Chapter 372 The Bianconeri’s Ambition

Chapter 372 The Bianconeri’s Ambition

After the game against Hull City, Manchester City, which had secured the Premier League championship, received not particularly good news. The team's main midfielder Kante was injured.

At this juncture of the second round of the Champions League match with Juventus, Kante's injury is undoubtedly an extremely worrying matter.

This is also related to Manchester City's subsequent formation.

Guardiola's formation has always been very pragmatic. Even if he is defending, it is very normal and there is no psychological burden.

But Guardiola is wondering, does Allegri think the same way?

When masters fight each other and have strong conversations, the outcome is often determined by details, and the gap in strength is not that big.

Manchester City seems to have the advantage in terms of strength, location and schedule, but it is not that simple to win Juventus at home. After all, with Aguero, Juventus is definitely a winner against Manchester City. Know the root and cause.

Guardiola is trying to figure out what Allegri will think and what tactics he will adopt in subsequent games. !

He believes that the same is true for Allegri at this moment, and he is also trying to figure out what tactics Manchester City will use!

While Guardiola was studying how to play against Juventus at home in Manchester, Allegri was also studying Manchester City at Juventus's training base in Turin.

In front of Allegri, on this huge tactical board, was what he guessed would be Manchester City's starting lineup.

Goalkeeper: Joe Hart.

Defence: Cancelo, Stones, Laporte and Kyle Walker.

Midfield: Yaya Toure is deep, Gundogan and De Bruyne are in the middle.

Forward: Mahrez, Zhao Jinge and Sterling.

If nothing unexpected happens, this should be Manchester City's starting lineup.

Allegri and his team of assistants also summarized and analyzed intelligence from multiple sources.

One of the key points is that although Kanter has participated in the team's training, his body is far from reaching the standard for playing games, which makes Allegri guess that Guardiola will not take the risk of using him.

Allegri knows Guardiola well. He is not the kind of ruthless person who cannot use players as consumables.

But even so, Manchester City's lineup is still stronger than Juventus.

How to contain Manchester City's offense will become a key issue facing Juventus at the Etihad.

If you want to contain Manchester City's offense, you must first restrict Zhao Jinge.

Everyone knows that Zhao Jinge is the most threatening offensive player in the Manchester City team.

How to arrange this lineup?

"Chiellini can't stop him alone. We need at least two people to defend Zhao Jinge."

Assistant coach Mike Duffy said some correct nonsense. Allegri glanced at him, feeling helpless.

Doesn't he know?

No, what he needs is to determine who will be Chiellini's helper.

More importantly, will Guardiola let Zhao Jinge, Mahrez and Sterling cross and change positions like he did at Arsenal in previous games?

Once Manchester City's front trident crosses and switches positions, how will Juventus defend it?

These are the key.

If the wingers are allowed to come back for reinforcements, this will inevitably affect the team's offense.

Facing a strong team like Manchester City, if Juventus cannot exert enough offensive pressure in the frontcourt, the final result will be to be beaten by Manchester City and score goals one after another.

Finally, Juventus can't hope to get out of the Etihad on a good note, let alone Allegri is still thinking about whether he can make a comeback at Manchester City's home court!

Allegri knows Guardiola very well. He knows very well that Guardiola's tactics are like this. He will prey on your weaknesses, let alone when Manchester City is three goals ahead!

But if you don't use wingers, you can only use defensive midfielders. Marchisio is not enough, you need two.

Pjanic? No, you have to be tougher, Khedira!

Allegri thought about it secretly in his mind, and placed two chess pieces directly in the midfielder position, No. 6 and No. 8 respectively.

Number eight is Marchisio and number six is ​​Khedira.

The position of the two is that Marchisio is on the left and Khedira is on the right.

Obviously, Allegri's intention is to use Khedira to cooperate with Chiellini to restrict Zhao Jinge.

Especially the Manchester City center's frontal breakthrough in the middle and the inward cut from the left.

As for the defense, Juventus has also undergone a big change compared to the last game.

From left to right, Alex Sandro, Chiellini, Bonucci and Alves.

This is already Juventus' strongest lineup.

In the past two years, Juventus' defense was the best in European football, which allowed Juventus to reach the Champions League final. However, in the past few years, this defense has aged, but it is still getting stronger. It is now that Juventus can A key factor in leading the Serie A standings.

Allegri knows better than anyone that if he wants to win the championship, this line of defense is crucial.

But then a new problem arose.

Double midfielders, that means playing four, two, three one? No, no, no, being three goals behind and playing 4-2-3-1 is simply suicide!

Four three three, with Marchisio and Khedira on the left and right, Allegri is ready to risk his life at the Etihad!

After determining his midfielders, Allegri began to think about his tactics in Manchester.

Juventus' biggest advantage in this game is their overall pressing and counterattack.

Play possession game with Manchester City?

Allegri's brain is not broken yet!

More importantly, if Marchisio and Khedira are used as a double midfielder, who will pass the ball in the midfield?

Allegri put No. 5, representing Pjanic, in the attacking midfielder position, and ahead of him was Aguero. This was his duty.

On the right is Douglas Costa, who is also Juventus' best wide player now.

On the left, Allegri chose Mandzukic among Cuadrado, Dybala and Mandzukic.

Mike Duffy and his assistants stood silently behind them, watching head coach Allegri constantly consider and finally put the players' numbers on each position. They all immediately understood what the coach meant.

The right wing is Juventus's offensive channel. The cooperation between Douglas Costa and Alves on this side can play a key role, while the left wing must use Mandzukic to suppress Kyle Walker. Juventus' forward is tall and strong and has an absolute physical advantage. More importantly, Mandzukic has performed well this season and has shown the feeling of winning the Champions League with Bayern Munich. Allegri still wants to let him play a role in this position

More importantly, based on past tactical situations, Manchester City's right wing will definitely be the key offensive channel. By that time, after Kyle Walker penetrates forward, Mandzukic's side will get more opportunities.

