The Godfather of Football

After defeating Pellegrini's Manchester City 4:0 away, Tottenham Hotspur went to Germany three days later to challenge Leverkusen away. This was the fifth round of the Champions League group stage.

Because they had already qualified from the top of the group in advance, Ye Qiu arranged a large rotation again this time. Matic was left in London by Ye Qiu, and Pirlo, who had recovered from his injury, was qualified to start. His midfield partners were Stroman and Pogba. The Dutchman was still arranged as a central midfielder in this game.

As a result, Tottenham Hotspur took a 2:0 lead in the first half with goals from Neymar and Varane. In the second half, goals from Marcelo, Pogba and Stroman helped Tottenham Hotspur beat Leverkusen 5:0, successfully retreated from the away game, and won five consecutive group stage victories.

This victory also made German fans very dissatisfied, because they thought Tottenham Hotspur was secretly helping Shakhtar Donetsk, because before the fifth round, Leverkusen was still two points ahead of Shakhtar Donetsk, but after this round, Shakhtar Donetsk defeated Real Sociedad 4:0 at home, allowing the Ukrainian team to come from behind and rise to second place in the group.

In the last round, Leverkusen will challenge Real Sociedad away, while Tottenham Hotspur will face Shakhtar Donetsk at home.

It is conceivable how unfavorable the situation and situation are for Leverkusen.

Ye Qiu did not need to take the Germans' reaction to heart. All his thoughts were on Saturday night, the home game against Manchester United. This was also the first time Tottenham Hotspur encountered Manchester United after Ferguson retired.

Manchester United this season has fallen to fifth place in the current Premier League standings. They have won six, drawn three and lost three in the first 12 games of the league. Judging from the results, it is not too bad, especially considering that Manchester United has always been good at playing against the wind, so the second half is the key moment for Manchester United to exert its strength.

Manchester United encountered five strong teams this season, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City, Southampton and Arsenal. Among them, Chelsea and Southampton were tied at home, Liverpool and Manchester City were lost away, and only Arsenal won 1:0. The record against strong teams is extremely bad.

This is also the most criticized point of Moyes this season, that is, he always has problems in some strong dialogues. Compared with Manchester United's past, which was very good at playing key battles, Moyes always failed at the last minute. Many people think that this is related to the fact that he has never coached a top team in the past. After all, he has coached weak teams.

But after defeating Arsenal, the situation has completely changed. Moyes said that he has adapted to the position of Manchester United head coach. After his Manchester United lost to Manchester City in the fifth round, they won five games and drew two in the next seven games. The two draws were at home against Southampton, which has performed amazingly this season, and one was away to Cardiff.

Judging from this report card, Moyes' team is not bad and is in great shape.

So before the team went to London, Moyes asked at the pre-match press conference what special feeling it would be when he led Manchester United to challenge Tottenham Hotspur, his bitter rival for many years, for the first time. He smiled and said that if he won, he would not celebrate.

"If it was before, I would think it was an honor, the honor of the weak defeating the strong, but now, I think it's normal, because Manchester United is a strong team at the same level as Tottenham Hotspur. I think it's normal to beat the opponent away from home, and there's no need to celebrate deliberately."

The outside world is also paying special attention to this red and white battle. After all, this is the first red and white battle after Ferguson's retirement, and it is also the penultimate red and white battle before Ye Qiu retires. Therefore, the official arranged this game to be held on Saturday night during the prime time, and also arranged for England's most authoritative referee Webber to be in charge.

From the fact that Manchester United officials including David Gill, Ferguson, and a group of senior executives of the team all went to Stratford Stadium, it can be clearly seen that Manchester United management attaches great importance to this game. Some people even think that this is an inspection of Moyes, and it depends on what tricks he will show in this game.

You know, this game is an important event that attracts nearly 500 million fans from all over the world. It is not an exaggeration to say that it is the century derby of the Premier League, so both sides attach great importance to it. Ye Qiu even kept Ribery and Messi in the bench for two consecutive games, just to send out all the main players in this game.

Goalkeeper Cech, defense line Marcelo, Thiago Silva, Kompany and Kyle Walker, midfield double defensive midfielders are Matic and Vidal, front court from left to right are Neymar, Messi and Ribery, and single striker is Lewandowski.

This is the strongest lineup of Tottenham Hotspur so far this season, among which Messi, Ribery, Vidal and Marcelo have all missed the previous game against Manchester City and the Champions League group match in the middle of the week, just for this game against Manchester United.

Moyes also sent out all the main players, goalkeeper is De Gea, defense is Evra, Vidic, Ferdinand and Rafael, midfield is Fellaini and Carrick, front court is Ashley Young, Rooney and Valencia, lone striker is Van Persie, this is also the strongest lineup of Manchester United at present.

Interestingly, both sides lined up in 4231 tactical formation, that is to say, from the perspective of pure formation position, both sides are tit-for-tat, the difference lies in who can do better in details and players' on-the-spot performance.

At the beginning of the game, Manchester United continued the tactics of Ferguson as always, taking the offensive after the opening, and launched an offensive against Tottenham Hotspur. Van Persie had a chance to get the ball in the penalty area one minute later, but due to the interference of Thiago Silva, he failed to effectively form a shooting opportunity.

