The Godfather of Football

Once upon a time, if those reporters or football commentators wanted to praise Tottenham Hotspur, it was very simple. They only needed to praise this team's offense. You can praise it as much as you want, even if you praise its offense like a champ. There is no problem with the flowers.

But this time the situation has obviously changed, because everyone discovered that Tottenham Hotspur's best performance in the first round against Barcelona was their defense. In fact, in the past season, Tottenham Hotspur's best performance was their defense. Tenham Hotspur's defense has always been quite solid.

Barcelona's football godfather Cruyff commented in his post-match column that a very important reason why Barcelona failed to perform well on the offensive end was the failure of propulsive passing.

"We had nearly 60% of the ball possession in this game. At first glance, our possession time and passing success rate are better than Tottenham Hotspur, but if you pay attention to other data , we will find that we are inferior to our opponents in terms of the number of shots, the number of threatening passes, and even the number of attacks into the opponent's thirty-meter area."

“An important reason for this huge gap is that our ball possession rate relies more on cross passes and back passes. When we faced other opponents in the past, we were always able to create threatening propulsive passes, such as "We did a very poor job with through balls in this game and we couldn't penetrate the Tottenham defense effectively."

"Ye Qiu is very familiar with and understands Barcelona's tactics. Although Tottenham Hotspur relied on defense in the first half of this game, they did not shrink the defense line. Instead, they used effective retreats in the midfield and frontcourt to compress us. The lack of space to get the ball forces our players to often be in an embarrassing situation where they are attacked from both sides.”

"During the game, I also noticed that Tottenham Hotspur's defense is very changeable and targeted. It has blocking, pressing, and positioning. They can use extremely high speed in a very short time. With fast speed and tacit understanding of movement, he effectively organized a targeted and flexible multi-layered compound defensive system.”

"This defensive system makes our players feel very uncomfortable, especially Robin van Persie. He can neither get effective passes, nor can he give threatening passes after finally getting the pass, and our midfielder is not able to pass the ball effectively. Wei and Iniesta were also tightly contained by our opponents, which prevented us from forming an effective offensive threat during the game. "

"I noticed that there are a lot of people who will accuse Tottenham of being conservative, but what I want to say is that this is not a conservative and negative tactic. On the contrary, it should ring the alarm bell for us, that is Are our excessive and unnecessary possessions familiar to our competitors and being exploited by them?"

"And we must also clearly realize that in the past, we always said that Tottenham Hotspur is a team that is stronger offensively than defensively, but this season, Tottenham Hotspur's offense is still extremely sharp. But their defense has made tremendous progress and improvement, which means this team is better than ever in the past.”

“It can be said that this defeat at White Hart Lane allowed us to clearly see the progress of Tottenham Hotspur. It also allowed us to see that compared with the progress of our opponents, although we have also made progress, the progress is not. Big, behind our opponents.”

At the end of the column, Cruyff also advised Guardiola, "The second round of the game is only a week away. We have absolutely reason to believe that one week later, the Tottenham Hotspur we face will still be the same team. It’s a very difficult team, and when the time comes, do we have enough ability and enough methods to break through their defense?”

As for Cruyff’s question, it is also a question shared by many Spanish reporters and fans, and even football reporters and fans around the world. Guardiola said in an interview that he firmly believes that the team can win at Camp Nou. Defeat your opponent.

After playing the first leg of the Champions League quarter-finals at White Hart Lane, several other games were also decided. Among them, Ye Qiu was most concerned about the game between Bayern Munich and Manchester United, and Fan Gall's team reversed Manchester United 2:1 at home with goals from Robben and Olic at the Allianz Arena.

What was eye-catching about this game was that Manchester United broke through Bayern Munich's goal less than a minute after the start. Although they were eventually reversed by Bayern Munich, Manchester United's overall performance was still quite good, and based on Manchester United's strength , return to the Old Trafford Stadium, and add an away goal, the possibility of promotion is still not small.

However, Ferguson's team faced Ancelotti's Chelsea, currently ranked second in the Premier League standings, in the Premier League over the weekend.

The goalkeeper is Edwin van der Sar, the defense is Rafael, Vidic, Brown and O'Shea, the midfield is Giggs, Scholes, Fletcher, Park Ji-sung and Valencia, and the lone forward is Owen.

I believe that the first feeling of everyone who gets Manchester United's starting list is that Manchester United plans to use him to kill Chelsea?

Looking back at Ancelotti, this game can be said to be the main force.

The goalkeeper is Cesar, the defense is Zhirkov, Alex, Terry and Ferreira, the midfielder is Malouda, Ballack, Essien and Ashavin, and the forwards are Drogba and Ané. Erka.

