Chapter 393: Walking into a Trap

"Is it still too late?"

Tottenham Hotspur players and Chelsea players stood neatly at the exit of the player tunnel. Next to them stood the ball boys for this game, and the one at the front in the middle was The referee of the game is England's most famous international referee Bol, who is also one of the well-known referees in the World Cup.

"Good job, Frank!" Drogba, who was standing in the Chelsea queue, gently patted Ribery on the shoulder.

They had a good relationship when they were at Chelsea. Drogba was also from France and entered Chelsea at the same time. The relationship was relatively close. However, now that the two of them represent two opposing teams, the relationship is a bit awkward.

"You too, Didier!" Ribery nodded.

The same goes for players like Deco, Lampard, Terry, etc. The performance of Ribery, Messi, Van Persie and Fabregas at Chelsea was actually amazing. For their age, they can have That kind of performance is indeed outstanding, especially Ribery, who was the team's best twelfth man in his first season at Chelsea.

But sometimes football is like this. The arrival of Rooney made Ribery miss the opportunity to correct himself. Then Ye Qiu left and Mourinho joined. The Portuguese brought his own team and his own tactics. He also wanted to purge Ye Qiu's old team, so Ribery and Robin van Persie were relegated to the sidelines, and Messi and Cesc Fabregas were also sent back to the youth team.

Captain John Terry and vice-captain Frank Lampard both pleaded for mercy for these young players, but Mourinho himself was also under a lot of pressure. In addition, he took over Ye Qiu's class, which itself made Chelsea fans question it. , so their pleas were of no use at all. Instead, they gave Mourinho the feeling that this group of Ye Qiu's old men wanted to hug together for warmth.

The position may be relative, and there may be some grudges in the past, but this will definitely not affect the friendship between the players, so the players from both teams are talking in the player tunnel, but they all look at each other from time to time. Behind him, I hope to see Ye Qiu's figure.

Without Ye Qiu here, Tottenham Hotspur players always feel that they lack confidence.

After all, when Ye Qiu was here, they didn't need to think too much. As long as they followed Ye Qiu's arrangements and adjustments, Ye Qiu was their direction. But now that Ye Qiu is gone, they have to explore and find their own direction. .

Mauro Tassotti and Roland Shepas took over Ye Qiu's job and carried out pre-game mobilization and tactical preparations, but they still could not replace Ye Qiu's position in the players' minds.

"Okay, everyone, let's go on stage!"

Following the words of the referee Bol, the referee team walked in the front, followed closely by the opponents. They took the caddy's hand and slowly walked out of the player tunnel. For a time, there was a burst of thunder throughout the Millennium Stadium. Fans from both sides greeted their teams with cheers and applause.

"Let us introduce to you the starting lineups for both sides."

"Tottenham Hotspur played their main goalkeeper in this game, goalkeeper Petr Cech. This is the Czech goalkeeper who has performed very well in the Premier League this season and has established himself as the top goalkeeper in the Premier League and even Europe in almost one season. He beat Manchester United. In that game, if it weren’t for Cech’s godlike performance, it would be difficult for Tottenham to get a draw.”

"In the back line, Vargas is on the left, Hangeland and Thiago Silva are the center backs, and Dani Alves is on the right. This is also a must for Tottenham Hotspur to play offensive football this season. In the reserve lineup, Vargas on the left and Alves on the right are both full-backs with strong offensive abilities, and their specialty is to attack from behind.”

"The midfielder is still equipped with Beckham, Mascherano and Cesc Fabregas. Many people have said before that Beckham once again proved his strength on the court after joining Tottenham Hotspur. He won his main position in Tottenham Hotspur with his outstanding performance, and at the same time improved Tottenham Hotspur's midfield strength to at least one level."

"The front trident, Ribery on the left, is also the left winger who has performed very well in the Premier League this season. The forward is Ruud van Nistelrooy, the king of the small penalty area, and the top scorer in the Premier League and Europe so far this season. On the right is Leo Messi, who is known as Maradona II.”

