Chapter 596 Outpost Battle

"Cesar threw the ball to Terry, who passed it to Mikel, who passed it to Arshavin, who passed it back to Mikel, who passed it to Essien on the right, and Chelsea's ball was still being passed back and forth in the diamond midfield."

Wembley Stadium is playing the prelude to the new season of the Premier League, the Community Shield.

Tottenham Hotspur vs. Chelsea, this is the match between the two most powerful attacking teams in the Premier League last season, so all fans are looking forward to it being a wonderful game, providing a weather vane for the new season of the Premier League.

So all parties attach great importance to this game, and even Wembley Stadium re-laid new turf for the twelfth time before the game in order to better show the strength of the two teams. This time, a mixed field of natural turf and artificial grass fiber similar to the one used at Tottenham Hotspur's White Hart Lane Stadium was used.

This kind of mixed turf is also used by many Premier League teams in the past. In the words of the media, this time Wembley Stadium finally made up its mind to ensure that players would not slip and get injured easily, and finally made a wise choice to ensure the smoothness of the game.

In this game, Tottenham Hotspur and Chelsea showed their smooth and skillful passing and receiving cooperation from the beginning, but unlike Chelsea, which almost played with the main lineup, Tottenham Hotspur still played with a semi-main lineup. For those players who participated in the World Cup, especially the second half of the World Cup, Ye Qiu took a cautious attitude.

Chelsea's starting lineup, goalkeeper is Cesar, the back line is Ashley Cole, Terry, Alex and Ferreira, the diamond midfielder is Mikel, Lampard and Essien are in front, Arshavin is in front, the double forwards are Anelka and Malouda, and Chelsea's midfield still adopts a diamond four midfielder position.

Except for Drogba who was injured before the World Cup, Chelsea almost sent out all the main players to show Ancelotti's importance to this game, and also ensured that Chelsea took the initiative from the beginning.

Tottenham Hotspur's starting lineup changed a lot. The goalkeeper was Cech, the back line was Marcelo, Nastasic, Kompany and Alves, and the midfield was completely changed. Ramsey, Yaya Toure and Eriksen appeared in the starting lineup, and the front trident was Neymar, Raul and Ribery.

Before the Community Shield, Ye Qiu had revealed that the team would take a cautious attitude towards the use of World Cup players at the beginning and early stages of the season, because Tottenham Hotspur had as many as 14 international players participating in the World Cup, including Fabregas, David Silva, Cavani and other players who played in the finals of the World Cup.

After the World Cup, Ye Qiu arranged for the players to continue their vacation for two weeks, which resulted in them returning to the team before the team went to Amsterdam. Their bodies and conditions were still in the adjustment stage, and their physical reserves had just started. No matter from which perspective, they were still far from meeting the requirements of the game.

Based on past World Cup experience, all players who participated in the World Cup will inevitably have problems in the new season, because their bodies are in a very tired state. If they are reused from the beginning of the new season, they may be injured.

Ye Qiu adopted Peter Brandt's suggestion and mainly used substitutes and young players in the pre-season warm-up matches, allowing players including Messi, Fabregas, Cavani and David Silva to rest and adjust.

Neymar performed well in the warm-up stage, while Hazard, a Belgian teenager who performed well in the team last season, had a minor injury, so Ye Qiu continued to arrange Neymar, Raul and Ribery to start in this game, because the team must retain the main players and play well in the first round of the league, playing against Manchester City at home.

This is the opening match of the new Premier League season, a game that everyone is looking forward to. Tottenham Hotspur cannot lose!

There have been many changes in the Premier League this season, including the strength of Newcastle, West Ham United, Manchester City and Liverpool have been greatly improved, especially Manchester City. Benitez introduced three Spanish internationals at one go, which made Liverpool's overall strength a huge leap. It is still unknown how strong it can show.

On the contrary, Chelsea, a veteran powerhouse, did not recruit any players except Ramires, a Brazilian international, from Ajax. Instead, it let go of several players including Joe Cole and Belletti, which weakened the team's bench depth.

Ancelotti still played a diamond midfield tactic in this game, using Malouda and Anelka in front to play guerrilla, and the diamond midfielder to organize and pass the ball behind. Overall, there was no eye-catching change.

This is no wonder. If there is to be a change, there must first be players who can bring about the change. As a midfielder, Ramirez can only bring limited changes to Chelsea. In the frontcourt, Drogba is injured and Chelsea's overall offensive power lacks threat. This is why Ye Qiu dared to be so bold to send a group of young people.

I saw Essien holding the ball on the right and taking two steps forward. I saw Anelka coming to the side to receive the ball. The Ghanaian buffalo quickly passed the ball forward, but just when Anelka was about to receive the ball, Marcelo went around and poked the ball.

Arshavin quickly caught up to receive the ball, but Yaya Toure always stuck to him, forcing him to take the ball to the side.

A cross, Arshavin's pass just entered the penalty area, and Nastasic headed the ball steadily out of the penalty area. The Serbian central defender performed very steadily in this game. This header was directly given to Ramsey who retreated. The Welshman turned and passed it diagonally to Eriksen, who passed it forward with a big foot.