Although it was an away game, the Blues were strong and powerful. In recent times, Ancelotti's team was eliminated from the Champions League and could focus all their energy on the Premier League. Ancelotti's team performed very well in the Premier League, frequently defeating opponents by a large score, showing their good competitive state.

In fact, at the beginning of the game at Old Trafford, Manchester United was in a passive state. Ferguson seemed to be mentally prepared for this situation. Although he was actively adjusting, he could not find an effective way. In the 20th minute, Chelsea's Arshavin took the lead in breaking Manchester United's goal.

After that, the two sides changed sides and fought again, but Manchester United's performance still did not improve. On the other hand, Chelsea, with Drogba scoring another goal, temporarily led Manchester United 2:0 away. Then Ferguson made substitutions, replacing Scholes with Nani and Park Ji-sung with Welbeck to further strengthen the attack.

Although Manchester United scored a goal, they were unable to break Chelsea's goal again and suffered a 1:2 defeat at Old Trafford. This battle almost made Manchester United completely lose the right to compete for the league championship.

Of course, although there was the so-called right to compete for the league championship before, it should be known that it was only a verbal and theoretical right. Manchester United was more than ten points behind Tottenham Hotspur. They knew that there was no hope for the league championship.

It was precisely because of this that Ferguson gave up the league in this game, because he wanted to focus on the Champions League, which was his most persistent pursuit in recent years and his most realistic goal now.

In Ferguson's view, Tottenham Hotspur should be the strongest contender for the Premier League championship this season. After all, they are twelve points ahead of Chelsea, which is still a considerable advantage, but their biggest problem lies in the devil's schedule.

If Tottenham Hotspur accidentally capsizes in the ditch, then Chelsea will be the biggest beneficiary. Ancelotti's team currently only has the league championship to compete for. Because of this, they can concentrate all their energy on playing well in every league game, while Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur still need to be distracted by the Champions League.

At this point, Chelsea has taken a big advantage.

"How is the situation at the Stadium of Light?" After the whistle sounded at the end of the game, Ferguson walked back to the coaching seat a little bored and asked his assistant Perrin about the latest news.

"Tottenham Hotspur played very awkwardly. It was not until the 83rd minute that they scored a goal, 1:0, and beat Sunderland!" Perrin felt that this was definitely not good news, because Tottenham Hotspur won and Manchester United lost, which almost meant that Manchester United could be completely desperate for the league championship.

After listening to this, Ferguson closed his eyes, but exhaled heavily, as if he had completely put down a stone in his heart.

If Tottenham Hotspur loses, he may start to regret his choice, but now Tottenham Hotspur has won, which means that his choice is right. No matter whether they win or lose against Chelsea, Manchester United's hope of winning the league championship is very slim.

With five rounds left in the Premier League, leading by twelve points is not safe at all for Tottenham Hotspur.

The second round of the Champions League quarter-finals against Barcelona away in the middle of the week, the North London derby at the weekend, and then a week of rest, and then Chelsea will be ushered in again. This battle is a life-and-death battle. If Tottenham Hotspur can successfully eliminate Barcelona, ​​they will immediately usher in the first round of the semi-finals three days after playing Chelsea.

Ferguson hopes that in that game, Tottenham Hotspur's opponent is Manchester United, which he leads, and this is very difficult, but he has absolute confidence, because the away score of 1:2 is definitely not a nightmare for Manchester United.

He gave up the game against Chelsea, just to play well in the home game against Bayern Munich!

"Ye Qiu, Ye Qiu, although you gave me a league championship that year, don't blame me for not remembering the kindness you showed me!" Ferguson's mood became very good whenever he thought of Ye Qiu and Tottenham Hotspur's schedule.

To be honest, playing so many games in a row in just one month is not a problem for top teams like Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur, but the real problem is that playing so many games and encountering strong teams that are not inferior to their own strength at all, that is a nightmare.

Fortunately, it is not Ferguson and his Manchester United who have nightmares, but his opponents!

"Good luck, Ye Qiu!" Ferguson smiled a little gloatingly.

Wednesday, April 7, cloudy

Ye Qiu should be considered one of the less popular coaches at Camp Nou. After all, the hatred of Barcelona fans towards him is far from Mourinho's level, but they still gave overwhelming boos the moment Tottenham Hotspur entered the stadium, especially in the stands, where humiliating remarks about Ye Qiu were hung everywhere.

It is nothing more than that many fans think that Tottenham Hotspur played too conservatively and too soft in the first leg.

It is not easy to be a head coach these days. Not only do you have to win, but you also have to win beautifully. It is best to win so that your opponents admire you. Otherwise, they will definitely not accept it, but is it possible?

Tottenham Hotspur still adopted the defensive counterattack tactics of the first round in this game, because Ye Qiu could feel that the team's condition was not very good. Whether it was the main players Messi and Ribery, or others, their condition was very average. In this case, being too arrogant when visiting the Camp Nou would only make oneself stupid.