"It can be said that Tottenham Hotspur's lineup is not bad, and they are also playing offensive football in the Premier League this season. The current offensive ability of this team is second only to the strongest offense in the Premier League this season. Manchester United, but Tottenham Hotspur’s offensive ability has even been rated highly by Manchester United’s Ferguson.”

"Compared to Tottenham Hotspur's 433 lineup, Chelsea also adopted a 433 lineup. The goalkeeper is Hilario from Portugal. This goalkeeper's performance this season is very average. Chelsea's defense is not stable enough. Many people They all feel that it has something to do with Hilario, but Van der Sar, who Chelsea let go, has shown his strength as a top goalkeeper at Manchester United this season. This is also a point that Chelsea's transfers have been criticized for in the past two years. "

"In fact, from Evra to Maicon to Gallas to Van der Sar, even the Chinese player Sun Jihai, as well as Tottenham Hotspur's Franck Ribery, Messi, Cesc Fabregas and Van Persie, etc. Players, they all proved their strength very well after leaving Chelsea, so much so that when some people ridiculed Chelsea for missing out on talents, they also joked that the products produced by Chelsea must be high-quality!”

"Of course, this is a bit of a joke. Rather than being produced by Chelsea, it is better to say that the products produced by Ye Qiu must be high-quality, because these players even include Drogba, Deco, Lampard, etc. who are currently in the Chelsea team. The powerful stars are all superstars who have proven their strength or achieved peak performance under Ye Qiu.”

"Relative to the goalkeeper, Chelsea's strongest defense is this line of defense. Ashley Cole, John Terry and Carvalho, who were introduced after falling out with Arsenal, as well as Ferreira at right back, in this line of defense The right back is a weakness. Ferreira's performance has been criticized since joining Chelsea, but Mourinho has always entrusted him with important tasks. "

"The midfield is Makelele, Ballack and Lampard. In fact, in the past two seasons, Chelsea's midfielder has not shown much improvement in strength. The conflict between Lampard and Ballack is a bit Like the conflict between Lampard and Gerrard in the England national team, the two players have never been able to integrate well and harmoniously."

"The front three is Joe Cole on the left, Duff on the right, and Didier Drogba in the center. Shevchenko was once again put on the bench by Mourinho. It is obvious that the Ukrainian superstar is no longer available. Mourinho has high hopes again. There is news that Mourinho brought Shevchenko with him to deal with the pressure from Abramovich."

With the on-site commentator's analysis and explanation, the players on both sides finished guessing the side and returned to their own half-time preparations. There were still a few minutes before the kick-off time of the game.

The camera turned and fell on Chelsea head coach Mourinho on the sidelines.

"For this game, Tottenham Hotspur's head coach Ye Qiu is not sure whether he can make it in time to attend this game because his wife is giving birth. This is Chelsea's head coach, the Portuguese Jose Mourinho. , but although he has always regarded Ye Qiu as his number one rival, Ye Qiu once evaluated his opponent. He felt that his number one rival should be Benitez. He said that Benitez was the best coach of all the coaches he had ever encountered. The toughest head coach in the world.”

"Moreover, when Ye Qiu was about to lead his team to compete for double consecutive Champions League titles, Benitez's Liverpool stopped him at the last moment. That battle in Istanbul was indeed the most painful defeat in Ye Qiu's coaching career."

Just when the on-site commentator was talking, he suddenly heard the most enthusiastic cheers since entering the scene. I am afraid that the cheers were louder than if your team scored a goal. At this moment, the commentator They are all a little unclear.

"What's going on? Something seems to have happened on the court? But we couldn't see it because of the angle!"

But soon, on the big screen in the stadium, the live camera captured the scene of Ye Qiu running out of the player tunnel panting. He was wearing an Adidas sports casual suit that was obviously worn at home. It was obvious that he was directly wearing it. I rushed from London to Cardiff and didn't even have time to go home and change clothes.

"Wow, he gives us the feeling that he has already played a game himself!"

