The Godfather of Football

Wave defense has been practiced and used by Tottenham Hotspur, but wave offense has been tried and explored, because offense is more disorderly than defense, and emphasizes a feeling and creativity.

But the core concept is very clear, that is, it can be a violent attack like a storm, but it can also be a gentle attack like a drizzle. But the very important point is that the wave offense emphasizes continuity, which is a continuous attack wave after wave, not a one-shot deal.

Especially when the ball reaches the front court, if there is an opportunity, launch an attack quickly, and if there is no opportunity, hold the ball first, and then slowly look for opportunities, because once you make a risky gambling pass reluctantly without any opportunity, the offensive effect will be very poor, not to mention scoring a goal, the ball will be transferred at any time, leading to the opponent's counterattack.

Ramsey received a pass from Kyle Walker from the right. The pass was very comfortable and the landing point was also very good. Ramsey had no problem stopping the ball, but the problem was that the ball was in the air for too long. Ram quickly reacted and immediately got close to Ramsey after he stopped the ball, so Ramsey chose to protect the ball with his back.

Did the opportunity disappear?

No, Tottenham Hotspur is best at creating offensive opportunities, and if the so-called wave attack is just a transfer from the right to the left, what else is worth praising and studying?

Marcelo rushed forward quickly after Kyle Walker passed the ball, because he knew that Kyle Walker would actively retreat to the defense line after passing the ball, so his forward insertion would not pose a threat to the defense.

The Brazilian was moving forward along the left line, and when Ramsey was protecting the ball with his back, he rushed past Ramsey quickly, creating a problem for Ram in a very short time. Should he defend Marcelo or Ramsey?

On the surface, Ramsey had the ball and Marcelo had no ball, and it seemed that the Brazilian was not threatening. However, Ram himself knew very well that he was not sure that he could stop Ramsey's pass to Marcelo, especially when he saw Pirlo approaching. Even if Ramsey could not pass the ball, he only needed to knock it back to Pirlo, who would make a long diagonal pass directly to Marcelo, who could then cross the ball from the wing.

This kind of cross ball close to the goal is still very threatening as long as the landing point is well grasped.

Ram responded in an instant. He called out to his teammates such as Gustavo and Schweinsteiger, asking them to hold their positions, and he turned around to defend Marcelo, which was his duty as a right back.

But as soon as Ram went, Pirlo shouted "two o'clock", and Ramsey immediately turned to the right, that is, facing the middle. As soon as he turned around, before Schweinsteiger and other defensive players approached, he rubbed a curve ball with his right foot, and the landing point was just to the right of the top of the penalty area.

The whole process seems slow, but it is actually a critical adjustment period.

Bayern Munich's defense was originally tilted towards Ribery, but Kyle Walker suddenly made a diagonal pass to the left. After Ramsey got the ball, coupled with Marcelo's high-speed forward run, Bayern Munich's defense must move to the left to deal with the potential threat on the left, but Ramsey suddenly made a diagonal pass and transferred the ball to the right side of the midfield.

During this continuous horizontal transfer, Jerome Boateng made a mistake. The distance between him and Cavani was a bit wide, and Ramsey's cross was also very smart, directly behind Jerome Boateng and Cavani.

So Jerome Boateng was helpless. He was desperately trying to rush to the defensive position, but Cavani rushed head-on, and he didn't even need to jump. He headed the ball directly to the penalty spot, and Messi, who was ambushing outside the penalty area just now, quickly caught up at this time and formed a single knife.

Neuer had a perfect grasp of the situation in the penalty area. Although this goalkeeper was young, he was very capable and bold. When he saw Cavani's header, he immediately realized that the defense line was broken, so he made an amazing judgment in an instant, that is, to attack.

In fact, when Messi rushed up to shoot directly, Neuer had already opened his arms and rushed over, and the shooting angle was blocked. Messi's reaction was indeed fast enough, and he was a left-footed goalkeeper. His left foot gently changed the original action of shooting into a poke, and poked the ball to Neuer's right side.

The ball almost passed under Neuer's arm along the grass. The German goalkeeper reacted quickly enough and wanted to defend after a sudden stop. However, Messi's poke was very hasty, resulting in a little too much strength.

But the Argentine started very quickly and was very flexible. After rushing up quickly, he made an awkward right-foot shot before the ball went out of the baseline. After completing it, he turned half a circle and fell on the grass. It was obvious that this action was too difficult and his body lost balance.

The ball was cushioned by Messi, and it just brushed the right post and hit the inside of the left post and hit the goal line.

"GOALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

All the fans in the north stand of the Allianz Stadium rushed out of their seats, and each of them made a deafening shout, shouting Messi's name, and they all became extremely excited and excited.

"1:0, in the 32nd minute of the first half, Tottenham Hotspur finally scored the first goal!"

"A goal from Leo Messi!!!"