And Ye Qiu did not dare to be careless at all. At least he knew very well that in the past week, how to crack Tottenham Hotspur's defense has become an important issue for the Barcelona coaching staff and even all Barcelona people.

In fact, Guardiola still gave the answer.

There were two very interesting changes in Barcelona's game. One was that Van Persie was pulled to the right side, replacing Alexis Sanchez. This position had not been played for Van Persie for a long time, but it would not be unfamiliar.

Another obvious change was that Henry returned to the starting lineup, and he still played as a center forward.

But there is a saying that is very true, the tactical formation is dead, but people are alive.

Although Henry played in the middle, Van Persie played on the right, and Pedro played on the left, in fact, when it came to the game, everyone would be surprised to find that their positions were often interchanged. Pedro often cut inside to the middle, while Henry frequently moved from the middle to the left side he was familiar with to get the ball, and then attacked the middle in reverse.

Although Van Persie played on the right, he actually moved almost on the right side of Tottenham Hotspur.

At the beginning of the game, Barcelona used this rapid position change to pull Tottenham Hotspur's defense, and soon used Henry to pull to the left side, and then suddenly cut into the penalty area, attracting Thiago Silva's attention, and then Van Persie suddenly rushed into the penalty area from the right side, received Pedro's pass, and shot after a precise stop, almost penetrating Tottenham Hotspur's goal.

Fortunately, Cech reacted very quickly and lifted the ball directly over the crossbar.

Although this kick failed to score a goal, it made Tottenham Hotspur sweat.

But a minute later, Barcelona's offensive came back again, still using the old routine, still creating a gap through the exchange of positions between Henry, Pedro and Van Persie, but this time when Iniesta got the ball, he was disturbed by Yaya Toure and failed to pass the ball in time, causing Pedro who had already run to the gap to waste a good scoring opportunity.

Two consecutive waves of attack have achieved quite good results.

In addition to the pull and exchange of the front three, Barcelona has another very obvious change, that is, it has strengthened the pressure on Tottenham Hotspur, and in order to achieve a better pressing effect, Barcelona's defense line directly pressed forward.

In fact, Guardiola's strategy is also very smart.

After falling behind 0:2 in the first round, Barcelona had only one way to go in the second round at home, that is, to attack desperately. It can even be said that defense is secondary to Barcelona now. If you can't score a goal, no matter how good the defense is, it will be useless. Therefore, Guardiola will attack desperately after the opening.

Of course, the purpose of strengthening the counter-attack on the spot is to ensure defense, because Barcelona also has to consider another situation, that is, if Tottenham Hotspur scores again, even if they only score one, they will lose even if they score three goals.

In fact, the fun of the two-round match of the Champions League knockout stage is that no matter what the score of the first round is, the second round will become very complicated, so if it is common sense, Tottenham Hotspur should play a rush attack, because as long as Tottenham Hotspur scores another goal, Barcelona must score four goals to advance.

So Guardiola's rush attack tactics can be said to have multiple strategic purposes.

Ye Qiu is also very clear about the current situation. Goals away are the biggest initiative held by Tottenham Hotspur, and it is also the magic weapon for winning. As long as there is an away goal, Barcelona will be finished. But you know, Guardiola also knows it, so he judged before the game that it would not be easy to play at the beginning, because Barcelona would desperately grab the initiative.

There is a saying that goes, the soft is afraid of the hard, the hard is afraid of the strong, the strong is afraid of the stupid, and the stupid is afraid of the desperate!

The most difficult opponent in the world is the kind of guy who is desperate and will fight with you at all costs. So when Barcelona launched a desperate attack, desperately pressed the defense line, blocked and pressed Tottenham Hotspur, Tottenham Hotspur inevitably fell into a passive position.

Especially when the game reached the 15th minute, Barcelona finally seized an opportunity after a crazy attack and pressing. After Iniesta, Pedro and Xavi made a series of two-on-one wall-style cooperation, Iniesta dribbled past Thiago Silva who was rushing to grab the ball, and passed it directly behind him. Van Persie followed and pushed the ball into Cech's goal.

1:0!

The entire Camp Nou stadium was completely boiling, and all Barcelona fans celebrated the goal crazily.

The total score was 1:2, which means that Barcelona still has a chance. As long as they score one more goal, they can equalize the total score and both sides can return to the same starting line.

As if seeing this hope, after scoring the goal, Barcelona continued to launch desperate attacks, and even almost tied the total score once. Puyol made a cross from the right, Van Persie stopped the ball and passed it back, and Iniesta shot from the front of the penalty area, but the ball hit the crossbar and went out of the bottom line.

For a while, Barcelona's offensive was like a storm, while Tottenham's goal was in a state of panic and shaky.