But it was only this one chance, because the subsequent development of the game made everyone realize that Moyes made an unforgivable and fatal mistake in this game.

"The midfield is not good!" Mauro Tassotti judged this in less than two minutes, because Fellaini often participated in the attack in the frontcourt, which resulted in Manchester United having two defensive midfielders, but there was often only Carrick in front of the defense line.

Manchester United's defense line actually encountered a similar problem as Chelsea. Ferdinand and Vidic are both old, and they are not suitable for pressing forward. The difference from Chelsea is that they still have Carrick who can stand in position, but this player's coverage and running ability are not outstanding.

"Moyes' idea is interesting. He should let Fellaini fill in Carrick's shortcomings by actively running over a large area. The two complement each other and play a threat in the attack, but he takes it for granted!" Ye Qiu shook his head and laughed.

Perhaps, Moyes should have talked to Fellaini about this issue before the game. The two are in an unsatisfactory situation at Manchester United now. They are bad brothers, so both hope to redeem themselves. Therefore, Moyes' idea is to let Fellaini play the state of Everton, and help him integrate into Manchester United, and also to kill Tottenham Hotspur.

This must be clear about Fellaini's tactical role when he was at Everton. His position is more like a central midfielder or a front midfielder. Although he also tried hard to cover and press, his most important tactical value lies in competing for long passes from the backcourt or rushing into the penalty area to score.

Fellaini, who is 1.94 meters tall and weighs 85 kilograms, is very deterrent whether he stands in the frontcourt to compete for the first landing point or rushes into the penalty area to receive crosses from both sides.

So, imagine that if Fellaini provides the team with a wide range of running coverage as Moyes designed, once the team attacks, he rushes all the way from the midfield into the penalty area and receives the cross from the wing, then he can maximize the advantage of the back plug, as well as his header and grab ability.

In theory, this is a very perfect design, isn't it?

But what's the problem? Why is it feasible in Everton but not in Manchester United?

The reason is that the style of play adopted by Everton is a bit similar to the long pass rush in England. Fellaini is used to this style of play, but now in Manchester United, in all the top teams, the emphasis is not on this kind of long pass rush, because his success rate is too low, and all the strong teams are ball control and pressure.

So now Messi, Lewandowski, Suarez and others who act as tactical fulcrums in top giants are not the traditional tactical fulcrums, and their bodies are not necessarily very strong, because the most important thing for the fulcrum in modern football tactics is to get the ball and make the ball, and it must be fast.

Fellaini's position in the current Manchester United team is very awkward. Moyes can't give him the attacking midfielder position because Rooney is there, and even Benzema will be left on the bench. Even if Rooney is replaced, it won't be Fellaini's turn.

So Moyes wants to pull him to the back and be Carrick's partner, to play his advantages in height, header, frontal defense and interception, and let him insert from behind to create this sudden killing opportunity.

But why is it said that it is good in theory, but not in practice?

The reason is that the distance is long, and it is difficult to grasp the timing of inserting!

When Fellaini was in Everton before, the team played around him, and he could easily grasp when to insert into the penalty area, because he was close to the penalty area. Once the ball reached the wing and there was a chance, he would insert.

But now the problem is, when will he insert?

Playing as a double defensive midfielder, the distance between him and the penalty area is far, and he still plays inserting, how to grasp the timing of inserting?

He waited until the ball reached the wing before joining in. Did his teammates have to pass the ball back and forth several times on the wing before passing?

If he joined in before the ball reached the wing, what if the opponent's defense did not allow Manchester United's ball to go to the wing?

What if the opponent successfully intercepted the ball at this time and launched a counterattack?

This is where Fellaini is embarrassed. He is not easy to control. Sometimes he joins in too late, sometimes too early, and he has no way to control the timing of joining in.

Especially considering that Fellaini is tall and strong, he is destined to lack explosive power and cannot start fast. If he can go up, he can't go down!

Ye Qiu saw through this, so he said that Moyes took it for granted.

There is also such a person in Tottenham Hotspur, Matic, but Ye Qiu never asked him to join in the attack. He was more of a drag behind the team. Many times, even the full-backs went up, and Matic formed a defensive iron triangle with the two central defenders.

After all, Moyes was used to being a bitch, and suddenly he became a tall, rich and handsome man. He really didn't understand how tall, rich and handsome men live. He thought that the bitch tactics he used at Everton would still work in a top team like Manchester United?

You know, when Everton played against a strong team before, people didn't care much. Occasionally, there was an upset, and everyone was happy for a long time. But now, when the strong teams compete, who wouldn't focus on your weaknesses and soft spots and attack them to death?

"Tell them that the full-backs should pay attention to the defense of the two flanks, and Matic should pay attention to Fellaini's back-up. If they intercept the ball and counterattack, they should attack Messi and destroy Carrick!"

After Ye Qiu made adjustments, Tottenham Hotspur responded quickly and began to consciously create articles targeting Fellaini's isolated and helpless situation next to Carrick after he went up to steal the ball.

