Starting from playing as a defensive midfielder for Real Madrid

The most exciting and exciting part of a focus battle is of course the back-and-forth bayonet attack between two strong teams.

Previously, Manchester City and Chelsea's offensive attempts were relatively reserved, and the focus of the competition was also in the midfield.

Manchester City wanted to control the tempo and take the initiative in the midfield.

Chelsea blocked it at all levels, just not letting Manchester City get what they wanted.

Chelsea does not necessarily want to control the ball, but they also want to control the rhythm of the game.

After this confrontation, the contest between the two sides in the midfield was very exciting, and the pace of the game was also very fast.

But there were just few attacks into the opponent's defensive third zone.

Both Mourinho and Guardiola obviously attach great importance to their own hinterland today and have done a good job of tactical protection.

Guardiola actually didn't worry too much until Milner failed to attack on the offensive end and Li Ang found an opportunity to counterattack with a threatening long pass.

At that time, Fernandinho was dragged to the end of the midfield and did not lose his position. He also watched Kroos who wanted to go inside to receive De Bruyne's pass.

On the other side of the midfield, Hazard had previously participated in the return defense, but before he could intervene in time, Fernando was able to retreat in time to occupy his position.

Therefore, Manchester City does not have any defensive risks at the front of the penalty area.

Besides, Li Ang didn't intervene in this attack.

His long pass counterattack was too far back. By the time he ran into Manchester City's hinterland, Chelsea's counterattack might have been completed.

As long as Li Ang doesn't intervene, Guardiola feels that he can accept such a counterattack by Chelsea occasionally.

As a result, he didn't expect it, and neither did the entire Manchester City defense.

In a remote area more than thirty meters away from the goal, De Bruyne said he was going to cross!

You know, the person who dared to be so willful and so confident in sending threatening passes in this position in the Premier League before was David Beckham ten years ago!

But Ibrahimovic actually completed a non-stop volley under extremely difficult conditions!

A goal like this is completely impossible to achieve on the training ground.

Guardiola watched the scene where the goal occurred, and the first feeling in his mind was absurd.

He originally thought that only Li Ang and Hazard could break the tactical arrangement in Chelsea and force the rhythm to change the situation of the game.

Among them, Li Ang is of course Chelsea's number one threatening star that the entire Manchester City team must be vigilant about.

As for Azar, it's actually not bad.

Arrange the full-backs to mark him one-on-one, and have the midfielder ready to take care of him at any time. The probability of him bursting out is much smaller than that of Li Ang.

Of course, Ibrahimovic also poses a great threat, but his current playing style is more like a pillar-type point-grabbing center, and the threats are all in the penalty area.

It is difficult for Guardiola to make targeted defensive arrangements for him.

There is no need for that, and he still has Kompany, the current number one central defender in the Premier League.

In terms of confrontation and marking ability, Guardiola is completely assured of Kompany.

But his steadfast self-confidence was shattered at this moment by the excellent passing and shooting cooperation between De Bruyne and Ibrahimovic!

Two Chelsea players who were not on his target list became the winners and losers on the pitch at this moment.

Moreover, before Li Ang and Hazard even exerted their efforts, Manchester City was already one goal behind?

The feeling that the game was about to get completely out of control made Guardiola feel flustered for a long time.

It wasn't until his assistant's concerned reminder came that he came back to his senses from his chaotic thoughts.

"Why don't we let Sergio (Aguero) warm up first? Then in the second half we..."

The Manchester City assistant coach gave his advice with some worry, which does not mean that he should immediately adjust his tactics and change his formation.

By letting Aguero warm up early, Manchester City can also have more adjustment options at halftime.

From a tactical perspective, this is understandable.

But Guardiola still had a clear head and rejected the offer of an assistant coach.

"There is no problem with our tactics. Don't put any psychological burden on the players on the field. What they need now is not tactical adjustments, but trust."

After saying this, Guardiola's eyes were a little complicated.

Trust, he can indeed continue to trust his disciples.

But can the current Manchester City players still unconditionally trust his tactical ideas?

…

Chelsea's celebration is over, but the boiling Stamford Bridge stadium has never cooled down.

After Li Ang and his teammates high-fived each other in celebration and encouragement, he immediately looked towards the sidelines.

Mourinho just ended his brief discussion with Holland at this time. He still held the tactical board in his hand, but his eyes were already looking at the court.

