Chapter 449 The epoch-making change of Guardiola’s three-center-back system!

Chapter 449 An epoch-making change—Guardiola’s three-center-back system!

"Cheer up, be vigilant, and don't let down!"

Klopp frequently shouted to the players on the sidelines to remind them to keep their fighting spirit high and not to be complacent just because they were ahead.

This Manchester City team is very resilient and as long as they are given a chance, they can really equalize the score.

He has played against both Lin Quan and Guardiola in the Bundesliga, so he will never underestimate these two!

Moreover, it is too early now.

There are pros and cons for a team to take an early lead. The advantage is that it can greatly improve the players' confidence and allow them to relax to deal with the next game.

The disadvantage is that it leaves too much time for the opponent to make a comeback, and taking a big lead too early will lower the vigilance of the players and give them the illusion that they have a chance to win.

And once they really feel this way, their fighting spirit will be affected.

Maybe I won’t run and fight as hard as before.

Klopp's tactics are based on players running in a wide range.

If the players did not start running, but instead slowed down their pace and walked slowly on the court, how could his high-position pressing tactics be realized?

If you really want to engage in a positional war with Manchester City, you are looking for death. There are no more than three teams in Europe that dare to do this, and Liverpool is obviously not one of them.

Klopp's reminder did not attract the attention of the players at first, until Manchester City launched a counterattack under the leadership of Lin Quan.

In the 32nd minute, Kanter intercepted the ball and passed it back to Cross. Cross moved to the wing to find Lin Quan.

After receiving the ball, Lin Quan passed Liverpool full-back Moreno and tried to cut in and shoot.

Liverpool's central defender Luo Renfu and midfielder Lucas were attracted by Lin Quan and moved towards him.

But as soon as they moved, Manchester City midfielder De Bruyne, who followed up from the center, became vacated.

Lin Quan decisively passed the ball to De Bruyne and entered the penalty area from the ribs.

And just when he entered the penalty area, De Bruyne also sent a through ball with tacit understanding.

The ball was passed very penetratingly, slipping between Lorenve and Lucas.

As long as one of the two focuses on De Bruyne, he will have a chance to block the ball.

Unfortunately, they all thought Lin Quan was going to shoot directly and didn't think too much, so they gave De Bruyne the opportunity to pass such a fatal through ball.

After throwing away the defensive player and accelerating into the penalty area, Lin Quan comfortably received De Bruyne's pass, then pushed the ball and the ball rolled from the attacking goalkeeper's crotch into the goal.

Liverpool goalkeeper Mignolet plopped down on the ground, looked back at the ball that had hit his own net, and punched the lawn angrily.

For any player, being crotched is a very humiliating thing, especially for goalkeepers. Once they are crotched, it is not only humiliating, but also losing the ball!

But there is nothing Mignolet can do. He is just a goalkeeper, and the opponent has already penetrated his own defense to form a one-on-one attack. Should he be allowed to go one-on-one with the strongest forward in the world?

He thinks he has no ability!

boom!

The moment Lin Quan pushed the ball into the goal, huge cheers erupted from the Etihad Stadium. If the first 30 minutes of the game made Manchester City fans extremely desperate and even stunned, they suspected that they were at the wrong stadium.

So after seeing Lin Quan's goal, they confirmed that the team on the field was indeed the invincible Blue Moon team they had been supporting!

So, under the leadership of some die-hard fans, more than 40,000 Blue Moon fans at the scene began to sing the famous team song-"I will never regret my loyalty to Blue Moon" in unison.

Lin Quan wasted no time in celebrating. After scoring the goal, he rushed into the Liverpool goal, picked up the football, ran out of the penalty area, high-fived De Bruyne, who was also running back, and placed the ball in the center circle. , ready to kick off again.

Lin Quan's goal not only ignited the atmosphere at the scene, but also ignited the fighting spirit of the Manchester City players.

They will not sit back and watch Liverpool win so easily at their home court, let alone take away three points with such an extremely humiliating score!

There is no undefeated team in football, and Manchester City's unbeaten streak will be broken sooner or later. They can lose, but they cannot lose so cowardly.

Seeing that the momentum of the players was fully up, Guardiola, who was about to shout to the players and give some instructions on the sidelines, swallowed his words again.

