Football’s First Defender

After their first victory in the Champions League group stage, Chelsea continue to sit at their home stadium Stamford Bridge at the weekend to face their city rivals, Tottenham Hotspur.

The general manager of Tottenham, who is known as a trading genius, sold his main striker Keane to Liverpool who needed reinforcements at a high price last season in Xia Chuang. Well, buy it at a low price and use it later. Moreover, Keane was in a brave state as soon as he came back, helping Tottenham, which was at risk of relegation at the beginning of last season, successfully completed a counterattack in the second half of the schedule, and almost entered the European theater. The key is to "loan" Liverpool for half a season, and Tottenham made a profit Tens of millions of pounds...

In the new season, Tottenham will continue the partnership of Keane and Defoe in the double striker, which is in line with most tactics in today's football, the combination of two strikers, one high and one fast.

In order to cope with Defoe's speed, Chelsea's defensive arrangement before the game was man-to-man. Defoe will be the focus of Yang Feng's defense, while Keane will be handed over to John Terry, who has rich matchup experience against Keane. defense.

Today's Tottenham, under the guidance of Redknapp, performed extremely well at the beginning of this season. The 442 formation dared to let go of their hands and feet on the offensive end. The team also has a traditional British fast-paced game. style, but there is no lack of delicate pass and control style of play.

Tottenham won four consecutive victories in the opening stage of the Premier League, tied for the top spot with Chelsea, and even defeated Liverpool, one of the four giants, in the opening game in the first round of the league.

No matter who the opponent is, this Tottenham team dares to attack, dare to pursue possession, and dare to dominate the rhythm of the game.

It's just that for the neutral fans, as well as the Tottenham fans, it's a pity that the Tottenham team that Chelsea will face in this game is destined to not be the team that played well at White Hart Lane a month ago, and Liverpool. A team that fights against each other, but never loses.

In the fourth round of the league, Tottenham defeated Birmingham 2-1 at home. Tottenham led by two goals, but at the last moment of the second half of the game, they compromised the absolute core of their midfielder, the Croatian Modric. .

In Redknapp's tactical system, Modric is the player with the most touches in Tottenham's midfield. He is the absolute core of Tottenham's offensive end and plays the role of midfield commander. Most of Tottenham's Threats to attack must be planned and passed by Modric.

After losing Modric, although Tottenham's overall tactical style has not changed, the players can also rely on running to obtain enough possession of the ball. The crosses from the two sides are still sharp, but in this position in the middle, After the two sides opened up a certain amount of space, the last shot after receiving the ball in the center became no longer threatening.

In the last round of the league against Manchester United at home, Tottenham still held high the banner of offense. Although without Modric, the team's passing threat was reduced by more than half, but in the game, Defoe still relied on his own speed. Forcibly relying on personal ability to score a goal for Tottenham.

It's just that Tottenham can't be perfect on the defensive end. Due to too many people investing in the offensive end, Tottenham's defensive system is just to support the facade. There have always been obvious defensive loopholes. For Lao Lei's coaching philosophy In other words, it is good to score more goals than the opponent.

Only in the fifth round of the league, without Modric, it was not easy for Tottenham to score a goal. The loopholes in the defense were directly seen through by the seasoned Ferguson. Manchester United conceded 3 goals at home, directly 1-3. The score tasted the first defeat of the season at White Hart Lane.

Immediately afterwards, Tottenham came to Stamford Bridge and once again faced Chelsea, one of the four giants. It can only be said that Tottenham's early stage of the new season is full of devil's schedule, and they will encounter 3 giants in the first six rounds.

Aiming at Tottenham's persistent 442 formation, and the game style of attacking first no matter who they face, Ancelotti has no plans to fight against Tottenham. Chelsea's established goal is that if Tottenham don't play For the bus, then let them attack, Chelsea can finally play a defensive counterattack that they are best at.

However, Ancelotti, even though he had just finished the Champions League game 4 days ago, because Tottenham's strength is still strong, this game did not choose to rest the players, but still chose the same as the previous game. starting lineup.

Ancelotti's original intention is that the players will be tired when they are tired. After playing the game against Tottenham, the players can breathe a little bit of relief in the next two weeks.

