead, it was a case of deja vu in which he sensed permanent danger whenever the opposition won the ball and attempted to counterattack. 'We allowed them to run way too many times, we didn't control the offensive transitions as well as we should have,' said Silva. 'Most teams that beat us play this way. We are very used to playing teams like this. We've played against teams like this for eight or nine years and they are normally situations we recover very well by being aggressive in the first five or six seconds when we recover the ball quick. 'This time, they always managed with one or two passes to create danger in behind and cause problems. That was the main problem.' A premature exit from the competition was a disappointment but City had the caveat of embedding in a new backroom staff and four new outfield signings. However, when the club's messaging had been about treating the time in the U.S. as a line in the sand to psychologically disconnecting from the troubles of last season, for the captain to experience that same vulnerability is a concern. City's players will return to training on Monday and have just over a fortnight to prepare for the Premier League season. It is clear what the No 1 priority must be for Pep Guardiola as he looks to re-establish City as the dominant force in English football. There were mitigating factors for City's drop-off last season — the absence of Rodri from September being the main one — but there was a fundamental issue in the structure of the team. On average, between 2018 and 2024, City conceded 2.9 expected goals (xG) from fast break situations across a season. Last year that number leapt to 8.1. Often a slight dip in performance can look concerning held up next to City's lofty peaks across Guardiola's tenure, only to then still rank among the best in the league. This is not the case with counterattacks. Only Leicester City, who finished 18th and conceded 80 goals, conceded more xG via fast breaks in the Premier League last season with their 8.2. There are overarching themes contributing to City's struggles to contain opposition counterattacks: the No 6 being isolated, no pressure on the outlet pass, a defensive line that does not drop or push up in unison, passive one-v-one defending and a lack of tactical fouling. The wins over Wydad and Al Ain were comfortable but both caused issues for City in the U.S. The warning signs were there but the level of City's 4-1 win over Juventus in the final group stage game looked like things may have clicked as they smothered the Italians in the second half with the intensity of their counter-pressing. Advertisement 'I only ask Erling (Haaland) to make the first action,' said Guardiola. 'No intensity beyond. He has to be a machine in the press but we have to support him. Sometimes he goes and we don't go but today we went there, no matter what.' Familiar flaws came creeping back into their defensive work against Al Hilal and they were punished. In the first clip below, City lose the ball around the edge of the opposition penalty area but get pressure on the ball quickly out wide. After the ball goes back, they do not set their shape. While three forward players press, those behind them are static and it leaves Tijjani Reijnders alone against three players in the middle. Al Hilal are able to play around him and spread the ball wide, gaining an overload and almost scoring from the cross. It was Guardiola who said that the 'touchline is the best defender in the world'. By that, he meant forcing the opposition into the wide areas rather than allowing them to play through the centre. There have been gaping holes in the middle of the midfield since Rodri's anterior cruciate ligament injury — and they remained even when he was present against Al Hilal. Once City lost the ball in the final third below, he was drawn to the ball along with Manuel Akanji, which left three blue shirts in between the City back four and centre-backs. It was not helped by Ruben Dias dropping off when Nathan Ake was pointing for him to step in and squeeze the space, but Al Hilal were able to work the ball wide and curl a shot just wide. Against Bournemouth late in the season, a cutback from Silva ran through to Lewis Cook. It seemed harmless but once again the lack of intensity and awareness, particularly of Mateo Kovacic, who has a lot of responsibility in protecting the back line, allowed Bournemouth to play through the centre and end up with a five-v-five. It was similar to what happened against Club Brugge in the Champions League when Kovacic darted forward with a dribble. As the lone holding midfielder, it is high-risk and when the ball was turned over, all three midfielders were the wrong side of the ball. Mateus Nunes had the job of slowing the break down but he showed his lack of experience as a full-back by diving in and the Belgians scored from the cross. The arrival of Reijnders will add dynamism to the midfield, which was lacking at times last season with Kevin De Bruyne, Ilkay Gundogan and Silva all the wrong side of 30. Guardiola batted back against the suggestion that his team were being overrun by younger teams. 'The guys are running and making effort more than ever… It's many little details or big details that make (us), all together, not as good as we were,' he said in December. Advertisement But there were times, as against Brighton & Hove Albion below, where City did lack legs in the middle. In slide four here, Joao Pedro runs off Nico Gonzalez, while in slide six Gundogan is level with his man but is not able to track him the whole way back to his area. Chelsea decided that they would try to bait City into giving the ball away high up by kettling Akanji into the centre circle. Noni Madueke blocked the pass out wide and Moises Caicedo jumped from midfield to force the ball into a crowded area. Trevor Chalobah was ready to pounce and, with Akanji out of his position, Cole Palmer was immediately played through on goal. Only Chelsea' convoluted attempts at pass the parcel blew the chance. The number of offsides City successfully trapped was considerably lower last season, despite a much higher line than in previous years. The average distance from goal when provoking an offside was 35 metres last season, which is seven metres further from Ederson than it was in 2020-21. Against Wolverhampton Wanderers, there was an example of City refusing to drop off when they should have. After not boxing Wolves in and being cut open through the centre, Josko Gvardiol, Dias and John Stones made the strange decisions to halt their recovery runs or arc them to play offside, despite Nelson Semedo being several yards behind Stones. City used to stop these situations from unfolding by being smart and tactically fouling. Rodri carried on the baton from Fernandinho, subtly disrupting play high enough up the pitch that it did not earn him a yellow card. Last season, this rarely happened. In the 4-0 home defeat to Tottenham Hotspur, in the lead up to the third goal, there were four times within five seconds that a City player could have brought down Dejan Kulusevki but he and Son were somehow able to evade challenges from Phil Foden, Gundogan, Kyle Walker and Akanji. There were similar other instances, including at home to Everton and away to Sporting CP. Whether it was a case of the ruthless edge going out of the team during the toughest few months or not, the win-at-all-costs mentality has to return.
