Midfielder

Mourinho is a cunning guy. This is the consensus of all the coaches in the Premier League. Since the beginning of this season, I don’t know how many coaches have been tricked by this guy, including old guys like Ferguson and Wenger.

Of course, the crimes committed by this guy in Chelsea are not the worst. When he was in Porto, he tricked countless people. Many people said that Porto’s treble was tricked by him. From Benfica and Sporting Lisbon to Manchester United, all these giants fell into his conspiracy.

"He is a sinister guy. He often digs traps for others and waits for others to get into them." This is Ferguson's evaluation of Mourinho, and the unlucky Scottish old man has fallen into the Portuguese three times in a row.

Now there are countless teams and coaches tricked by Mourinho, but when he was in Chelsea, he seemed to be used to using overwhelming advantages to strangle the opponent. After all, if the overall strength of the team is really compared, Chelsea is indeed more terrible than many teams.

So Mourinho has rarely played those conspiracies and tricks this season. Even in the strong dialogues with Manchester United and Arsenal, he relied more on the team's hard power to fight with opponents. Those small tricks in Porto rarely appeared.

But this does not mean that he will not use these things, especially when life and death are at stake, this kind of cunning from the bones will always burst out, and he will become more insidious and terrible.

The Dutchman is unlucky, because this guy has always been a practical man, but he ran into a cunning fox.

Rijkaard may pay too much attention to Chelsea's superficial strength and forget that Mourinho is a cunning fox. When he saw Thiago on the court, he just thought that Chelsea was preparing to compete for the control of the midfield and did not consider anything else.

I don't know whether to say that the Dutchman is honest, or that his ability to respond on the spot is not as good as Mourinho. Anyway, he did not notice the change of position between Lin Yi and Lampard at the first time. He just told Deco and Albertini to pay attention to the defense of Lin Yi.

Perhaps just as Mourinho expected, based on the away goal, Barcelona's tactical arrangement is to steadily control the football.

Only by firmly controlling the football under your feet can you avoid the opponent from taking advantage of any opportunity to launch a counterattack. This has always been Barcelona's tactical thinking.

From Spain to Barcelona, ​​the idea of ​​ball control has long occupied the minds of the Spanish. In their view, only by controlling the game with beautiful footwork can the team win, even in offense, and it must be delicate to the point of being outrageous.

This may be the stubborn side of the Spanish, so every time they face those physically strong and fiercely pressing teams in the world championships, they always can't take advantage. Often their ball control can reach more than 60%, but in the end they are still eliminated.

Although there have been many such lessons, the idea of ​​relying on technology to dominate everything has never been removed from their minds, especially the Barcelona team, from the La Masia youth training camp to the first team, is known for cultivating such technically beautiful players.

After the opening, they did not immediately press the attack, but began to rely on frequent short passes between each other in the midfield to carry out penetrating attacks.

Especially between Xavi and Iniesta, they especially wanted to find a gap to break through from the wing, because Ronaldinho was frequently active on the wing.

When Chelsea adjusted the back line to three people, Barcelona wanted to open up the situation from Bridge's defensive gap. Compared with Carvalho and Terry, this guy's defensive skills were obviously worse, but Chelsea seemed to be guarding against this move.

They all obviously found that their free space on the field began to be gradually compressed by the opponent, especially Duff and Robben's frequent retreat, which caused a lot of trouble for their passing. Let alone tearing Chelsea's defense, they now even have a hard time gaining a foothold in the midfield.

Although Robben and Duff's defense was not so strong, they still caused a lot of interference to Xavi and Iniesta in physical confrontation, because they were really fast, and even if they were passed by the opponent, they could immediately chase back and interfere.

Mourinho wanted this result. He did not pursue a one-hit-kill defense, but wanted to make Barcelona's midfield chaotic and prevent them from controlling the ball comfortably. Want to enter Barcelona's offensive rhythm? Sorry, this is not Camp Nou.

Because this is not Camp Nou and Collina is not Fricks, the Italian bald guy is not so strict about the scale of physical contact. After all, he is used to enforcing the law in Italy. As long as it is not a malicious action to hurt people, he thinks it is reasonable.