Messi rolled on the grass twice and then knelt down. When he heard the deafening cheers from the stands, the entire Allianz Arena was like a volcanic eruption, as if even the earth was shaking. He immediately realized that he had scored a goal, and when he turned his head, he saw that the ball was on the goal line.

For a moment, he jumped up from the ground excitedly and rushed to the north stand quickly, clenching his fists along the way, opening his mouth and shouting and roaring. When he rushed to the bottom of the north stand, he raised his left hand and gave a thumbs up to the stands, but soon put his thumb in his mouth and made a pacifier sucking action.

"So cute, was this a pre-planned celebration?" The commentator on the scene obviously didn't know the specific meaning of this action. No one except Tottenham Hotspur players and Ye Qiu knew what this action meant, but the camera still captured the image of Messi's family and girlfriend in the stands.

Antonella was obviously moved by Messi's celebration, covering her face and seemed to be sobbing.

"Tottenham Hotspur's attack was very, very good. We just said that Tottenham Hotspur looked for Cavani from both wings. This has happened several times, but this time it was a different way. Previously, Messi and Ribery dribbled the ball inside, but this time it was Ramsey who made a diagonal pass to Cavani to head the ball into the penalty area. Although the methods were different, the effects were very obvious. It was the fatal weakness of attacking Bayern Munich!"

Badstuber and Jerome Boateng both have weaknesses and shortcomings in air control. Among them, Badstuber is best at assisting defense and passing the ball, but his weakness in high balls is obvious. Jerome Boateng's advantage is physical fitness, but his sense of position is relatively poor, and his attention is often not focused. He is prone to mistakes when dealing with some complex situations.

When playing against Dortmund before, they made many mistakes when defending Lewandowski, which led to the latter's hat trick. Now, Jerome Boateng still has problems defending Cavani.

"Before this game, the media revealed that Heynckes was hesitant about whether to continue to trust the two young central defenders last season or Moshchuk, but in the end he chose to continue to trust Badstuber and Jerome Boateng, because he believed that this pair of central defenders could ensure that Bayern Munich's midfield and backcourt could get the ball stably."

"But the ball point is there, but the weakness is also exposed, that is, defending high balls."

"Not only Jerome Boateng and Badstuber, Lahm and Contento also have problems defending high balls on both wings. We have seen Cavani consciously move to the wing to compete for the long pass from the backcourt more than once. This is worth Heynckes's caution, after all, he is already one goal behind!"

In fact, there is another level of problem that many people have not noticed, that is Robben.

As the top star in Bayern Munich, Robben's performance after joining the Bundesliga is indeed quite outstanding, but the problem is that he almost never participates in defense.

Just now, when Marcelo made a forward run, Lahm was so passive. One very important reason was that Robben did not follow him back.

Don't underestimate this retreat. If Robben came back, even if he just returned to the midfield, Schweinsteiger could quickly return to defense. After Lahm followed Marcelo, Ramsey would still be restrained. At least he could not cross the ball as easily as before.

Of course, if he could follow Marcelo back and complete a handover with Lahm, let Lahm follow Marcelo, and Robben defend Ramsey, I believe the effect would be better.

But Robben did not actively return to defense, or even did not return to defense, which put Lahm in a very passive situation.

Tottenham Hotspur's defense actually had a targeted arrangement, that is, the focus was on clamping Thomas Muller's left side. Kyle Walker always maintained a close connection with the two central defenders. On the left side where Robben was, Marcelo was in a relatively forward position, and the focus was on curbing Robben's inward cut.

In the opening and more than half an hour of the first half, Robben shot the most in almost all the opportunities Bayern Munich got, but without exception, all of them were wasted shots, either shots that were barely made when the body lost balance, or hasty shots when being restrained by the defensive players, and the results were very bad.

One unknown detail is that in the past week, when Tottenham Hotspur focused on practicing offensive and defensive confrontations, Ye Qiu consciously arranged Hazard to deal with Marcelo, and he specifically asked Hazard to cut inside more instead of going down the bottom. The reason is very simple. Robben basically cuts inside when he is in the right winger position.

Hazard's small steps and speed are very similar to Robben, so using him to compete with Marcelo one-on-one will undoubtedly help the Brazilian left-back get used to Robben. The reason why Hazard is more difficult than Robben is that the Belgian is left-footed, while Robben can only use his left foot.

This targeted training arrangement even reached the familiar field training at the Allianz Arena, but many people did not notice it.

In the game, Marcelo was obviously more confident in adapting to Robben's rhythm and speed, as well as his sudden stop and cut.

…………

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"This is trouble!"

In the coaching booth of the home team at the Allianz Arena, Hermann, the right-hand man, said to Heynckes with some embarrassment.

This is an assistant coach with rich experience. He has been an assistant coach in Leverkusen for a long time. When Leverkusen won the three-time champion, Hermann was already an important member of the team. Later, he went to Nuremberg for a while, but after Heynckes took over Leverkusen, he accepted the invitation and returned to Leverkusen, and then followed Heynckes to Bayern Munich.