Reuters
11-07-2025
- Sport
- Reuters
Spain must improve defence against counter attacks, says Patri
BERN, Switzerland, July 11 (Reuters) - Spain will have to defend better against teams that hit them on the counter-attack as they go into the knockout stages of the Women's Euros, midfielder Patri said on Friday after their 3-1 win over Italy. Patri scored a second-half goal as her side, the reigning world and Nations League champions who are attempting to add a European crown, secured top place in Group B with a perfect nine points from three games to set up a quarter-final against hosts Switzerland in Bern in a week's time. The 27-year-old Patri said that it was only natural that, with Spain dominating possession, teams would try to hit them on the break. "We see with the goals that transitions are important -- sometimes it's dead balls and we're not strong enough, these actions we have to study and improve. With transitions we like to keep the ball, we try to overwhelm the opponent and it's normal that they try to get us during transitions," she told reporters. "We have to talk and to be aware of where the ball is." After a shaky start, Spain took command and barely let the Italians, who also progressed from the group, touch the ball, but that did not mean that it was an easy game for the Spaniards. "It was hard, we knew Italy would be very intense, very strong, but we adjusted our pressure, trying to do better in some actions from the middle and on the wings, we wanted to be there more," Patri explained. Coach Montserrat Tome has the best part of a week to work on transition defence with her players. "We'll continue improving. We are at the highest level, we play against very high quality teams like Italy," she told reporters. "We have to adjust what we need to adjust, and I'm confident we can continue as we have done."
New York Times
10-07-2025
- Sport
- New York Times
How does Anthony Elanga compare to the Premier League's fastest players?
Anthony Elanga has multiple strengths. He can score goals and make them. In the past two years with Nottingham Forest, his work off the ball has improved significantly. But there is one attribute that stands out above all others with Newcastle United's potential new signing — raw speed. In the 2024-25 Premier League, the former Manchester United academy winger recorded both the third-highest top speed and spent the third-highest percentage of time sprinting. Advertisement On top of his other attributes, the 23-year-old Sweden international is an old-fashioned speed merchant. His talents were utilised to perfection last season — Forest were set up unashamedly as a counter-attacking team by coach Nuno Espirito Santo and his staff, soaking up pressure and playing on the break. The pace offered by Elanga and fellow wide man Callum Hudson-Odoi was crucial to their attacking plan. Elanga clearly prides himself on his speed. Just this week, he posted a video on his Instagram account of him apparently clocking 10.93 seconds for a 100m sprint — less than a second and a half outside Usain Bolt's world record of 9.58, set almost 16 years ago. A post shared by Tom Joyce (@tomjoycefitness) How strongly Elanga feels about his pace was obvious when the latest edition of the FIFA video game gave Forest team-mate Ola Aina a higher speed rating than him — 89 to 87. 'I was not happy,' he told The Athletic in a December 2024 interview. 'But I don't take it that seriously because I am actually doing it in the Premier League — and I am the fastest in the dressing room. I'd go as far as saying I am the fastest in the Premier League.' The statistics do not quite support Elanga's bold claim — but they are not far away. So, what do the numbers say, and just how does he use his gift of pace? According to official data from the league, the answer is no. But he is definitely in the conversation. The top speed recorded in the Premier League last season was by Tottenham Hotspur's Micky van de Ven, who was clocked at 37.12 kilometres per hour (23.06mph). Matheus Nunes of Manchester City was second with a best of 36.72 km/h, with Elanga a fraction behind at 36.66 km/h. So, while Elanga might not quite be the Premier League's premier speedster, he does boast the quickest speed recorded by a forward in the 2024-25 campaign. Charting footballers' pace is traditionally considered to be difficult statistically, but top speed is not the only metric to consider. By using a couple of other data sets, we can create a clearer picture of the fastest players in the English top flight. The league keeps a log of the number of sprints undertaken by each player in the division, and Elanga also ranked highly in that table last season — seventh with 730. Three of the top four spots are filled by full-backs — Crystal Palace's Daniel Munoz, Antonee Robinson of Fulham and Liverpool new boy Milos Kerkez, who was playing for Bournemouth then. An existing Newcastle wide player, Anthony Gordon, was also among the