The Godfather of Greenery

Chapter 569 Barcelona is in Trouble

2010年3月20日，英超联赛第31轮，托特纳姆热刺客场2：1艰难的击败了斯托克城队。

Although Tottenham Hotspur controlled the situation steadily throughout the game, it was difficult to win. After taking the lead with Falcao's goal in the first half, they performed poorly in the second half and In the No.605 minute, Stoke City team tenaciously equalized the score.

Afterwards, Tottenham Hotspur had difficulty finding an effective way to break through the opponent's goal for a long time. Until the No.807 minute, Yaya Toure inserted a long shot from behind at a critical moment and broke through the goal guarded by Sorensen. Turnham Hotspur scored the winning goal and managed to get three points from the away game.

Although winning, it was very thrilling to win. On the contrary, it was rival Manchester United. Although Torres broke the goal only 5 minutes after the opening of Old Trafford, Rooney's goal soon helped. Manchester United equalized the score, and then Manchester United firmly grasped the initiative of the game, threatening Liverpool's goal again and again.

In the end, with Benzema's goal in the second half, Liverpool reversed 2:1 at home.

It is also 2:1, but the performance of Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester United have received two completely different evaluations. The former is questioned, while the latter is affirmed. After all, no matter how strong the Stoke City team is It is not as good as Tottenham Hotspur, but what Manchester United encountered was Liverpool led by Benitez.

Tottenham Hotspur's poor state continued to the 32nd round of the Premier League a week later. This time Tottenham Hotspur played at home against Pompey's Portsmouth, and throughout the first half, Tottenham Hotspur The performance of Spurs is not bad, Falcao scored again, and Ramsey also scored a goal in the first half to help Tottenham take a 2-0 lead.

But in the second half, the situation turned around. The Pompeii Army launched waves of counterattacks against Tottenham Hotspur. Defense, successfully defended 2:0 to the end, but was very embarrassed by the Pompeii Army.

After the game, although several football commentators mentioned the reason for Tottenham Hotspur's recent poor condition, it may be that Ye Qiu and the coaching staff began to make conscious adjustments to the players' physical fitness and state to prepare for the Devils in April. The schedule is being prepared, but more media still criticize, believing that Tottenham Hotspur's performance is not as satisfactory as other competitors at such an important juncture to hit the league championship.

You know, this round of Chelsea beat Aston Villa 7:1, Manchester United beat Bolton 4:0 away, Liverpool and Manchester City all won three goals. The performance of these competitors is satisfactory, especially Chelsea and Manchester United performed very well towards the end of the season.

Many people have said that although Tottenham Hotspur still firmly maintain a 34-point lead, the real test for Tottenham Hotspur is in the three rounds of 35, 36 and [-], because this In the three rounds, Tottenham Hotspur will encounter Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester United successively, especially Arsenal and Chelsea in the first two games, will be the top priority.

But the No.30 three rounds, the away game against Black Cats Sunderland is not easy. You must know that although Sunderland is currently ranked outside the top ten, the Black Cats' home results have always been very good, falling behind the Black Cats at home. There are also many strong teams in China, including Arsenal and Liverpool, and it was not easy for Manchester United to win away games, and in the end it was a small victory with a narrow goal.

Therefore, many league analysis commentators believe that the real test for Tottenham Hotspur has just begun. If they do not play well in the April game, the [-]-point lead is likely to be exhausted.

To put it bluntly, although [-] points is a huge advantage, in such a dense and strong team-gathered devil's schedule, as long as one is not careful, it may fail miserably anytime and anywhere, and many analysts believe that Tottenham Tottenham should adopt a safe strategy and focus on the league. After all, the Premier League now holds a [-]-point advantage, and winning the championship is almost guaranteed.

As long as they are not dragged down and affected by the Champions League, it is not a big problem to survive the devil's schedule in April.

"But judging from the match against Portsmouth, Ye Qiu still has no plans to give up the Champions League!"

Barcelona and Tottenham Hotspur, the two teams in the Champions League final last season, are undoubtedly the most eye-catching in European football this season, and they are also the strongest team recognized by everyone, even if Barcelona Last season's finals failed, but no one will doubt the strength of this team.

More importantly, Barcelona has made a comeback this season and has successively introduced stars such as Van Persie and Alexis Sanchez to further strengthen its frontcourt attack power, which has made Barcelona's offense significantly improved this season.

But this Catalan team still maintains its signature style of play last season, that is, possession of the ball.

This season, Barcelona is almost invincible no matter in the Champions League or in La Liga, especially after getting the joining of Van Persie, the teenager Pedro gradually took on the heavy responsibility of attacking the left side of the front court, and Alek The joining of Cess Sanchez has strengthened the attack on the right, making Harvey and Iniesta sit in the middle of the midfield. The team's ball possession tactics have been strengthened, and the offense and defense have become balanced and solid.