There was no need to shout anymore, Lin Quan had successfully aroused the fighting spirit of his teammates.

Now you just need to conscientiously implement the tactics you laid out before!

However, Guardiola was not idle. He began to seriously study the tactics Klopp used in this game in order to find a way to restrain himself.

The game restarted, and the two sides fought fiercely on the court.

Manchester City's goal also stimulated Liverpool's players, letting them know that they cannot underestimate their opponents just because they are temporarily ahead.

Manchester City is different from the teams they have played against before. They have unparalleled firepower, as evidenced by the goal just now.

Leading by three goals is not safe, let alone only leading by two now!

So they returned to the state they had at the beginning of the game. They ran and fought very actively on the court and never missed any opportunity. Even if they knew that some balls could not be grabbed, their players would not hesitate to rush forward. .

Even if they can't grab it, they still have to delay and interfere with the Manchester City players' dribbling and passing. If the opponent is too sticky to the ball, the players near them will swarm up and use multi-person pressing to grab the ball from the opponent's feet, and then launched a counterattack.

This high-position pressing and on-the-spot counterattack tactic makes the game move very fast.

Both sides got a lot of offensive opportunities, frequently breaking into the 30-meter area and even shooting.

As a result, the game became very exciting, which was a feast for the eyes of the fans who came to watch the game.

"This may be the most intense and most entertaining game in the Premier League so far this season!"

In the Sky Sports commentary box, Martin Taylor and his answer Andy Gray lamented.

In the first half of the game, both sides fought very actively, but there were not many fouls.

Manchester City only had 2 fouls, and Liverpool only had 5. As for the yellow card, there was only one, which was just received by Liverpool midfielder Lucas when he tackled Lin Quan who was dribbling the ball.

"Haha, the reason why this game is so good to watch is probably because these two teams are playing a match between the Bundesliga and La Liga at the pace of the Premier League, right?"

Andy Gray's words were recognized by many fans. Klopp's tactics are very similar to those he used before in Dortmund.

Guardiola's Manchester City also adopts a pass-and-control strategy that is very similar to the one he used when he was at Barcelona.

Of course, in order to adapt to the rhythm of the Premier League and the development trend of football, both of them have made some upgrades and changes to their past tactical systems.

This kind of game, which has the local style of the Premier League, but also has the impact of the Bundesliga and the technical flow of La Liga, is certainly beautiful to watch.

"Andy, who do you think the two teams can win?"

Taking advantage of the fact that the score had not changed for the time being, Martin Taylor asked his partner a question. He believed that this was also a question that many fans and viewers in front of the TV were also concerned about.

"It's hard to say, Liverpool still holds a two-goal lead, but their opponent is Manchester City after all. This is Lin's team, not to mention they are the champions of the Premier League and Champions League in the past two years. Their upper limit is obviously higher, and their overall strength is It's also stronger. If it weren't for that fatal own goal at the beginning, I would actually be more optimistic about Manchester City!"

Since his mistake that year, Andy Gray has long since corrected his evil ways and has now become Lin Quan's number one fan.

Every time he commentates on a Manchester City game, he will transform into Lin Chuan and boast a lot.

After hearing his partner's words, Martin Taylor smiled and said:

"Yes, I think many fans were like you before the game and were more optimistic about Manchester City, but Klopp and his disciples told us that football is round. No matter how strong it is on paper, no matter how many honors it has in the past, It’s not easy to use on the field!”

"Yeah, that's the beauty of football, isn't it?"

Andy Gray nodded and expressed his approval: "But I want to say, never underestimate the heart of a champion. Manchester City is no longer the ordinary team that Ferguson nicknamed the noisy neighbor. They are the top team in today's football. , is a truly wealthy family!”

Liverpool fans sneered at Andy Gray's words. Manchester City has a championship heart, doesn't Liverpool have one?

In terms of background, who in the entire Premier League dares to talk about background in front of Liverpool? (Aston Villa, please sit down first)

After 25 years without a championship, Liverpool people's desire for the league championship is unimaginable to ordinary people.

So, in terms of fighting spirit and desire to win, Liverpool will never lose to anyone.