Chelsea's main players faced the enemy with exhausted bodies from successive battles. Fortunately, they were the main defensive counterattack side. For defense, Chelsea's systematic and tight defense does not consume as much physical energy as other teams.

Use the most reasonable running, covering, and blocking to create the largest defensive area, so as to achieve the same defensive effect. Because of the tacit understanding between the players, Chelsea players do not need to run as frequently as other teams and be as tired on the defensive end .

Moreover, due to the lack of Modric's scheduling in the midfield, Tottenham's pass accuracy in the center has dropped significantly, and Tottenham, which mainly plays on the two sides, will directly face Chelsea's pre-prepared intensive defense.

For Lao Lei, before the game between Manchester United and Chelsea, he actually thought about it, and wanted to put up an iron bucket formation to defend well, so that Defoe could fight back with peace of mind.

But as far as defensive formations are concerned, a team doesn't just want to put up an iron barrel formation, it can put it out.

The overall tactics of Tottenham, in the preparation period before the whole season, is to work overtime to conduct offensive training, so that all players can have enough offensive understanding at the beginning of the season to deal with most games.

Regarding the training on the defensive end, Lao Lei knows the truth that he can't eat too much. He knows that it takes enough time for the players to adapt and penetrate the offensive tactics.

So for Tottenham, firstly, there are not so many outstanding defensive players, and secondly, the players can give full play to their best strength on the offensive end, but they rashly choose to play an iron bucket formation that the players are not familiar with. When weakening the offensive power, Lao Lei himself can't guarantee whether he can display enough defensive effect.

So, for Tottenham, it is better to attack directly. If they can score a goal first in the game, then it might be impossible to end Chelsea's winning streak in one go.

If Chelsea wins at home based on strength, then Tottenham will "stand and die". Anyway, Tottenham's league goal is not the Premier League championship. If they lose, they will lose. With good-looking football, they will attract more fans. Attention is the way of Tottenham's development.

Throughout the new season, as the champion of the UEFA Champions League last season, no matter who Chelsea's opponent is, Chelsea has a greater advantage in terms of strength and psychology. The opponent's weakness naturally allows Chelsea to directly gain possession of the ball on the field Power, and more active offensive opportunities.

In this game, from the beginning of the game, Tottenham showed that they wanted to compete for possession and take the initiative to attack.

Tottenham's frenzied press in the midfield took away all the opening "three axes" prepared by Chelsea. Tottenham started directly but suppressed Chelsea's offense.

The main attack points are the two wings. For Tottenham, their team now needs to rely on the breakthrough crosses of the two full-backs to do their best to open a breakthrough on the wing.

The center can respond and take long shots, but it is difficult for these English "rough guys" to make the pass from the center as accurate as Modric before.

Chelsea's defensive lineup is on the two sides and has carried out a targeted contraction of defense. Since Tottenham's offensive pressure in the center is not so great, Ballack and Essien will also attack the sides after doing their own defensive work. With a larger defense, although Tottenham control the ball, the real offensive threat is not that great. Even under Chelsea's iron-blooded defense, Tottenham want to create a long-range shot. It's not that easy, let alone trying to penetrate Chelsea's wing easily.

When Chelsea's top defensive lineup in Europe was placed in front of Tottenham as a touchstone, Tottenham, which has attracted countless fans with its gorgeous offense recently, has encountered the biggest test.

Although the pace of the game was raised quickly by the Tottenham players, almost every offensive attempt in the opening stage was destroyed by Chelsea in the process of dribbling or passing the ball, and did not pose a threat to Tottenham Opportunity.

Occasionally, Tottenham's successful breakthrough from the wing and the pass into the penalty area were completely destroyed by the joint defense of Yang Feng and Terry.

In the duel between the spear and the shield on the scene, it is obvious that the shield is thicker and resistant to grass, and the spear has begun to be bent.

Tottenham's offense did not achieve much effect, and Chelsea's counterattack also began to emerge after a period of time in the game.

Unlike other teams, which always use more defensive players, relying on cooperation to limit the card position, or directly double-teaming to limit the activity area of ​​​​Drogba and Anelka, Tottenham's defensive players cooperate with each other The tacit understanding is not strong. In many cases, the defense will be half a beat behind, which gives Drogba or Anelka the opportunity to break through.

