Star Coach

Valencia used the 4231 formation that Benítez often used, with a fierce central axis and high defensive strength.

Speaking of the 4231 formation, it is now becoming popular, and Benítez has always regarded himself as the founder of this formation. But as early as the Premier League in 1994, Ferguson's Manchester United used this formation, and then Arsenal and Real Madrid also used it. Of course, Benítez's foothold is that he made the 4231 formation into a system, with four clear lines.

The goalkeeper is Cañizares, and the back line is lined up from left to right, with Curro Torres, Ayala, Pellegrino and Carboni, and the two defensive midfielders are Albelda and Baraja.

The three attacking midfielders are Rufete, Aimar, and Vicente, and Mista is at the forefront.

Hard power push, this is Benítez's idea, the La Liga champion will not be weaker than the second place in Ligue 1, not to mention the current 13th place in Ligue 1.

In contrast, Jiangshan did not do much about the formation. He had just taken over the team not long ago and had no time to mess with it. The 433 formation is a bit biased towards 451, and is also based on defense.

Goalkeeper Roma, the Italian has strength, but he is not the top goalkeeper, definitely not as good as Buffon and Toldo.

The back line is lined up, still the old formula, Evra, Givet, Rodriguez and Ibarra, the three midfielders are Cisse, Zicos, Bernardi, mainly defensive, the three are strong in defense, and the organizational ability is weak.

The front trident is Rothen, Nonda and Giuly. Today, the three have a heavy defensive task. Facing one of the strongest teams, everyone in Monaco must defend.

He also wanted to say to Giuly, "Stay in the front court, wait for opportunities, don't come back", what a nice propaganda copy, but it can't, the team is not strong enough yet.

At the beginning of the game, Valencia immediately showed the style of the La Liga champion, with orderly offense and defense, each link was very tight, the rhythm was neither fast nor slow, just on point, and Monaco was very uncomfortable at the beginning.

Jiangshan sat in the coach's seat and watched the game calmly, "In the last league game, the team practiced defensive tactics for the main players. According to the opponent's attack power, they should be able to hold on for half a game without losing the ball."

Pussor and Drogba were both sitting on the bench, watching the game nervously. Drogba thought a lot, "Hey, Pussor, I want to know, when you are in the penalty area, what are you thinking about? Why is your goal rate so high?"

"Uh..." This guy is not only stealing skills during the game, but also not watching the game carefully, "I didn't think about anything, I just used the most reasonable angle and the simplest technology to poke the ball in."

"Gulp!" Drogba looked at Pussor's feet and suddenly swallowed his saliva loudly. Pussor was so scared that he quickly covered it with his coat. Damn, I heard that Africans eat everything.

On the field, Cisse was full of energy and sturdy, always following Aimar. The "clown" has excellent skills and unpredictable footwork. He himself doesn't know what action to use next, but his ability to organize offense and tear apart defense is unquestionable.

This guy is called Maradona's successor and is full of spirituality. His biggest shortcoming may be his slender figure and lack of confrontation.

So Jiangshan arranged personnel to take special care of him. As long as Aimar appears in the dangerous area, someone will go up to ask the hall and sing a verse, so as not to give the opponent a chance to cheat.

Valencia's players played very uncomfortably, the offense was intermittent, and it was difficult to tear apart the defense. Even if the ball was distributed to the wing, Evra and Ibarra's physical strength was enough to defend against the opponent's Rufete and Vicente.

Especially Vicente has not yet developed his shooting skills, and his threat has been greatly reduced. Ibarra is more than enough to deal with him.

Of course, it is not easy for Monaco to open up the situation.

As soon as the ball passed the half court, it encountered the strongest defensive midfielder combination, the combination of Baraja and Albelda. Both of them were clear-headed, had clear ball paths, were very predictive of attacks, and had very reasonable positions, filtering out countless threats.

As long as they stood in front of the four defenders, they were like a high wall that was difficult to cross. This defensive midfielder combination was actually a transit station for Valencia. Because of the existence of the two, Valencia was able to hold high the 1:0 principle and win the championship last season.

Bang, bang, bang!

Collision, violent collision, the game was quite intense. If ignorant fans saw it, they would think it was a rugby game. The ball was not important, but the collision was important.

Constantly falling to the ground, constantly getting up, although the referee's standards were strict, but strangely, both sides controlled the fouls very well, and almost no cards were received.

Both sides took turns to thrust near the center circle, which was more intense than enjoyable.

The game was really ugly. Many neutral fans kept getting up to urinate. The game was full of physical resistance, and they were so hot that they even had to urinate.

The players on both sides had no awareness at all and were still enjoying it. This was an attitude.

Snap! Snap! Snap!

Keep hitting, keep exerting force, keep stealing, and keep intercepting.

Jiangshan and Benítez chose to defend tacitly, so neither of them cared much about the process of the game. It must be ugly.

There were definitely few opportunities. The defense was thick enough. Whoever could break through the defense might win the game.

Giuly was also taken care of. As long as he held the ball in front of the penalty area, two Valencia players would follow him and want to shoot at him.

Giuly was also forced too tight and was in a bad mood. He reduced his holding of the ball, and the pressure on the midfield and backcourt suddenly increased. Rothen's defensive ability was average. He had almost no chance to get the ball in this game, and he was helping the team defend.

"Giuly, this pit." Rothen cursed, and snatched Carboni's pass again, passing it to Giuly in the frontcourt to vent.

Jiangshan came out to direct the team, stabilized each wave of attack, slowed down the speed, and Rothen strengthened the lob. There was no high point in the front court, and Rothen's lob was a large-scale transfer.

Move the ball to a place with fewer people and organize the attack. Just like Scholes did in the Premier League.

"Rothen is on the court, why doesn't the coach let me and Drogba play?" Pussor thought deeply. Rothen's long pass was extremely coquettish. If there was a high point in the front court, their threat would be great.

Jiangshan certainly wouldn't say that the team didn't have better wingers. The young Ribery's injury had not healed yet, and his defense was really not good. In addition, Pussor was too slow and Drogba was too rough.

The most important thing was that it was not time to fight with bayonets.

At the end of the first half, neither side was able to create a decent opportunity, and there was only one shot that hit the goal frame. Monaco and Valencia left the field with an embarrassing score of 0:0.

At the beginning of the second half, Jiangshan immediately changed his tactics, put another central defender on the field, changed to a 352 formation with three central defenders, and pushed Giuly to the forward position.

With more players in the midfield, Monaco instantly gained an advantage and frequently threatened Valencia's goal.

Benítez's 4231 was useful, but the field could not be opened up, and the wing attack was weak. Jiangshan put out a 352 formation, which immediately exposed the shortcomings of Valencia's wing attack. Benítez also had a backhand and changed his tactics immediately.

"Jiangshan, this guy, is quite capable. He actually waited until the second half to change." Benítez was very proud, he was already thirsty.