The Godfather of Football

For the defenders in the modern football tactical system, there are usually two types of players that are the most difficult to defend.

One type is players who have very flexible ability to change their center of gravity and very skillful and delicate skills at their feet, usually small players or superstars like Ronaldinho; the other type is beast-level players with strong bodies and solid technical basics, such as Drogba and Ibrahimovic.

As the football defense system gradually becomes stricter, more and more attention is paid to assisting and supporting, and the ability of defensive players to cooperate with each other is increasingly valued. For offensive players, creating opportunities in a small range has become a necessary means of attack, so these two types of players always give defensive players a headache.

Thiago Silva has been a teammate with Ibramovic for a period of time. He knows very well how difficult this tall player is. He is tall, has very delicate skills at his feet, and has a large control area for the incoming ball. Whether it is a high ball or a ground ball, he can deal with it very skillfully.

If it were just that, it would be nothing, but the problem is that they can keep suppressing your body while receiving the ball. Everyone can imagine the feeling of being held up by a meat shield that is more than half a head taller than you and weighs nearly 50 kilograms more than you. You are completely powerless.

Many people say that Thiago Silva is not good at playing against center forwards, but that depends on who he is playing against. When playing against center forwards with obvious advantages and disadvantages in other Premier League teams, Thiago Silva has performed very well, such as Heskey.

Sometimes fans are easily guided by the media. For example, Thiago Silva only performed poorly against Drogba, or made mistakes when playing against center forwards occasionally. However, under the excessive hype and interpretation of the media, fans understood that Thiago Silva had no tricks when facing center forwards.

Drogba is a very abnormal center forward with excellent explosive power, a very flexible body, solid basic skills in footwork, strong ability to hold and make balls, and more importantly, he has an incredibly strong body to fight against.

Maybe some people think that the reason you complain about Drogba's strength is that you are not strong enough, but you should know that strength and flexibility are always inversely proportional. If Thiago Silva pursues strength too much, he must sacrifice his flexibility, explosiveness, and even some technical moves.

Just like someone recently commented on Manchester United's Cristiano Ronaldo, thinking that he is stronger, but his skills have become worse.

Some people say it is concise, but professionals can see that his skills are indeed worse, and this is because his body is stronger. The muscles of the body have become stronger, especially the legs, so that many technical moves that he could do in the past can no longer be done. This is the price.

There is no player in this world who is abnormally strong, has outstanding footwork, and is very fast. That can only exist in the game modifier forever, and it can never appear in reality.

At least, Peter Brandt, director of Tottenham Hotspur's research center, gave Thiago Silva advice that his current physical condition is very reasonable and he should not continue to emphasize strength and exercise his muscles, because this will cause his speed and flexibility to decrease.

Imagine, when Thiago Silva becomes a smaller version of Hangeland, will Tottenham Hotspur still have a place for him?

Ye Qiu also told him that physical strength confrontation is not the only decisive factor on the court. Football, especially modern football, relies more on the brain, creativity and imagination, so he suggested that Thiago Silva should think more and explore more.

But in the process of thinking and exploring, Thiago Silva will inevitably make mistakes, because the opponent will stare at you and play.

Drogba saw Deco taking the ball and chose to run to Thiago Silva at the first time. This move made Thiago Silva immediately realize that the crisis was coming. He could not choose to go around quickly, because once the opponent did not move, he went around first, what if the opponent hit behind him?

So he wanted to compete with Drogba for position, but Drogba cleverly ran back a step, staggered Thiago Silva, stood in position, blocked Thiago Silva behind him, and at this time, Deco passed the ball to his feet, Thiago Silva was powerless at this time, and could only choose to get close to Drogba and prevent him from turning around.

The more detailed and meticulous the football targeted tactics are, the less room you have to make choices, and even many times you have no choice at all, even if you know what the consequences of doing so will be, you still have to take this gamble.

Drogba suppressed Thiago Silva, his body was as strong as a mountain, Thiago Silva had to use all his strength to hold him, which made it impossible for him to do anything else, but he also made it impossible for Drogba to turn around, so he had to give up himself.

Drogba passed the ball back to Lampard, who passed it diagonally behind him. The two of them cooperated in the blink of an eye, and at this time Ballack rushed up from beside Thiago Silva. Even though the Brazilian saw it clearly, when he got rid of Drogba and turned around quickly to chase back, he saw that Ballack had stopped the ball in the penalty area and shot directly, and the ball went in!

At this moment, Thiago Silva, sweating profusely, opened his arms and hugged his head in despair. He didn't know why, no matter how hard he tried, the final result was still like this.

Drogba, this elephant from Côte d'Ivoire, is he really the nightmare of his career?

All the Chelsea fans in the entire Stamford Bridge were boiling. They all applauded and cheered for Ballack's calm shot, while Mourinho, who was in front of the home team's coaching seat on the sidelines, rushed out of the coaching area almost crazily, waving his arms all the way, and slid to the bottom of the fans' stands on the sidelines.

This surprising celebration showed Mourinho's excitement at this moment. In the 17th minute at home, he took the lead in knocking on Tottenham Hotspur's goal. Is there a better start than this that makes everyone feel at ease?