Tottenham's defensive loopholes visible to the naked eye make Chelsea's counterattack very simple, just go directly to the two forwards on the offensive end. The defense is not systematic, and so many personnel are still invested in the offensive end. Ancelotti believes that Drogba And Anelka, the two world-class forwards, will definitely be able to seize the offensive opportunities that arise during the game and contribute to Chelsea.

Lao Lei also knows that his team will not have any advantage in the stalemate with these giants, and after all, it is an away game. Amidst the cheers and cheers of the Chelsea fans, the performance of the Tottenham players will also be affected. Impact.

Therefore, Tottenham must take the lead in scoring goals at all costs on the offensive end when the game is still in a draw. There is no need to think about defense or Chelsea's counterattack. The primary goal is to continue to attack.

Tottenham's offense came like a storm with the two full-backs fully inserted. The two full-backs completely used themselves as wingers, and the full-backs in front of them took turns to attack Chelsea's side defense.

For Bosingwa and Ashley Cole, although both of them have a good level on the defensive end, they are really unable to stand up for being continuously attacked by opponents, breaking out without thinking, fighting their bodies, and attacking the defense. up.

Tottenham's crosses from the wing began to increase, and the space for passing the ball in the wing cross also began to increase, and the accuracy began to improve.

However, Tottenham's contenders in the penalty area did not have many opportunities.

Defoe is not a striker who is good at heading the ball. He does not have such a strong body, nor is he tall enough. When he faces crosses from the wing in the penalty area, his biggest role may be to find the second place. Can be missed.

It's just that Yang Feng's characteristics perfectly restricted Defoe. Yang Feng only needs to ensure that Defoe is guarded so that he is within his sight range. After that, Yang Feng will not pass the ball in Yang Feng's defensive area. If there is any mistake, all of them will push out of the bottom line or the penalty area steadily, and if the pass is not in Yang Feng's area, Yang Feng will immediately exert physical strength on Defoe and complete the early card position.

Although Defoe's body is flexible and responsive, Yang Feng can quickly judge the position of the second landing point after fighting for the first point. Yang Feng, who took the initiative, always blocked the landing position before Defoe reacted, preventing Defoe from having a chance to pass easily.

In the 21st minute of the first half, Tottenham once sent a wonderful arc kick from the right. Terry and Keane were in a 50-50 competition for the landing point, and they both hit the football. The ball finally bounced to the right side of the penalty spot, where Defoe was. At that time, Defoe was in a better position than Yang Feng, but when facing the incoming ball, Defoe reacted directly. He volleyed sideways, and Yang Feng, after judging the second landing point for the first time, strode forward. Before Defoe hit the goal, he stretched out his foot from the side and rear and touched the football. Defoe The swing of his leg just kicked Yang Feng's leg, and he didn't finish hitting the goal!

Yang Feng used his own pain to cause Defoe's foul and defuse a potentially threatening shot by Defoe.

On the offensive end, Tottenham launched a crazily onslaught, but in the end it was nothing.

Chelsea's defense still proved its defensive strength. After withstood Tottenham's offense, Chelsea's counterattack finally achieved results in the 31st minute of the game.

Anelka received a pass from Lampard and directly formed a 1v1 dialogue when he counterattacked. In the process of accelerating forward, Anelka just made a simple step on a bicycle and swayed Tottenham away. The left-behind central defender got enough space to hit the goal, and then before the goalkeeper finished his attack, he shot a precise shot from the far corner, opening the scoring for Chelsea and completely shattering Tottenham's tactical plan to grab the attack.

After Chelsea took the lead, they naturally counterattacked with peace of mind. Although Lao Lei understood that with Chelsea's first goal, the game was over, but the Tottenham players still wanted to try.

Tottenham, who continued to take the initiative to attack, did not achieve any effect on the offensive end. Instead, Chelsea scored goals in the second half, Ballack and Malouda, and the score was finally fixed at 3-0!

At the end of the game, Tottenham still had 55% of the ball possession rate. This is also a rare game in which Chelsea did not dominate the ball possession rate in the league. However, the result of the game was very satisfying for Chelsea. The only hidden danger That is, Ballack suffered a muscle strain in the second half of the game after a month of continuous combat. The injury may become a real problem that Chelsea needs to face on the way forward.