Ribery was seen standing in the area between Terry and Ashley Cole. When he saw Eriksen's long pass, he obviously had a move to interfere with Terry before starting, so that he could not start at the first time, and then sprint forward quickly.

Ribery started very quickly, directly shook off Terry, rushed to the right side of the penalty area to receive the ball, and Terry also entangled Ribery tightly. Although he was at a disadvantage in speed, he was very smart and specifically blocked Ribery's cut-in, and he did not follow fast to avoid being fooled by Ribery's sudden stop.

It must be said that Terry is very smart and very experienced. After Ribery received the ball, he had no choice but to suddenly accelerate again, shake off an empty space, and cross with his right foot.

At this time, there were three players in the penalty area, two blue and one white. Ashley Cole was assisting behind Terry, while Alex was defending Raul. Ribery's cross was a low ball with a fast speed. Ashley Cole wanted to destroy it, but he didn't have time, and Raul behind him quickly caught up.

Raul's smartest point was that he blocked Alex on his left side. When the ball came from the right, he blocked Alex on the left side. What was the result? It was to prevent him from interfering with his kick unless he committed a foul!

Therefore, Alex didn't dare to use force on Raul, because once you use force at this time, Raul would fall to the ground without saying a word. Anyone who didn't fall to the ground at this time was a fool. If he didn't use force, he couldn't reach the ball, because there was Raul between him and the ball, so he could only expect Raul to shoot with his left foot.

But in fact, Raul's right foot is not bad either. He pushed the ball directly towards the ball, and the ball passed over Cesar's head and fell into the goal line. 1:0, Raul scored a goal in his first appearance for Tottenham Hotspur!

After scoring the goal, Raul quickly ran out of the penalty area, stretched out his right hand, and kept kissing the ring on his right hand.

The Lord of the Rings, this is Raul's nickname!

Tottenham Hotspur rushed to the sidelines, chasing Raul one by one, cheering for the team's goal.

In the stands, Tottenham Hotspur fans were also shouting Raul's name. The world's top superstar, although in the eyes of many people he is already an outdated superstar, in the eyes of Tottenham Hotspur fans, Raul now belongs to Tottenham Hotspur, and he is still a top superstar!

Entering the halftime break with a 1:0 lead, Ye Qiu replaced three substitutions in one breath, because this Community Shield has six substitutions, which is a bit like a warm-up match.

Ye Qiu directly replaced Eriksen with Coutinho. The Danish youngster also played in the World Cup, but not for a long time. Then he replaced Yaya Toure with Phil Jones, and then replaced Alves with Kyle Walker.

At the beginning of the second half, Tottenham Hotspur's midfield was actively looking for opportunities, especially Coutinho.

Ye Qiu noticed a very interesting phenomenon. No matter where Coutinho went, he still had to find Neymar to cooperate.

What surprised Ye Qiu most about Coutinho was his through ball, which was very sharp and threatening. Among the players born in the 1990s, he was definitely the best. Moreover, his footwork and awareness were also quite good. His ability to see through space and detect loopholes in the defense line was also outstanding. Otherwise, how could he pass so many through balls?

But he also had obvious weaknesses. On the one hand, his physical fitness was relatively poor, which was also the case with Neymar, especially the upper limb strength. He, Neymar and Lucas Moura were all typical characters who fell down when they were hit. Many people found it strange that they fell down so easily. This was because they lacked upper limb strength.

If the upper limbs are not strong enough, they are easily disturbed by the opponent, the body is easy to lose balance, the technical movements are not completed in a standard way, and it is easy to make mistakes. Unlike Neymar, Coutinho's speed and one-on-one attack ability are not as good as Neymar, making it difficult for him to adapt to the current wing tactics on the wing.

Tottenham Hotspur's wingers, especially wingers, basically tend to be the type who have speed and breakthrough, and can pass the ball inside, so Ye Qiu arranged Coutinho in the middle and let him play in the middle.

Coutinho's through ball is indeed very characteristic, but the interesting thing about this Brazilian kid is that he likes to pass through the ball very much, and even often takes risks to try when he is not sure.

This is a bad thing, but it is also a good thing.

Ye Qiu didn't think that Coutinho's attempt should be discouraged at all, because all sharp passers rely on trying to accumulate experience and finally complete the transformation, so he let Coutinho try, but he didn't just let him go. On the one hand, he asked Coutinho to play to his strengths and characteristics, but on the other hand, he also asked him to strengthen his physical fitness.

Without a certain physical condition to lay a foundation, it would be absolutely over in the midfield known as the meat grinder!

The Danish youngster Eriksson's position and characteristics are somewhat similar to Coutinho's, but the Danes are used to moving in a more backward area than Coutinho. If the Brazilian's favorite activity area is the front of the penalty area and the front midfielder position on both sides, Eriksson is equivalent to the parallel midfield position.

Compared with Coutinho's love of trying and taking risks, Eriksson is relatively stable, a typical South American and European style.