As soon as the draw for the quarter-finals of the UEFA Champions League appeared, all the media believed that this matchup could be called an early advance of the UEFA Champions League final, because no matter who gets the final promotion right, there is great hope Reach the final and win the championship because these two teams are the most powerful teams in football today.

Because of this, as early as before the game, almost all the media in the world were paying attention to this game. Everyone was looking forward to seeing how Ye Qiu restrained Barcelona's possession tactics, and how Guardiola would do. Limit Tottenham Hotspur's offense.

Surprisingly, as the game started, it was not clear how Guardiola's defense was arranged for the time being, but Tottenham Hotspur's defense was very clear, and everyone could see it. Turnham Hotspur's opening tactic was to give up possession!

"This is a very bold, yet very risky, and admirable decision!" As a special commentator guest on the live TV station, the famous Italian Sacchi saw Tottenham Hotspur's tactics after the opening, He was surprised.

As Cruyff said, if the game is regarded as a duel, then football is undoubtedly the only weapon on the duel field, and now Tottenham Hotspur have the courage to send the weapon directly to the opponent It really takes courage, and it's almost risky.

Barcelona will undoubtedly send their main players to play in this game. The goalkeeper is Valdes, the defense is Abidal, Mascherano, Pique and Puyol, and the midfielders are still Iniesta and Busquets. With Harvey, the front trident is Pedro, Van Persie and Alexis? Sanchez.

Compared with the fully staffed Barcelona, ​​Tottenham Hotspur have made a lot of changes.

Petr Cech in goal, Marcelo, Ziglinski, Thiago Silva and Alves in defense, Beckham, Yaya Toure and Fabregas in midfield, frontcourt The trident is Ribery, Cavani and Messi.

Both David Silva and Falcao were placed on the bench by Ye Qiu, because they both started three days ago in the league and played the entire game. Before the game, some media broke the news It is said that when Ye Qiu announced that Falcao would start in the league, the Colombian center had communicated with Ye Qiu because he wanted to play against Barcelona.

And as the game started, everyone noticed that even if it was a home game, Tottenham Hotspur did not adopt an active offensive strategy, but adopted a defensive strategy. For this, Sacchi thinks it is not difficult to understand.

"In fact, a large part of this kind of knockout is psychological warfare. The two sides speculate on each other's tactics and make targeted arrangements. I believe that whether it is Barcelona or Guardiola, they must be against Tottenham. The opening attack was fully prepared, but Ye Qiu suddenly gave up this style of play, which will disrupt Barcelona's plan."

"Of course, this kind of sudden change has both advantages and disadvantages, because first of all, this kind of change may disrupt the opponent, but it may also disrupt itself. Therefore, the head coach needs to have absolute control over the team, and the players need to be able to adapt. This change in coaching."

And as the game started, everyone gradually discovered a very strange thing, that is, Tottenham Hotspur's ball possession rate is very low, only 39%. Turnham Hotspur are used to playing completely different games with a possession rate of around 7%, almost the reverse of a possession time.

But what is strange is that, as the party with the absolute advantage in ball possession, Barcelona had only one shot in the first ten minutes, and it was Alexis Sanchez who broke through from the right and made a cross. Before Van Persie, the header went out of the bottom line, and Barcelona's corner kick, Pique's header was crooked.

In addition to this shot, Barcelona did not have a second shot. This has to be said to be very unbelievable, because with Barcelona's possession rate and the attacking power of the La Liga team, this should not happen at all. Condition.

The only explanation is that Tottenham Hotspur's defense is doing very well.

"Tottenham Hotspur did not adopt the shrinking defense that other teams faced Barcelona, ​​nor did they retreat to the 30-meter zone!" When the on-site commentator asked about the success of Tottenham Hotspur's defense, Sakiti This is where Tottenham Hotspur's defensive tactics are different from other teams.

"Barcelona likes to press up, they like to keep their attacking players closer to the opponent's penalty area, but Tottenham's defense is not retreating, but they are not pressing forward, but if we look carefully, we can see that Beckham Mu and Yaya Toure played deep, and Cesc Fabregas came back a lot."

"In other words, Tottenham Hotspur's defense is very interesting. The defense does not retreat, but I retreat the frontcourt and midfield. When the defense does not retreat and the midfield retreats, as long as Barcelona's Players take the ball and attack head-on, often as if caught in a sandwich biscuit, front and back.

"And we should note that Barcelona's wing attack ability is actually relatively limited. As full backs, Puyol and Abidal have no problem with defensive ability, but their offensive ability is relatively weak. The strength of support for the two wingers in the frontcourt Not enough, so for a long time, Barcelona has paid more attention to the center, relying on Van Persie's frontcourt to handle the ball, the only one with more attack power from the side is Alexis Sanchez, but Tottenham Hotspur has focused on the left layout."

"The delay of Yaya Toure and Beckham, as well as the retracement of the midfielder, effectively compressed the defense zone, which made Barcelona's penetration of the small diagonal pass to the two ribs a problem, so We saw that Pedro was hardly a threat, and Alexis Sanchez could only make frequent crosses."

