Chapter 346 Another unexpected way of playing

Stamford Bridge Stadium.

Amid the cheers of more than 41,000 fans, this world-famous Premier League match officially started.

Manchester United won the right to serve first.

Falcao and Rooney kicked off the ball in the center circle, but what was different from their usual practice was that today they did not pass the ball back after the kickoff. Instead, Rooney took the ball directly to Chelsea's half.

approaching.

Including Fellaini, Ashley Young, Mata and others also pressed forward at the same time. Center forward Falcao even rushed behind Chelsea's defense just after taking the ball.

Obviously Manchester United wanted to overwhelm Chelsea in the opening game.

In Van Gaal's view, Chelsea is playing at home today, and although Manchester United still has to focus on defending, they cannot lose their momentum at the beginning.

If we can turn around and suppress Chelsea's defense in the opening stage, maybe it will be miraculous.

However, Chelsea is obviously prepared for this.

Cancelo and Ivanovic quickly retreated and formed protection in front of Kante and Matic, forcing Manchester United to enter Chelsea's half and suffered a huge blow before they could advance to Chelsea's 30-meter area.

obstacles.

In desperation, Rooney could only pass the ball back to the defense.

Chelsea's frontcourt quickly launched a counterattack.

Needless to say, Lukaku, Hazard and Seat B were also actively running in the frontcourt, and Kante and Matic immediately followed to cut off Manchester United's backcourt play.

"Chelsea players seem to be in good condition today. It seems that they have not been affected by the departure of two important players." Zhan Jun couldn't help but praise.

Zhang Lu also said: "The system Pan Yi constructed for Chelsea is very complete. In fact, no player is indispensable."

"Take Oscar as an example. Although he has contributed astonishing statistics of four shots and two passes in the past two rounds of the Premier League, if Pan Yi replaces him in the B seat, the team's offensive power will not be weakened, and even the overall performance will not be weakened.

The offensive and defensive rhythm will also be improved.”

"Now we just have to see if the new players Pan Yi bought, especially Gnabry, can step forward when the team needs to rotate later..."

On the field.

Now Chelsea is pressing in front and there is a barrier in the midfield, which makes Manchester United encounter a lot of difficulties in playing the ball.

So the centre-back McNair, who had the ball at this time, could only find Falcao with a long pass, but David Luiz beat him to it and headed the ball back to the midfielder.

Seat B grabbed the first shot and passed it back to Matic.

The tall Serbian defensive midfielder blocked Rooney with his body, protected the ball, and then passed it back to the B seat who ran into the gap, and then passed it to Kante. Chelsea quickly launched an offensive on the right side.

At this time, the game time had just passed one minute.

Seat B dribbled the ball forward from the right, but Luke Shaw retreated quickly, denying him any chance to break through his defense.

But this defensive strategy also allowed Seat B to quickly dribble the ball past the center line and burn the flames of war to Manchester United's 30-meter area.

However, Manchester United was clearly prepared for such a situation today.

After the initial wave of offensive failed, they retreated very quickly and quickly organized a counterattack near the center line.

Seat B held the ball for a while but couldn't find a particularly good opportunity, so he had to pass it back to his side's wing-back Ivanovic.

Ashley Young also pressed over quickly.

Ivanovic didn't wait for him to get close, and directly passed the ball to Matic, who also just passed the center line.

Matic is usually placed at the end of the midfield and also in the middle position to facilitate the coordination of Chelsea's offense and defense on both sides.

But as soon as he stopped the ball, Rooney had already pressed forward and cut off Matic's pass to seat B. This forced the Serbian to turn around and take a few steps to the left to avoid Rooney's upward attack.

Rob.

At this time, left wing-back Cancelo has also passed the center line.

He was standing near the left sideline, and when he saw Matic looking over, he immediately ran two steps forward and raised his hand to ask for the ball.

But Valencia, the Manchester United full-back on this side, also noticed him and moved closer to the left, making it difficult for Cancelo to get the ball.

As a result, it is equivalent to saying that Chelsea's two midfielders and two wing-backs' ball release points are somewhat locked, and Chelsea has a problem of difficulty in releasing the ball.

Seeing this situation, Lukaku immediately retreated from the front, preparing to meet Matic in the gap in front of the penalty area.

Seat B and Hazard also returned from the winger positions on both wings, and even made a cross move to open up Manchester United's defense.

But today Van Gaal has obviously done a detailed study of Pan Yi's frontcourt movement tactics.