Vidal intercepted the pass to the flank in advance, took two steps forward after intercepting the ball, and passed the ball straight to Manchester United's half and found Messi.

The Argentine took the ball with his back to the goal, and Carrick blocked behind him, but Messi turned around quickly, got rid of Carrick, and dribbled the ball diagonally to the left. With a push of his left foot, he passed it to Neymar in front.

The Brazilian faced Rafael, dribbled the ball several times in a row, and suddenly accelerated to break through the baseline, but Rafael was also very fast and stuck in position, forcing Neymar to stop suddenly and take two steps back. The Brazilian suddenly passed the ball to the penalty area.

Lewandowski competed with Vidic in the penalty area, but it is conceivable that in this regard, the Polish center had no advantage over Vidic, but he forced Vidic to fail to head the ball far, and it still fell into the penalty area.

In Tottenham Hotspur's tactics, the first landing point did not have much chance of winning, unless Drogba or Mitrovic was on the field, so Ribery had been lying in ambush around waiting for the second landing point. When he saw that Vidic's header did not go far, he immediately rushed up and faced the falling ball, and directly shot with his right foot.

The ball shot into the goal behind De Gea at a very fast speed, 1:0!

"GOALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!"

"Eleven minutes, eleven minutes, Tottenham Hotspur scored!!!"

"A volley from French winger Ribery, 1:0!"

The entire Stratford Stadium was in an uproar, 80,000 fans rushed out of their seats frantically, and cheered astonishingly while the Manchester United players were stunned. No one expected that the goal would come so soon!

Ye Qiu made a confident gesture with his fist, and then celebrated with Mauro Tassotti and Roland Schepers beside him. He was able to discover this problem earlier than Moyes, precisely because he knew Manchester United better than Moyes.

In the past few years, on the surface, Ferguson's team did not pursue ball control, but in fact, Ferguson has been trying to achieve a balance between ball control and space control, that is, pressure.

The Red Devils' off-ball running system is excellent, and is not even worse than Tottenham Hotspur. Therefore, since the Red Devils' treble period, Manchester United's midfield has not changed, that is, off-ball running plus skillful one-touch passing, which is Manchester United's consistent label.

Ferguson once considered introducing ball-controlling midfielders such as Guardiola and Veron and switching to the continental style of play, but failed to succeed for various reasons. After Keane left the team, Carrick became the first choice for Manchester United's defensive midfielder position, but he was not a ball-controlling team, but basically continued Manchester United's traditional style of play.

Therefore, no matter how Cristiano Ronaldo, Rooney, Benzema, Tevez and others are combined, Manchester United is more likely to take a fast route through the midfield and pass the ball to the front court as soon as possible, but once the ball reaches the front court, Manchester United will seek cooperation and changes. This has become more obvious after the introduction of Benzema and Van Persie, because they can take the ball and pass the ball.

From this point of view, unless Fellaini changes his playing style, he is completely incompatible with Manchester United, because his best role has no place in Manchester United.

But looking at it the other way around, if Fellaini gives up his advantages and specialties, is he still worth the price?

This may be the most entangled part for Moyes now, so he arranged Fellaini to play as a defensive midfielder in this game, but at the same time took down Benzema and insisted on playing on both sides to play Fellaini's advantages and specialties.

"Not satisfied!" Ye Qiu shook his head and sighed after seeing the goal, a little disappointed.

At his level, he still hopes that the opponent can give him some stimulation, such as Ferguson, or Benítez and Mourinho, but Moyes does not have a very keen tactical sense.

From Ye Qiu's adjustment to the team's goal, although it was less than ten minutes, if it was Ferguson, he would probably have smelled some clues long ago.

Of course, you can look at it the other way around. With Ferguson's cunningness, he would not have arranged such a starting lineup.

Mauro Tassotti felt a little amused after hearing what Ye Qiu said, but he had to admit that in Ye Qiu's eyes, Moyes was not really a qualified opponent. He was too easy and was defeated with just one response. This obviously made Ye Qiu lose interest.

"The rest is up to you!" Ye Qiu patted Mauro Tassotti's shoulder and turned to the coaching seat.

Mauro Tassotti and Roland Shepas looked at each other and laughed. They must have been thinking in their hearts, if Moyes knew, would he go crazy?

But what was even more unexpected was that Tottenham Hotspur scored again in the 28th minute. It was still a counterattack after the midfielder intercepted the ball. Matic passed the ball diagonally to Ribery who switched to the left. The latter cooperated with Marcelo who came in. Marcelo crossed the ball after going to the bottom line. Lewandowski scored in the penalty area, 2:0!

At this time, the whole Stratford Stadium was in an uproar!

Sitting in the coaching seat of the home team, Ye Qiu, who was sitting with his legs crossed, heard the sound, stood up from his seat, and looked out. He thought he had lost the ball.

But at this moment, a sharp-eyed photographer next to him took a picture of Ye Qiu's mobile phone screen, which was actually on, and immediately picked up the camera to capture it.

Damn it, this guy not only looked at his mobile phone during the game, but also played Tiantian Feiche. He was so shameless!