At this moment, Barcelona launched another attack. It was still Alexis Sanchez who took the ball on the right. Marcelo stood still and marked Sanchez one-on-one on the right. Nam Tottenham's Beckham and Cesc Fabregas are cruising around Van Persie, making it impossible for the Dutchman to respond effectively to Sanchez.

But at the same time, Pedro cut from the left to the center. As long as the ball is passed, he can insert into the penalty area anytime and anywhere.

It should be said that Pedro is a typical player who wins without the ball, but this time Yaya Toure is always by his side, always between him and Van Persie, which makes even if Van Persie gets the ball If you want to find Pedro, you have to go through the defense zone of Fabregas and Yaya Toure.

Sure enough, when Sanchez couldn't find a chance, he could only pass back to Harvey, and Fabregas ran to Harvey at the first time, and Ribery was also retreating to defend, which made Harvey immediately Caught in a front-to-back pinch, he had to pass back to Busquets, who slowed down Barcelona's attack as soon as the latter got hold of the ball.

As soon as Barcelona's offense slowed down, Tottenham's defense immediately reorganized, all players returned to their positions, and the entire defensive formation was adjusted back to the most reasonable position.

"Elastic, very elastic, whether it's a diagonal line or a parallel line, Tottenham's defense is very elastic. To compete with you in speed, rely on delaying, blocking and other methods to force you to be unable to form effective breakthroughs and penetrations."

Sacchi laughed when he saw this, "I said in the column before that a very important reason why Tottenham Hotspur's defense has become solid this season is that they have established this kind of defense. A solid, stable, and effective elastic defense mechanism, which can adjust its defense very quickly according to the situation and the change of the opponent's possession of the ball anytime, anywhere, especially in the detailed player formation, which is very tightly organized and coordinated. It’s also pretty spot on!”

At this time, the commentator had to interrupt again, explaining what formation is.

Generally speaking, fans have only heard of formations, such as 442, 4231, etc., but rarely heard of formations.

The so-called formation can actually be regarded as the overall framework of a team, that is, the position distribution of players, but the specific details, or the use of tactical details in the game, depends on the formation, so the formation refers to It is the whole team, and the formation may only refer to the players in a local area. For example, whether the four players in the back line stand in parallel or in a shallow dish position, this is the formation.

"It should be Mauro Tassotti. He has a very unique understanding of defense, and he is very familiar with and understands the essence of Italian defense." Sacchi laughed and mentioned his compatriot. He can also be said to be Sacchi's favorite disciple during AC Milan.

"Tottenham Hotspur's defense is very layered and has very targeted changes. This elastic and layered defensive system has a very strong flavor of Italian football!"

"Barcelona is in trouble!"

Facts have proved that Saki's judgment is correct.

Barcelona has a very high ball possession rate, and even increased the ball possession rate to about 63% at one point. For Tottenham Hotspur, it is already an incredible possession time, but the problem is, Barcelona has never been able to effectively penetrate Tottenham Hotspur's defensive system.

As Sacchi said, as long as they take the ball and attack head-on, they are like being in a sandwich biscuit, being flanked everywhere, and Tottenham's defense is best at slowing you down, or In other words, you have to slow down, and then they have ample time to adjust the targeted defense according to your offensive characteristics and direction.

It is unbelievable that in the first half an hour, Barcelona took a corner kick in the 6th minute after the opening, and there was no second shot, so that Barcelona's coach Pep Guardiola walked to the sidelines , obviously watching the game in disbelief, thinking hard about the coping strategy.

"Barcelona players are very uncomfortable with this defensive style. Ye Qiu has obviously absorbed a lot of experience and ideas from Guus Hiddink's Chelsea, Italian football, and Dutch football. In addition, Mauro Tassotti, Tottenham Hotspur said this season that they want to strengthen their defense, and now they have shown their level!"

Sacchi is obviously very interested in and appreciates Tottenham Hotspur's defensive system, but this is definitely not just because Mauro Tassotti is his former disciple, but also because he himself is also interested in this tactical innovation full of interest.

"However, Tottenham Hotspur must also pay attention. Blindly defending is definitely not the answer. Defense cannot break through Barcelona's goal, and judging from the previous half an hour, Tottenham Hotspur completely gave up. Instead of the kind of penetrating advance that I had in the past, I used more diagonal long passes to launch attacks and open up Barcelona's formation."

"In general, Ye Qiu's ideas and thinking are very good, and his tactics are very bold and courageous. However, the defense works, but the offense does not pose much threat. This is also a problem."

Speaking of this, Sacchi glanced at the time. It was almost 35 minutes, and there were only 10 minutes left before the end of the first half. Is it possible to score a goal?

Just as Sacchi's idea had just emerged, he saw an arc drawn across the court in mid-air, crossed most of the court, and landed on the right side of Barcelona's penalty area.

(End of this chapter)