The Godfather of Football

Many fans like to say that Italians have turned defense on the football field into an art.

The art of attacking players on the football field is largely the on-the-spot performance of the players' personal strength, or the team's passing and receiving, passing and penetration. This art is obvious at a glance, but defense is completely different from offense. I believe that few people can explain how Italians turned defense into art.

As Vialli once said, Latins and Anglo-Saxons have different personalities and thinking. The former are more rational and like to get to the bottom of everything, while the latter are more blind and like to do things according to their own feelings.

This rationality of Italians obviously extends to the football field, so what they advocate is a rational football tactic. For example, they will cut everything that may happen on the football field, and then analyze it under a microscope as if in a laboratory.

Ye Qiu can even say that modern defensive tactics are almost all built on the basis of Italian defense, including the chain defense of the past and Sacchi's high-pressure mixed defense later. As for the parallel position, shallow dish position, or the relatively rare right triangle position of one person in advance and three people in parallel, etc., they are just different applications of it.

The rationality of the Italians makes them take into account all possible situations and changes on the football field. They include how to defend in any situation, what changes the opponent makes, and what countermeasures we should take.

Therefore, discussing Italian defense is actually like discussing a huge and extremely complex structure full of changes. If you have not been immersed in it for many years, it is difficult to fully grasp the mystery.

The art of Italian defense is like Leonardo da Vinci's paintings or Michelangelo's sculptures, described one stroke at a time, one knife at a time, without the slightest fancy, and you cannot cut corners.

So some people say that the head coaches from the Netherlands will definitely not be bad in tactics, at least they can be independent, and the head coaches from Italy, you don't need to worry about their defensive attainments at all, because this is their forte.

When Ye Qiu met Mauro Tassotti, the two immediately sparked tactical thinking. They once had a very in-depth discussion on defensive formations, and they analyzed all common and uncommon defensive formations.

The advantage of parallel positioning is that it is easy to create offside, and the various positions of the defense line are closely connected. It is suitable for teams with poor mobility but excellent predictive ability and strong positional sense. The disadvantage is that there is no defensive depth, it is easy to miss people and be passed behind, and it is very disadvantageous when encountering the current inverted wingers, almost one cut is accurate.

The advantage of shallow dish positioning is that the side defense is better, especially when encountering inverted wingers, it is more beneficial to the defense of the ribs, but the problem is not small. The shallow dish positioning has higher requirements for the side players, and the full-backs and midfielders have a larger defensive coverage area. The physical requirements of the players are relatively high, and strong tactical execution is required.

These two most typical defensive positions actually represent two different ideas. One is Italian tactics, which emphasizes strict positional sense and tactical order; the other represents Dutch football, which covers a wide range of areas and blurs the position.

Therefore, the defenders trained by Italian football are often those with a strong sense of position and excellent tactical awareness, but weak mobility. Even for a player like Cannavaro, it is difficult for him to move and press forward in a wide range like Thiago Silva of Tottenham Hotspur.

The defenders produced by Dutch football are basically the type of defenders who are good at grabbing, with a weak sense of position, but strong mobility and wide regional coverage.

Of course, this is only a theoretical statement. Specifically, Italy has also produced many defenders with excellent mobility but poor sense of position, and the Dutch system has also produced defenders with excellent sense of position. There is no absoluteness.

Now many teams are adopting the central defender combination of rushing up and filling in the position, such as Manchester United's Vidic and Ferdinand, Chelsea's former Tri plus Cannavaro or Carvalho, Tottenham Hotspur's Thiago Silva plus Kompany, all of which are two types of combinations.

The purpose of doing this is to maximize the strengths and weaknesses, taking into account two different defensive concepts, that is, integration.

Ye Qiu has always emphasized integration, integrating different tactical ideas and different tactical concepts together.

Many people think at first glance, wow, so awesome, but it is easy to say, but it is very difficult to do.

It's like many people say that offense and defense must be balanced, how to balance? Just say it?

Obviously impossible!

Offense and defense balance means that in every attack and every defense, your personnel configuration is reasonably allocated.

So Ye Qiu often said that the best head coach is actually a master of human resource allocation. He is now reading some human resource books all day long, for this reason.

For example, in an attack, if you want to achieve a balance between offense and defense, then you have to arrange it so that several players attack with all their strength, several players coordinate the front and backcourt, and several players defend with all their strength. What methods and methods should the players who attack with all their strength adopt? What kind of running route, what kind of coordination routine to attack, and what kind of position the defensive players should adopt to ensure that no matter which angle the opponent launches a quick counterattack, we can respond in time.

This is a very tedious, but at the same time very detailed layout.

In the same way, if you want to integrate different tactical thoughts and concepts, then put aside those things about the overall situation, such as personal performance, teamwork, sense of position, etc., put them all aside, go directly to the lowest level, and Dig out the most primitive and basic things inside.