After Mike Duffy and others carefully analyzed and pondered in their minds, they couldn't help but find that Allegri's formation was the most reasonable.

Even if Manchester City's front trident really crosses and swaps positions, Juventus can make adjustments and directly let Douglas Costa retreat, cooperate with Alves' defense, and let Mandzukic step up.

More importantly, Douglas Costa's speed advantage is very obvious, Mandzukic's speed is not slow either, and the Sevilla forward is still working very hard on the court!

In the midfield, Khedira is very good at grabbing, and his passing ability is very strong, which allows him to play a very important role in Juventus' tactical map.

But this is only an ideal arrangement after all. How much it can really be used depends on the players' on-the-spot performance in the game.

Especially the veterans on the defense.

The current Juventus defense is very old. Except for Alex Sandro,

Bonucci is 30 years old, Chiellini is 33 years old, and Alves and Buffon are even older.

Obviously, this is also a hidden danger.

But there is no way, Juventus has no money, and Allegri is a clever woman who can't make a meal without rice. If he wants to win a championship before the main lineup completely declines, he must maintain the stability of the lineup and not make a big move. Otherwise, if you are not careful, the boat may capsize at any time.

Therefore, Juventus did not make any big purchases other than Aguero this past summer.

But this has also affected Juventus' overall strength.

Not to mention comparing with giant teams like Manchester City and Real Madrid, even compared with Chelsea, Juventus' lineup still looks very shabby.

But if the lineup is not good, it does not mean that the results are not good.

No, Juventus is now the leader in Serie A. You can't accept it.

"Coach, is our goal in this game to reverse Manchester City?"

another assistant coach asked.

"Reversal? This is our hope but not the goal, but even if we are eliminated, I want to give Manchester City some color at the Etihad!

We want to score goals and we want to win!

As for whether Manchester City can be reversed, then leave it to God! "

Allegri frowned and said loudly.

"Facing Guardiola's team, the most fearful thing is the lack of unified thinking. Once the players are not unified in thinking on the court, the three lines are likely to be disconnected, and this is the opportunity Guardiola is best at taking advantage of."

Guardiola's formations are praised by countless people, and what he is best at is taking advantage of the opponents' weaknesses exposed in the game to carry out targeted attacks, which naturally includes what Allegri said.

"To be honest, this game is not good for us, because we have one less day off than Manchester City, and it is an away game. For us, the best way is to unify our thinking, steadily contain Manchester City's offense, and have another chance. Score goals, be down-to-earth and do your best, and win at Manchester City’s home court is no longer an easy thing!”

The two assistants understood immediately.

Reversing Manchester City is an elusive goal, and giving Manchester City a hard blow is what Allegri wants.

This is indeed difficult and not easy to do.

Manchester City is by far the most powerful offensive team in Europe, and Zhao Jinge is also the superstar who has scored the most goals so far. Facing such a Manchester City team, one can imagine the pressure Juventus is under.

Allegri was even worried about whether the combination of Khedira and Chiellini could effectively contain Zhao Jinge?

As far as he knows, under the guidance of Guardiola this season, Zhao Jinge's playing style is obviously different from the past.

But Allegri couldn't do it if he had to defend himself tightly and get rid of the iron barrel formation.

After being three goals behind and setting up a tight formation, Allegri is not a tortoise. Does he have to keep his head down all day long? !

Besides, if you set up the iron barrel formation, you can escape from the Etihad?

This is too much to underestimate Guardiola.

"The focus of the next training will be on practicing defensive formations, which must be kept compact and orderly."

"I guess that even if Guardiola doesn't make arrangements at the start, he will definitely make the tridents cross and change positions during the game to stretch our defense and midfield. Therefore, we must also take time to conduct targeted training.

I won't let them win easily this time! "

Attention returned to Manchester.

The game against Juventus is on the evening of the 14th, but preparations start on the afternoon of the 12th.

Guardiola asked the team to conduct targeted defensive training based on Juventus' offensive characteristics.

The offensive characteristics of Juventus can be seen from the trident back then, and they are basically the same now, except for the addition of Pjanic, a passer.

Guardiola's strategy is to use the team's defensive position to isolate Juventus' offensive players so that they cannot form a joint force and fall into individual combat.

Needless to say Douglas Costa, Aguero in the frontcourt is not the kind of player who can effectively connect the ball, but Mandzukic's fulcrum role is obvious.

Pjanic's passing ability is excellent, but his linking ability is not strong. This determines that as long as Manchester City's defense is in place, it can separate Juventus' frontcourt offense.

In the midfield, Manchester City has the advantage, and then they can just suppress Juventus' double midfielders.

Guardiola does not intend to hold back in this game. Although he has three goals, he will not be afraid of Juventus' away goals, but he is still prepared to have a good contest with Juventus at the Etihad to prevent Capsized in the gutter!

The players also know this, so they work harder in training.

On the evening of April 14th, Manchester Etihad Stadium.

In the second leg of the Champions League quarter-finals, Manchester City faced Juventus at home.

This is a game that subverts everyone's impression from the whistle.

Before this game, everyone felt that Manchester City should adopt a relatively cautious tactical approach at home. After all, they have a three-goal lead and there is no need to rush.

When Juventus visits the Etihad Stadium, there is no reason to adopt too aggressive tactics, because the Bianconeri's lineup is not as good as Manchester City. Even if they are chasing goals, they have to tighten their own fence first!

Before the game, the remarks of Guardiola and Allegri, the coaches of the two teams, seemed to confirm all this.

(End of this chapter)