The entire Stamford Bridge stadium completely turned into a sea of ​​celebration. The sound waves created by all Chelsea fans swept and swallowed everyone present like a huge wave.

Everyone in Tottenham Hotspur was very disappointed, because from this goal, Tottenham Hotspur's defense was indeed broken by the opponent, but everyone knew that it was not someone's fault, even if it was Thiago Silva, he had already tried his best.

Before the game started, he told his teammates that he would try to break the shadow of Drogba in this game, but the two were obviously not in the same weight class, and Drogba, the cunning opponent, obviously looked for Thiago Silva's side as a breakthrough again and again.

"We just received the news that Liverpool is now leading Reading 1:0 away from home, while Manchester United's match with Portsmouth is still 0:0, and Arsenal's match with West Ham United is still 0:0, which means that we are the leader of the league!"

The broadcast at Stamford Bridge clearly has the mentality of boosting the morale of the home team players and hitting Tottenham's fighting spirit. It announced the scores of several other teams. If ranked according to the real-time standings, then the current leader of the league should be Chelsea, while Liverpool's ranking has risen to third and Tottenham has dropped to fourth.

However, there is only a one-point gap between Tottenham and Arsenal. If Arsenal beats West Ham United, Tottenham will be completely eliminated from the UEFA Champions League qualification zone. So now for Tottenham, the pressure is very great, very great, infinite, because after losing this goal, the situation is completely reversed.

Ye Qiu had no way to think whether this was a conspiracy from the home team. After listening to the broadcast of the on-site commentator, he immediately walked to the sidelines, shouted loudly and reminded his players to stay calm.

"Thiago!" Ye Qiu clapped his hands vigorously, "Don't be stressed, concentrate, and continue the game!"

"David! Cesc!" Ye Qiu looked at Beckham and Fabregas, "Don't rush to attack, stay steady, understand? Stay steady, don't follow them to play fast, our rhythm just now was too fast, slow down, control the ball!"

Ye Qiu also asked Friis Hawke to tell Peter Cech not to throw forward in a hurry, and not to kick blindly, but to help the team control the ball and receive the ball in the midfield and backcourt.

Whether in Ajax, Chelsea, or now in Tottenham Hotspur, in Ye Qiu's entire tactical system, the goalkeeper has always been an important part of the team's tactical system. Even when Ye Qiu arranges the team to play the wall game, he arranges the goalkeeper to be the wall, further sculpting the goalkeeper's skills and integrating him into the team's tactical system.

The biggest problem of Tottenham Hotspur now is that the midfielder's ball is suppressed, and at the same time blindly speeds up the rhythm and plays with Chelsea's rhythm. This is undoubtedly Chelsea's favorite rhythm, because speed is good for them, because speed will increase Tottenham Hotspur's passing and receiving errors, while Chelsea does not have this problem.

This is also an important factor in Mourinho's attack after the opening.

"He is going to use his physical strength to drag us to death!" Mauro Tassotti said with some worry.

From the perspective of physical fitness alone, Tottenham Hotspur is not as good as Chelsea, and the gap between the two sides is not small.

Van Nistelrooy and Beckham are both veterans, and Fabregas, Ribery and Messi are not physical players either. So once they are pulled into a physical attrition war by the opponent, Tottenham Hotspur has no chance of winning.

"He's dreaming!" Ye Qiu could of course see Mourinho's idea and went straight to the meat grinder midfield. Isn't this a physical attrition war? And this is why Ye Qiu called on the players to stabilize the situation. Just now, they got excited and followed the opponent's rhythm, and ended up being scored by the opponent. Now they have to stabilize their situation and find their own rhythm.

The two sides of a football match are like two boxers in a boxing ring. The side that gets excited is doomed to fail, and the side that is pulled into the opponent's rhythm and can't jump out is also doomed to fail. If you can stay calm and stalemate with the opponent, it will be a stalemate, and no one can eat the opponent in a short time.

After the restart, Tottenham Hotspur began to consciously slow down the tempo under the command and adjustment of Ye Qiu on the sidelines, and began to control the ball and pass the ball more in the midfield and backcourt, and through skillful passing and receiving between each other, they forced Chelsea to press forward and steal the ball.

Chelsea just had a goal in hand and their morale was high. They were trying to crush Tottenham Hotspur in one go. So when they saw Tottenham Hotspur not finding an opportunity to attack, they immediately passed the ball back to the midfield. I was angry and had no place to vent my anger, so I gradually pressed forward and began to press more in the midfield and frontcourt.

Ye Qiu kept calling on the players on the sidelines to try their best to use the combination of passing and receiving to pull the opponent and let Chelsea players run.

Mascherano must be mentioned here. Many fans’ impression of Mascherano is defense, god-like defense, but they are not very impressed with his ball-taking, passing and skills. Maybe even You would think that he is average in these aspects.

But in fact, as a main defensive midfielder and as a young man who came out of Argentina's excellent youth training camp, his technical skills are definitely solid enough, his ability to stop the ball is excellent, and his ball protection is considered excellent in the defensive midfielder, and he The success rate of the ability to hit the ball from about fifteen meters is very high.