It can be said that Ye Qiu and Mauro Tassotti adopted a method similar to the Italians' method of elevating defense to an art, using a process of analyzing the team's offensive and defensive system into sets. Offensive and defensive coordination routines.

Many people say that Tottenham Hotspur's offense represents free play, art and magnificence, and imagination, but they may not even know that Tottenham Hotspur's simplest wing attack , the simplest left winger can use different players to cooperate with the ball, and play at least twelve different coordination routines on the left side of the penalty area.

If you also count the transfer of the ball to the center, then the changes in the matching route will be twice as many. If you also count the addition of right-wing players, final scoring, etc., then there are dozens of different methods in total. Match the routine.

So, do you think these routines are useless and rigid?

Wrong, because the design of these routines is not based on the left winger passing the ball and the center forward heading the ball.

All the designs of the routines are based on the reactions of the defensive players and then targeted.

Perhaps it is difficult to explain clearly no matter how much you say, just take Tottenham Hotspur's attack at the Emirates Stadium as an example.

When the opponent's three midfielders put pressure on Cesc Fabregas and David Silva, the two central midfielders retreated, pulled back, and passed the ball to Thiago Silva. The Brazilian central defender crossed It was passed to Kompany, who passed it diagonally to Ribery on the left.

Because David Silva and Cesc Fabregas both pulled back just now, there is a gap in the area between Ribery and Messi. Whether it is passed to Messi or Ribery depends on the backcourt. Players make judgments based on the situation on the field.

Ribery took the ball and faced Sagna. He tried to force a breakthrough between Sagna and Squillaci. After attracting the attention of the two players, he moved to the left and saw Marcelo. Rushing forward quickly, there was no one in front of the Brazilian full-back to defend him. He easily received the ball and passed it.

In the middle of the penalty area, Cavani used his body to block Koscielny behind him, but at this time Koscielny was between him and the goal. He had no chance to score. What should he do?

The header was passed, so Cavani rubbed his scalp against the ball net, and the ball was knocked away.

Messi faced to the left, his chest facing Cavani's ferry and stopped. Clichy immediately stepped up and blocked the space between Messi and the goal.

In this case, Messi received the ball with his left foot on the right side of the penalty area. The most likely time to do it is to cut inside and then hit the goal with his left foot. Clichy could not stop it by himself, so Kos Cherny immediately chose to leave Cavani's area slightly to help defend Clichy.

And Cavani also made a decision in an instant, retreated to the top area of ​​​​the penalty area, turned around, and faced the goal.

It’s very interesting at this time. Alexander Song and other midfielders who were supposed to protect the penalty area were pulled back by Cesc Fabregas and David Silva. On their way back to defend the penalty area, Kava As soon as Ni pulled out, there was no obstacle between him and the goal, because Alexander Song was blocked behind him.

Squillac and Sagna were on Ribery's side, while Koscielny and Clichy went to watch Messi.

To introduce it in words, the whole process is very long and complicated, but in fact, on the court, Cavani's unguarded state may only last less than a second.

Messi chose to pass the ball back to Cavani, but it was not passed to the top area of ​​the penalty area, but to the area between Cavani and the goal, near the penalty spot, and then Cavani blocked the return. Alexander Song, who was on guard, rushed forward and volleyed directly near the penalty spot. The ball went into the lower right corner. Fabianski couldn't guard it at all!

The entire offensive coordination is the result of Tottenham Hotspur's iconic passing and receiving coordination. It seems very complicated, but if Arsenal's defensive ability is better, Tottenham Hotspur's coordination will be okay. more complicated.

For example, when Cavani retreats and Squillaci realizes that the threat is coming, Messi will choose to pass diagonally with his left foot behind Squillaci to find Ribery, and if Sagna is any better Some, even Ribery has blocked this point, then Messi will pass the ball and insert Fabregas, because Fabregas also followed Alexander Song and others into Arsenal's 30-meter area, and then Fabregas then looks for Cavani or Ribery, who has already rushed to the goal, depending on the situation.

Of course, there are still a lot of assumptions, but all the changes are aimed at the weaknesses and loopholes in Arsenal's defense.

You can have no weaknesses or loopholes. I will pull and pull continuously to help you find loopholes, because as long as your players move, there will be loopholes.

The entire offensive and defensive system of Tottenham Hotspur is actually composed of a series of fine tactical coordination routes. The players have mastered and become familiar with these coordination routines, and then they use them according to the changes on the court, and even change them.

This is true for the offensive end and the defensive end.

When the game resumed, Arsenal wanted to counterattack after losing the ball, but soon, the ball fell into the hands of Tottenham Hotspur again, because they found that when they worked hard to get rid of the entanglement of the frontcourt players, the ball entered Tottenham Hotspur's half, or lost it in the 30-meter area.

Tottenham Hotspur's midfielders and frontcourt players have a clear division of labor and cooperation. Many people realize that Messi and Ribery rarely entangle with defense. On the one hand, this is to save their physical energy and ensure investment on the offensive end. In addition, their main responsibility is to delay and cut off the opponent's offensive passing route.