The Tottenham Hotspur fans at the scene cheered vigorously, while Ye Qiu quickly took the towel from the staff who ran over and wiped the sweat on his head and face, but did not stop and walked straight away. To the sidelines.

For a moment, the Tottenham Hotspur players who had dispersed quickly ran towards Ye Qiu.

"Remember!" Ye Qiu was gasping for air. He ran directly from the parking lot into the stadium and almost lost his breath. But when he saw the fourth official who wanted to come over to remind him and the referee in the stadium, he decided to keep the story short. .

"Don't speed up the tempo, play with the ball, pull them out and play!"

"Also, the ball passed into the penalty area should hit Carvalho more often and cross the two ribs more often!"

"Defense, keep an eye on Drogba, especially Thiago. Go forward and get stuck. Don't let Drogba score from your head again!"

Ye Qiu was talking about the goal lost to Chelsea at home. Thiago Silva was deeply impressed by this, so after hearing Ye Qiu's words, he nodded heavily, and the other players also nodded in agreement.

After all the players returned to the court, Ye Qiu returned to the coaching bench and took the water from Roland. When he poured it down, the game had already started, and the players from both sides soon started fighting.

After wiping his sweat and drinking water, Ye Qiu regained his breath and stood on the sidelines watching the game.

Chelsea's opening tactics did not look conservative, and they were not willing to show any weakness in terms of momentum. However, their first attack was to directly find Drogba with a long pass from the backcourt, but there were no players around Drogba at this time. After catching up, the Ivorian was forced to break through with the ball, but was stabbed away by Thiago Silva with a calm kick.

Breaking through with the ball is not Drogba's strength. It's not that he doesn't have this kind of strength and ability. Drogba's foot skills are good, and his speed and explosive power are also good. But the problem is that he is not good at personal breakthroughs. style of play.

If it was just once, it would be fine, but the second attack was still a long pass to Drogba, but this time Lampard did come up, but he was approached by Beckham as soon as he got the ball, so he had to pass it to Duff on the right, but Vargas suddenly stepped forward and intercepted the ball halfway, but Tottenham Hotspur did not counterattack quickly at the first time, but passed it back to the goalkeeper and reorganized.

Ye Qiu said that in this game, we should play with the ball, not fast, but use the ball to tear Chelsea's defense.

When Tottenham Hotspur's ball fell at the feet of Peter Cech, in addition to Drogba who was ready to step forward to participate in the pressing, Ye Qiu noticed that the midfielders and the wingers on both sides were also retreating.

"They are afraid of our midfielders!" Mauro Tassotti saw through this at a glance.

Mascherano is the main defender, Beckham and Fabregas are both players who can go up and down, run and pass, which makes Tottenham's midfield difficult to defend, because with Beckham and Fabregas' active running and pulling, coupled with their skillful passing and receiving cooperation, it is easy for the opponent to catch a loophole.

For the passer, as long as there is a loophole, it is possible to pass a killing intent.

Ribery on the left and Messi on the right are both players who are very good at taking the ball in a small range and sprinting in a short distance. In addition, Van Nistelrooy, the king of a small penalty area, is in front, so Mourinho obviously adopts a safe contraction defense tactic, tightening his midfield and backfield, making it difficult for your midfield to play a threat.

Such tactics are not unfamiliar. Everton used this tactic to tie Tottenham, and even dragged the game to the last minute before declaring defeat, because they did not have a very effective and sure tactic to contain Tottenham's midfield, at least they were not sure to do so during normal offense and defense.

Ground pass penetration has never been Chelsea's strong point. In the first year that Ye Qiu coached the team, he played a power-pressing tactical style, but at that time there was a Deco in the midfield. In the second year, Ye Qiu changed to play double defensive midfielder to further strengthen the technique. But now Mourinho has taken Deco and chose superstar Ballack, and has returned to the power-pressing style.

As a result, ground penetration has become a major problem for Chelsea, so now they either go to the side or pass long.