Since the fighting spirit will not be lost, let's see the real results on the court!

At the end of the first half, both sides had opportunities to change the score, but they both missed it.

In the 38th minute, the Red Army successfully counterattacked on the spot. Coutinho sent a wonderful pass, but Liverpool winger Sterling failed to score, allowing Manchester City to escape the disaster.

Two minutes later, Aguero's push shot from a small angle in the penalty area hit the post, bounced off the baseline, and shocked the Liverpool fans into a cold sweat.

If these two goals are scored, it will have a great impact on the situation of the game.

If Sterling had not missed a single goal, the score might have become 1:4 now. No matter how strong Manchester City is, it would be hellish to score three goals against Liverpool.

If Aguero had not missed the opportunity, the current score would be 2:3. The result of chasing two goals in a row and only missing one goal would greatly stimulate the morale of Manchester City and severely dampen the morale of the Liverpool players.

In that case, when the second half begins, Manchester City is very likely to go all out to equalize or even take the lead.

Unfortunately, neither team could seize such an excellent opportunity, and the score of 1:3 remained until midfield.

At halftime, Guardiola did not criticize the player who caused the own goal.

He just quietly explained his tactics to the players: "Liverpool's running is very active, which makes our midfield operation very difficult, and it is difficult to put the football at the feet of the wide players."

On the tactical board, Guardiola marked the positions of Liverpool's players in the first half as well as their pressing tactics and defensive positions.

Manchester City does not have a high center, and Aguero is not a traditional center with particularly strong standing ability and attack ability, so Manchester City's offensive ability in the middle is actually not strong.

Their strength is on the wing, and they have the world's number one winger like Lin Quan. Guardiola naturally has to make full use of this.

The only goal scored by Manchester City in the first half was the cooperation between De Bruyne and Lin Quan on the wing.

But it only succeeded once. After this goal, Liverpool's players increased their pressure on several ball points in Manchester City's midfield, making it difficult for them to hand the ball to Lin Quan's feet.

As a result, Lin Quan frequently retreated to catch the ball.

But once Lin Quan retreats and wants to organize an attack, the opponent's defensive position has been completed, and the defense line is very solid. It is not easy to shake or even tear apart.

What's more, Liverpool also used active running to create a numerical advantage in certain areas, so that if Manchester City's offense was delayed for even a second, it would be trapped in the opponent's multi-person double-team and siege. , not only will the offense fail, but it is even possible that the ball will be lost and the opponent will counterattack.

Most of the goals conceded in football matches are conceded during the transition between offense and defense.

The two sides square off against each other, and if they fight head-on, even if the strong team beats the weak team, the weak team can still compete with the strong team by relying on a complete formation to defend, and let the strong team fail.

Back then, Guardiola led Barcelona to play against Kazan Rubin several times. This team was not very strong, but their bus tactics were disgusting. Barcelona, ​​who had no strength, could do nothing. In the end, they were even defeated by the opponent. He succeeded in stealing the chicken and lost the game 1:2, which was a huge upset.

The same was true for the warm-up match between world champion Spain and the national football team a few years ago. The national football team was passively beaten throughout the game and had almost no decent offense. However, relying on the excellent performance of the coach and goalkeeper Zeng Cheng, Spain was helpless until the 84th minute of the game. The goal was scored by David Silva.

Therefore, Liverpool's tactics make Manchester City very uncomfortable. When it is their turn to attack, they have to go head-to-head with their opponents to shake the opponent's entire defense line.

But when it's the opponent's turn to attack, Manchester City's defense is incomplete most of the time.

If it weren't for Van Dijk's heroic performance in this game, Manchester City might have conceded more than three goals.

Klopp really has something, and it seems that it is not an accident that he can bring Dortmund to that level.

Guardiola couldn't think of any good way to break Klopp's tactics for a while, so he had to focus on what he was good at.

Since the opponent's active fighting restricts your own midfielder, then abandon the midfielder, bypass the transition in the midfielder, and directly let the full-back hand the ball to the winger.

However, it is obviously difficult to do this in traditional positions and formations.

Therefore, Guardiola specially arranged a set of three central defender positions!

Guardiola didn't know that this adjustment created an epoch-making new style of play!