Thirty or forty years of football career told him that the situation has been very clear so far in the game.

Tottenham Hotspur, a strong team with a very balanced offense and defense, often has more choices and changes in the game, while Bayern Munich is now facing a dilemma, because on the one hand, it is difficult for them to control the ball, and without the ball, their offense cannot play its characteristics.

You know, Bayern Munich is not a counterattack team, and more importantly, Bayern Munich's defense has a very obvious weakness and deficiency, that is, defending high balls.

There used to be Lucio and Van Buyten, but as Van Buyten gradually faded out, neither Badstuber nor Jerome Boateng showed much competitiveness in high balls. At least in the central defender level, they were unqualified, and both of them were tall, but they had defects in defending high balls.

This is also the reason why Heynckes hesitated before the game whether to use Moshchuk. Although the latter is not tall, he is more stable in defense and is better at grabbing and blocking. With him, Badstuber and Jerome Boateng can fall back to make up for the defense.

But in the end, Heynckes chose the partnership of Badstuber and Jerome Boateng for safety considerations, because he first considered that the team could steadily fight for possession of the ball.

But now that the game has been going on, the situation has completely exceeded their plan.

"Tottenham Hotspur has changed too much, and their players are more tactically resilient. They can defend when they shrink back and attack when they stretch out. Such a team is the most troublesome!" Heynckes shook his head and sighed.

As Sacchi said, all great teams are balanced teams that can attack and defend.

The current Tottenham Hotspur has weaknesses, shortcomings, and deficiencies, but when you want to take advantage of them, they often only need to make some local adjustments in details to block you, and may even use your adjustments to create killing intent.

Another point is that Tottenham Hotspur's personnel configuration is too reasonable.

The combination of Thiago Silva and Kompany can be called the first combination in today's football. Around them, the most outstanding defensive line in today's football has been built. They are called the golden pair of partners that have emerged again in football after Chelsea's Triga Cannavaro and Carvalho, and Manchester United's Vidic and Ferdinand.

The two players complement each other very well, but both are very comprehensive. Thiago Silva is not good at defending high balls, but defending high balls is Kompany's strong point. After years of cooperation, the two players have developed a very deep tacit understanding, which enables them to switch defensive formations and queues at will in the game.

It is worth noting that Tottenham Hotspur has a very strong reserve of central defenders. The two young players, Nastasic and Varane, are also very favored by experts. With time, they may be able to successfully take over the class of Kompany and Thiago Silva.

The combination of Ramsey, Vidal and Pirlo in the midfield is both offensive and defensive, and both soft and hard.

Ribery, Cavani and Messi in the front court are also a combination of both offense and defense, especially Cavani, who can disrupt the opponent's defense, and Ribery and Messi are also actively involved in counter-grabbing.

From the beginning to the end, Tottenham's entire tactical system is very compact and very strict. It is almost difficult for you to find an obvious weakness and deficiency. Before, Newcastle finally caught the loophole of the single defensive midfielder, but which team can make good use of this loophole to attack?

Even a team with such strong offensive power as Barcelona was slaughtered by nine goals in two rounds. Who dares to say that they can challenge Tottenham? Who dares to say that they can compete with Tottenham?

"It is not easy for a head coach to train a great team with both offensive and defensive capabilities in his lifetime, but Ye Qiu has trained three different offensive and defensive team combinations in just a few years. It is really admirable!"

During the Ajax period, Ye Qiu was sharp and focused on strong offense, but after arriving at Chelsea, he gradually matured. With the huge funds provided by Abramovich as a backing, he introduced a set of very balanced offensive and defensive teams, which is still talked about by countless fans. Nearly perfect team combination.

That is, Ye Qiu laid a solid foundation for Chelsea back then, which is still nourishing Chelsea even now.

After transferring to Tottenham Hotspur, Ye Qiu once again showed his magical hand and trained a Tottenham Hotspur that is not only adapted to the Premier League, but also very delicate and creative. The two consecutive Champions League titles are the best evaluation and affirmation of this team, which is bound to go down in history.

But in a blink of an eye, some of the team's superstars were sold and invested in reconstruction. In just one or two years, the current Tottenham Hotspur has been created, which is more balanced in offense and defense, more resilient, and more changeable, with both soft and hard.

Even Heynckes had to admire Ye Qiu, because this was also his greatest wish and hope.

The current Tottenham Hotspur reminded Heynckes of the Juventus led by Lippi when he coached Real Madrid. The difference is that Ye Qiu is more inclined to attack, but both teams have a typical feature, that is, the amazing balance of offense and defense.

Juventus reached the Champions League final for three consecutive seasons, and the team gathered superstars such as Zidane, Davis, Piero, and Deschamps. Now, Tottenham Hotspur also gathers superstars including Messi, Ribery, Cavani, Pirlo, etc. The strength of the two teams is very, very outstanding.

Heynckes defeated Juventus with Mijatovic's flash of inspiration, but can anyone do this at Bayern now?