Manchester United players took their time after seeing the Chelsea trio's move.

They did not let the opposing players run blindly with the opponent's forward, nor did they stand in their own positions. Instead, they formed a well-coordinated on-court rotation mechanism.

Foreney, Herrera, including McNair and Smalling on the back line, when they see Chelsea players running into their positions, they will keep track of them and prevent them from receiving the ball comfortably;

After the opponent's player runs away to a certain distance, the player guarding him will become another Manchester United player.

This is the strategy of combining zone + man-marking.

"It seems that Chelsea's offense encountered difficulties today."

"Manchester United's defense was very well-organized today. Chelsea's invincible cross-positioning in the past did not allow any holes in their defense."

"Van Gaal is indeed a master of tactics. He must have conducted long-term research after losing to Chelsea last time before coming up with such tactics to deal with Pan Yi's frontcourt trident."

"Chelsea's current offensive players, whether they are three forwards, two wing-backs, or double midfielders who often come in behind, feel like they are being looked down upon."

"In this case, I can't figure out how Chelsea should attack because they don't know who to pass the ball to."

“Who can break down such a line of defense??”

But at this moment, Matic still passed the ball forward.

Even though the passing routes on both sides and in front were blocked, he actually sent an overhead ball with his right foot and passed the ball into the penalty area!

It was only at this moment that everyone, including the live broadcast camera, noticed...

At this time, there was a blue figure on the left and right sides of Manchester United, like two lightning bolts, quickly entering Manchester United's penalty area from the left and right ribs!

And these two people are not Lukaku, Hazard, Seat B, nor Cancelo and Ivanovic.

It’s Marcos Alonso and Azpilicueta who are serving as central defenders today!——

When Pan Yi asked Marcos Alonso and Azpilicueta to stand at center back in training, both of them were surprised.

But what surprised them even more was that Pan Yi demanded more from them than a normal ball-playing central defender.

"Strengthen the press", "Short passes", "Pass more into space", "Speed ​​up the pace", "More risky passes"...

In addition to these basics, they also have instructions such as "increase dribbling" and even "boldly insert into the penalty area".

Even if Marcos Alonso and Azpilicueta have become somewhat accustomed to Pan Yi's various magical operations in the past half season, it is still difficult to digest such information in a short period of time.

After all, what exactly is the role of a centre-back?

If you watch a modern game or analyze a team's offensive setup, you'll likely find that all but one or two players in the outfield are involved in the offense.

So, who are the one or two players who are not involved in the attack? They are usually the team's central defenders.

The forward players are naturally an important part of the attack, the midfielders will also move forward into the opponent's half, and the defensive midfielders - even if they do not push too far forward - will often act as a pivot to help the team play left and right.

ball.

As for the full-backs, they will make full use of the wings to create offensive opportunities for the team.

When teammates in other positions move forward to create offensive opportunities for the team, the central defender will usually stand closer to his own goal as the last line in front of the goalkeeper to resist the opponent's defensive counterattack.

barrier.

In other words, except for special situations such as set-pieces that require a high point, the central defender will not easily participate in the attack.

Since the latest batch of coaches, represented by Pan Yi, have begun to use the concept of ball-playing central defenders to a large extent, the central defenders' long passes have also become a weapon for the team's offense.

Just like Van Dijk, just like David Luiz.

They have good performance on both offense and defense, so Pan Yi will let the central defender help the team control the ball, and then pass the ball in the backcourt to organize the team's offense.

But the problem is, even if they do this, it only increases the ball release points in the backcourt and adds a way to launch an attack through long passes. It does not allow these central defenders to suddenly move forward and become forwards?

But Pan Yi just asked for it.

In recent training, he often asked Kos Alonso and Azpilicueta to insert from the left and right central defender positions until they passed the center line and reached the opponent's penalty area, and then completed the shot.

This somewhat subverts everyone's understanding of central defenders.

But Pan Yi quickly explained the benefits of this approach to everyone.

"With teams currently keen on accumulating troops in the midfield area, it will be a valuable trend for the team to move the central defender forward when in possession of the ball to further strengthen the numerical advantage in the midfield area.

Advance strategy.”

"In previous games, I often asked David Luiz to do this, and achieved good results. It's just not as radical as what is required now."

"The main reason is that if a tactic is used for a long time, it will always be studied and cracked by others, so we have to prepare more back-ups. This time, we tried to let two players who originally played wing-backs play as central defenders, and played from the ribs.

He penetrated all the way into the opponent's penalty area."
To be continued...