More importantly, Mascherano has a very good advantage as a defensive midfielder, that is, he basically does not penetrate forward.

Anyone who often watches football knows that when the opponent launches an aggressive frontcourt press, whether there is a stable contact point in the midfielder position is the key to whether a team can ensure control of the ball in the midfield and backcourt, because among them When defenders are pressed and full-backs are threatened by the opponent, in order to avoid being intercepted by the opponent and leading to a counterattack, they usually have to pass the ball forward. Sometimes they even have to kick the ball out of the field and give it to the opponent. Right and a throw-in.

Because relatively speaking, whether it is giving them the ball or a foul ball, it is less threatening than counterattacking after the opponent steals the ball, so it is the lesser of two evils.

And all teams with excellent ball control capabilities must have a stable receiving point in the midfielder position, because if there is such a point, then if the opponent wants to engage in active frontcourt pressing, it must be in the back line of defense. If four players are placed in the defensive midfield position, there will definitely be holes in his midfield and backcourt.

Of course, if you are unwilling to play with so many people, then you can only watch the opponent control the ball.

Therefore, in Tottenham Hotspur's entire tactical system, Mascherano not only exists as a defensive barrier, he is also an important fulcrum of the team's ball control and ball release point. Of course, with Fabray Unlike Gass and Beckham, who mostly pass through, Mascherano mostly passes from both sides, splitting the ball between the left and right flanks.

One of the very good characteristics of Mascherano as a defensive midfielder is that he will never touch anything he is not good at, so he rarely goes directly to Ribery and Messi, because the pass beyond about 15 meters The ball, his accuracy is very low.

This is why Ye Qiu trusts and relies on him so much. A player who knows how to use his strengths and avoid weaknesses and is willing to take on dirty and tiring work is even more important and valuable than an excellent forward.

When Tottenham Hotspur are determined to stabilize the situation, slow down the tempo, and try to control the ball, Chelsea's frontcourt press is still dominated by Drogba and Lampard. Drogba mainly attacks the two The central defender, Lampard, faced Mascherano, but when Tottenham was in possession of the ball, these three players always kept their distance, allowing Drogba and Lampard to run back and forth, but they were unable to grab the ball. When the ball arrives, Essien follows up as Beckham retreats.

"We can see that Tottenham Hotspur played very patiently after losing the ball. During this period, they began to consciously slow down their pace and stabilize their possession of the ball. This is also Tottenham Hotspur's usual behavior. According to his tactical characteristics, if he is playing against a weak team, he will try to pass the ball forward more, but now he is facing Chelsea, so he has to patiently look for opportunities. "

Richard Keith also noticed it, "Have you noticed that Tottenham Hotspur even Beckham and Cesc Fabregas consciously retracted, and Chelsea's midfielders also followed suit. Ribery and Messi also gradually retreated and pulled out defensive players. I wonder if Mourinho has noticed this? "

Andy Gray nodded, "The situation on the scene looks a bit dull now, but both sides are brewing the next wave of offensive. Although Tottenham Hotspur retreated, they had a high ball possession rate. The formation is a bit like a retracted but tightly clenched fist, and you may hit your opponent with the most powerful uppercut at any time!”

"Yes, from the perspective of speed and personal ability, Tottenham Hotspur's Ribery and Messi have great advantages, especially Ribery on the left. Against Ferreira, it is almost a crushing. Now Chelsea's The defensive line is coming up, which is not necessarily a good thing!”

Andy Gray was a little worried about Mourinho, "We can see it clearly now, but Mourinho may not be able to see it on the sidelines, or Mourinho may have some ideas of his own."

At this moment, the on-site commentator once again broke out a piece of good news that made all Chelsea fans in the audience feel very happy. Manchester United, who were challenging Portsmouth away from home, had just been penetrated by Portsmouth. The score was now 0: 1 behind the home team.

"This is definitely very good news for Chelsea!" Andy Gray was also amazed after hearing this, because if Manchester United loses, then for Chelsea, even if it is a draw, they can Get the championship.

"Mourinho and his team should breathe a sigh of relief now and play more patiently. After all, the situation is very favorable to Chelsea now and there is no need to take any more risks!"

Andy Gray saw Mourinho directing the team on the sidelines, and seemed to want the team to continue to press forward. "Hey, Mourinho seems to be emphasizing attacking. He seems to be planning to use this momentum to directly defeat Tottenham Hotspur!"

Richard Keys laughed after hearing this, "Because Mourinho said that as long as it is eleven people against eleven people, Chelsea will play Tottenham Hotspur, it will be like playing, and victory will be in the applause!"

Andy Gray also laughed after hearing this. For the current situation, Tottenham Hotspur is indeed getting more and more disadvantageous, especially considering the mentality of the players. If the mentality of the players is messed up, the consequences will be unimaginable.

And this is also the reason why Ye Qiu has been standing on the sidelines, shouting non-stop, and shouting until his throat is a little hoarse.

He also knows very well that the more critical the moment is, the more he cannot mess up!

As long as the team is not in chaos, he believes that there must be a chance!