Although he also showed a yellow card to Robben at the beginning of the second half, he only gave verbal warnings most of the time, which made many Barcelona players protest to him. They believed that the defensive actions of Chelsea's midfielders were large and had strong offensive intentions.

But Collina, a tough guy, rarely listened to the players' nagging. He just warned both sides to be calm, otherwise, his red and yellow cards were ready at any time. I really don't know if Mourinho considered this when he chose him.

Such a tight confrontation had a great impact on Barcelona's ball possession tactics. Although Xavi and Iniesta rarely let the football under their feet be snatched away by the opponent, the sudden increase in defensive intensity still made them have to be careful to deal with it, so that their offensive support became less.

Barcelona's shot in the second half was actually a half-high ball sent by Ronaldinho to Eto'o after he retreated to the arc of the center circle. The Cameroon striker completed a difficult volley in a very awkward situation.

Of course, the effect of Eto'o's shot in such an awkward posture can be imagined. According to Lineker, "The football is so high that it can talk to Martians." But this was Barcelona's first shot five minutes after the start of the second half.

"Steady, control your emotions!" Rijkaard shouted to the players on the sidelines for the nth time after the start of the second half.

Because even he himself felt that his midfield was gradually occupied by the opponent, because Deco and Albertini's energy was mainly focused on defense, and when they inserted assists, it was difficult for them to provide any help to Xavi and Iniesta.

Now many of Barcelona's attacks rely on Ronaldinho to retreat and get the ball before they can form an offensive, but the excessive retreat of the Brazilian has reduced the pressure on Chelsea's defense, especially the Chelsea defense, which has changed to a three-back formation, and can fully cope with it.

Only Eto'o's guerrillas can cause them some trouble, but Terry's fierce interceptions prevent the Cameroonians from taking any advantage in direct confrontations, and Bridge rarely faces threats. Iniesta and others are involved in the midfield.

This is not the most troublesome thing. Since the end of get off work, Rijkaard clearly felt that Ronaldinho's activities were restricted by Chelsea. Makelele followed him almost step by step. Even if Ronaldinho retreated to the midfield, the Frenchman followed closely.

Makelele is like a plaster stuck to Ronaldinho. It is impossible to get rid of him. Barcelona's offensive suddenly fell into a sluggish state. It is for this reason that their offensive core was closely watched by the opponent.

Rijkaard is now playing the role of Thiago. That guy is not an organizer at all. He now occupies Makelele's defensive position, adds an insurance for the back line, and then completely frees Makelele to entangle Ronaldinho.

The defense is like sticky candy. Judging from the posture, the Frenchman is ready to keep entangled with Ronaldinho until this guy leaves the field. Rijkaard may not know that Mourinho's requirement for Makelele is, "Even if the Brazilian goes into the locker room, you have to keep an eye on him! Unless the game is over, you are not allowed to leave that guy. As long as you feel danger, you can foul at will."

As long as he is not sent off by Collina, Mourinho gives Makelele the greatest freedom and he must completely keep an eye on the core of the Barcelona team.

Now this kind of defense has really caused great trouble for Barcelona. These guys who are used to penetrating the opponent's defense line really miss Maxi Lopez sitting on the bench, because without his high point, the game seems very difficult.

Originally, during the halftime break, Rijkaard secretly rejoiced that Drogba was absent. When Chelsea was obviously going to attack, without the high point of the African elephant, their attack always felt a little less fierce.

Although Gudjohnsen also has a strong impact, his height and header advantage are still a little worse than Drogba.

Especially when used as a center forward, Gudjohnsen's ferrying and ball-making ability on the front line is weaker, and his finishing is not so sophisticated. Except for the shot before the end of the first half, he did not cause too much trouble to Puyol and others.

Originally, Chelsea's lack of a main center forward was good news for Rijkaard, but now Chelsea's strong defense has forced Barcelona to face the embarrassment of adjusting the front line.

If there is no high point to support the front court, Barcelona's attack may really be extinct, and Rijkaard seems hesitant at this moment.

Change? Or not? This is really a question. Whether to give up the attack is a difficult choice for Barcelona now.

But Chelsea's strong interception is not just to make the opponent's attack feel uncomfortable, but they are planning to score goals.

The knife that has been lurking for a long time should show its prowess. . .

(National Derby tonight, did you watch it?)