Ye Qiu now believes more and more that the general trend of future football tactics is integration, and various types of styles are integrated together to learn from each other's strengths and weaknesses. Therefore, he has always insisted on integrating various types of players together to form a team.

He is even preparing to set up a tactical laboratory through Tottenham Hotspur, which is dedicated to tactical research, striving to enable Tottenham Hotspur to always grasp the development trend of tactics and stay at the forefront of the times.

While Ye Qiu was thinking, Coutinho passed a good ball on the court again.

As Ye Qiu said before, Chelsea's diamond midfield has an obvious weakness and deficiency in the wing, and the single defensive midfielder is also a dead end. Although Ancelotti has learned lessons in this game, it is not known whether it is not enough attention or other reasons. Mikel was dragged to the end and missed Coutinho.

Coutinho took the ball in front of the 30-meter area and passed the ball diagonally with his right foot to the left side of the penalty area to find Neymar.

The Brazilian rushed forward quickly, turned and jumped up, stopped the ball with his chest, and then accelerated along the left side of the penalty area line. After quickly shaking off Ferreira, he made a fake move when sprinting at high speed, tricked Ferreira into blocking, and then passed the ball low to Raul in the penalty area.

This time Raul still blocked Alex with his body, facing the left side, facing Neymar's pass, and stopped directly to his right side, that is, the direction of the goal. He turned around and shot directly with his left foot.

The ball was almost sticking to the grass, and in a straight line, it rolled to the right post again and hit the inner side net, 2:0!

All the Tottenham fans cheered loudly, and countless fans rushed out of their seats to cheer for Raul and the Tottenham players who were running wildly on the field.

Scored twice. Before joining Tottenham, who would have thought that the 33-year-old veteran, Raul Gonzalez, would be able to score twice in his first official game? Although this was just a semi-formal warm-up match, the opponent was Chelsea!

Compared with the outstanding first goal, the second goal was mainly due to Neymar.

The Brazilian teenager's use of movements at high speed is still quite amazing, which makes people easily think of a person, Ronaldo. The most amazing thing about the Brazilian superstar is precisely his use and frequency of movements at high speed.

Of course, it is not to say that Neymar is very similar to Ronaldo. The Brazilian teenager has a balanced ability in both feet, and his ability to read the game and his insight into space are outstanding. He now has two biggest problems. One is to adapt to the environment of the European league, especially the Premier League, and the other is physical fitness.

Ye Qiu can even say that what Neymar can achieve in the future depends on the maturity and perfection of his body. In terms of physical condition, Tottenham Hotspur does not plan to focus on carving and strengthening him for the time being. The reason is simple: he is too young.

Eighteen years old is undoubtedly a critical moment for physical growth. It is a bit early to play in the professional league at this time. If the body is strengthened and his body is ripened too early, the final result may be to force the growth of seedlings and counterproductive.

Therefore, Tottenham Hotspur's coaching staff and Ye Qiu do not advocate premature physical strengthening training for young players. Even players such as Eden Hazard and Ramsey do not have physical training programs. They are just doing some regular training without focusing on strengthening.

According to Ye Qiu's plan, after the age of 20, when the player's body is fully mature, he will decide whether to strengthen physical training. At that time, the player is not prone to injury. After all, the most worrying thing for young players is injury.

Raul's double goal obviously did not stop Tottenham Hotspur from attacking temporarily. Tottenham Hotspur continued to make substitutions, and after entering the 80th minute, Tottenham Hotspur soon got another chance to shoot. Pogba, who came on as a substitute, shot directly from 20 meters outside the penalty area.

Cesar reacted very quickly and saved the ball, and Ribery, like a loach, picked up the leak in the penalty area and seized the opportunity to score the third goal of the game for Tottenham Hotspur, 3:0!

As Tottenham Hotspur scored three goals in a row, Chelsea also started a round of counterattack. After all, the Blues also hoped to get at least one goal that could save face before the end of the game. Finally, in the 92nd minute, Anelka scored a goal for Chelsea.

In this way, Tottenham Hotspur defeated Chelsea 3:1 at Wembley Stadium and won the Community Shield of the new season.

The significance of this battle for Tottenham Hotspur is not reflected in a Community Shield. To be honest, Ye Qiu does not care about this championship at all, even if it is known as the outpost of the Premier League. What he really wants to see is Chelsea's fighting power.

Judging from the performance in this game, Chelsea's fighting power has not improved at all, but has declined.

Why do you say that?

If you think about it carefully, what was Chelsea's biggest problem in the past?

The aging of the player structure, and after a season, this aging trend has become more serious, but Chelsea has not made any corrections, nor has it made any adjustments to the lineup to promote metabolism. This makes Chelsea's personnel, especially the main lineup, not change much on the surface, but in fact its strength is declining, because including Drogba and others, they are one year older than last season.

"There will be no Chelsea in this year's championship battle!" Ye Qiu made a very firm judgment at the moment when the whistle sounded at the end of the game, and if he guessed correctly, the new season's Premier League championship will be a battle between Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur.

However, what Ye Qiu did not expect was that the start of the league was far beyond his expectations.