"Change positions! Li Ang, you and Tony change positions, and then we will play tactic No. 2!"

Mourinho made a gesture of changing positions on the sidelines, and then stretched out two fingers towards Li Ang.

The exchange between the two was very brief, but Li Ang quickly gave Lao Mu a reassuring gesture.

"Let's go back to tactic No. 2. Tony, you retreat to organize while we change positions. Kevin, you know, pay more attention to my movement later..."

With Li Ang clearly and clearly conveying tactical instructions on Mourinho's behalf, the Chelsea players on the field quickly completed the position changes.

Chelsea also directly returned to their most familiar 4231 formation.

In terms of offensiveness, Chelsea's current 433 formation is the most powerful.

However, considering the importance of midfield balance, Mourinho chose 4231, which is more stable and more effective in counterattacking.

Chelsea's changes fell on Guardiola and in the eyes of countless fans in front of the TV.

And they all know that Chelsea, who have achieved their tactical goals ahead of schedule, will soon become the toughest nut on the field.

The defense is tough and difficult, and on the counterattack, Li Ang is the best midfielder in football who is good at holding the ball forward.

Mourinho moved Li Ang's position forward, and the fans knew what his intention was.

Of course Guardiola understands, but he has experienced this kind of tactical dilemma many times. Faced with Chelsea's obvious tactical traps, he can still stay calm and not be fooled.

Milner's mistake sounded the alarm for all Manchester City players on the field, and Guardiola kept shouting on the sidelines.

In the second half of the first half, there was no one player from Manchester City who led teammates in the area to take risks and give Chelsea an opportunity to easily counterattack.

However, after Manchester City started the forwardless formation, their ability at the end of the ball dropped significantly, which also made it difficult for them to threaten Chelsea's goal with simpler offensive methods.

After all, whether it was Aguero or Dzeko at the front of Manchester City's formation, they all had a core target that threatened to pass.

Once the ball is passed, no matter how little opportunity there is, the two forwards can still get a few kicks in, which can also add a lot of pressure to Chelsea's defense.

But now that Dzeko has transferred and left, Aguero failed to start this game again.

Manchester City, which had started a forwardless formation, seemed somewhat embarrassed when the score fell behind.

The 1-0 score was maintained until the end of the half-time game. Chelsea, who was sitting at home, had already broken the balance of the game in the first half.

Although in the first half of the game, Manchester City's ball possession rate and number of shots were better than Chelsea's.

But fans who watched half of the game knew that Chelsea once again suppressed Manchester City's performance.

Whether on the defensive or offensive end, Li Ang's performance today seemed to have once again broken through Manchester City's tactical restrictions.

This result really makes Manchester City and Guardiola's supporters feel very powerless.

Li Ang's importance to the operation of Chelsea's offensive and defensive system is self-evident.

If Manchester City can't suppress his performance, it means they can't suppress the smooth operation of Chelsea's team.

And it seems that Li Ang did not consume too much physical energy in the first half. If Chelsea launches a large-scale offensive in the second half and Li Ang is in good condition, how should Manchester City respond?

Many Barcelona fans who paid special attention to this game seemed to have seen in advance the awkward tactical situation when Barcelona faced Chelsea more than half a month later.

Moreover, they are also very worried that Mourinho and Li Ang will once again adopt the shameless tactics of marking Messi full-court without any moral ethics.

Compared with last season, Barcelona seems to be less dependent on Messi this season.

Because Neymar has experienced an explosion of form after adapting to the intensity and rhythm of La Liga, and his current personal data is also very luxurious.

But to be honest, fans who have watched all Barcelona games this season understand that Neymar's outbreak is largely due to Messi's willingness to make tactical sacrifices.

On the offensive end, Messi took the initiative to help Neymar open up the defenders, and even went to the center many times to attract firepower, giving up a lot of the right to fire after diagonally inserting into the center from the sideline.

Such tactical sacrifices enabled Neymar's explosion and also caused Messi's personal data to decline significantly this season.

But when it comes to fighting a tough battle, Barcelona still has to rely on Messi. It can even be said that if Messi can't stand up, Barcelona will basically give up.

At present, there are only a few teams in football that can significantly limit Messi's performance by relying on a defensive tactical system.

But Chelsea happens to be a leader, and Li Ang doesn't have the airs of a superstar yet.