Sometimes the power of a midfield does not lie in how strong the players are, but in the combination and the complementarity of the technical characteristics of the players. As long as they complement each other, even a combination of relatively weak players can easily kill an unreasonable combination of superstars. This is why the first phase of the Galaxy Battleship will eventually collapse.

The same is true for Tottenham Hotspur today. Ye Qiu even said that the current Tottenham Hotspur has the strength to compete with any Premier League team in the midfield. In the absence of a good and effective way to contain Beckham and Fabregas, the two major passers, any team that meets Tottenham Hotspur has to consider shrinking its defense.

Of course, consideration is one thing, and whether it will be played this way is another.

However, Mourinho's shrinking actually exposed another problem of Chelsea, that is, the single attack point.

Joe Cole's attack is like the Six Meridians Divine Sword in Tianlong Babu, sometimes effective and sometimes not. He is more about taking the ball and passing the ball in a small range. Duff is good at long-distance raids and fast speed, so Mourinho arranged Ashley Cole on the left, adopting the strategy of Joe Cole taking the ball and Ashley Cole plugging in, while the right side depends on Duff, but Duff is not good at dribbling through.

Midfielders Ballack and Lampard are both good at plugging in from behind, and neither is the kind of player who is good at individual breakthroughs.

Therefore, Mourinho adopted a defensive contraction in order to restrict Tottenham's midfield, and he did it, but the problem was that after he restricted Tottenham's midfield, he suddenly realized a problem, that his team's offense was completely unthreatening.

Without individual breakthroughs and passing and penetrating, Chelsea could only make long passes frequently, but once the ball entered the frontcourt and Drogba won it, he immediately fell into an isolated and helpless situation in front, because Joe Cole and Duff had certain defensive tasks and could not support him at any time.

In the past, Chelsea could play relatively high, and the two wingers could be closer to the center, so that once Drogba won the ball, there would be a receiving point around him at any time, so his role as a tactical fulcrum in the frontcourt could be reflected, but now, he was obviously pulled away and fell into the dilemma of fighting alone.

When Ye Qiu realized this, more than ten minutes had passed.

In the past ten minutes, Tottenham's attack was contained by Chelsea, but Chelsea's attack relied too much on long passes and completely lost its threat. Even on the field, Tottenham firmly grasped the initiative and possession of the ball, constantly planning and organizing the attack.

After Ye Qiu figured this out, he waved to Roland, signaling him to go to the sidelines.

"Tell Messi not to force Ashley Cole, let him come up!"

"Let him come up?" Roland was a little surprised. This only mentioned targeted defense, and he didn't mention deliberately letting the opponent come up to play.

"Tell the players to pay attention to the ball from the right, don't let Ashley Cole and Joe Cole cut the middle, and our counterattack will hit their left!" Ye Qiu smiled.

Mauro Tassotti's eyes lit up when he heard this. "Chelsea is suffering from a lack of offensive threat now. Ferreira doesn't have much offensive ability. As long as there is a chance, Ashley Cole will definitely move forward to participate in the frontcourt attack, and at this time our right side will inevitably become an important weapon for our counterattack!"

If we use the words in Chinese military books, this is called throwing a brick to attract jade, or inviting someone into a trap.

"Duff on the left is average with the ball, that is, he is good at long-distance sprinting. Lampard and Ballack are both attackers who come in from behind. It is actually not difficult to defend such players. As long as we stand in position, they have no way to do anything!"

Everyone knows that when a team's defensive system is organized, it is difficult to break through, and the biggest threat to the defensive system is a breakthrough player with excellent personal ability, that is, Ribery and Messi, but not Joe Cole, Duff, Lampard and Ballack.

Because the latter can only dribble and press the opponent's defense, but cannot break through, but the dribble and break through type of players can break through one point and completely disintegrate the opponent's entire defense system.

According to Ye Qiu, Mourinho's Chelsea has everything except a player with super personal ability, such as Robben. He was not unaware of Chelsea's problems before, but his team did not have enough ability to expose Chelsea's problems, but now it has.

Therefore, even if Mourinho discovered this problem at this moment, it is too late!