league's most frequent sprinters. The Premier League also keeps tabs on the percentage of playing time that its footballers spend sprinting. Again, Elanga is among the leaders here. Portuguese youngster Rodrigo Gomes, of Wolverhampton Wanderers, chalked up last season's highest rate at 1.18 per cent, Gordon came in second at 1.13 per cent and Elanga was third at 1.09 per cent. So, whatever the metric, it is clear that Elanga is one of the Premier League's fastest, and most regular, sprinters. That is the key question because, in football, raw pace alone does not always cut the mustard. Carlos Forbs, for example, was clocked among the quickest players in the 2024-25 Premier League but was given just 260 minutes of action by Wolves during a season-long loan from Dutch side Ajax because the rest of his game did not hit the levels required. Advertisement Elanga, by contrast, employs his speed to affect matches positively, for both Forest and Sweden. There are times when he uses his raw pace over longer distances to his advantage, such as in this example late in Sweden's 2-0 away win against Hungary in a friendly last month. He spots an opportunity to exploit space behind the opposition back line, and his speed is simply too much for Hungary's Gabor Szalai. However, a wayward final shot by the Swede means Szalai is not punished for losing their race. But Elanga's greatest strengths are arguably using his pace intelligently off the ball and using it to travel quickly with the ball at his feet. His most famous example of the former came at the City Ground in April, when he ran from the halfway line to score against Manchester United, his previous club, leaving defenders, most notably Patrick Dorgu, trailing in his wake. And a prime example of the latter came against Tottenham Hotspur a year earlier, when he used his pace in short bursts to find space and provide a pinpoint assist for Chris Wood, who scored a simple tap-in. Elanga might not quite be the Premier League's fastest speedster, but he could make a strong case to be its most effective one.
Yahoo
29-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Russia's summer offensive in Ukraine underwhelms – but Kyiv won't be celebrating
For months the talk in Kyiv was of a much-anticipated Russian offensive that would aim to gobble up more of the Ukraine's eastern regions. So far, it's been underwhelming – but the Russians have made some gains and vastly reinforced their troop numbers in some areas. Russian President Vladimir Putin continues to pursue territorial gains as ceasefire talks take a back seat. Last week he restated what has long been one of his key ways of justifying his unprovoked invasion. 'I consider the Russian and Ukrainian peoples to be one people,' he said. 'In this sense, all of Ukraine is ours.' Even so, the Ukrainians have launched counterattacks in some areas and are rapidly developing a domestic weapons industry. And Russia's wartime economy is facing stronger headwinds. Russian troops are trying to advance in multiple areas of the 1,200-kilometer (746-mile) frontline. Ukrainian Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi said this week there are now 111,000 Russian troops in one part of the frontline alone – near the flashpoint city of Pokrovsk in Donetsk, where there are at least 50 clashes every day. That compares to about 70,000 Russian troops in the area last December, according to the Ukrainian General Staff. Syrskyi also claimed that the Russian infiltration of the northern region of Sumy had been halted. The Institute for the Study of War – a Washington-based think-tank, says Ukrainian forces have regained some territory in Sumy and the pace of Russian advances there has slowed. 'We can say that the wave of attempts at a 'summer offensive' launched by the enemy from Russian territory is fizzling out,' Syrskyi claimed. But it's a mixed picture. In recent days Russian infantry assaults have gained ground on the border of Donetsk and Dnipropetrovsk regions. The Russian defense ministry claimed on Saturday that another village, Zirka, had been taken. DeepState, a Ukrainian open-source analyst, asserted that Ukrainian 'defenses continue to collapse rapidly, and the enemy is making significant advances … with constant assaults' in that area. The Kremlin has long insisted its campaign will continue until it holds all of the eastern Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions. (It already occupies all but a sliver of Luhansk). At the current rate of progress that would take many years. But with the Trump administration apparently less committed to driving ceasefire negotiations, the conflict seems likely to drag on through the end of the year and into 2026. The three-dimensional battlefield is now an unlikely combination of ingenious drone-led special operations and very basic infantry assaults. At one end of the spectrum, Ukraine's audacious attacks at the beginning of June on Russian strategic bombers used drones operated from trucks deep inside Russian territory – a mission that took out about a dozen aircraft used to launch missiles against Ukraine. Ukraine's Security Service reported another drone attack Saturday that it clamed had caused extensive damage to a Russian airbase in Crimea. By contrast, Russian soldiers on foot and motorbikes – sometimes in groups of a dozen or less – push into abandoned villages in eastern Ukraine, with drones for cover but no armor in site. It's an approach that is forcing a change in Ukrainian tactics: to smaller fortified positions. Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov said last week that defenses were being camouflaged to match the terrain and made smaller to avoid detection. While infantry defend or take territory, drones continue to play a greater role in shaping the conflict. The Russians are churning out cheap, mass-produced drones designed to overwhelm air defenses and allow some of their missiles to get through. The Russians have increasingly used this tactic to hit Ukrainian cities, especially Kyiv, which has sustained considerable damage and higher civilian casualties in recent weeks. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Sunday that overnight '477 drones were in our skies, most of them Russian-Iranian Shaheds, along with 60 missiles of various types. The Russians were targeting everything that sustains life.' The Russians use 'up to 500 (Iranian designed) Shaheds per night, combining them with ballistic and cruise missiles — aiming to exhaust our air defenses,' says Umerov. Zelensky has reiterated pleas for more Patriot missile batteries and other western systems, which Trump said last week that the US 'should consider' because of large-scale attacks on Ukrainian cities. Zelensky has said Ukraine is prepared to buy Patriots directly or through the fund established by the US-Ukrainian minerals deal. Both sides are producing drones of all types at an astonishing rate. Ukraine's Security Service reckons Russia is producing nearly 200 Iranian-designed Shahed drones every day, and has an inventory of some 6,000, in addition to about 6,000 decoy drones. Over the last week, the Russians have used more than 23,000 small 'kamikaze' drones on the frontlines, according to the Ukrainian military's General Staff. It's a never-ending race in design and production. Syrskyi said recently that Russia had developed an edge in fiber-optic-controlled drones, which are more difficult to track and intercept. Drone warfare is a 'constant intellectual struggle — the enemy regularly changed algorithms, and Ukraine adapted tactics in response,' Umerov said. 'Solutions that showed high effectiveness at the beginning of the war have lost it over time as the enemy changed tactics.' For its part, Ukraine is stepping up production of the long-range drones it has used to attack Russian infrastructure, such as airfields, refineries and transport. Umerov said 'tens of thousands' would be produced, in addition to more than four million battlefield drones this year. Both sides continue to build defense industries that allow them to keep fighting – even if the scale of Russian production far outstrips that of Ukraine. Russia's huge military conglomerate Rostec is producing an estimated 80% of the equipment used against Ukraine. Its CEO Sergey Chemezov claimed at a meeting with Putin this month that Rostec's production has grown tenfold since 2021, and its revenues rose last year to an eye-watering $46 billion. But there are darkening clouds on the horizon. Russia's military budget is some 40% of its total public spending – more than 6% of its GDP. That's stoked inflation, and Putin acknowledged last week that growth this year would be 'much more modest' to combat rising prices. He even suggested that defense spending would decline next year. One senior Russian official, Maksim Reshetnikov, who is Economic Development minister, said that 'based on current business sentiment, it seems to me we are on the brink of transitioning into recession.' The head of Russia's Central Bank, Elvira Nabiullina, disagreed with Reshetnikov but warned that financial buffers like the national reserve fund are nearly depleted. 'We must understand that many of these resources have been used up,' she told the St. Petersburg International Forum. Putin himself acknowledged the risk, saying that while some experts predicted stagnation, it should 'not be allowed under any circumstances.' While the longer-term prognosis for Russia may be gloomy – economically and demographically – it can continue in the short-term to fund an army of more than half-a-million men that's in Ukraine or close to its border, taking a few kilometers here and there. Despite hundreds of thousands of casualties, the Russian military can still generate forces far greater than Ukraine. His eye still very much on the prize, Putin said last week: 'We have a saying … where the foot of a Russian soldier steps, that is ours.'