In the past, he could self-destruct one-on-one with Messi on the defensive end, and shamelessly dragged Messi to death to allow Real Madrid to suppress Barcelona.

He was already a superstar in the Premier League last season, but when he played against Barcelona, ​​he could still "chat" with Messi on the defensive end. This really highlighted his ability to bend and stretch.

Chelsea looks stronger this season and is more comfortable playing against skilled teams. How can we not make Barcelona fans feel guilty?

In some ways, the current Manchester City and Barcelona are indeed quite similar.

If Manchester City can really buy Messi from Barcelona, ​​then there is nothing wrong with calling them the new Barcelona.

Therefore, it is normal that the contest between them and Chelsea is regarded as a preview of the battle between Chelsea and Barcelona.

Now Barcelona fans are feeling terrible along with Manchester City fans.

However, the situation in the second half of the game was still tilting further towards Chelsea, and it was still an unavoidable tilt!

Because Manchester City had been able to temporarily avoid the battle before, but after the 60th minute of the second half of the game, they had to face reality.

A draw in this game is considered a failure for Manchester City, and a loss is even more of a failure.

If Chelsea opened up a points gap of 4 games so early, then in the real sprint stage of the second half of the league, Manchester City will still be fighting for the Premier League championship!

Guardiola is not an impatient or emotional person - except in the dressing room - but now he has to make a tactical decision that seems a little impatient.

As soon as the game ended in the 60th minute of the second half, Manchester City sounded the clarion call for forward attack!

After Aguero fully warmed up, he also replaced Milner and came on as Manchester City's trump card.

Manchester City, which has restored its normal 433 formation, is obviously going to risk everything to fight for the last chance to counterattack in this round of games.

Villa and Jovetic also warmed up on the Manchester City side.

At this time, Mourinho remained unmoved and had no intention of adjusting his tactics.

Li Ang also had firm eyes and a heart of stone on the court.

In the desperate offensive launched by Manchester City soon, Liang retreated directly to his own half to form a three-back midfielder with Matic and Kroos.

The three of them seemed to have merged into a huge rock in the sea. They remained unmoved no matter how hard the waves hit them!

Matic and Kroos stayed in the ribs on both sides of their own half, while Li Ang used full firepower to intercept and sweep.

Fabregas, who retreated to the attacking midfielder position, was knocked to the ground many times under Li Ang's active pressure!

The referee on duty naturally gave Manchester City many opportunities to set the ball in the frontcourt.

But looking at the current situation of "there are many experts" in Chelsea's penalty area, Fabregas, who takes the free kick, does not have much confidence in his heart.

Without Dzeko, the Manchester City team is really getting closer to the current Barcelona.

There are only two high points anyway. Barcelona is Pique and Busquets in the backcourt, and Manchester City is Mangala and Kompany in the backcourt.

In this case, there is really no advantage in using set-piece tactics.

Even if Chelsea doesn't play Maguire, they can easily come up with four high points that have the advantage of competing for the top.

Coupled with the sister-in-law who is very capable of heading the ball, it will not be easy to deal with Manchester City's high-altitude bombing!

Anyway, after trying the set-piece play of lobbing the ball into Chelsea's penalty area two or three times, all the Manchester City players and the coaching staff on the sidelines decisively gave up the idea of ​​scoring goals with this play.

Guardiola felt the rapid passage of time, and for the first time he truly regretted selling Dzeko.

In his stubborn tactical philosophy, he also seriously considered the possibility of introducing a big center for the first time.

This type of player is used in such desperate situations. It can be used normally, but it really cannot be used without it!

Regretful, Guardiola turned his head to look at the court, and saw the exciting scene of Li Ang making two tackles in a row, directly knocking down Cesc Fabregas and Fernandinho!

The Manchester City players on the field were obviously agitated and surrounded the referee in dissatisfaction.

But Li Ang turned over and climbed up from the turf without caring and waved his arms vigorously towards the home stands, encouraging the Chelsea fans at the scene to cheer wildly!

Before Guardiola could do anything, his assistant rushed to the fourth official to complain.

The referee finally showed Li Ang a yellow card, but there is no doubt that Chelsea's defensive momentum has been completely ignited!

Mourinho excitedly waved his fists on the sidelines and continued to encourage his disciples.

Guardiola stood not far from him and pursed his lips in silence.

Although he doesn't want to admit it, Guardiola knows it very well.

For the first time, he felt so envious of his former friend.

Very envious!