Even Cavani, Fabregas and David Silva are like this, they all play a role in delaying and interfering.

Suppose, when Arsenal got the ball, they had many, many offensive routes. When he passed it to Arteta, the left midfielder, a large part of the offensive routes was lost. At this time, Fabregas chose to block it head-on, then Arteta basically had only two options, two wings or back pass.

But if Messi and David Silva approached Arteta at this time, then he would have only a relatively safe choice, passing to his left, which is Tottenham Hotspur's right.

At this time, it depends on his choice. When he chose to pass to Rosicky on the left, Marcelo and Yaya Toure, who had been ambushing on one side, immediately formed a corner and pressed forward, blocking Rosicky on the side.

Although the Czechs relied on their own ability to pass the ball out, Thiago Silva intercepted the ball passed to Chamakh halfway, not only completing a defense, but also getting a chance for a quick counterattack.

Such defense does not consume much physical energy, but the effect is very obvious.

Of course, there is a prerequisite, that is, the players must have enough tacit understanding with each other and be familiar with the team's routines. Otherwise, it is difficult to act in unison.

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Wenger sat in front of the coaching bench of the home team. He looked very calm in a Nike down jacket, but it could also be interpreted as helplessness, because he found that his team had just started in the first half for only fourteen minutes, and Tottenham Hotspur had knocked the goal first.

Looking up again, he found that Arsenal fans did not react at all, and even the dissatisfied boos were very sparse, which showed that they did not put too much energy on football, or they might even be appreciating Tottenham Hotspur's wonderful goals and forget that they were Arsenal fans.

How many of the fans who came to the Emirates Stadium were Arsenal die-hards?

This is a question that Wenger has been wondering about in recent years.

"Tell Chamakh to be careful, don't move too much, and control your emotions. Philip Dodd will not be polite!" Wenger said to his assistant coach Pat Rice, who nodded and immediately walked to the sidelines to convey Wenger's meaning.

When Chamakh retreated to defend, he moved too much and tripped Yaya Toure, and was shown a yellow card by the referee. In addition, the offensive pressure brought by Tottenham Hotspur was too great, and the home team lost the ball first, which made Arsenal players obviously not calm enough.

Wenger himself knew that with the current Arsenal lineup, it would be very difficult to challenge Tottenham Hotspur, which was in its heyday, but he never thought that his team would play so badly at home. In the first ten minutes, it was almost a one-sided situation.

"We should make some adjustments. If we continue like this, I'm afraid we can't stop it!" Pat Rice walked back a little worried.

Wenger raised his head, glanced at his right-hand man, and then glanced at the bench not far away. On the bench for this game sat Walcott, Lansbury and other substitutes, but no matter from which angle, they would not do better than the starting lineup on the court, whether in offense or defense.

It can be said that Wenger now has very limited resources. Among the several strong teams in the Premier League, Arsenal's bench thickness can even be said to be the weakest, which also leads to Arsenal's lack of combat effectiveness.

In the past few seasons, everyone said that Arsenal's performance in the first half of the league did not count, and the league would really start after the winter break. This is about the thickness of Arsenal's bench, because the players' physical fitness and injuries are at their most dangerous time before and after the winter break, and Arsenal always starts to decline from this period.

For example, there was a typical February phobia in the past, that is, Arsenal always performed badly in February.

"Let them retreat to the half court and stabilize the situation first!" Wenger made the adjustments he could make.

With little change in the existing player structure, there are actually very few changes he can make, because Arsenal's problems now are midfield and defense, not offense.

As Arsenal retreated, Tottenham began to press aggressively, but they played more patiently, while Arsenal's morale was affected. After all, they were suppressed by their mortal enemy from the beginning. He was beaten up, but in the end you didn't dare to beat him back, and you had to hide when you saw him. This kind of cowardice is really bad for morale.

But Wenger's approach is understandable. He is at an absolute disadvantage in terms of strength. Coupled with the gap in player status and morale, he must ensure that he stabilizes the situation. Otherwise, Tottenham Hotspur will score a big score in one go. Then He's really finished.

Wenger thinks this way because he has enough understanding and familiarity with the strength of his team and the strength of his opponents. But Ye Qiu is also very familiar with the strength of both the enemy and ourselves. It can even be said that in Arsenal's team Here, he only valued three players, the defensive Alexander Song, but he alone could not stop Tottenham Hotspur's thousands of troops.

Arteta is an organizational player and cannot support the overall situation. Nasri has good personal abilities, but he is also not a sharp knife that can create threats. As for the Moroccan striker Chamakh who joined for free in the frontcourt and was highly praised at the beginning of this season. , Ye Qiu felt that he might be able to play against weak teams, but when he encountered strong teams like Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester United...

So, when Ye Qiu saw Arsenal retracting, he immediately signaled the team to press forward and continue to strengthen the attack!